Barbie's Next Career

Surprisingly enough, Barbie's next career is a computer engineer according to the New York Times on February 12 th. As the result of the survey, teens want to become a computer engineers in the future. Barbie also wears a neon-colored T-shirt with a binary code pattern and carries a smartphone and a Bluetooth headset.

Interestingly enough, looking at the comment column, Bill from Michigan states that " Forget it, Barbie, your gig has been outsourced to a hottie in Mumbai..." Furthermore, Daniel Pink, the famous author of "The Whole New Mind" also suggests that an algorithmic task such as computer programming is easy to outsource and replace with competitive workers from cheaper and faster developing countries.

Although the computer engineer has an image of sophistication all over the world, it will not easy for us to survive in the future if we decide our careers based on what Barbie does.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/barbies-next-career-computer-engineer/

Happiness

Although most people think about their happiness all day long, they cannot find it easily because it is an extreamely ambiguous thing. In recent years, it has been more difficult for us to define happiness than in past years because of affluence; we can buy whatever we want. That is, happiness is not necessarily wealth. I also consider all through the day what happiness is and what makes the human heart sing.

I believe that we will find happiness everywhere and it is familiar in everyday life. According to Leonardo Da Vinci, "looking" and "seeing" are different. He reflected sadly that average people looks without seeing, listens without hearing. touches without feeling, eats without tasting, moves without physical awareness and so forth.

I strongly believe that happiness is in your mind and also nearby.The simple things in life can actually bring us happiness.

Twitter Bubble in Japan

Twitter users have been booming recently in Japan. I have been using twitter since last month. Although we have to spend more time if we join Twitter, it is a extremely variable and useful tool to get current information.

Twitter has two significant features compared to mixi or Facebook.First of all, Twitter is like a public journal. It is used a lot by celebrities and companies to attract people who are interested in being up-to-date. For example, in Japan one of the most famous authors Haruki Murakami, popular singer Utada Hikaru and famous tennis player Shuzo Matsuoka and Lang-8 also join Twitter. The second main feature is openness. It means we can access to people more easily.

More importantly, Twitter also has advantages for bilingual people to get current information all over the world because of time differences. If you can read Japanese, you can get up-to-date Japanese information in the morning and you can also get United States information in the afternoon. It means you can correct them for 24 hours.

According to Kenichi Oomae who is famous consultant in Japan, in the 21st century, what they said is more important than who they said. It means our 140 words in Twitter have the possibility to change the world.

Hope for the Best and Prepare for the Worst!

When I was in my teens, Japanese longed for American life, American films and American music. Furthermore, most of the competitive workers in Japan have studied English and got MBA in the United States in order to learn leading-edge business and after that they have worked as a manager or found their own companies to progress their careers. This is because America has been the most powerful country in the world and they have been generating innovative business models and excellent human resources. However, nowadays these situations are changing.

Dr. Fareed Zakaria, Indian journalist and also famous writer of "Post American World" states that although America probably remains one of the powerful countries in the world, we have to prepare for events that are likely to take place in developing countries. Have you ever thought about the world going on? Recently the highest ferris wheel in the world is in Singapore. The richest person in the world is not Bill Gates, just a Mexican guy. Surprisingly, the largest shopping mall is in China. The impressive sixth sense technology was invented by an Indian technologist. Moreover, the biggest film maker in the world is not Hollywood, but Bollywood in India.

Surprisingly, American students realize these facts and face the reality seriously. They are thinking how they will negotiate with the Chinese effectively and how they collaborate with people who are from UAE smoothly by trial and error. Although we cannot predict our future, we can prepare for our careers. We have to say hope for the best and prepare for the worst!

Flexpetz

Have you ever had a pet before? According to Harry Truman, if you want a friend, get a dog. Unfortunately, in my case, I have never had a pet before because I do not have enough money, time and I do not have an appropriate place. Flexpetz,one of the biggest pet rental industries, is here to solve our pet problems. http://www.flexpetz.com/

This impressive company provides dogs for customers using rental service. It is a good opportunity for us to decide if we want to keep pets and not have to spend a lot of money and time. However, the animal protection organization in US dissaproves of renting pets because animals are not like cars or furniture. Renting pets has become illegal in Boston in 2008.

On the other hand, in Japan the renting pet business has become popular in the elderly population. Senior citizens want comfort of pets. Furthermore, dogs are not only a recreation, entertainment but also a medicine in Japan. It means they have a significant role in healing people and society. The rental dog industry can provide senior citizens with pets and help them achieve a healthy, happy life.

How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci

I was lucky enough to get the impressive book titled " How to Think like Leonardo daVinci" written by Michael Gelb. Even though this book was published in 1998, it is very informative and valuable for us. As you may know, baby ducks learn to survive by imitating their mothers. Similarly, the best way to improve your potential abilities is looking for your "Roll Models". It helps us by guiding what we think and what we feel and what we do. This book shows us " Seven Da Vincian Principles" to become genius.

①Curiosita: An insatiably curious approach to life.
②Dimonstratzione: A commitment to test knowledge through experience.
③Sensazione: The continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to clarify experience.
④Sfumato: A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.
⑤Arte/Scienza: The development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination.
⑥Corporalita: The cultivation of ambidexterity, fitness, and poise.
⑦Connessione: A recognition and appreciation for the connectedness of all things and phenomena.

Today I will talk about "Curiosita". It means a desire to learn more. If you want to improve the Curiosita, you should carry a notebook or journal wherever you go and write down your ideas and questions whatever you want. For example, "How does a bird fly?" Why does it have two wings?" and so on. If you do this excise, your brain will be like Leonardo da Vinci.

Chaotic Career

What is your major? It is easy to answer it and we often use this question when we meet people for the first time. On the other hand, " What do you want to do after you graduate? " It is really difficult for us to answer it because our career choices are more unpredictable and complex than in past years.

In twenty century, we can use liner theories when we decide on our first careers after we graduate. It means there were strong relationships between our majors and first jobs. For example, the English major will be English teacher and business major will be working as banker and so forth; however, in the 21st century, our career choices is more chaotic. The college education is wide open to many more individuals regardless of gender, race, or career goal. Many students now choose a college education because of the interesting subjects they can study, not necessarily because of specific career plans.

For example, Nassim　Taleb who is the famous author of " Black Swan" was philosophy major and he is working as derivative trader now. Haruki Murakami who is famous novelist in Japan has ran a jazz bar when he was a college student and after that, he wrote the book at the age of 30. Keigo Higashino who is also famous author in Japan, majored in engineering.One of my friends Kyohei Yamamoto is business major and now he is working in Uganda. It means that our career is more complex and chaotic and it is difficult for us to choose our first career using liner thinking.

I strongly agree with Forrest Gump; life was like a box of chocolates and you never know what you're gonna get. That is why it is enjoyable.