http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/rss Fujiwo's latest journal entries Lang-8 Inc. Thu Jun 20 09:03:54 UTC 2013 Thu Jun 20 09:03:54 UTC 2013 Lang-8 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Lang-8
Would you tell me whether the following nonsense sentence is correct in grammar or not?

- "An interviewer interview an interviewee an interview."
- (The interviewee is interviewed an interview by the interviewer.)


Posted at Sun Oct 17 00:05:29 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/659465 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/659465 Fujiwo Sun Oct 17 00:05:29 UTC 2010


Last week, I went on an overnight domestic trip with my family by car.
We visited Japan Monkey Park and Inuyama Castle in Inuyama, Gifu.
We also took a factory tour at Toyota Motor Corporation in Toyota, Aichi.
We were able to learn about Toyota Production System there.
It was a very interesting experience.


Posted at Mon Aug 09 07:16:16 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/581509 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/581509 Fujiwo Mon Aug 09 07:16:16 UTC 2010
Today, I have a few questions about English words.

Yesterday, one of my Japanese friends insisted that 'real' is not an antonym of 'imaginary'.
He said 'real' can be an antonym of 'imaginary' only in old scientific documents or monographs.
He also said that 'real' can mean 'imaginary' in a way.
He said, "For example, when photographers say 'photo real' or 'super real', with the word 'real', they mean their images that are actually just in their minds. In this case, 'real' does not actually means 'fact' but more 'real' feeling than 'fact' which they feel about photos. That's why."

However, I don't think so.
I think 'real' can be an antonym of 'imaginary' in common use.

My dictionary says that 'real' (as an adjective) has following meanings:
1, NOT ARTIFICIAL, something that is real is actually what it seems to be and not false, artificial or pretended
2. NOT IMAGINARY, actually existing and not just imagined

In the first case, antonyms of 'real' are 'fake', 'artificial', and so forth.
In the second case, I think 'imaginary' can be an antonym of 'real'.

How do you think about it?
Would you tell me which one is correct?

And also, I have two more questions:

- Can 'virtual' be an antonym of 'real'?
(If so, I’ll be a little bit confused about the phrase 'virtual reality'. Does the phrase have two words which have opposite meanings? Can it make sense?)
- Can 'nominal' be an antonym of 'virtual'?

Posted at Wed Aug 04 05:41:49 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/576362 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/576362 Fujiwo Wed Aug 04 05:41:49 UTC 2010
Question: "What is the past tense of 'I'm living in Tokyo.'?"
Answer: "I'm living in Edo."


Posted at Thu Jul 22 13:35:07 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/563504 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/563504 Fujiwo Thu Jul 22 13:35:07 UTC 2010

Long time no update.

Lately, I drink Pu-erh tea, which I bought in Beijing last year, instead of coffee at my office.
I like Pu-erh tea because of not only its pleasing flavor and healthiness but also its economic efficiency.
I can brew more than five cups of tea from a teaspoon of Pu-erh tea leaves.

For more information about Pu-erh tea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu-erh_tea

Posted at Tue Jul 13 08:37:24 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/553175 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/553175 Fujiwo Tue Jul 13 08:37:24 UTC 2010


My Golden Week holidays started yesterday!
(It ends May 6.)

A week spanning the end of April to early May is called "Golden Week" in Japan, since many Japanese national holidays are concentrated in the week.

Yesterday, I went out to Nishiyama Park in Fukui for a picnic, and really enjoyed beautiful azalea blossoms which are called tsutsuji in Japanese.

I could memorize some English words for birds, like pleasant, crane, and bantam, on plates which provide information on animals or plants in the park.
I also memorized difficult kanjis, like "躑躅" for tsutsuji and "小猫熊" for lesser panda.

Posted at Thu Apr 30 03:21:27 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/136078 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/136078 Fujiwo Thu Apr 30 03:21:27 UTC 2009


Hello, everyone!

I went on an outing for hanami (cherry blossom viewing) on the weekend.
The sakuras (cherry blossoms) were at their peak!
I really enjoyed them.

Posted at Wed Apr 15 09:13:09 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/124876 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/124876 Fujiwo Wed Apr 15 09:13:09 UTC 2009

Hello, everyone!

The sakuras (桜, cherry blossoms) are blooming beautifully in my town now.
I took the photos above on the way to work today.
I will go on an outing for hanami (花見, cherry blossom viewing), if the weather is good on the weekend.

