Enrollment

Today was my enrolment day for my course. I went to school almost on time, but already there were a lot of people. Firstly the staff gave me a form for some information which I should fill in. After I finished the form, I moved to another room to get line up. The line was too long, so I had to wait for almost one hour.

I had already seen some classmates in my next course and I saw her there. We had a mutual friend, but she failed her English test, so it’s not sure she could enter our course. The time for queuing was really long but the process of enrolment itself was quick. I just showed my passport, English qualification, school qualification and receipt for the tuition fee. The process should go online. It must be quicker and easier.

Berlin Trip (2) : Cottbus University Library

The building is the library of Cottbus University. It takes one and holf hour to get there by train from Berlin. You should take a bus from station to the university, it takes almost 10 minutes. It is designed by Herzog & de Meuron. The exterior is very characteristic but fits with the location. The inside is very colourful. It might be still new, so most of the shelf is empty. Almost books were German books, and I can’t read German very well, so I couldn’t tell how good it is as a library. A friend of mine who went there together are interested in colour effect in interior space, so she was excited when she entered the space, but in my opinion vivid colours are not good for quiet spaces like libraries, but the part of the walls was made from steel and reflected the colour of floor and the other part of walls and it was beautiful.

Berlin Trip (1) : Bauhaus in Dessau

送信者 20080908

The picture was taken not in Berlin, but it Dessau.
It takes about one and half hours to get Dessau from Berlin.
We bought the express tickets, so it was more expensive than we had expected... We should have bought local tickets.
Dessau is famous for Bauhaus, but itself is not so big and not so flourished.
We joined the tour of Bauhaus and saw the inside.
It was usual and not special, but that's why it is important historically, because it was the start point of modern style architecture.

Google Phone v iPhone

http://www.designweek.co.uk/Articles/139724/Google+mobile+is+coming+soon.html

It must be interesting, it sounds like the extended battle between the giants in the computer market.
What is interesting about Apple is that they has restored control of the computer market as an hardware company. On the other hand, Google is a cutting-edge software company, which exactly might not be even a software company, but a web-service company.

Which company wins the battle should change the situation of the industry.

iPhone in Japan

http://www.yourcommunicationnews.com/news_item.php?newsID=10803

According to the article, The sale of iPhone in Japan is not as good as Apple expected. Japan market should be a bit different from the rest of the world.

When a friend of mine came to London, he brought iPhone and it looked very useful. If you can find WiFi network you can connect it, and it has GPS function, but actually there are a lot of types of cell phones in Japan, and it is difficult to differentiate the product. On top of that, changing a telephone line company is a bit difficult and the services different from each other. For a long time, mobile hand set has been almost for free, because the line companies are stronger than mobile phone manufacturers.
iPhone is cool and useful, but it might not be enough to be successful in Japan, but iPod has been quite popular, so if they take a proper brand strategy it is going to possible for them to sell more.

Dragons’ den

One guy was beat by the dragons, but one dragon told the others he should be educated not be beat, but another said his plan was dangerous and we should make him give it up or change his mind. In my opinion, both of them grasp the main points. Anyway I think it must not be just only the complacence of dragons.

My saddle has been stolen

I parked my bicycle in front of the flat of a friend of mine, then my saddle had gone when I went there to buy some more alcohol.
There had been no accident with my bicycle except for puncture, so I thought the security of London was not so poor and got careless.
What was the thief going to do with my saddle? Sell it or use it? Anyway I have to ride my bicycle out of the saddle for a while…

T-shirt folding: appendix of STIR Lecture of Dick Powell

He introduced it as a example of smart ways.
It's very interesting and smart...

STIR Lcture: Dick Powell

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/businessschool/events_summary/event_13-8-2008-12-13-31

I attended a lecture of Dick Powell at Imperial College.
It was really interesting. Listening to interesting lectures are quite profitable because it motives you to make effort for achieving your goal.
He was smart, eloquent and funny.
He’s got a lot of experience about product design, so he knew well about the difference between general images of design work and what it actually is.
What is the most impressive for me is his comment, “innovation is not a big idea, but usually a series of small ideas”.
Actually there are a lot of factors in design process, so innovation might not happen suddenly but it’s sort of circulation of creative process.

He told about how to get a job for young people, and the point is to become very good at “one thing”.
It is a good suggestion, but what is it for me? What is my advantage and differential point?
I might need to find the answer if you want to survive in design industry…

Lion King

Some friends of mine came to London from Tokyo, and they asked me to book some musical, so I booked the seats of Lion King.

As you know, it is one of most popular musicals in London. Maybe the reason is that the story is very simple and the theme, such as leadership, family and peace, is quite general.

During seeing it, I thought about leadership and the connection between fathers and sons. When the son lost his pride, he remembered he was a son whose father ruled the community as the king. Feeling of connection with other people makes people stronger. It might be a kind of general laws.
When I was young, I couldn’t understand it, but now I can. Family, society and so on are very important to live well.

Berlin Trip

20080910_berlin_trip

I went to Berlin with some friends of mine.
It was really interesting. The scenery of the city is different from London. Rather, it is similar to Tokyo. The reason might be that both of them were destroyed during Second World War.

Traditional buildings are few, and there are many modern buildings. The difference between Berlin and Tokyo is the density of the population. In Toyo are about 10 million people, but in Berlin 3 million people.

Tokyo is very powerful and energetic because of the huge population, but sometimes I felt it was too many, and actually I felt in this trip the size of Berlin was more comfortable. It is difficult to tell which is better, but we should think about the alternative ideas, such as the separation of city functions.