Visit to Love & Hate Studio

On January 2nd, 2014 I visited Love & Hate Studio in Cape Town and met two artists, Ello and Black.

That was the first time I went to Africa.
This opportunity was brought by two of my old friends, Suga & Jutaro.
They are proceeding a project, named Biotope Journal, aimed at reporting about ordinal lives of young people all over the world as a weekly journal. 
http://www.biotopejournal.com/about/20120921/000018

So they are travelling all over the world and interview people in each place. 
And Ello and Black were interviewees of them.
http://www.biotopejournal.com/tags/Cape%20Town


The article is very good and their drawing is really a sight to behold.
I bought one of Ello's drawings.

Ello's work

So, I hoped to meet them. 

That's the reason why I visited Cape Town.


Their studio was in a calm and comfortable place.  
I could meet horses in the area. 


Very peaceful place :)

Their studio also has a calm and comfortable feel.
They kindly welcomed me.
And I presented Japanese sweets, books and paper for them

After that, they started drawing on the paper.
So I luckily could see the work of my favorite artists directly.
And, I could join the work. That was a very natural progression.


Start of the drawings

After the former person draws some parts, the next person draws next parts (rotation).     

                  

 

Multiple drawings are made at the same time.

We made 3 drawings in a day.

Writing about myself, I'm a Japanese mechanical engineer, not an artist.

But when I was a high-school student, my hobby was drawing.

I made some abstract paintings like below.

 

My drawings..

I still like painting. So that was a very happy experience for me. 

I could make art works with professionals and my favorite artists in a foreign country.

Really awesome experience.

The procedure of the bilateral work didn't have rules.
We could paint anything we wanted. But they should be fit for parts others drew.
Jutaro said that has similarity with free jazz.
The participants play with their best but no one knows the final form.

Every works are super cool.

And Ello gave me her painting named cloud man.

Cute and a little weird work.


I really appreciate them giving me a special time :)

Rules of "Articles" in English

From this August 13th-14th, I concentratedly studied "Articles" of English.

(the = definite article, a, an = indefinite article)

As a collection of problems, my teacher chose this site.

http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/216.html

I wrote some rules of articles I learned below.

1. Name of official places

< Country Names >

Single names don't use "the"

ex) Japan, America, 

Plural names need "the"

ex) the Philippine Islands, The Philippines, The United States of America

< City Names >

don't need articles

ex) Tokyo, NewYork, Bangkok, 

< Road Names >

don't need articles

ex) Wall Street, Milton Road, Madison Avenue, 5th Avenue

< Others >

Mount Everest (single)

Mt. Fuji (single)

the Himalayas (plural)

2. Very obvious things don't need "the"

< Public Place >

ex) He go went to hospital, church, school, Institution, prison 

< God >

ex) An atheist doesn't believe in God.

< Meal >

ex1) We usually have dinner at eight.

ex2) What time would you like breakfast.

> Meals are routine and not specific. 

cf. Breakfast is in the morning, Lunch is in at midday, DInner/Tea is in late afternoon, Supper is late at night.

< Work >

ex1) We start work at eight.

ex2) He went to work.

3. When a noun is used specifically, use "the".

ex1) My garden's looking lovely now that the daffodils are in flower

> These daffodils are only in the garden.

ex2) Would you mind turning off the lights when you leave?

> specific lights

ex3) Could you take the books you borrowed back to the library, please?

ex4) We were stopped by the police 

※"Police" is uncountable but "policeman" or "police officer" is countable.

ex5) The water in the outside swimming pool will be cold (in winter)

< examples that don't need "the" >

・He doesn't listen to classical music. 

・I'm against capital punishment.

・There is a major problem with crime nowadays.

> "music", "punishment" and "crime" are uncountable and not particular in these cases.

4. We use a/an depending on the sound of the first letter of the word
(Pronunciation is different from letters)

ex1) She did an MA in French literature. (MA is pronounced like "Em A".)

ex2) He joined a union  (Union is pronounced like "You Ni On".)

※"the" also can be used, but isn't included in the choices of Q48.

5. Other examples I felt confused about

ex1) Christmas Day falls on a Sunday this year.

> That means one of the Sundays in this year.

ex2) They live in the lovely flat.

> "flat" doesn't mean an area of low level ground. It means an apartment (British English).

Most frequently used words

Last weekend was a good time for me because I found my role models for studying language.

1st is Benny Lewis, a blogger and developed a new method for language study. 

2nd is Tim Feriss,  a famous blogger and writer. He is very good at language (including Japanese).

3rd, who I haven''t found yet, a Japanese, who has already achieved exactly what I want to achieve.
I should find the person. That's a good theme in my life.

