Taro's Blog

When my son and I were dining at Sushiro, I proclaimed that “we are coming back here again, not only because of the quality of sushi, but also because of their clever ordering system that makes the dining experience fun.”

He did not buy my hypothesis, but that’s ok. It’s usual. My point was that the table seats only have 1 tablet computer. My son owns it. What about me? Do I have to wait until he finishes ordering his favorite set? No worries. The tablet has a 2-dimensional code that turns my smartphone into another ordering device. Now, I also own the means to order my favorite set of sushi. Both of us could order simultaneously, and that made us happy.

Sushiro has been known for throwing more money into ingredients for better quality at the same price. But that wasn’t the only reason that the chain has been so flourishing. They’ve also been investing in updating their “digital menu”, or ordering system on their tablet computers. Their Next-generation Conveyor-belt sushi-ordering system—Digital Sushiro Vision received the Good Design Award in 2024.

【考察】美味しいのになぜ売れない？料理人が知らない”メニューの本質” ([Consideration] Why doesn’t it sell even though it’s delicious? The essence of the menu that chefs don’t know) by 永田ラッパ (Rappa Nagata) impressed me. Rappa explained perfectly the importance of menu planning in the restaurant business. I always appreciate reading the menu as if I were reading a poem or short story rather than the dining options that to be selected before the meal. After ordering my selections, I’d often tell the waiter, “May I keep the menu for a while? I would love to read more while waiting for the meal.” I imagine what the dining experience would be if I choose option B, option C, and so forth. Besides killing time until the food is served, that exercise will also help me decide what to order the next time, if there is a next time.

The rise and fall of Pizza Hut: A $5.7 billion collapse by Michael Girdley impressed me. In summary, Michael concluded that the inexpensive cheese and the hunger for a dining out experience grew the Pizza Hut chain. The rise of heavy-weight chickens and Domino’s Pizza killed them. A brilliant analysis.

Further analysis:
Are chickens getting bigger in size over the last few decades? Yes, 1 kg -> 4 kg, increased by fourfold.
Are pigs getting bigger in size over the last few decades? Yes, 90 kg -> 130 kg, increased by 44%.
Are cows getting bigger in size over the last few decades? Yes., 430 kg -> 620 kg, increased by 44%

田中星児 (Seiji Tanaka) sang 「すてきなサンデー」 (Beautiful Sunday) in 1976, and the song became a smash hit in Japan, 4 years after the hit of its original version, ‘sang’ by Daniel Boone in 1972. It was also the number one 洋楽 (Western music) hit in Japan, selling 1.92 million copies. According to Wikipedia, the song was preceded by 「およげ！たいやきくん」 (“Go swimming! My Fish-shaped Cake”) in 1975, a hit song from a TV show. What amazes me today, watching the video, is that Seiji sang the song live beautifully with the live band, including a big horn section.

On the other hand, I seriously doubt the musicianship of Daniel Boone, supposedly the singer of the original song. I am not convinced that he could even sing or play guitar. I could only find live lip-synching videos (in 1994 and 2013) by him, and they all looked corny, including the original promotional video. I suspect the producer of “Beautiful Sunday” played the guitar, sang, then let Daniel lip-sync. If so, he was preceding Milli Vanilli.

On the contrary, the live performance of “Perfect Day” by my favorite Lou Reed in 2000 was so perfect. A true musician usually does not have to lip-sync except in a few exceptions. (e.g., Whitley’s case that I will mention later.)

I came across a rumor that Fergie (former frontwoman of Black Eyed Peas) sang a terrible national anthem. So, I listened to the video carefully. She was only shaky first few notes, but she nailed it the rest. I truly feel sorry for her. The performance was brilliant, but they judged her by only a few notes she slightly missed in the beginning.
Fergie sings the national anthem (Live) at the NBA All-Star Game 2018

People praised Whitney Houston’s lip syncing to her recording at the Super Bowl in 1991. Come on, Fergie at least sang live, and she was so good. Whitley did not even sing a note live.
Whitney Houston – Star Spangled Banner (Lip-syncing) – Super Bowl 1991

What is the difference between hyper and tde in Tableau?
These two are used when you want to create a snapshot of your data (an extract), especially if the data is large or you need faster performance. The .tde was the older version, and the .hyper is the newer, more efficient one. These files don’t contain any workbook or structure information—just the data.

What is a Tableau Data Extract (TDE)?
What is Tableau Hyper Database Engine?
HyPer – A Hybrid OLTP&OLAP High Performance DBMS
Extract Upgrade to .hyper Format
Understanding Tableau Hyper Simplified

Although I am not familiar with Stanford Online High School (SOHS) at all, it does not sound so bad.

