Tandem

大学の授業の中でエグ目な授業の一つに、

"Financial Statement Analysis and Security Valuation"

（日本語：財務諸表分析＆有価証券の価格評価）

という授業があります。

どれくらいエグいかというと、授業が毎週３時間×２あって、

金曜日に授業で１チャプター分くらい進み、そこで演習問題がウェブにアップされ、

月曜日にその演習問題を先生が目の前で解いていくという物。

つまり、先生が解いて３時間かかる物を、土日の間にこなす必要がある。

分からない時は、文字通り一日かかる事もあって、かなりハード。

でも、この授業、欧米なので当然ですが、

日本とは比べ物にならないくらいInteractiveで、

世界中のFinanceの話題になるから面白い。

粉飾決算の話になると、"Was there anything like that in Japan?"

みたいな感じで僕のところに話が来て、ケーススタディが出来上がっていく。

という事は、ライブドア事件の概要について知っている必要があったりして、

求められる知識水準のハードルは結構高いのだが…。

そんな授業後、僕が日本人である事を知ったドイツ人の女の子が、

僕にTandemの申し込みをしてきた。

つまり、僕が彼女からドイツ語を習い、彼女は僕から日本語を習うという物。

という訳で、これまでは留学生同士や、

単に留学生と交流したいがために留学生同士の集まりに顔を出していたドイツ人と交流してた僕も、

ようやく普通のドイツ人のコンタクトが取れた。

授業後に彼女と一時間くらいドイツ語で会話をし、

そしてその子の友達と共に夕飯に誘ってもらった。

６割くらいドイツ語で、３割英語、１割日本語、という感じかな。

彼らが何を行ってるか分からない状態も、

「ドイツ語で言いたいことが言えない！」という状態も、

２～３分に１回起こり、とてもFrustratingではあったけど、

ドイツ人の生の生活が垣間見れた感じで、とても楽しかった。

ちなみに、その彼女の彼氏さんも来ていたので、恋愛の話になり、

以前書いた記事に、さらに情報を追加しておきます。

「好きです」のような単語としては、

1. Ich mag dich (=I like you)
2. Ich habe dich lieb (=I'm fond of you)
3. Ich liebe dich (=I love you)

のような３つの単語があり、日本語では、大体

1. 好きです
2. 大好きです
3. 愛してる

みたいな感じなんだとか。

少なくとも、恋愛の意味においてはそうらしい。

ニュアンスが微妙に違うらしいが。笑

という訳で、日本語に"LoveとLike"に相当する単語が無いというのはウソみたい。

でも、"I love beer"とは言うけど、「ビールを愛しています」とはあんまり言わないからね～。

そもそも「愛してる」なんて単語、ちょっとカッコつけてる感じがするし、使った事ねーし。笑

こらへん、ニュアンスの違いなんだろか。

あとは、以前、こちらで恋愛をしようとすると、相手に付きまとわなければならず、

つまるところ、完全にウザがられる可能性がある、

という（ヨーロッパに留学に来てる友達との総意としての）文句を書いたが、

聞いてみたら、"That's the whole point of love"と言われて、

"Stimmt!（ドイツ語：なるほど！）" という感じだった。

逆に言えば、日本人以上に空気を読む必要があるのかも。

こらへん、ちょっと分からないけど。

ちなみに、このカップルは彼氏さんが彼女さんの後を追い、

"That was the toughest time of my life"なんて表現をしてるし、

終いには、日本流に「好きです」と打ち明けたらしく、

彼女さんがどうして良いか分からずに、その日は彼氏さんを帰してしまった、

という可愛らしいエピソードも聞かせてくれました。

という訳で、ステレオタイプに欧米だから、とかいう感じではなく、

カップルによって結構違うんだろうな～って感じでした。

そういえば、確か元カノとは、

そこそこ関係が進んで、関係が出来上がってから、形式的に告白されたかも。

あれはもう、５年前の事かぁ～懐かしいな。笑

ただ、思うのは、いつまでも彼氏・彼女をconfirmせずに、

なんとなく寄り添う方がセクシーかも。

この感覚、日本語にしにくいけど、読者の皆さんには共有してもらえるかな？

なにはともあれ、このTandem Partnerの女の子、

僕がちゃんと会話に入れるか心配してくれるし、

とても配慮が利く良い子。

なんとなくくだらない話題が続けられるし、

ドイツで大事にしたい人間関係の一つかも。

特定の集団に無理に付随しない。

特に、短期間海外でPartyして終わろうとしているERASMUSの学生とは若干距離をおいても良いから、

もっと違った人間関係を発掘し、一対一で色んな人と仲良くできたら良いな、って思う。

現状を打破するためには、自分の行動パターンを変えなければならない。

とりあえず、自分の留学生活を充実させるためのキーパーソンを一人見つけた。

Translating

翻訳できるかな？

英語にならない日本語（Japanese that can't be turned into English)