And I also found one good site for learning English.

http://www.fluentin3months.com/

This site introduce 6000 most frequently used English words.

Rank 1-2000 is very easy.

Lank 2001-2100 is these words ↓

touch

director

ship

there's

council

EFFECTS

event

worth

existence

designed

hardly

indicated

analysis

established

products

growing

patient

rule

bridge

pain

base

check

cities

elements

leaders

discussion

limited

sit

Thomas

agreement

gas

factors

marriage

easily

closed

excite

accept

applied

allow

bit

married

oil

Rhode

shape

interested

strange

compose

professional

remained

news

Despite

beauty

responsible

wonder

spent

tear

unless

eight

permit

covered

Negro

played

I'd

vote

balance

Charles

loss

Commission

original

fair

reasons

studies

exactly

built

behavior

enemy

teeth

bank

die

James

relations

weight

prepared

related

sea

bar

warn

post

trees

official

separate

clay

Sunday

raised

events

thin

dropped

cattle

invite

playing

Most of them are easy words but some words are not so familiar to me.

I made sentences from such words (highlighted as bold) in this ranking.

I selected 3 words. 

council, Rhode, Negro 

(Example)
There are no Negros in Rhode because Negro means a member of dark-skinned people.
That is one opinion presented in a council last week.

This example not so good, I think because the meaning of council is not clear..

I discussed with my teacher. After that, I made a sentence ↓

The Council on Foreign Relations is the most powerful council in the world.
Members of the council are very rich and powerful (ex. Rock Ferrer).
But the council is disliked by many people because they seem  to make America a large empire and invade other countries.

Rhode is a very rich part of America, a financial place very closed to MIT, Ivy League.


After making these sentences, I found both the Council on Foreign Relations and Rhode are in the east of USA.
However, I think the council is made by old type rich people whereas many people who make the new world are from Rohode. For example, many MIT graduates made and are making the new world.


※Underlines indicate points which i revised. My teacher taught me these points.
(revised on 12/02/05)

Change of the situation and change of our mind

Yesterday, I and my English teacher talked about work hours.
In Japan, work hours are decreasing, but that's sometimes not true.
For example, my work hours are about 13-14 h a day on the average.
Some companies force employees to work on Saturdays without additional payment. They are called "black companies".

Next, we talked about psychological aspects. When the work is too hard, we tend to feel bad about our work. And that cause phenomenons called "Blue Monday" and "TGIF".
 We afraid Monday and become happy on Friday.
Such thinking is inevitable if we dislike our work.

Several decades ago, Japan was in the era of prosperity and thinking of people was relatively positive ( of course, I can't experience that, but I heard it from elder people).
Now, Japan is in a negative atmosphere.
Objectively, the state of life in Japan is better than that in other countries. But subjectively, people see their life as worse.
They no longer believe that tomorrow is better than today. So, that is difficult for them to make positive attitude to their work.

However, I think, the situation surrounding us is only "changing", not "deteriorating".
There are many good changes. For example, now, we can exchange our thinking globally. That is clearly shown when we receive  message to Japan from all over the world after the terrible earthquake.
Receiving change takes long time and that involves pains. But I believe we can overcome it.

Good aspects of stress

From today's English lesson, I learned about a word "Eustress".

My dictionary defines this word as :
"moderate or normal psychological stress interpreted as being beneficial for the experiencer"

Generally, stress is considered to be a bad thing but this word teaches us there are positive types of stress.

I think that it is a very important concept for improving our attitude to work.
Good workers use stress from their work to heighten their concentration and accomplish high performance.

So, stress is painful but we can translate it into an opportunity for our improvement.


In Japan, there are many beautiful flowers in the spring like this.

They can't bloom without getting through the cold winter.

When you are in pain, you may be on the path to success.

Open Science and Technology

I think, science and technology should be more open so that we can share scientific knowledge and technological skills.

We can think deeper if we work together, and potentially create anything.
Anybody can change the world via their knowledge and skill if they share their ideas with other talented people.

This is why I have called my blog "My open laboratory".

I have done extensive research in laboratories of Japanese graduate universities for 4 years.

(Kyushu university and University of Tokyo)
My major is in Agriculture.

At the moment I am working for a Japanese engineering company. 

My lifestyle involves working for the company during the week, and discussing  innovation and inventions at the weekend.

I live in Tokyo and most of my colleagues and friends are Japanese.

However, I  want to collaborate with people globally.

Japan is a good country but can be quite insulated at times.
This is why I want to expand my knowledge and opinions through this blog.

I'm looking to share articles and discuss ideas with people from all over the world.