Posted at Wed Apr 08 03:23:53 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/119672 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/119672 Fujiwo Wed Apr 08 03:23:53 UTC 2009
I've moved from another floor in my office building.
Then I've installed an espresso maker in my new workplace.

(Because there was no coffee maker in my new workplace, and I definitely need coffee.)

Posted at Fri Apr 03 09:32:51 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/116895 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/116895 Fujiwo Fri Apr 03 09:32:51 UTC 2009

Hello, everyone!
This is my first article in a long time.

April has started today.
The cherry blossom season has come!

It's getting springlike in my town only within recent days.

The first photo above was taken on the last weekend which is just two days after the shooting of the second photo of the same place.

Posted at Wed Apr 01 09:14:42 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/115692 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/115692 Fujiwo Wed Apr 01 09:14:42 UTC 2009
Hello, everyone!

I'm staying in Seattle and attending technical sessions at the Microsoft Campus from the morning until the night for the last several days.

All sessions are held in English, so I'm getting used to the sound of English every day.

Here are thousands of people from across the globe.
I'm really exciting!

Posted at Tue Mar 03 19:39:01 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/98373 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/98373 Fujiwo Tue Mar 03 19:39:01 UTC 2009
I'm going to take a trip to the U.S. for 9 days starting today.
Now I've just finished packing for my travel.

The main purpose of this trip is attending a conference hosted by Microsoft Corporation at Microsoft Campus in Redmond near Seattle, but first, I'm goint to Las Vegas today (for no special reason).

I'm going to left Tokyo this afternoon and arrive at L.A. this morning because of the time difference.
I'll have 41 hours today. I've got a long day today.

Anyway, I've been very excited at the thought of the trip for the last few days, and I have needed to finish my chores before the trip and also needed to prepare for the trip, so I only slept for a hour in the last two days.
I'm already jet-lagged in Japan.

Posted at Wed Feb 25 18:33:50 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/94654 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/94654 Fujiwo Wed Feb 25 18:33:50 UTC 2009

Yesterday, I went to a bookstore near my house, at where every CD or DVD was sold at a 70% discount.

I bought two DVDs of opera at the bookstore because of the discount: "La traviata" composed by Verdi and "Turandot" composed by Puccini which are both very famous and great operas.

DVDs are very suitable to enjoy operas at home, because of their pleasant sounds, video pictures, and subtitles.

I think that it was a good opportunity to buy such DVDs of opera, though I am not very familiar with operas right now.

I'm looking forward to watch the DVDs on a near day.

Posted at Mon Feb 23 07:41:13 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/93024 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/93024 Fujiwo Mon Feb 23 07:41:13 UTC 2009
Hello, everyone!
This is my first post in a while.

I have a plan to attend a large conference hosted by Microsoft Corporation at Microsoft Campus in Redmond near Seattle next week.
I will stay at a hotel in Seattle for four nights.

I also have a plan to stop in Las Vegas on my way to Seattle.
I will stay in Las Vegas for three nights with a little bit of dollars for which I exchanged when it was 90 yen to the dollar rate.

This is my sixth overseas trip!
I have ever been to Australia once, to China once, and to the U.S. four times.

I'm excited about the upcoming trip.
I wish my English, which I had been studying these days, is very available during the trip.

Posted at Thu Feb 19 02:48:37 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/90505 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/90505 Fujiwo Thu Feb 19 02:48:37 UTC 2009
I attend an English conversation class every week.
This week, I came to exercise in English composition in the class, then I wrote about software projects as follows:

------ "Making Your Software Project Successful" ------
"Planning"

If you would like to make your project successful, you should manage the project well.

One of the most important issue of your project is how you plan it.

You have to plan the project properly, and the planning should be on the basis of its scale. You should consider four parameters of the scale: time, quality, cost and scope. You have to meet each demand of those parameters by your customers on your project, because you have to give the customers value as much as possible with the project.

On the other hand, you don't have to persist on your original schedule. You should optimize the plan with the actual progress frequently. You also need to consider how improve the way of project management gradually.

For the purposes, you should have progress meegings frequently. I recommend you to have daily short meeting in the morning.
-------------------------------------------------------

Would you correct mistakes in the sentences above?

Posted at Thu Jan 29 10:19:53 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/78140 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/78140 Fujiwo Thu Jan 29 10:19:53 UTC 2009
Hello, everyone!

Recently, I've introduced kare and sukiyaki, which are very popular Japanese dishes.

kare: http://lang-8.com/journal/74745?c=5
sukiyaki: http://lang-8.com/journal/76012?c=3

Today, I'd like to introduce "oden".
(The photograph above is oden which I had last night.)

