Yearly Archives: 2013

Designer???

Among many of my Canadian friends, even those from the engineering program, I am known as a designer. In fact, however, I do not have work experience as a designer, and I cannot call myself a professional designer. Having said that, I call myself designer since I have design skills, designer’s way of thinking, and designer’s spirit.

I am not particularly interested in genetic issues, but some internet articles about genetic engineering caught my attention thanks to its title: designer baby. According to some of those internet articles, a U.S. company has developed a technology to predict features of a person, such as eye colour and muscle performance, based on the parent’s genetic information before making a baby. Now the company is under fire due to this controversial technology. If this technology is applied, people can choose an ideal partner among candidates to get a preferable baby, and this is called “designer baby”.

I don’t want people to use the term “designer” in this context. Anyways. And I’m skeptical about this technology: I know many brothers and sisters who have very different features. For example, my elder brother is shorter than I am and he has shorter legs than mine. Anyways.

This issue reminds me of a Japanese internet article about a young Japanese actor. According to the article, a young actor joined an event to introduce a film in which he played one of the leading roles, and confessed that he is a son of a famous actor. He joined the event with the director of the film and another leading actress. The director used to be an actor, and the actress is a daughter of the director. The young actor said “I admire my father as an actor, and I am proud of being his son. I believe in my father’s DNA.” The actress then said “I admire my father too.” And then the director said “DNA is not a big deal. It’s not about who are your parents. It’s how you spend time with your parents.”

In fact, many celebrity’s children are known for their immature behavior. They have been overly spoiled, and this may be why the young actor had not stated that he is a son of a celebrity. It’s not about DNA, but how people live.

Now, I tell myself: it’s not about occupation, but how I live as a designer. Of course I have not given up becoming a professional designer. But whatever my occupation is, I retain my designer’s spirit.

October 20, 2013Permalink

Apparently, what did not kill me made me a little bit stronger, but…

I have experienced being unemployed several times. Technically speaking, I am currently “self employed” because I do freelance jobs, but I don’t count it as “being employed”. I need a better full-time job. As I wrote in a previous post, being unemployed is very depressing. But, though I am still not happy, now I’m coming to think differently. Apparently, what did not kill me makes me a little bit stronger.

According to a Japanese internet article, 70% of job-seeking university students in Japan are frustrated. According to another Japanese internet article, 21% of those university students have thought “I want to die, want to disappear”. If I was at their mental level, I must have killed myself several times to completely disappear. However, in fact, this seems a serious matter in Japan. According to another Japanese internet article that addresses the same issue, the number of young Japanese who committed suicide due to unemployment has been doubled in last five years. What has changed in last years? Economy is probably one of the factors. Young Japanese people may be more sensitive, may feel more pressure.

Japan has experiences rapid change in mentality in last couple of centuries. During Edo era, Samurai spirit prevailed. Since Japan was opened to foreign countries around 150 years ago and the Samurai society came to an end, people suddenly realized that they were way less developed than Western countries, and decided to make Japan a “strong” country. This gradually formed extreme mentality in a different way from Samurai spirit, and eventually led to WWII. Some tragedies happened during this era due to the extreme mentality as I wrote in an old post. And then, Japan was defeated, and people suddenly lost mentality. However, it was not the end. In 1956, Japanese government stated “it is no longer a post-war period”, and Japan experienced rapid economic growth. As I wrote in another old post, Tokyo Olympic was held in this era. If I understand correctly, economy has influenced, or even formed people’s mentality since that period. People came to think that working for a big good company and making money is good. And then we experienced so-called bubble economy from late 80s to early 90s, and it eventually burst. Now what characterizes Japanese mentality? It seems most complex ever.

There used to be good old days. We cannot go back, but we can remember the mentality. During the rapid economic growth period when people faced many social problems that they had never thought of, a famous comedian, Hitoshi Ueki sang many funny songs. One of his songs is だまって俺について来い (Don’t say anything and follow me). Well, it’s like Don’t Worry Be Happy, and he sang the song in the 60s. It goes like this.

Those who don’t have a job, come to me. I don’t have either, but don’t worry. Look at that burning sunset. It’ll work out someday.

We cannot go back to that era, but we can still think in that way, right?

October 19, 2013Permalink

Reasoning

Reproducibility is one of the principles of scientific method. Another scientific method is hypothesis.

