Early Bird

What time do you usually wake up in the morning? You may say it depends on what time you go to bed. It is true.

About a dozen years ago, a Japanese woman, a prestigious environmentalist as well as a simultaneous interpreter, published a bestseller book titled, "You can do everything you want by waking up 2 o'clock in the morning." She describes herself "a common household wife" who turned into a interpreter in two years while doing child rearing. But you should not be deceived the word "common," because she has a graduate degree from Tokyo university, top-notch in Asia.

Setting aside her academic background, however, according to her book, she always goes to bed 8 o'clock in the evening and wakes up 2 o'clock in the morning. This is why she can make use of even 4 hours for her own affairs before every other family members wake up.

I was impressed by her way of living, but I cannot do the same thing. But I agree with her idea of making use of morning time. It is true that increasing numbers of companies in Japan are holding a morning in the meeting rather than in the evening. They say it helps employees work more productively.

As for me I usually wake up 5 o'clock in the morning. I spend one hour doing meditation and Seicho-No-Ie's Holy Sutra reading, which provides me with spiritual enlightenment. In other words, these make up a vital spiritual training for me that enables me to see a brighter side in my life and every man and woman as a child of God. After these conducts, I spend time keeping a diary, watching a movie with a portable DVD player in English, or studying English by using other material. Morning time is said to be compared to gold of the day, I completely agree with this notion.

-TA

Intercultural Communication

In the end of last month, we had a Delegetes' Conference, at which Seicho-No-Ie movement policy for 2007 was disclosed and discussed by mainly Japanese leaders with a dozen of world leaders. As a member of the International Department of our organization, I took care of those representatives from the U.S., Brazil, South Korea, Taiwan and Germany.

After the Conference, I joined some of the members and went to a sushi restaurant. What the background of them and the languages available are as follows:

　Japanese American who lives in California
　　　　---- English, Japanese(very little)
　Japanese German who lives in Germany
　　　　---- German, English, Japanese(to some degree)
　Korean who lives in South Korea
　　　　---- Korean, Japanese, English(listening only)
　Japanese who lives in Germany
　　　　---- Japanese, English
　Japanese who lives in Japan but has lived in the U.S.
　for 10 years
　　　　---- Japanese, English
　Japanese who has lived in Spain for study
　　　　---- Japanese, Spanish(to some degree)
　And me, who lives in Japan with no experience living
　abroad
　　　　---- Japanese, English...

We all enjoyed cheerfully talking about sushi and so on. Sometimes the German told us how to call a name of fish in German and some of Japanese encourage westerners raw fish. I believe it was a precious time for all of the participants.

Some say that difference is a source of conflict, but I don't think so. Through this experience, I become more confident that difference is rather a source of abundance.

-TA