Oden is also a kind of nabe and one of the most popular winter Japanese dishes.

To make oden, we boil several ingredients such as daikon (Japanese radish), boiled eggs, konnyaku (jellylike foods made from konnyaku corm), aburaage (fried tofu), hampen (boiled or fried seafood paste), chikuwa (tubes of boiled seafood paste), and gammodoki (fried balls of tofu mixed with grated vegetables) in soy-sauce-flavoured soup.

If you like miso which is, of course, a Japanese seasoning made from soy, you should try oden with some miso-dare (miso sauce) on its top.

It's excellent! It will warm you up in winter. You've got to try it!

Posted at Mon Jan 26 05:37:36 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/76570 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/76570 Fujiwo Mon Jan 26 05:37:36 UTC 2009
Hello, everyone!

I ate sukiyaki last night.
(The photograph above is the sukiyaki.)

Sukiyaki is a kind of nabe, which is a type of Japanese dish.
It is similar to Korean dish jjigae.

We sauteed and boiled beef, pork, yakidofu (grilled tofu), negi (a type of cibol or scallion), enoki-take (a type of mushroom), buna-shimeji (a type of mushroom), and ito konnyaku (jelly-noodles made out of konnyaku corm), and dressed them with soy sauce, sugar, and sake in a pot.


I love such nabe as sukiyaki, so I taste nabe, such as sukiyaki, chankonabe, oden, and mizutaki, about once a week in winter.

Have you ever tasted nabe? Do you like nabe?

Posted at Sun Jan 25 02:48:57 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/76012 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/76012 Fujiwo Sun Jan 25 02:48:57 UTC 2009
Do you know what day it is today?

Today, January 22nd, is the day of Kare in Japan.
I don't know why January 22nd is Kare Day.

Anyway, I ate home-made Kare for dinner today.
(Above photograph is it.)

The Japanese word "Kare" usually means "curry and rice".
Originally, curry is an Indian dish, and Kare is completely Japanized curry.

Kare is very popular food in Japan.
I think most Japanese children like Kare.

And of course, I love Kare.

Posted at Thu Jan 22 13:42:35 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/74745 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/74745 Fujiwo Thu Jan 22 13:42:35 UTC 2009 (十年以上一度も止まらなかった私の腕時計が止まった。)

I should buy a new one.
(新しいのを買わないと。)

Posted at Wed Jan 21 16:55:36 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/74330 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/74330 Fujiwo Wed Jan 21 16:55:36 UTC 2009
Hi, everyone!

Lately, I'm trying the beta version of Windows 7.
Windows 7 is the next version of Microsoft Windows.
I'm expecting it will be released to manufacture by the end of this year.

The above picture is a screen shot of Windows 7 Beta, and you can also watch a video of Windows 7 Beta on the following web page of Microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-videos.aspx


I like such a new technology since my childhood.
So I hoped to become a engineer when I was a child.
And now, I am a software engineer.

I still like to study engineering very much.
It's very interesting and exciting for me!

Posted at Wed Jan 21 09:00:45 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/74083 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/74083 Fujiwo Wed Jan 21 09:00:45 UTC 2009
Hello, everyone!
(こんにちは、皆さん。)

These days, I'm very interested in mastering or acquiring something.
(最近、私は何かを習得したり修得したりすることに興味があります。)

For example, I like to think about how we can master a foreign language.
(例えば、どのようにすれば外国語を習得できるのだろうか、と考えたりすることが好きです。)

Today, I'll introduce to you my favorite phrase about leaning in the Analects of Confucius.
(今日は、皆さんに孔子の論語から、学習に関する私の好きな言葉をご紹介します。)

As you may know, Confucius is one of the greatest thinkers of ancient China.
(ご存じかも知れませんが、孔子は古代中国の最も偉大な思想家の一人です。)

- Chinese Classics Version: (漢文版:)
　　子曰、學而不思則罔、思而不學則殆。

- Japanese Classics Version: (古文版:)
　　子曰く、學びて思はざれば則ち罔し、思ひて學ばざれば則ち殆うし。

- Modern Japanese Version: (現代日本語版:)
　　孔子が言われた「学んでも考えなければ明快にはならず、考えても学ばなければ危険である。」

- English Version: (英語版:)
　　Confucius said, "If you learn without thinking, you cannot understand truly. If you think without learning, you will be self-righteous.".