1. 象は鼻が長い。 ("Elephants have long noses"? But the subject is the nose. "A nose of an elephant is long"? No, that's 象の鼻は長い, with a different nuance. )
2. よろしくお願いします。 ("Thanks in advance" is a good guess. But no, Japanese aren't that greedy to ask something in advance.)
3. 懐かしい！("It makes me remind of..." well, do the Japanese refer to something particular in the past when saying this?)
4. お疲れ様です。 ("It must have been lots of work for you." No, not at all, probably!)
5. つまらないものですが、受け取ってください。 ("Please receive this un-interesting thing." Well... why should I if it's not interesting?)
6. 切ない (So, what's this feeling called in English? Sad? Painful? Trying? Lonely?)

Tell me if you find the correct English for these, relatively well used phrases in Japanese.

方針転換

ケルンに到着して、はや２ヶ月が経とうとしています。

これまでの流れはというと、

1. 仲の良い集団をいくつか作る（主に欧米系の人）
2. いくつかのグループを掛け持ちしながら、ほぼ全てのイベントに参加（飲み会／クラブetc.）
3. 色んな人と知り合い、皆でビール飲んで話し、楽しむ

という感じでした。

ケルンの留学生の仲でも知り合いの数は多い方だし、

色んな人との会話を通じて、文化の違いを感じる事ができていて、

比較的満足。

でも、会話の内容がいつも単調で、

"In Japan, things are ....."

"Compared to Japan, things here are .... How's it in your country?"

みたいな感じで終わってしまう。

相手の国の文化は、だんだんと見えてくるんだけど、

相手の人間性みたいな物は全然見えてこない。

もともと、留学する時の目標は、

「異文化に適応する経験を作る」

「欧米系の友達を作り、日本との違いを体感する」

といった事。

これに関しては、100点満点に近いパフォーマンスが上げられてると思う。

でも、欧米人の集団でなんとな～く過ごすのもそろそろ限界。

僕の本質がもっと表現できるような環境を、自分で作っていかなきゃいけないと感じる。

という訳で、方針転換をして、日本にいた時と同じように、

「一対一でご飯を食べに行ける関係」

そして、

「自分の本質をあらわにできるような深い話ができる関係」

を一人でも良いから作るようにする、

というのをゴールにしようと思う。

一方で、せっかくヨーロッパに来たのだから色々見聞を広めたい。

毎週末、仲間で何となく飲んでるだけではイマイチ。

という訳で、新しい五訓。

1. 人間関係は深くなければ意味が無い：浅い人間関係に終わりそうな場合、資源投下をしない
2. 集団に埋もれない：一対一の関係性以外の物は不要。皆でなんとなくいて、なんとなく終わる時間を作らない
3. 人種差別をしない：欧米人だけでなく、たとえ日本人でも、面白い人とは関係を築く。
4. 既存の関係性を大事にする：新しい関係性を求めすぎて、既存の関係性を疎かにしない。
5. 一人行動の時間を作る：一人旅は見聞を広め、集団での旅は思い出作り

この行動指針に則って行動しようと思います。

結果はどうなるか、お楽しみに！

Relationships between two people

My last post, "Love and Romance in Western Countries" seemed to be interesting to many people, and gave me the chance to discuss these issues with many European/American people. After some discussion I found out the following.

• Roles of men/women ARE different here
• In France, some women are willing to pay their meals when going out. In Japan, it's more like they won't be offended to pay their meals.
• There is a wide "Grey zone" between being friends and being in a relationship.
• You can be "sort of together" but not yet "facebook official"
• The word "love" means pretty deep relationship. Probably none of my Japanese friends understand the border line between "love" and "like" (neither do I).

So what does this mean? I think it means that Japanese value the format/title in general. Japanese think that it is important to be somebody's boyfriend/girlfriend, where as Westerners tend to value their relationship between the two people.

