Kakuta Haruo---Decoding Japan---

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Location: Sakai, Osaka, Japan

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Haru ya Mukashi (translation) (5)

On the day, Shin-san was walking along Dai-Kaidoh Street in the castle town, and was hailed by
"Uncle Ikeuchi,"
who was an ex-samurai. His name is Ikenouchi Nobuo. He is an old man, who used to hold a superintendent office of infantry samurai with Hiragoroh, and has been associating with Akiyama Family as close as relatives. For your information, the man's fourth son is named Kiyoshi, who will be adopted to Takahama Family, and will make haiku poet, Takahama Kyoshi.
"Rare sight, isn't it?"
Thus said Uncle. He says to regard him a curiosity more. In the third year of Meiji, the Prefecture allowed, or even recommended, ex-samurai to change their jobs to farming or commerce, and to live in where they want to. Ikeuchi Nobuo thought living in the caste town any more would lead them only to starvation, made the registration quickly to be a farmer, was given the gratuity of housing expenditure and outfit allowance by the Prefecture, and moved to Nishi-no-shita Village at Kazahaya County in the Prefecture with the whole family. Today, he comes to the castle town after a long while, so he insists to be thought "a curiosity more."
"We mustn't stand talking."
Thus Uncle looked around. Standing chatting is what town people and peasants do, and samurai must not do that. He cannot get rid of the custom from ex-Clan's days. As he looked around, he found a bench in front of a haberdashery. It was at the entrance of the shop that bears no relation to him, but he sat on it without permission. That shows he cannot get rid of the custom to be arrogant against town people.
"Do you know?"
Asked Uncle. Shin-san asked standing, "What are you talking about?"
"So you don't know it yet. They started a teachers college in Osaka. This is, you know, a free school."
Thus he told a serious information. Shin-san was surprised and asked again only to be replied:
"I don't know its details. However, what's the matter that your father, Hiragoroh, who works for the educational affairs section of the Prefecture, has't told you the information yet. Well, sometime,"
Uncle Ikenouchi stood up,
"Why don't you ask him?"
On hearing that, Shin-san started running without a word. When he ran back to his house, his father, Hiragoroh, was planting something like medical herbs.
"Is the information of a teachers college true?"
The question was responded with, "Who told you?" As the boy told what had happened, Hiragoroh replied,
"That's true."
Only with the word, he keeps digging the ground with a spatula. As the boy reproached why he had not been informed, Hiragoroh scorned that.
Hiragoroh said, as the information had not been made public yet, how could it be revealed just to his family?
Shin-san, however, was not interested in listening that official morals, but knowing entrance regulations. As he asked about them in a haste, Hiragoroh said,
"I can't tell you here. Why don't you come over to the office?"
He demanded his son to come as the general public do, and then the rules shall be taught. It shows he is, in any respect, just a conscientious castle officer who follows an old custom of ex-Clan.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Haru ya Mukashi (translation) (4)

Hiragoroh Hisataka, Akiyama family head, has as few anecdotes as people usually have.
"I have never seen such a conscientious man."
Thus was he reputed in his younger days. From young, he held a superintendent office of infantry samurai, worked faithfully, and then met the fall of Shogunate at the Restoration. The family salary was seized, and less than 1,000 yen was substituted in lump sum. With this 1,000 yen, other samurai attempted business.
"I am not so competent."
Hence he did not do anything. He might just as well not. Most of those who attempted business failed, bankrupted, and some of them even ended up in the streets.
Hiragoroh Hisataka was rather lucky to be hired as a petty official for the educational affairs section of the Prefecture. However, he got such a small salary that it can hardly support the household of Akiyama Family with this many children.
"I do no more than feed you. Do everything else by yourselves."
Thus Hiragoroh Hisataka would always say to his children.
It was, as it were, because of Hiragoroh Hisataka's education policy that Shin-san started heating water and coming home with a Tempoh coin [a nickel] a day. Shin-san bought books with these Tempho coins, but could not attend school with the wages for heating water.
"Let me attend school."
Shin-san asked his father once. Hiragoroh Hisataka relied in a small voice:
"I have no money."
The father made a witty remark. All the heroes and giants in all ages were born poor. He was poor, as he said, for his children's own good in a sense.
He said without having money for school expenses:
"Shin, if you don't like poverty, study hard."
That was the spirit of the times. The sovereign power belonged to Satsuma and Choh-shuh Clans. The Clan sectarian government, instead, summoned all the youth in Japan to study, and guaranteed that the Government shall employ those who do well at school. Every single samurai had become masterless all together, and their new way to enter the government service was stated to be to study.
That was the way to eat, and especially for those ex-samurai of the Clans who found themselves in the position of the rebel army in Boshin War, that was the only way to escape from the slough of the poverty.
"I want to study, too."
Thus Shin-san thought. That moved him to heat water for a bathhouse, to collect bath charges, and to watch the clothes of bathing customers.
"I wonder if there weren't any school free of fees in Japan."
Thus Shin-san had been dreaming of something impossible. Thinking something or reading a book at his watcher's seat, he sometimes forgot handing changes of bath charges, and was claimed. Female customers were, notably, critical.
"Akiyama's son is, with his handsome face, a fool."
Thus, of course, he heard them gossiping on the floor in his hearing.
One day, Shin-san caught a good hearsay.
"A free school was built in Osaka."