Think of this scenario. One day, you saw your dog facing west and barking three times, and then it started raining. A few days later, you saw your dog facing west and barking three times again, and it started raining again. Then you concluded that your dog’s barking three times toward west causes rain. Now, saying “that’s ridiculous” is not scientific argument. Your dog might have sensed the gradual decrease in atmospheric pressure, noticed slight change of the western heavens, and reacted to it. You may need to consider what is the cause and what is the result, and review the reasoning and the logic behind it to relate or separate two sequential events before arguing unscientifically.

As I wrote in the previous post, I like visiting a museum and went to ROM lats weekend. Another weird habit that I do at a museum but did not mention in the previous post is to worship before a statue of Buddha. If you see some of my facebook photo albums like this one, this one, this one, or this one, you can tell how I like visiting Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Since there are few places like them in North America, I visit museums to meet Buddha. By the way, those statues of Buddha are usually called “Buddhism art”, but I do not call them “art” because it is more like religious practice, something people “needed for their daily life of the time”. Anyways, when I visited ROM last weekend, I worshiped before statues of Buddha and read a short Buddhism sutra carved on a temple bell twice.

As I often mention, I do freelance translation jobs now while looking for a full-time job, and as I wrote in another previous post, some clients disappear in the middle of negotiation and I often have to wait passively. In last couple of days after visiting ROM, I’ve got positive messages from some of my clients and got some freelance jobs.

Now you may be thinking “that’s ridiculous, it’s only coincidence”. But think one second. I have not concluded anything. I just wrote about two sequential events in last few days. For now I dare not to attempt any reasoning.

October 8, 2013Permalink

Seven hours was not enough to indulge my passion for culture.

Everyone has unique habits, right? One of my weirdest habits is to spend a long time at a museum. When I travel and whenever I have enough time, I visit a museum of the place. When I visited Toronto for the first time in 2002, I went to ROM, Royal Ontario Museum, and loved it. Since then, I’ve visited there a few times, but I always don’t have enough time. Today I entered at 10:30 am and stayed until it closes at 5:30 pm, but seven hours was not enough to indulge my passion for culture.

I prefer museum to art gallery. Most pieces displayed in a museum were, unlike those in an art gallery, originally made because it was needed for something: for religious belief, politics, war, or most interestingly, for daily life of the time. Who imagined that a bowl that they used daily would be displayed in a museum thousands of years after? When I stand in front of a piece of ancient kitchenware, I imagine how artisans made it and how people used it. I visualize their life, and find I spent a long time at one place in the museum… I know this is a weird habit.

Another favorite thing to do at a museum is to see Japanese things. Many people suppose that I dislike Japan because I talk about lots of bad things about Japan. But it’s not true. Think in this way; how many people who have been married for decades talk about good things about their spouse? When I visit a museum outside of Japan and see Japanese things, I feel pride in it, and even feel encouraged. Today I found a piece of Ukiyoe (Japanese woodblock prints) made by my most favorite Ukiyoe artist, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, and stood in front of it for a few minutes. I was happy because I could tell it was his work before reading the description, and happy to see his work outside of Japan. Because I was watching it for so long time, some Canadians seemed to think it was something special, and looked at it curiously!

One thing that I am not very happy about in ROM is the collection of “the local”. Glenbow Museum is one of my favorite places in Calgary. It’s way smaller than ROM, but their collection of Native North America is, as far as I remember, more impressive than that in ROM. My most favorite museum in Japan is Tokyo National Museum. They have a huge collection of Japanese things. When I was in Japan and a Canadian friend of mine visited Japan, I brought her to Tokyo National Museum because she is interested in Japanese culture. Both of us were impressed, and I was proud of it. Another example of great collection of “the local” is Museum of Anthropology in the University of British Columbia where I spent a long time but needed more time. If ROM has something like that… I will need even more time to stay there!?

October 5, 2013Permalink

Technology, Reliability, and Behavior

One of some topics I write in this blog is about technology and human development. As I wrote in an old post, I suppose that engineers and designers in the old days developed new technologies to improve the quality of life. But I often wonder if engineers and designers today still have the same goal; they often seem to develop a new gadget because they can do it whether it will make a better life or not. According to a Japanese internet article, a Japanese cellphone company has developed “translation glasses”. It looks like Google Glass, and according to the article, if the user looks at a text in a foreign language through the glasses, it shows translated text in the user’s first language. How helpful will it be?

First of all, I do not trust machine translation. For example, I used Google Translate to translate one paragraph from the article. It goes like this.