For example, if you proceed romance without confirming each other as your partner, one side would probably say

"Hey I think we should make this clear. I'm your official boyfriend/girlfriend right?"

to officially become a partner before doing things like kissing each other. You may even reject to proceed in romance if you are not officially confirmed.

Also, in business situations, things are similar. If your division manager was called Peter NAKADA, Japanese would call them "Division Manager Nakada". By stating their position, it makes it clear that we value his position, and confirm the relationship between you and him (same if he was hierarchically below you in the firm). But them, most westerners call them "Peter", which makes you feel more close to the person. You value the mental relationship between the two persons, more than the given relationship in western countries.

Another example is the so called "honorific language". In Japan, when you are talking to someone hierarchically higher than you, you use a specific kind of language to sow respect to the person. Most verbs have two types of honorific forms, both a respectful and a humble one. You use the respectful form for all actions that your senior did, humble forms for all actions that you did. These languages create a moderate mental distance between the two people, which makes it harder for them to "truly" communicate. But then, Japanese value the hierarchical relationships, so it's okay.

On the contrary, I'm mostly talking with master students who are few years older than me here, but I use daily English terms with everyone. It's soooo much easier to communicate directly. One of my Japanese friends said that language can change your way of behavior; I probably am using more direct terms and expressing myself more straight-forward when I'm speaking English.

So I started with romance, a nice topic that most people are interested in, got some people in the debate, but came up with an useful generalized rule that I should keep in mind when I talk with other people here.

I'm glad that I got these findings; they are mostly because I've been hanging out with Europeans/Americans here. By the way, most it's really clear here that Asians tend to hang out with the Asians (JAP/CHN/KOR), the Indian with the Indian, and the Southern Europeans with the Southern Europeans (ITA/SPA). Is this because you share the similar values, speak the similar languages, or look alike? This is one question I've been thinking about recently.

In any case, I really like the fact that I'm learning new things here, not just finance and politics and those academic stuff that I can learn in Japan. Anyone going studying abroad should try to interact with people who are different from you; you learn a lot out from the experience!

※Generalizing cultural differences are fun, and interesting, but be careful not to think too stereotypically!

To leave some comments, click コメントを投稿on the bottom of the page, write your comments on the box on the right hand side, and click the Orange button saying "コメントの公開". Sorry that things are in Japanese here.

ケルン観光

Bielefeldという町に留学してる友達が我が家に来て、

週末をケルンで一緒に過ごしました。

ケルンを観光気分で回るのって、

実は久しぶりで面白かった。

彼女は、友人の紹介で出会って、

会うのは実は２回目なんだけど、

あっという間に話が深く落ちていって、とても面白い。

彼女と話していて一番の得た事は、

自分の恋愛観・人間関係観に内在する矛盾に気づけた事。

僕は、一対一での深い人間関係を欲している。

自分の悩みを相談できたり、相談事を共有したり、

自分の話しを聞いてくれるような人。

そして、自分にないような視点を持っていて、

僕の世界を広げてくれる人。

一方で、僕は他人に悩みごとを相談する事は全くしない。

自分の悩みを他人に言っても無意味で、

結局は自分が向き合って解決しなければいけない事を知っている。

だから、そもそも相談しないのに、相談できる関係の人を欲しがってる。

なんでだろう？自分でも分からない。

この矛盾、どこかで解決しなければならない。

Love & Romance in Western Countries

このエントリーも英語で書きます。(This article will be written in English)

日本語しか分からない人はごめんなさい。(Sorry for those who can only read Japanese)

During my studying abroad I've been encountering/observing situations where human relationships work very differently than from Japan. In this article, I would like to summarize what I've been sharing (or complaining) with my Japanese friends studying abroad in France/Germany/UK on love/romance issues, since this probably is interesting to you.

First of all, the roles between men and women are very different. Here, it is clear that women are treated with care by men. According to our observations, acts like offering to get another glass of beer/wine is a men's sign of showing care to the women, contrast of the situation that this act is more for women trying to show that you are very considerate, thoughtful, and are homely to men.

Regarding this point, I have realized that it is common for the guys to ask the girls out, but not the other way around. Some of my friends have had experiences being said things like "Maybe we could go together to (somewhere)", but they never ask you out with an appointment. Guys are supposed to make every final step in deciding. In Japan, both ways are equally okay, the gender roles are more free.

