Continuing My Writing Practice

Last night, despite it being Friday evening, I didn’t meet anyone for dinner or drinks, and spent my time all by myself. 

After finishing work, I made my way to The Coffee Bean in the Raffles City Shopping Centre, where I continued to read a Japanese book on cognitive biases while drinking a cup of coffee. The book deals with some cognitive biases commonly observed in our daily discourse, such as over-generalization, circular reasoning, and ad hominem attacks. While being very informative, the book is not too difficult to read through, so I’m enjoying it.

I’ve been interested in the subject of critical thinking for many years, but I haven’t gotten around to studying it until now. By reading this book, I hope to get the most basic understanding of how to think in a methodical and organized way, and to avoid being trapped by the most common types of fallacies, such as lies, falsehoods, and fake news.

Having said that, given my very busy life as a working professional, it’s not realistic for me to spend too much time studying the subject. I intend to read only a few very elementary books in this field and be done with it, because there’s a whole bunch of other subjects I want to study, like Japanese history, artificial intelligence, mathematics, and foreign languages.

For me, the most critical subject for me to learn will always be the English language, and in particular to practice writing in English, like I’m doing now. During the last year, I’ve been devoting a great deal of time to this writing practice. My efforts have paid off to some extent, as manifested in my improved fluency in both written and spoken English.

In my view, the ability to speak articulately is really the reflection of your ability to think, making my journal-writing all the more important. I will continue to spend a chunk of my time on this practice until I’m satisfied with my level of fluency.

Kyoto, Je T'aime

My one-week stay in Japan passed incredibly quickly, and I returned to Singapore this past Sunday morning. 

I spent the last two days of my Japan trip in Kyoto, which was fantastic. Kyoto is Japan’s ancient capital, so it has numerous historical sites to visit, such as temples, shrines and museums. Because I was only there for two and a half days, it was impossible for me to pack all the important sightseeing spots into my travel plan. Consequently, I limited my itinerary to only a few sites, and visited them in a leisurely manner.

Luckily, my best friend, Mari, currently resides in Kyoto, and we met up a few times for afternoon tea, dinner, and late night drinks during my stay in this beautiful city. It was great to catch up after not seeing each other for more than two decades.

Back in the day, Mari and I used to work together as colleagues in Tokyo. Mari was born and raised in Kyoto, but went to Tokyo for work when she was around 28. By the time I met her, she had already lived in Tokyo for a while, and had completely gotten rid of her Kyoto accent, conversing with me like a typical Tokyo girl.

However, after she got married, she moved back to Kyoto with her husband. It didn’t take her long to get her original accent back, and now she speaks with a full-on Kyoto accent with a touch of urban sophistication.

Hearing Mari speak with her original accent made me realize how much time has passed since we parted ways, during which we have gone through very different experiences in our lives. Nevertheless, it was nice to see her still happy and healthy.

By the way, when I was speaking with Mari, I adjusted my own accent in my attempt to sound more like a local. Much to my relief, she didn’t make fun of my pathetic Kyoto-ish accent, and we carried on our conversation. Had I been able to stay in the city a bit longer, I believe I would have mastered the Kyoto dialect, the sound of which I absolutely love.

Overall, I enjoyed my stay in Kyoto immensely, and hope to travel to the city again soon. Before my next journey, perhaps I can read up a bit on Japanese history, so that I can gain a deeper appreciation for the historical significance of each site I visit.

The Finnish Success Model

On Friday evening, although I was a bit late arriving at Changi Airport, I still managed to complete my check-in and boarded the plane bound for Tokyo. During the flight, I did some reading and watched some Netflix, but I couldn’t get much sleep. That being said, it was a smooth and enjoyable flight.

The book I read on the plane was on the subject of how Finnish people live and work, especially in comparison with Japanese people, and it was a very interesting observation.

According to the author, Tokiko Horiuchi, what’s striking about the way Finnish people work is their relentless pursuit for efficiency, to the extent that most employees finish their work by 4 p.m., which stands in stark contrast to Japanese workers, who often hang around at the office much later, after having spent numerous unproductive hours during the day.

I was equally impressed by how egalitarian Finnish society is, and in a good way. Take education, for example. In Finland, even if you go to an average public school, you’re pretty much guaranteed a decent level of education, which equips you with the skills necessary to perform competently at work, such as critical thinking skills.

Unlike in countries like Japan, Singapore, and the U.S., people don’t attach that much importance to which university you’ve attended. In fact, Finland has consistently ranked high in the widely recognized PISA Global Competence Assessment, which is held every three years.

The book also mentions other aspects of Finnish life, such as easy access to housing, medical care, not to mention beautiful nature, all of which are the envies of most other developed countries. Granted, Finland is not a perfect society, but there is a great deal that we can all learn from its success model. 