Sunday, October 05, 2008

By the People, For the People, Of the People

“U.S. House OK’s bailout bill” (The Daily Yomiuri, Sunday, October 05, 2008, p.1)
The article reports: “The bailout bill will empower the Treasury Department to purchase up to $700 billion of broken mortgage-backed securities that are choking world capital markets.”
Will anyone that is choked be saved? Obviously not. Only those who live along Wall Street are to be saved.
In the hope that “the benefits of deregulating finance would trickle down to all Americans” (Macdonald)? Suspiciously not. It is because “the choice was between the Democratic former CEO of Goldman Sachs and the Republican former CEO of Goldman Sachs: Robert Rubin or Hank Paulson.” (ibid.) Residents along Main Street have never been ‘people.’

Source:
Michael D. MacDonald: Government by Goldman Sachs,
(http://www.tri-cityherald.com/987/story/338745.html), Sunday, October 5, 2008

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Establishing Class Identity and the Brand Strategy of Sumiyoshi Senior High School (draft)

Foreign Language faculty can contribute to the brand strategy of Sumiyoshi Senior High School by establishing the brand strategy of English-related classes.
Let me clarify my terminology here in this writing. I use the words "class" and "subject" such as to mention, "English Subject has English Understanding Class, English Expression Class, and etc." Since Sumiyoshi Senior High School has Science Course and International Course, I avoided using the word "course" to talk about its curriculum.
In this sense, we have 1 English-related class in the subject "Foreign Language," 5 classes in the subject "English," and 1 class in the subject "International Cultures." Establishing the identity of a class will strengthen the brand equity of the class. The stronger brand equity of each class, in turn, can be woven into a web of brand equity, which enhances the school identity of Sumiyoshi Senior High School. We can contribute to the School Identity of Sumiyoshi Senior High School, by enhancing the identities of those classes.
"Establishing a school identity can give your children a sense of security and help them to feel 'normal'. ... The more you put into your school identity, the more unity and pride your kids will feel." (Hernandez)
Obviously, the stronger school identity makes students more motivated and confident. That is the case even with class identity. The stronger class identity makes participating students more motivated and confident.
"An effective brand strategy will create a unique identity that will differentiate you from the competition." (Lake)
If we can establish more effective brand strategy, we can enjoy a stronger class identity.
To establish more effective brand strategy, we have to "analyze the factors of brand equity which underlie brand strategy." (Osuga, p.363) By analyzing the factors of brand equity, we can "clarify the relationship between brand strategy and the key factors of brand equity." (ibid.)
The identity of English related classes or their brand equity has 3 factors: to have students develop their ability of English practical usage, to get students ready for college entrance examinations, and to have the school. Each class should be analyzed from these 3 viewpoints so as that each of the classes is to establish or strengthen its brand equity with one or two of these factors.
We can, and have to, accumulate the brand equity of classes to strengthen class identity. Thinking through a more effective brand strategy is the key of the accumulation, and is very important for Sumiyoshi Senior High School, which is in an accumulation crisis.

References:
Beverly Hernandez, "Establishing a School Identity", http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/gettingstarted/a/backidentity.htm
Laura Lake, "Developing Your Brand Strategy ",
http://marketing.about.com/od/brandstrategy/tp/brandstrategydev.htm
Osuga Akira, "The Relationship between Brand Strategy and Brand Equity", Journal of business and economics, 2005, Vol.51, No.3, pp.363-376, Kinki University, http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110004622785/en/