Three important things of public speech

I went to all Japan public speech contest of Toastmasters in Fukuoka last week.

I watched a lot of excellent speaker.

I noticed as one of listener that effective speakers have three things in common.

Vocal , Moving, and Confidence.

At first,  Vocal.

Their vocal is very strong and clear.

All audiences can enter the world of the speech.

Second, Moving.

They used whole stage.

Their speech becomes more impressive.

Third, Confidence.

This is the most important point I think.

All speakers have strong confidence.

Their strong confidence helped their message stronger.

We received their strong message directly.

We left an unforgettable, deep and powerful impression.

How to have the confidence?

I think that the answer is practice.

According to the book "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs"

Even Steve Jobs who were called genius of presentation,

spent a lot of time of hard practice.

Hours and hours of practice made Jobs look polished, casual, and effortless.




Rome wasn't built in a day.

So Let's practice to be a good speaker.

Haigui in Malaysia

First of all.

Look at this video.

This is the moment soccer Japan representative gain a place in the World Cup for the first time.

This game was held in Johor Bahru southernmost tip of Malaysia.

So it is called "Joy of Johor Bahru " .

Now about 15 years has passed from this game,

Many Japanese are moving to Johor Bahru.

Why?

Malaysia aims to developed country by 2020.

They are promoting a huge urban project called " Iskandar plan " 

Johor Bahru is planning to become the cosmopolitan city like Dubai and Singapore.

One of the highlights of the Iskandar plan is "Education"

This project attracts prestigious school from all over the world.

For example, Marlboro College in England , known as the alma mater of Princess Catherine, opened last year.

So many students in Asia are gathering Johor Bahru.

Many Japanese people also move to Johor Bahru including my old colleague's family.

Husband is a CPA and managed tax accountant office in Iwakuni, Japan.

Through his business, he realizes the decline of the Japanese economy.

He decided to make his children be international.

He works in Japan in order to earn money.

His wife and children live in Johor Bahru for education.

Last month my wife and I visited with his family in Johor Bahru.

This is their condominium.

A lot of condominium building is developing.

About six months have passed since they moved.

They have a variety of friends , Malay, Iranian , Iraqi , Yemeni , and Hong Kong people.

It is impossible to have such a variety of friends if they live in Japan.

By placing them in a diverse environment from an early age I think they will be international .

Everytime we talk about such topic,

Some people say the negative opinion.

" Japanese language is first before English. "

" What is identified as Japanese ? "

I do not think so.

It depends on their parents whether living in Japan or not.

The Japanese education system adapted to the high-growth period and the industrial age.

But recently it does not match because our economic growth have already stopped.

In spite of shrinking our national power for a low birth rate and an aging population, our government's policy still focuses elderly person.

It is sure that many parents don't believe Japanese government.

So they decided to protect themselves.

They decided not to depend on government.

Sea turtle comes back to his hometown after growth . 

In China , Chinese people who have returned to mainland China after having studied abroad for several years are called "Haigui" means sea turtle.

Many Japanese studying abroad does not abandon Japan . 

They are really worried about the future of Japan ,

I expect that most of them will come back in the future like sea turtle "Haigui".

So we must improve better so that Haigui don't abandon our country.

Studying English for near future

This is my 10th speech.

Two years have passed since my first speech. 

I made a speech about my dream that I wanted to speak English in order to become a international person.

Now unfortunately I can't speak English fluently. I am not a international person.

But I think that my English skills have improved since two years ago.

For example, now my TOEIC score is over 700, while two years ago it was about 400.

One of the reason I can keep studying English is Social Network, Twitter, Facebook, Blog.

Twitter friends studying English motivate me a lot.

I also started studying online and I went to Philippines to study English thanks to them.

You may think Twitter is shady.

But even if we've never met, we feel like we have long known each other because we have a clear and common purpose to study English.

I posted the script of my first speech to my English blog.

At that time, a college student commented on it and we became Twitter friend.

Now she is a business person working in Tokyo, and I met her the other day when she came to Hiroshima on a business trip.

She's good at English, her TOEIC score is about 900.

I felt that she was full of hope and strong confidence.

She said that English changed her life.

English changes our lives.

At this moment a large number of people all around the world are studying English to change their lives.

Globalization continue spreading further.

The days of Japanese having business with Japanese using only Japanese language are coming to an end.

Jobs that anyone can do will be taken by foreigners.

For example, Chinese whose salary is one-tenth of the Japanese have a call center business for Japanese customers in Dalian.

We are facing the hyper competition with excellent and hungry people in emerging countries.

Moreover this trend will further accelerate in the next generation.

The education gap between advanced countries and emerging countries will be eliminated by the Internet.

There are many courses that anybody can attend for free on the Internet from prestigious universities in the United States.

Recently an 11-year-old Pakistani girl completed the artificial intelligence course of Stanford University with excellent results.

A 15-year-old Mongolian boy completed the electronic circuit course of MIT with excellent results.

It is a great thing for the human race. Such talents would not appear without the Internet.

But it means that the advantage of "education" the advanced countries had will be eliminated.

Hyper global competition has began among our children.