According to Google, “A highly selective, independent school affiliated with Stanford University, known for its rigorous college-prep curriculum and innovative learning environment. It serves a diverse student body from across the US and internationally.“

I came across to learn that N高等学校・S高等学校・R高等学校 (N/S/R High School) in Japan would also not be a bad school.

According to Google, “N High School, S High School, and R High School are new online high schools that employ an online and distance learning high school system created by KADOKAWA and DWANGO. At our online high schools, you can use ICT tools to study and efficiently acquire a high school diploma. By studying more efficiently, you can use your free time to engage in learning that will shape your future and spend more time making friends.“

The latter has 32,613 students learning remotely throughout Japan. I only hear positive reviews about ithem. Thus, I recommended that my son plan to go there. He agreed.

Now, sit down, relax, and explore some unique online high schools in the world. According to their website, THINK Global School, based in New York City, is an independent high school that travels the world with students studying in eight countries (Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Greece, India, Japan, Mexico, and Sweden), over the course of two years (2025-27).

Let’s turn our attention to other online high schools in Japan. We have a selective sports high school. 未来富山高等学校 (Mirai Toyama High School) focuses on training future baseball stars. They have 25 students learning online, and 23 of them are being trained together in baseball on-site.

The Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), which exclusively broadcasts 全国高等学校野球選手権大会 (National High School Baseball Championship) in summer and 選抜高等学校野球大会 (Selected High School Baseball Tournament) in spring runs its online high school, NHK学園高等学校 (NHK Gakuen High School).

Young Men’s Christian Association (Donald Trump version, 西城秀樹 version, YMCA in short, is independent of the YWCA) operates its online high school, 東京YMCA高等学院 (Tokyo YMCA High School), in Tokyo.

屋久島おおぞら高校 (Yakushima Oozora High School) in Kagoshima offers an annual school excursion to Yakushima Island.

札幌静修高等学校 (Sapporo Seishu High School), an agricultural high school in Hokkaido, offers its 通信制課程 (Online High School) program.

For further reading, please check out this article: 東京都の通信制高校20選 (20 online high schools accessible in Tokyo).

In a parallel universe, I would be a failed train driver. I derailed a lot in my file, personally, academically, and professionally. One particular cause that derailed my professional life at an early stage was my father’s refusal to accept digital technology, especially computers and their keyboards. In other words, he, 93 years old, and I had a digital divide back in 1993-94.

In 1992, graduated from RIT with a Bachelor of Science degree in Printing and Applied Computer Science. My major was practically a double major in printing management and computer science. I wanted to take over my father’s business, a small print shop, and transform it into a computer-aided digital design firm. Use Apple Macintosh computers, phones, emails, Apple OneScanners, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, QuarkXPress for the professional prepress, and the Indigo E-Print 1000 digital press for the professional output. Utilize the power of the PostScript language.

However, there was a major obstacle: the digital divide. My father would never understand or accept computers. As a matter of fact, he still keeps his principles. He only uses a cellular phone as a pure telephone in 2025. No text, email, music, video, or entertainment purposes. (Seriously, he should donate his brain to a research group for the advancement of scientific knowledge.)
日本の高齢者のITスキルが、世界の中でも著しく低い理由

As a trial, I lobbied hard and persuaded my father to invest JPY 1,000,000 in my proposed starter kit. The kit consisted of a copy of QuarkXPress page layout software (JPY 50,000), a Macintosh computer including peripherals (JPY 200,000), an image scanner (JPY 250,000), and a PostScript-compatible laser printer (JPY 500,000). I even won a project of language translation from English to Japanese for Apple Computer. Unfortunately, from my father’s perspective, my humble win from Apple Computer was marginal, and my attempt was a waste of money and time.

He openly criticized me in the company. He labelled me a failure. I was heartbroken. As icing on the cake, he purchased a small printing press for JPY 10,000,000, ten times more than my starter kit. That was the nail in the coffin. To soothe my pain, I had to leave my father’s company, leave Japan, head to Colorado, and join Quark, Inc. in June 1994.

参政党 (Sanseito) is the most popular populist party in Japan nowadays. Their audience is the Indifferent group, who never go to vote. Their strategy is to capitalize on unused votes from that group. Their audience is uneducated. Their audience is naive. Their audience is stupid. WTF strategy!