I’ve never been to Finland before, but reading about it has made me want to understand the country even better. I think I have a pretty good idea what my next travel destination would be.

What's Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander

Over the last few days, I’ve been watching the latest Netflix series “Who’s Erin Carter?”. The series revolves around the lives of a British woman named Erin Carter and her daughter, Harper, in Barcelona, Spain. One day, when they are shopping at a local supermarket, they encounter a robbery, where Erin somehow gets into a physical fight with one of the robbers. This starts a whole saga of bizarre incidents that turn their lives upside down. But that’s not all - it turns out that Erin and Harper have a complicated past, as it becomes clear in the ensuing episodes.

As of last night, I’ve watched five out of the seven episodes that comprise this series. While I find the story a bit too ridiculous, it is action-packed and undeniably gripping and entertaining, so I think I’ll watch the remaining two episodes. Since I’m flying to Japan tonight for vacation, maybe I can watch them on the plane to Tokyo to make the flight time pass more quickly.

By the way, as this story involves a British expat community in Barcelona, most of the dialogues are in British English, with a few lines in Spanish and Catalan interspersed here and there. One thing I like about Netflix is that they have numerous British shows in their lineup as well as American ones, providing me with ample opportunities to train my ear to comprehend both variations of English.

While the two accents sound very different from each other, once you get enough exposure, you will soon get used to both of them, to the point where you stop caring whether it’s British or American. As the saying goes, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, so even if you watch a British show, it can still help you enhance your knowledge of American English, and vice versa.

Ultimately, what truly matters is that a show has interesting content, so I’ll just keep an open mind and select whatever show that catches my fancy, regardless of whether it hails from Britain or America.

Podcasts to Help Me Fall Asleep

For some reason, this morning, I woke up at 6, a bit earlier than usual. I listened to a CNN news podcast before getting out of bed. I usually listen to news podcasts at night right after getting into bed. I close my eyes in the hope of falling asleep right in the middle of the podcast. My golden rule is to listen to a podcast in English - something that’s plain and not too exciting, mainly an American news program - so that I can get to sleep quickly, which happens almost without fail.

On the other hand, if I listen to something in Japanese, it seems to awaken my brain, instead of helping me sleep. I guess it’s because my comprehension level of Japanese is much better than that of English, making my brain respond too well and directly to the content of the podcast without feeling fatigued. English seems to present the right amount of challenge for me to fall asleep in the quickest way possible.

By the way, last night, as an experiment, I quickened the playback speed of the news podcast by 25 percent, thinking it might challenge and tire my brain even faster. It turned out to be counterproductive. Although I could understand the content just as well as if I had played it back at normal speed, the added intensity seemed to have excited my brain, and it took me much longer than usual to get to sleep.

Apart from English, I listen to podcasts in French and Chinese every now and then, just to brush up on my listening skills in these languages. My favorites are the news podcasts by NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster. Their content is superb, written with well-chosen words, and read by a native speaker with a clear and accurate pronunciation.

Although French and Chinese have been put on the back burner as I prioritize my English studies, I still love these languages, and would like to resume studying them whenever I decide to take a short break from English in the future.

Still a Fan of The Economist

This Friday evening, I am flying to Japan for a week-long vacation. I’ll spend the first five days in my hometown of Maebashi to keep company with my dad, and the remaining two days in Kyoto for sightseeing. In between, if the schedule allows, I might visit Tokyo for a short excursion as well, but that remains to be seen.

In the past, whenever I got back to Japan on vacation, I felt kind of obligated to stay with my family in my hometown. However, recently, I’ve changed my thinking, and have begun to travel elsewhere in Japan to make the most of my stay in the country.

I’m looking forward to my upcoming trip to Kyoto, which I haven’t visited for 30 years and only have a vague memory of. Aside from visiting its famous temples, I’m interested in exploring its numerous streets lined with old yet stylish architecture, while stopping by cafes and bookstores here and there.

Although yesterday was a Sunday, I didn’t do a lot of things and had a relaxing day. Like I customarily do on weekends, I studied English by writing a journal entry and having it proofread by ChatGPT. I managed to write a long entry, but I ended up spending too much time on it, and felt exhausted afterward.

By the way, yesterday I wrote my journal while listening to Bossa Nova on Spotify, thinking I could be more productive with light music in the background. However, maybe it was counterproductive after all. I’ve noticed that when I’m at home with no one around, I can write much faster without the music, like I’m doing today. Music can only come in handy when I need to shut out the ambient noise in places like cafes with other people around.