Recently my friend's family has moved to Malaysia to have their children study at a prestigious British school.

With such an event like this taking place around the ordinary domestic person like me, I realized that globalization is rapidly coming.

I think that the day will probably come when we can't keep current level of living without English ability.

So I must keep studying English for upcoming future.

Online English lesson

Many Japanese want to be able to speak English.

So we are studying English.

But most of us have little opportunity to speak English.

What should we do ?

Make foreign friends?

- Umm, difficult.

English Conversation School?

- Umm, difficult.

The lesson fee is very expensive.

And it is a very hard to continue to go to the lesson after work.

We need a strong willpower.

What should we do ?

Today, 

Let me show you one of the good way.

This way is 

"ONLINE ENGLISH LESSON"

This is the lessen using the Skype that is free Internet TV phone.

We can study at home whenever we choose.

We can learn English on a one-on-one basis.

We can continue the lesson easily.

In addition,

This is very low price.

Online one-on-one lessons takes 25 minutes a day, it costs about 5,000 yen per month.

On the other hand, if we learn same lessons for the same amount of time at English conversation school, it costs 150,000 yen.

One thirtieth lower price !

Why ?

What is the gap ?

The answer is Phillipines.

This lesson is connecting Japan and the Philippines on the Internet.

English teacher is Filipino.

Filipino labor cost is one-tenth of Japan.

Maybe you have the question.

Is Filipino's English OK ?

-Okay.  No problem.

English is the official language in Philipines.

As well as college graduate, supermarket clerks, taxi drivers and many people can speak English.

In addition, Now Philippines is the number one call center agent provider in the entire world, overtaking India.

Filipino answer the phone from many customers of the United States companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Citibank, JP Morgan, and so on.

This fact proves Filipino's high level English ability.

So online English lesson service is improving rapidly for the past few years, Leading company Rarejob have 150,000 Japanese members.

Now, there are more than 100 online English lesson service in Philippines.

They have free trial for non-members.

If you want to have opportunity to speak English, 
Get Skype, Google it, 

And Try it,  anyway.

I caught a cold

I caught a cold last Monday.

My highest temperature was 39 degrees Celsius.

Fortunately it was not influenza.

I took a medicine and I slept all day.

I got well the next day.

Everyone, 

Take care not to catch a cold.

My original iPhone application

First of all,

Look at this video.

The video introduces this application below.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mind-reading/id453928036?l=ja&ls=1&mt=8

One of my hobbies is creating application for iPhone.
I created this application two years ago.

You can get this from 'iTunes' Apple's online store.

Next,

This is second my original application.

'Romen Densha de Let's La Go!'

This is the game of tram in Hiroshima.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lu-mian-dian-chederettsurago/id574225225?l=ja&ls=1&mt=8

Right now, I am currently developing new application.

Creating application is not as difficult as you think.

What we need in developing application are Apple's PC and the knowledge on how to google.
If you have some difficult tasks during development we can simply google it.

I haven't earned anything because these application is free.
But thanks for the free charge, 
People around the world downloaded this application though it is not that great as other applications in Apple.
'Mind-Reading' Application is available in English language version.
This has been downloaded about 3000 times from about 40 countries.

The following are top ten countries my application downloaded.

1. USA 

2. Japan

3. UK

4. Australia

5. Canada

6. India

7. China

8. Philippines

9. Sweden

10. UAE

Others,

Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Korea, NewZealand, Pakistan, Qatar, Singapore, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, Vietnam

and so on.

The colored areas on the map are the countries in which my application has been downloaded.

  

While I was very surprised and excited, I felt something strange.

I can't believed that my application is downloaded all over the world.

From room of a normal apartment in rural Japan,

I am connecting to the global market.

I realized that 'The world is flat' that is the Pulitzer Prize author Thomas Fridman's book tittle.

Not so long ago, it is very difficult for individual to sell something.

But now internet makes us be able to sell for the people around the world directory.

I think that it will be good time for creative person in near future. 

Happy new year

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

May the year of 2013 bring you a lot of happiness and smiles.

I will show some pictures associated with year-end and New Year holidays.

I will explain about it.

THE YEAR-END NIGHT

While I was drinking Japanese Sake, I watched very popular Japanese TV program 'Kohaku Uta Gassen' that is the annual Year-end Grand Song Festival.

NEW YEARTHE YEAR OF THE SNAKE

This is the year of the snake in Chinese astrology. 

This is the white snake in Iwakuni where I lived once. 

They are designated as a national natural treasure.

We believe that the snake brings us economic fortune and prosperous business.

Some believe that empty shell of snake in wallet makes them rich.

OZOUNI

This is Ozouni , Japanese new year's soup.

Ozouni have rice cake and a variety of ingredients.

Each area have different style in preparation of Ozouni.

This Ozouni is the style of my wife's hometown.

This have white miso soup, rice cake with bean paste inside and ingredients such as chicken, carrots, and white radish.

HATSUMOUDE

My wife and I went to the shrine for the first visit this year.

This called hatsumoude, one of the Japanese new year's events.

I prayed for health for my family and prosperity in business.

I wish all the people around the world happiness.