Also, some of my friends in France were telling me that they needed to pay every single meal they had with a girl, and were running out of money. I'm not sure about this, since I haven't come across a situation like this, but it probably is in France. In Germany, I hear that people break the bill up equally, but I'm not so sure about this. BTW, in Japan, it depends on the situation, but women almost never pay more.

Second of all, the state of "being in a relationship" is very vague here, compared to Japan. In Japan, you need to say "I love you" to the person you are interested in, to ask for permission to become his/her boy/girl-friend. This can happen from either sides, men can ask women, or vice versa. When you are confirmed, you are officially his/her partner for the time. When you want to break up, you need to tell him/her that "You want to break up", and often, you need a good reason for it. On the contrary, it seems as westerners just happen to be in a relationship when the two people are always together, and happen to break up when they become apart.

Some westerners may be surprised that we use the word "love" instead of "like". Well, it's the same word in Japanese, but I chose this wording since we do put the feeling of "love" in it when we say it. To the Japanese, if you tell a girl you love her several weeks after you meet her, she would smile at you and wouldn't believe you. (surprise, ehn?)

I personally think that the Japanese system is more sincere and serious about the situation. After you confirm the relationship, you are responsible not to cheat on your partner (=flirt). On the other hand, the Western system is more liquid. In the Japanese system, there is always a period when you are starting to want to break up, but just can't directly tell your partner that you want to break up. This "wasted time" probably doesn't exist here in Europe.

In the Japanese system, getting into a relationship is simple. You ask someone out several times, and then tell them that you want to become their partner. Very straight forward, I guess. But how does this function in western countries?

Well, this is what Japanese boys are complaining about. You just have to always be next to the the girl. According to a friend (male), your first few dates with a girl may include hugging/kissing the girl, and seeing how she reacts. According to him, "You never know what's okay and not for her, unless you try it. It's just a matter of challenge".

In this case, you risk being strongly disliked by the women, which the Japanese would never want to do. Unwilling heavy body contact will easily offend a Japanese person. The western way sounds more like a girl trying to avoid sexual harassment, to the Japanese. So, the general procedure in Japan is,

1. You ask her out several times
2. You ask to become her boyfriend and get confirmed
3. You hug her, kiss her, whatever.

Note that step 2. acts to ask for permission for step 3 (and perhaps further steps). By this, you avoid the possibility of getting into a large problem. Of course, the fact that you've came through step 2 does not ensure you that you can go to step 3 (The girl may think that it's too early for you to go to that stage and make you wait up to several weeks), but sooner or later you will be allowed to go to the step 3 (so saying no is a good no).

Another point is that the girl might feel annoyed when a person is always following her. If it was me, it would be pretty annoying to have someone you are not interested in, always around you, talking to you to get your attention. So, this sort of means that you are risking yourself to be severely disliked by the person you like. Japanese would never want to do this; we value the state of having no conflicts over anything.

So then, this is why it is almost impossible for Japanese men to get into a relationship with American/European women. The girls are waiting for the guys to jump in aggressively, but they just simply can't. Girls expect to be treated with more care, but the guys don't know that.

On the contrary, it is very easy for a Japanese girl to get into a relationship with an American/European guy. The guys express their feelings straightly and clearly towards the girl, approaches aggressively towards the girl, and shows care to the girl; all of them are at the highest level that the girl has ever experienced.

No wonder I hear some stories about Japanese girls going to studying abroad and getting into a relationship with someone there, but never the other way around.

Well, this is what my friends and I have observed. Maybe some of them are wrong; it could be the case that that things I have examined here are the extreme cases. But it's always fun knowing that systems other than the ones you are familiar with can function in a pretty good way.

マラソン結果

10/3のドイツ統一記念日に、

留学先のケルンで初マラソンを完走しました。

写真は現在準備中なのですが、

4時間09分56秒で完走できました。

目標の4時間には届かなかったものの、

約４ヶ月のトレーニングの割には、良い結果が出て嬉しいです。

結果はこんな感じ：

Distance (km)	Time	Targeted time
10	55m02	55m55s
21.0975	1h56m59s	1h56m40s
30	2h49m15s	2h47m40s
42.195	4h09m56s	3h59m25s

Average Speed: 5m55s/km

ガンタイムでの詳細はこちら：

レースから一週間あけて、筋肉痛も取れ、大分落ち着きました。

とりあえず、楽しんだのでよし。

ドイツに留学に行ってる日本人の中では珍しく、

留学で痩せたかもしれません。笑

Marathon

Tomorrow will be the day of my first marathon, and I am very excited about it.