This is a very popular passage in Japan.
(これは日本ではとても有名な一節です。)

Most Japanese learn this passage by rote in the Japanese Classics Version of the passaage as seen above.
(ほとんどの日本人は、上記の古文版をそらんじています。)

I like this passage very much.
(私はこの一節が大好きです。)

Do you know any similar phrases in English?
(英語に似た言葉はありますか?)

Posted at Wed Jan 14 05:32:22 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/70331 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/70331 Fujiwo Wed Jan 14 05:32:22 UTC 2009

It's very cold today.

It has been snowing hard continuously since yesterday.
It has already snowed several tens of centimeters deep.

Posted at Mon Jan 12 14:33:28 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/69538 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/69538 Fujiwo Mon Jan 12 14:33:28 UTC 2009
Today, I enjoyed practical joke movies on the YouTube.
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=hVO_WSNEtTY

I like to watch that kind of funny jokes. (I never do that. Just watching.)

Now, I have an question.
What is the difference between "prank" and "practical joke"?

I think these are same thing. Is that right?

Posted at Sun Jan 11 02:32:10 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/68702 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/68702 Fujiwo Sun Jan 11 02:32:10 UTC 2009
Hi, everyone.

Yesterday, I introduced you a logical puzzle.

"Logical Puzzle"
http://lang-8.com/journal/66819?c=3

It may not be very difficult for programmers who are familiar with logical thinking.
But Wason gave this test to 128 University-educated adults, and only 5% gave the proper answer.

The most common answer given was "A and 4," by 46% of the people, and the second common answer was "4" by 33% of the people.

However, when the puzzle was changed in another situation, most people gave the correct answer.

"Similar logical puzzle in another situation"
--------------------------------------
You are a police officer.
Now, you need to check whether people drinking alcohol are of legal drinking age in a cafe.

When you enter the cafe, you can see four people drinking something.
Then you can find that one person is drinking Coke and another person is drinking beer.

You don't know what the other persons are drinking yet, but your partner knows their ages; one of them is 16 years old and the other person is 22 years old.

Now, which of these people would you need to check his or her age or drink?

(A) The person drinking Coke of uncertain age
(B) The person drinking beer of uncertain age
(C) The 16-year-old boy or girl drinking uncertain drink
(D) The 22-year-old person drinking uncertain drink
--------------------------------------

I think this is easy puzzle. The correct answer is "'the person drinking beer of uncertain age' and 'the 16-year-old boy or girl drinking uncertain drink'".

You don't need to care how old the person drinking Coke, and also, you don't need to care whether the 22-year-old person is drinking alcohol or non-alcohol drink, but you should confirm how old "The person drinking beer" is and what "The 16-year-old boy or girl" is drinking.

By similar reasoning, we can come up with the corect answer for the yesterday's puzzle: "A and 7".
Let's hear it for people who gave the correct answer!

--------------------------------------------------------------------

皆さん、こんにちは。

昨日、論理パズルを紹介しました。

"Logical Puzzle"
http://lang-8.com/journal/66819?c=3

論理的思考に慣れているプログラマーの方には、それほど難しくなかったかも知れません。
しかし、ウェイソンは、大学出の成人 128人にこのテストを実施し、たった 5% からしか正解は得られなかったのです。

もっとも多い答えは 46% の人がが答えた「A と 4」で、次に多い答えは 33% の人が答えた「4」でした。

ところが、このパズルを別の状況に置き換えたところ、今度は殆どの人が正解したのです。

○ 別の状況の同様の論理問題
--------------------------------------
あなたは警察官です。
これから、カフェで「酒を飲んでいる人が、法的に酒を飲んでもよい年齢 (20歳以上) かどうか」を調べなければいけません。

カフェに行くと、そこでは四人の人が何かを飲んでいます。
見ると、一人はコーラを飲み、一人はビールを飲んでいるのが分かりました。

残りの二人が何を飲んでいるかはまだ分かりませんが、同僚が年齢を知っていて、一人は16歳で一人は22歳であることが分かっています。

さて、これから年齢もしくは飲み物を調べなければならないのはどの人でしょうか?

