Presents are Boosters

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Deciding what to give someone for a present shouldn’t feel like a life or death situation. But this challenge can be overcome, and even enjoyed, by remembering that presents are just a booster

One day, I received a present from my younger sister. Usually, I love presents, but when I looked at her present, I noticed that it was a bottle. A bottle of skin conditioner. For the men in the audience, skin conditioner is a kind of cream. A cream for fixing…wrinkles around your eyes. On top of that, when she handed it to me, she said, “Please take care of your skin condition!”

I was so shocked! As soon as I received that wrinkle cream from her, I started worrying about my wrinkles. And now, I massage my face every day! Do you really think that is the kind of reaction that my sister had in mind when she gave me a present?

I think that the best presents should be boosters! My dictionary says that the meaning of “booster” is: “something that helps someone be more confident or less worried.” Well, let’s look at this situation a little more carefully.

When you want to say “thank you” to a friend, of course you could just say “thank you,” directly with words. Since you have a good relationship with your friend, expressing your thanks in words is a positive, and easy thing to do. However, some situations in life are not so simple.

The Last Blue Train to Aomori

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I love the railroad, because my father was a train conductor at JR West in Osaka. So when I was a boy, I sometimes got on the train my father was driving. It was so exciting for me.

I work at a chemical company as a powder and liquid chemical products salesman. I’m here at Mayflower to improve my English, because most of my company’s products are imported from Europe, mainly, so I have to use English on the job.

Also I have another important reason for being here at Mayflower. My wife is back at her parents’ home in Hirosaki City, Aomori for a short stay. So I am enjoying single life these days, and studying English. When the cats away, the mice will play!

I love the railroad, because my father was a train conductor at JR West in Osaka. So when I was a boy, I sometimes got on the train my father was driving. It was so exciting for me. I especially liked the “blue train” when I was a boy. I think the term “blue train” is Japanese English. So to be exact, it means an overnight sleeper train, with a locomotive leading 10 to 15 blue colored passenger cars.

Around 1980, there was a blue train boom throughout Japan. Early on Sunday mornings, many children gathered in Tokyo’s Ueno station, and Osaka station, to take pictures of the blue train. I was one of these children — known as 「鉄ちゃん」. Around that time, at the peak of the blue train boom, there were about 30 blue trains, leaving Tokyo, and Osaka, bound for Kyusyu, and the Tohoku region of Japan. It was a paradise for kids like me!

Red Cap

The staff listened sincerely to their customers’ complains, and solved all of the problems in one single night with their blood, sweat, and tears.

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Toyota, you are in big trouble! But are you really listening?

This story has recently been all over the news, in every country. Since the end of last year, Toyota, a major Japanese automobile company, has been desperately trying to deal with an incredibly huge car recall problem. They sold millions of defective, dangerous cars, and now, the world is watching to see exactly what they will do to solve the problem. Can they save their company’s damaged image? Tonight, by sharing a story, I’d like focus on how we, as individuals, or as members of groups, or companies, can respond to complaints in a positive way.

MPP10 Debate: Nobel Peace Prize & Obama

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At MPP10, Mayflower’s 2nd Educational Debate Match was held (the 1st was held at MPP7, in Dec. 2009). The resolution was: “The Nobel Peace Prize Comittee should NOT have given the Nobel Peace Prize to American President Obama.” The Negative Side, Ryu’s Sat. Debate class consisting of Eri, Tomomi, and Setsuko, soundly defeated the Affirmative Side, Ted’s Class, consisting of Ikuko, Ei-ichi, and Aska.

No-No Game

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At MPP10, members from Ryu’s Sat. SynCom Seminar Class, Hiroko, Masa, and Kim, gave us a demonstration of the challenging “No-No” Game. The object of the game is to be able to say “no” to someone in conversation, insist on your opinion, and convince them to go along with what you want. It seems like a useful skill!

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Mayflower英語教室
週末は英語漬け!
http://msoe.jp/

He Who Gets Slapped

CONSUELO: Then … you were only playing? HE … I’m so sorry. Why did you play so seriously that I believed you? Here, then.

HE: You are a queen, and I am the fool who is in love with you. Didn’t you know, Consuelo, that every queen has a fool, and he is always in love with her?

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At MPP10, Masa-chan and Miho gave a stellar performance of a scene from “He Who Gets Slapped”, a drama by Andreyev, (adapted by Walter Wykes).

Synopsis: Here we see a man of high education, of great intellectual achievement, who leaves life, willingly in appearance, but forcibly in fact.

Half Empty or Half Full?

I'm an optimistic person, but after that encounter with this negative person, I actually thought about quitting my gaijin hunting hobby.

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I’d like for everyone to close their eyes for a moment, and imagine that you’ve got a glass of water in your hand; half a glass of water.

Now, do you see it as being half empty, or half full? This is a common psychological test to see if someone is an optimist or a pessimist.

OK, you can open your eyes now!

In other words, is someone always hopeful, always believing that good things will happen to them, or do they always expect that bad things will happen to them. Yes, optimists focus on the full part of the glass, while pessimists look at the empty part of it.

Words to Live By

It is very difficult to notice our faults and mistakes. So we should imagine that other people’s faults and mistakes are a mirror image of our own.

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There is a proverb by which I try to live my life: “By other’s faults, wise men correct their own.”

This proverb, like all other proverbs, is a short, well-known statement that contains advice about life. “By other’s faults, wise men correct their own.” Like me, many of you have probably heard this saying many times before in Japanese: “人の振り見て我が振り直せ”.

Tonight, I’d like to take a closer look at this important proverb.

Flowers in My Life

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"Flowers have no borders, no racial lines, and no religious differences. Yes! I believe flower power!"

I’m a flower artist, specializing in floral design. For example, I decorate window displays and in-store spaces at fashion shops, and many kinds of event venues. I also do floral design for advertising, commercial films, and sets for TV programs. For more info, feel free to visit my webpage!

As a flower artist, I also sometimes publish new works of flower art. People often tell me that I don’t look like a flower artist, but actually, my schedule is completely booked solid these days.

How did I get started? I got started with flower art with I was 19 years old. My mother did Japanese traditional flower arrangement – called “ikebana” – and whenever I’d come back home, I’d see her flower art all over the house. So you could say that basically I grew up with flowers. That’s why I took an interest in it!

Business and English: Change Your Attitude, Change The World!

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I realized that we Japanese have lots of room for positive improvement and change. Japan will improve in the future if we can adopt a wider view of the world's business culture, and attitude towards English.

Hi, my name’s Tadakazu! Recently, I traveled to some foreign countries. My experiences were so exiting! So tonight, I want to talk about two big differences that I noticed between Japan, and the countries I visited: differences in attitudes towards business culture, and attitudes towards English studies.

But first, why did I go to these foreign countries? Well, I’m an accountant. I always study the account books of companies. Sometimes, there are things that I can’t understand just by studying accounts. So, I have to visit the companies directly. This time, I had to go to Vietnam and Thailand with my client. We went to check his subsidiary companies there. This gave me a chance to observe some important differences in business culture.