My highest goal would be to run the entire marathon within 4 hours.

(My other goal is to complete the marathon.)

So, I will try to run in the following pace:

Distance	Targeted Time
5km	28:15
10km	55:55
15km	1:23:35
20km	1:51:15
25km	2:19:05
30km	2:47:20
35km	3:16:05
40km	3:46:05
42km	3:58:05
42.195km	3:59:25

I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to follow this pace up to 15-20km, but after that, I have no idea. If I run faster than what my physical ability allows me to run in the first half, I risk myself not be able to complete the marathon. Therefore, depending on my condition, I may give up running within 4 hours, and run slower from the middle.

Completing my first marathon, is my minimum goal that I need to achieve.

(Of course, if I have no accidents. Some long-distance runners who I talked to, really emphasized the fact that I should stop running, if I feel something is wrong. If a person runs a long distance with an injury, he might risk himself to not be able to run again!)

For your information, when I ran 31.5 km when I was practicing, the time was 3:05:30, but this included two 3-minute breaks in the middle.

Well, I just have to cross my fingers, and hope everything 'll go okay!

GEの内定式

今日は、日本GEの内定式に参加しました。

留学中という事で、特別に電話回線でつなげていただきました。

式の時間がドイツ時間の午前３時～４時だったので、

体力的にキツかったのですが、

でも、参加できて良かった、と思っています。

何よりも、自分の就職活動の選択が間違ってなかった事を再確認できた。

就職活動、今から思えばよい経験だけど、ツラかったなぁ～。

と思うと、ちょっとだけ涙が出たのはここだけの秘密。

（って全世界に向けて公開してるけど。笑）

来年の４月から働ける事が本当に楽しみに思えます。

「Globalな環境」「世界を意識して働く」

という事は、今、留学に来てるからこそ、その大事さを実感するし、

「一歩一歩切り開いていく姿勢」

というのは、まさに今まで自分がやってきた事。

大学生の時よりもさらに大きなフィールドで勝負できると思うと、

それだけでとても楽しみ。

さて、大幅にモチベートされたところで、

時間は今、4:15 (AM)。

午後には大学の授業。

モチベートされて寝られなさそうなのですが・・・

寝ますかね。

とりあえず、GEは内定先として本当に誇れる、めちゃいい会社。

結果的に入社してどうなるかは分からないけど、

現時点で考えうる中で最高の就活をしたと思う。

わが就職活動に悔いなし！！

さ、寝ようか。笑

Remark on the Japanese Labor Market

※このエントリーは英語で書きます。(This entry will be written in English)

Today, I was talking that internships weren't popular in Japan, and a friend asked me

"How do you know what job you want to have before applying for it?"

I automatically answered that student's are less sure about their capabilities and wills.I also said that the Japanese labour market sucks, because most Japanese work for the first company for your whole life.This wasn't incorrect, but I'm a bit afraid that this gives the wrong impression that Japanese labour markets are rigid.

So, I want to make few points about the Japanese labour market.

This is how it works:

1. When you graduate a university, you try to get into the biggest firm possible.
2. You do not specify your job when you enter. (not like finance, marketing, etc.)
3. When you get into the firm, you get the chance to experience several divisions/functions.
4. After 1-2 years of experience, you will get the feeling of which job fits you well.
5. Your feelings and the outcomes observed by your boss, will help you decide a job.
6. Once in a while, you will be able to change jobs, and build up your career in the firm.
7. If you are or the firm is not performing well, they can decide to make you work in another division, rather than laying you off.

This explains why

• Japanese labor markets aren't so rigid (we have a internal labour market)
• People tend to work longer in a firm in Japan
• Entrepreneurship is less valued in Japan
• Big firms are likely to get the smartest people

In fact, this system is only for the elite students, who can make it to the "best" firms in Japan. The "employment until the end of your life" system only exists for the big firms. If you are in a medium/small enterprise, the situation is more similar to the one in the States. You change a job every once in a while for one reason or the other.

I hope this clears things out. We have a very different, but a somewhat interesting, and soso well functioning system. Or, at least we had a system like this when the economy was good.

Japan and North Korea are the only two countries which have experienced 0% growth over the last 20 years...