In the evening, I headed to the nearby gym for a workout on a treadmill and stopped by the Starbucks in the same shopping mall afterward, where I read a few articles in the latest issue of The Economist magazine.

As usual, the magazine was very insightful and interesting. In the past, I used to read it more regularly, mainly to study English, and even had a subscription. As I found it to be a bit pricey, I eventually canceled my subscription, but I still remain a fan and buy a copy every now and then.

Learning from the Korean Success Model

Yesterday afternoon, I headed to a nearby beauty salon to have my eyebrows trimmed. Usually, I get my eyebrows trimmed once a month or so. I happen to have thick eyebrows, and if I left them growing, they would start to look rather unsightly within just a few weeks, so regular trimming is necessary. Unfortunately, the Indian lady who normally trims my eyebrows was unavailable yesterday, so a Chinese lady took over in her absence. Luckily, she was also skillful, so I was happy with the final result.

After I was finished with the eyebrow trimming, I went to the hair salon to get a haircut. As it happened, my hairstylist, Yuya, was out of town on vacation, so I had another hairstylist by the name of Naru cut my hair. Naru had done my hair once before, so I already knew that I was in good hands. As expected, my new haircut came out just nice.

One outstanding thing about Naru is that, while he is a native of Fukuoka, Japan, he is fluent in Korean as well as Japanese. He’s learned to speak Korean over the past few years, by such means as watching YouTube videos on elementary Korean and attending a language school. It also helped that geographically, Fukuoka is closer to Seoul than Tokyo, allowing him to travel to Korea numerous times, sometimes as frequently as once a month.

He became such a fan of Korea that he decided to live there long-term. Eventually, he worked at a local hair salon in Seoul for a year, which gave him ample opportunity to learn about the latest hairstyling trends in a city that serves as a touchstone for fashion for the rest of Asia. Undoubtedly, an overseas working experience like this is an invaluable asset for an aspiring professional like him, and I’m convinced that he has a bright future ahead of him.

Speaking of Korea, over the past two decades, it has undeniably consolidated its status as an entertainment powerhouse of Asia, in a manner that cannot be matched by Japan or China. This is manifested by the prevalence of K-pop on the music charts, as well as the dominance of Korean series that are listed among the most widely watched shows on streaming platforms like Netflix.

While I’m not a big fan of Korean pop culture, I find this phenomenon quite fascinating. I think Japan can learn a great deal from the Korean success model in the arena of entertainment, so that it can strengthen its own soft power. Having such an influence can generate more favorable views toward Japan in the minds of people around the world, so Japan should really take this matter more seriously.

Voted in the Presidential Election

Yesterday afternoon, I went to the polling station in my neighborhood and voted in the presidential election of Singapore. I was expecting to wait in a long line, but there were only a couple of voters ahead of me, so I could finish casting my vote within just a few minutes. This was the first time that I’ve voted in an election since becoming a Singaporean citizen, so it had a special significance for me.

In this election, we had three candidates running for president, all of whom had impressive qualifications. The night before the vote, I watched the online presidential forum, where the three candidates took turns to express their views about such topics as how they intend to protect the financial reserves of Singapore, and how they will function as the symbol of unity among the people of different races and religions that make up the population of this city-state.

It was not exactly a presidential debate, as each of them simply articulated their views within a certain time frame, and there were no back-and-forth discussions between the candidates. But it was just as well - the entire forum was conducted in a highly civilized and mutually respectful manner, a far cry from the barbaric and disgraceful demeanor exhibited by Donald Trump in his debate with Joe Biden in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Having watched the forum, I once again felt grateful to be living in this country.

In light of what’s been happening lately in other countries, I don’t take democracy for granted. It is something to be fought for, and I am glad to have participated in the democratic process. I will continue to faithfully play my part by voting in future elections.

After casting my vote, I walked around a bit in the neighborhood, and stepped into the nearest Starbucks. While sipping a cup of coffee, I read a Japanese book that discusses the factors that explain the disparity among different municipalities in Japan in terms of the longevity of their residents: certain cities clearly appear to provide more conducive environments for long and healthy life compared to others.

The author posits that having infrastructures that facilitate healthy living, such as the availability of parks with walking paths and supermarkets with fresh produce, is key. It was also intriguing to know the influence that poverty can have on the future health of a young kid - apparently, it can have a life-long impact as their choices including dietary and book-reading are shaped for their entire lifespan during these critical formative years. Unfortunately, those who spend their infancy in poverty tend to suffer higher incidences of developing diabetes and dementia when they get older.

I am 49 going on 50 this year. At this juncture of my life, my preferences and habits are largely set for life. Nevertheless, as I intend to live out the rest of my life healthy and happy, I need to keep up the physical exercise and continue to stay away from junk food.