・「年齢が分からないコーラを飲んでいる人」
・「年齢が分からないビールを飲んでいる人」
・「何を飲んでいるか分からない16歳」
・「何を飲んでいるか分からない22歳」
--------------------------------------

これは簡単だと思います。正解は、「年齢が分からないビールを飲んでいる人」と「何を飲んでいるか分からない16歳」です。

コーラを飲んでいる人が何歳であっても構わないし、22歳の人は酒を飲んでいても飲んでいなくてもどちらでも構いません。でも、「年齢が分からないビールを飲んでいる人」が何歳かと、「何を飲んでいるか分からない16歳」が何を飲んでいるかは確認する必要があります。

同様の推論により、昨日の問題の答えは、「A」と「7」です。
正解者に拍手!

Posted at Thu Jan 08 10:24:35 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/67312 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/67312 Fujiwo Thu Jan 08 10:24:35 UTC 2009
Hello, everyone.

I'm a software development engineer. The ability to think logically is important for engineers.

Today, I'd like to introduce the logical puzzle which tests your logical thinking skills. It's known as "Wason's Four-card Task".

------------------------------
Four cards are on a table.

[A] [4] [D] [7]

The each card has a letter on one side and a number on the other.

The question is, which of these cards would you need to turn over in order to know whether the following statement is true or false?

The statement is: "If a card has a vowel on one side, then it has an even number on the other side."
------------------------------

Got it? What's your answer?

# For your information, Wason gave this test to 128 University-educated adults, and only 5% gave the proper answer.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

皆さん、こんにちは。

私は、ソフトウェア開発のエンジニアです。エンジニアには論理的に考える能力が大切です。

今日は、論理的に考える能力をテストする論理パズルを紹介します。このパズルは、「ウェイソンの四枚カード問題」として知られています。

------------------------------
四枚のカードがテーブルの上に置かれています。

「A」 「4」 「D」 「7」

おのおののカードには、片面にアルファベット、その裏面には数字が書かれています。

次の命題が真か偽かを知るためにはどのカードをめくる必要があるでしょうか、というのが問題です。

命題: 「カードの片面に母音が書いてあれば、その裏面には偶数が書かれている」
------------------------------

さて答えは何でしょうか?

# ちなみに、ウェイソン はこのテストを 128 人の大学を出た成人に行いましたが、正解者はたった 5% でした。

Posted at Wed Jan 07 09:56:14 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/66819 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/66819 Fujiwo Wed Jan 07 09:56:14 UTC 2009


Today, I drove along the coast of the Japan Sea with my family.
Because it was sunny for this time of year in this area, we could enjoy the beautiful sea very much.

Then, we visited Kehi Shrine (the third photo) near the sea.

Posted at Mon Dec 29 12:22:40 UTC 2008
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/63335 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/63335 Fujiwo Mon Dec 29 12:22:40 UTC 2008
Today, I cleaned my office with my colleagues. (In Japan, people have a tradition of doing a general cleaning at the end of each year.)

I have the New Year's holidays from tomorrow. I will enjoy staying home and relaxing with my family during the holiday.(We don't have any special travel plans partly because of the economic slump.)

Anyway, I'm sure we'll have great holidays. I'm looking forward to it.

I also wish you a Happy New Year!

Posted at Fri Dec 26 05:53:19 UTC 2008
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/62162 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/62162 Fujiwo Fri Dec 26 05:53:19 UTC 2008
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Cliff_(film)
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Earth_Stood_Still_(2008_film)

It had been a while since I watched a movie at the theater.

I like the Chinese Sanguozhi story (Three Kingdom Saga) very much. So I enjoyed "Red Cliff" very much. The movie has a lot of splendid scenes.

I also enjoyed "The Day the Earth Stood Still", of course, in English. (And of course, It was subtitled in Japanese.)

Posted at Wed Dec 24 09:55:31 UTC 2008
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/61491 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/61491 Fujiwo Wed Dec 24 09:55:31 UTC 2008
Today I'd like to tell you about my hobbies.

I have many interests. I like to study English, ride a bicycle, and juggle balls these days. (I can juggle four balls at a time.) I also like to cruise the Internet.

Would you tell me what is your favorite hobby?

Posted at Fri Dec 19 10:09:13 UTC 2008
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/59454 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/59454 Fujiwo Fri Dec 19 10:09:13 UTC 2008
It's 7.30 p.m. in Japan.
Now, I'm looking for the translation of a Japanese word「ありえない」.

Would you tell me if I can use these phrases at the same situation?

1. That's impossible!
2. No way!
3. It can't happen!
4. That will never happen!
5. That can't be!
6. No chance at all!

Posted at Thu Dec 18 10:42:42 UTC 2008
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/59049 http://www.lang-8.com/22942/journals/59049 Fujiwo Thu Dec 18 10:42:42 UTC 2008