By slip a ring on the finger of a dedicated, another feature with this glasses, available to change the touch screen a variety of flat surface. Ring will convey the position information in the translation glasses, “touch” to make tags visible only to a person wearing glasses. Such as the search of the Internet will be possible with this.

I guess the translation glasses will work at an equivalent level. Does it make sense to you? Is this reliable? If I translate manually, it should be like below.

The glasses have another feature; the user can use various flat surfaces as touch screen by using a special ring on his/her finger. The ring conveys location information to the glasses, which enables the user to “touch” tags that only the user can see. The user can do an internet search and so on with this feature.

Well, this is still not very clear, but this is what the article actually says. In other words, I guess, the glasses project user interface on a flat surface which only the user can see, and the user can control it by touching the surface with a special ring on his/her finger. This feature raises another question. I wonder how the developers of this product thought of human behavior.

Since hands-free cellphones ware introduced, many people have experienced, in some degree, something like a funny beer TV commercial in which a guy assumes a beautiful girl is talking to him while she is actually talking on blue tooth device. If someone uses “invisible” user interface, doesn’t it look like victims of Just for Laughs Gags “blind test”?

OK, maybe I’m a little too skeptical now. But the point here is that designers should think of reliability and human behavior when developing new gadgets, or even whether the gadget will be needed or not in the first place. Am I too cynical?

October 1, 2013Permalink

Deja Vu? No! I remember this.

When I started writing this blog, I was looking for a job, like I do now. The difference between now and then is that I was a full-time job seeker then and now I’m a part-time job seeker while doing freelance jobs. I was a little disappointed/depressed this morning: I finished a small freelance job a day before yesterday, and today I was expecting the client to contact me for a new job offer (as he implied he would), but he did not. Then something happened that is very similar to my experience that I wrote in an old post. I had a chance to chat with a friendly cashier. He is an immigrant from Pakistan, and we shared some difficulties that immigrants face. I told how difficult it is to find a full-time job, and he said “you will get a good job”. It was like deja vu, but actually I remember it happened about a year ago as I wrote in the old post. Although he does not know me, conversation like that encourages me. After the encouraging event a year ago, I actually got a full-time job though it was a temporary contract one. Let’s assume it will happen again, hopefully a permanent one for this time.

Last time I wrote about two encouraging events. Did something else happen this time? Yes. I had a chance to meet my “old” friends in downtown Toronto yesterday. I came to Canada in 2003 as I wrote in a previous post, so my Canadian friends who I met in Calgary around that time are my “old friends”. It was only for a short time, but whatever we talk, conversation with my old friends makes me feel the world is a better place than I suppose.

 

Reunion with "old" Canadian friends in downtown Toronto
Reunion with “old” Canadian friends in downtown Toronto
September 30, 2013Permalink

Let things happen

As I wrote in a previous post, I wish I could predict my future, but it never happens.

Yesterday I got two job-related phone calls: one was planned and the other one was unexpected. Last week I got email from a company about a job that I applied for a few weeks ago, and we scheduled a short telephone interview. It went well (I suppose) and according to the HR, they would have telephone interviews with several other candidates and would contact those who would have an interview. What I can do now is to wait, hoping I will pass. After the telephone interview, I looked for other job opportunities, and applied for a part-time teaching job. Surprisingly, they gave me a call a couple of hours later to ask me a few simple questions. According to her, they would send email to me “soon” to arrange an interview. What I can do now is to wait, hoping they will actually arrange an interview.

Today I got reply to my job application for a freelance translation job. According to her, they would send documents to me to clarify some details. Getting freelance jobs is easier than getting a full-time job (I mean “easier”, not “easy”), and I often get reply to my application. But some of them disappear in the middle of negotiation. What I can do now is to wait, hoping they won’t disappear.

While I actively look for jobs, I often have to wait for something passively. For now, I just let things happen.

By the way, today I went to a job fair in downtown Toronto, and was so disappointed. Unlike the one I wrote about in an old post, it was actually a “recruiting agency fair”; there ware supposed to be “employment pavilion” where organizations look for new employees and “career service pavilion” where job seekers find career services, but both pavilions ware filled with a bunch of recruiting agencies and some schools who provide job training but do not guarantee employment. As I wrote in another old post, some recruiting agencies are dishonest, and I do not trust them. Last week I found an organization that looked different from typical recruiting agency. I registered online, and instantly got reply saying “one of our agents will contact you within two business days”. I was impressed, but it’s been one week and nothing has happened. How can I trust them?

Anyways, I just let things happen for now.

