A new sound of business

Good evening everyone.
The holidays are finally here.
And last week was finally over.

For me personally, last week was a week of extreme hurdles.
I wish I could tell you about it, but circumstances prevented me from doing so.
Maybe one day I will be able to tell you about it.
And as for the results, I did see one good settlement.
Let me stop telling further here for today.

Last Saturday I visited the grave of my parents and ancestors in Saitama City.
It was that day because I could not go there during the Higan.
My elder sister was busy, so I went alone.
It was also a way to thank my parents and ancestors for watching over me to make last week and other harsh days bearable.
Although the wind was strong, it was a good day to visit the cemetery.
To avoid the heavy traffic on the Noda Bridge (downbound direction) on the way back, I took Route 16 into Noda for the first time in a while. (Correct choice!)

I saw the announcement that the size limit for FC2 blog attachments is now 3MB per file. (Previously, it was 2MB.)
In the case of image files, 2MB would have been sufficient, so I don't think this will have much impact.
But for audio files, the difference is quite significant.
2MB is, in effect, up to about 2 minutes.
If you coarsen the sound, we can make even 2MB as long as we want, but the sound quality will be unbearable to listen to.
When I, for example, make multiple recordings, it is rare for a song to fit in 2 minutes, so I have had to arrange and shorten it.
I am grateful that I can now afford to do so.
Even until now the limit has been 5MB if we contract the charged plan.

The other day, the NHK Special TV program focused on the former Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda and provided an easy-to-understand review and analysis of the BOJ's monetary policy to date since he took office.
In the end, I think, the large-scale monetary easing made sense in some parts, but failed to come up with a mechanism to grow the economy itself, which is the key point.
The "third arrow (growth strategy)" as Abenomics appealed, was talked about a lot, but I think it could hardly be demonstrated in concrete terms.

Now to the main topic.
Lately, I can't help but feel that when it comes to work or doing something that isn't work, it is more difficult to do than in the past.
One of the reasons for this may be the fact that there are limitations to communicating and discussing anything even remotely complicated via email or chat, but apparently that's not the only reason.

In order to grow and develop, whether at work or elsewhere, we must (of course) take the steps of proposing new ideas to others, asking for their agreement, and gaining their cooperation.
In order to make this step fruitful, both the proposer and the recipient should explain (and listen to) the key point of the proposal as clearly as possible, fully respect the other party's position, make a feasible action plan, and commit to implementing it one by one.

Recently, however, I have the feeling that something a little different tends to happen.
For example
Have been listening to the other person's proposal with interest at first, but after that, just let it slide.
Tend not to consider the other person's point of view or thoughts.
Be easily bothered by small things and tend to think negatively about things.

Of course, I am not only talking about others, but also about myself.

I think the reason for this is because we are in an era of zero growth.
When the economy was growing steadily, there was a common understanding of the growth picture, so everyone was thinking in a similar way, and since there was more leeway anyway, it was easier to accept other people's suggestions.
Now, however, the total growth is zero, so if someone grows, that means someone else has to take a dent.
And since we have little room, we have no recovery way if we make a dent by accepting someone else's novel proposal.

Also, there is a pretty deep divide between salaried workers and private business persons.
Also, in this LGBTQ age, I am of course not prejudiced, but it seems that what men and women value in the way they work may be quite different, which may be biologically inherited (or perhaps acquired) gender differences.

At any rate, I look forward to the day when such individuality will be alive and well, when we can constructively evaluate each other's new proposals and engage in healthy communication.

Good evening everyone.
It's April.
It's the new semester in Japan.

My personal business is going fine.
Until a little over a year ago, I was a company worker, but now I'm completely immersed in freestyle.

Now, I often work with salaried workers, but I'm already starting to feel something wrong with them.
After all, they get a fixed amount no matter how much time they take off, and it doesn't matter if they take holidays off. It's so different from us.

But salaried workers have their own hardships.
They are company workers who have been supporting Japan until now, so I hope they will continue to do their best in the future as well.

By the way, I want Ohtani-san to do his best.

Good evening everyone.
Another week has come to an end.
God blesses for your hard work.

It was the first peach festival for both of my granddaughters.
I could not spend time with them, but I was much comforted by the photos and videos on LINE.

The situation this week is almost the same as last week.
I am doing very well in terms of work and other things that I think about. But there is a big problem that stands in the way.
As I have written many times in this blog, my life is like (-6)+(+7)=+1.
It's far from a peaceful life, but that's fate, so I can't help it.


Life is truly rock climbing.
If we want to be saved, we have to climb.

Now, as for today's topic, "Smartphone and Bluetooth have completely changed the music situation," I would like to talk about the newest technology that is making a big difference in the world of music.
Since you the readers of ladies and gentlemen are familiar with this area, I probably don't need to write about it, but I will.

A decade ago, iPods and CDs were at the height of their popularity, but we no longer need these things at all.
I listen to music on my smartphone during my two-hour walking training every Sunday with a total of 5 kg of weights on my arms and legs.
Nowadays, there is nothing that can't be replaced by a smartphone.