September 24, 2013Permalink

Etobicoke

When I visited Toronto for the first time, I lived in my home city Yokohama which is adjacent to Tokyo (more precisely it is adjacent to a city that is adjacent to Tokyo). Tokyo and the surrounding area including Yokohama is like a gigantic version of GTA (Greater Toronto Area), and at that time, I thought Toronto was a small city. When I lived in Hamilton, I often visited Toronto and thought Toronto is a big city. When I lived in Orillia, I thought even Barrie, which is way smaller than Toronto, was a big city. The notion of “big” and “small” is always relative.

It’s been one week since I moved to Etobicoke which is western part of Toronto. As I wrote in an old post, I spent a couple of weeks at my friends’ place in downtown Toronto during Christmas vacation after having lived in Orillia for a little more than a month, and at that time, I couldn’t tell which I preferred; urban or rural. Now I can tell without hesitation that I prefer living in an urban area. My experience in a small town for ten months seems to change my perspective. Etobicoke is not as “urban” as downtown Toronto. It’s not a very exciting place, but I feel relieved to live in a lively place.

I should emphasize that “urban” does not necessarily mean “little green”. Many people, even in Japan, presume that Tokyo is “made of concrete”, but in fact, there are many green and relaxing places in Tokyo. I lived in Barcelona, which is way smaller than Tokyo, for three months in 2005. I found it is “made of stone” with little green, less greener than Tokyo, and I felt a little uncomfortable for that reason. I like to live in an urban and green city.

September 22, 2013Permalink

Good bye, Orillia

I always wish I could predict my future, which never happens.

When I was doing the previous temporary job, I thought/hoped/wished I would find a next job soon. Since I did not know where it would be, I thought it would be safer to stay in Orillia while looking for a job and then move to a new place after getting a job. It’s been two months, and now I’m doing a freelance job to do at home. If I knew this would happen, I would have moved right after ending the previous job. Tomorrow I will move to Etobicoke, hoping life will be better in some way.

To be honest, I did not enjoy living in Orillia. I should say that it is not because of the place. As you see below, It’s a lovely place. It is because of the job. I know life should not be controlled by job. But… anyways. It’s a long story.

I hope that life will be better eventually, and that someday I will visit Orillia for vacation and enjoy it.

Orillia

September 13, 2013Permalink

Honesty…?

There is a difference between telling a lie and hiding a truth, but the difference is very small.

In general, life is tough. When something sounds too good to be true, it is usually not true. After having been a full-time job seeker for nearly a couple of months, I’m now a part-time job seeker; I do a freelance job to do at home, but it is not enough to live decently, and I keep looking for a better job(s). I have registered for a few web services for freelancers to find jobs (or from a different perspective which it is primarily for, they are for clients to find freelancers), including the one where I “practice” graphic design as I wrote in a previous post. Once in a while, I get invitation from a client to suggest me applying for a job they posted, but in most cases they send invitation to many qualified freelancers and I still have to compete with other invited freelancers. Last week, I got an invitation to a CAD coaching job. I am good at CAD modeling, and as I wrote in an old post, I like teaching. I said “wow”.

The invitation was very simple, like saying “if you have expertise in CAD modeling and you like teaching, this job is for you”. Can getting a job be that easy? I replied and asked more information. Their reply said like “visit our web site where you find more information and application from”. But the “information” on their web site, which is actually a youtube video which repeatedly says “earn money!”, is not very detailed and in the “application from” you only need to enter your contact information and “a message”, unlike typical job application where you need to enter work experience, education, skills and many other pieces of information. Can getting a job be that easy? I assumed they would give me a link to another web page or something to enter more information about me, and thought how to show my capability, but what they sent me instantly was an agreement form. Can getting a job be that easy? No. I read the agreement form and found it abnormally difficult to understand. After reading it three times, what I found is… if someone downloads a trial version of their CAD software, I will provide them with technical support AS MUCH AS THEY WANT during the trial period. And if they purchase the product after the trial period expires, the company gives me a certain amount of money no matter how much time I spent on the technical support. If not, they don’t. Is this a good deal for me? No, I don’t think so. Did they tell me a lie? No, they didn’t. Are they honest? No, I don’t think so. If they are honest, they don’t have to repeatedly tell “earn money!”, and they don’t have to make their agreement from abnormally difficult to understand. Are they smart? No, I don’t think so, but I think they are, or at least they try to be, cunning.

Anyways, life is not easy. I’ll keep looking for a better job.

September 10, 2013Permalink