I listen to music in the car by playing it on my phone and blasting the speakers via bluetooth.
All those hard-rnade CDs are no longer needed.
I used to print out pictures of the artists on each CD, etc., and it was very elaborate.
However, editing CDs was extremely fragile because the thin organic film was baked with infrared rays to make holes in it. So the durability was extremely poor, and the sound would skip right away.
They were left in the car, so they were ruined even more quickly.
However, since legitimate CDs are made by pressing, the durability is, of course, much better than copy CDs.

Smartphone is convenient, though. It is tasteless.

Well, despite the difficult situation, I thought it was important to take a break at a time like this, so I tried recording for the first time in quite a while.
I added some vocal to For No One, which I multi-recorded three years ago in April.
The vocal at that time was not processed well in any way and sounded unstable, partly because that was monophonic.
Today, I put the vocal over it and echoed it, and put it a little to the left to support it.
It was a little better.

I like the imbalance of the pastoral horn tone, even though it is a tough love song.

For No One_20200411+20230304

(The same content is available on the Japanese blog at the same time.)

Good evening everyone.
It's cold, but I guess the weather has slowed down a bit.

I think many of you do something as a routine on Saturdays and Sundays.
In my case, I always have curry for dinner on Saturday, and on Sunday, I walk for 2 hours with 5kg weights on my arms and legs, and drink early afterwards.
However, in this case, due to certain circumstances, I have to work as much as I can, and I eat curry at least, but I may not be able to do as much as I would like tomorrow, Sunday.

Curry is exclusively retort-packed these days.
As I wrote in my last article, I ate a 98 yen one today.

I am very interested in how words change with the times.
I am not of the school of thinking that it is simply "outrageous".
Of course, it is sad to see good words disappear.

I used to think that I understood the language spoken (and written) by young people, but since I quit the company at the end of the year before last, I have had much fewer opportunities to do so, and recently I have been a little worried.

Some time ago on TV, they mentioned "spaghetti → pasta" and "rinse → conditioner or treatment" as examples of language changes that seniors are not aware of.
I knew that the terms pasta, conditioner, and treatment were very much in use these days, but I had no idea that these were alternative terms for spaghetti and rinse.
For example, pasta refers to some varieties of spaghetti, and so on.

One thing I've noticed recently is that "Osewasamadesu" has almost disappeared.
For example, at a clinic, when the clerk said, "Take care of yourself," after the bill was paid, "Osewasamadeshita" was a very nice nuanced way of saying it in return. The same goes for the driver when getting off the bus.
Young people nowadays say "Thank you very much" almost 100% of the time in these situations.
Of course, it is a good thing to say, but since I am a customer, I feel some barrier to say "Arigatou gozaimashita" (Thank you very much). Of course, this is not the case when I really appreciate it.

The "ra-naku-word" has taken root in the language.
I think it will soon be officially included in dictionaries. Or maybe it is already in the dictionary.
Yesterday, an NHK announcer was interviewing Nobel Prize winner Ryoji Noyori, and he used "ra-nuki" words.

I wonder if "konnichiwa" and "kombanwa" will also take root.

The use of tone up at the word endings has completely fallen by the wayside, because it was so lame.

I think it is also a good trend that excessive "I would be pleased to ***" has been decreasing somewhat recently.

The change in adverbs of response is also interesting.
For example, "not at all".
The correct usage is to respond with a negative word. For example, "I am not tired at all".

When I was a university student (early 1978), I took the Dream bus from Kyoto to Tokyo with a junior member of my circle, and I will never forget what he said at a rest stop in Kanagawa: "ST-san, it was quite easy" (using "not at all").
This was the first time I had ever heard someone say "not at all" in the affirmative.
Of course, I thought, "What the hell is this guy?
After that, the usage gradually took root, and now it is very widely used.
The junior might be the inventor of this usage.

When I was in the second year of junior high school (1971), an old and skilled teacher of ancient writings suddenly said to us.
"By the way, you guys, you tie 'absolutely' followed by the affirmative form. For example, "That is absolutely right. But that's not true. You should put it in the negative, like, 'That is absolutely not true.
When I heard that, I thought, "That can't be true.
Since then, until now, I had never properly checked if it was correct.
So now I looked it up on the Internet, and it seems that, at least now, it can be either negative or positive.
But in the past, it may have been an adverb that meant a strong negative, like the English word "never".
Because when a word originally specialized for negation is used for affirmation as well, the meaning becomes blurred. Perhaps the teacher experienced this firsthand.
For example, it would be quite strange if "never" could also be used in the affirmative.

Have a nice weekend.

I am late, but I would like to wish you a Happy New Year.
Thank you for your support last year.
I look forward to having time with you again this year.

Due to circumstances, I am tentatively living in a family of three generations and six members.
This situation will eventually dissolve and we will soon return to a more settled state.
This New Year has come amidst such trials and tribulations, as well as good things.

It is also a New Year for myself, as I am on the way to quickly settling down from my work and the "battle for justice and the attack of the concerned parties".

I did a fair amount of work on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
Because of this situation, I did not do any cleaning this year.

I watched the Ekiden (relay race), we had visitors, and it was a good New Year's Day.
I longed for a house where many people would come, so I am grateful in that sense.
On the 2nd there were a total of 10 people in the house.
We had two parties visiting on the 3rd as well.

I have been working full time since the 4th.
This month is tough because of various events.
I hope to get through it somehow.

I hope you all continue to have a good New Year's holiday.