They recruited young, attractive women and men to represent their brand. No brain power required by them. Why do they need intelligent people to create laws and enhance the quality of life for the Japanese people? That’s the last thing they would care about. Their priority is “To develop new voters and gain their presence in the Japanese political landscape”. They know the power, money, and fame will follow. That’s their first priority. What the fuxxing whores and bastards!

Those motherfuxxers know that most Japanese people would only treat the long-term expats (residing for several decades to a century) as their guests at most, and not embrace them as their community members. In other words, you will be forever 外人 (Gaijin) in Japan.
外国人同士が「目配せ」する、日本人には言いづらい「本音」

So, they copycated uneducated Donald Trump’s “America First” slogan. They insist ”The Japanese First.” They encourage their supporters to hate foreigners, particularly the Chinese, the Koreans, and the Kurds. I am totally against it. The Japanese who lived abroad for a minimum of 3 months would agree with me.
在日外国人と日本社会の共生努力を後退させる右派の差別扇動
参政党の「日本人ファースト」は日本第一党の「日本第一主義」と同じに思える

Unfortunately, the major media only covers the news that is sensational, irritating, pornographic, and far from the facts. Those whores and bastards only wanted to sell their breaking stories. No morality whatsoever despite their we-care narrative and their broadcaster’s appears-to-be sincere presentation. Recently, I noticed that Newsweek Japan has a lot of eye-opening articles that are never mentioned by the major media. I strongly recommend that you check them out.
北欧極右の極楽浄土—日本と韓国
少年非行は増えている？NO！思い込みが事実認識を歪める
日本人は本当に「無宗教」なのか？…「灯台下暗し」身近すぎて見えないこともある
韓国スタートアップが日本へ続々進出… 官民挙げて商機を狙う背景

Advanced Semiconductor Materials, ASM for short, is a Dutch company that designs, manufactures, sells, and services equipment used in the fabrication of semiconductor devices. Sorry, son, that was NOT a Japanese company as I explained to you the other day. According to Wikipedia, the company has an R&D facility in 多摩市 (Tama-shi), Tokyo, Japan. The moral of the story remains the same. ASM makes money as long as the semiconductor industry flourishes.

I probably got mixed up with Kawasaki Robotics, a subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, a company that sells industrial robots, including those used in manufacturing other robots. Kawasaki Robotics makes money as long as the robotic industry flourishes.

I insist that we should re-educate the Japanese people on the Circular Flow of Income. The Circular Flow of Income is a part of macroeconomics. Today, we seldom hear 金は天下の回りもの (Money is not yours. Let it flow in the society) in Japan. So-called 失われた30年 (the lost30 years), commonly refers to the economic stagnation of the 1990s-2010s, has converted many nationals from democratic/capitalistic idealists to stingy/self-centered assholes. In other words, we, the Japanese, are a bunch of Scrooges.

The English readers, you are lucky. “A Christmas Carol,” written by Charles Dickens, annually reminds you of the importance of the Circular Flow of Income.

1. You work hard and earn money.
2. You use your earned money in society to buy goods and services that you need or you want.
3. Repeat 1 and 2 continuously.

Along the way, the government taxes a portion of the big flow for social services. Everyboody wins at the end.

Ironically, 清貧 (Clean-Poverty) was treated as a virtue in Japan by uneducated people. Those uneducated people insisted that the importance of saving money for the future risks that most likely never occur, and strongly opposed the circular flow of income. They find ecstasy in looking at the number increases in their passbooks. For them, the most beautiful and idealistic life would be to die as a poor person and leave the fortune in their bank accounts. They knew that leaving a big some of money would cause a dispute among their descendants. What a sweet revenge! If they don’t have any descendants, do not worry. Your government gladly accepts it as a gracious donation from you. In short, everybody loses at the end. It strongly reminds me of the importance of education, especially in macroeconomics.
汚いお金持ちは”悪”なのか？

Zipper Merge never worked in Japan, thanks to those Scrooges. They do not see or care about the big picture or the society they belong to, and only focus on their merit as a bunch of assholes. Who said “the Japanese are polite”? We, the Japanese, have merely been acting polite. It’s an act. It’s not from the bottom of our hearts. I hope my statement clarifies the mystery for some of you.
｢損をしてでも他人の足を引っ張りたい｣日本人の”底意地の悪さ”が世界で突出している根本原因
日本で車椅子利用者バッシングや悪質クレーマーがなくならない理由
日本は「世界で最も助け合わない国」、研究者が指摘する原因は「日本人の遠慮」？

Ken, you are my target audience. I am asking you to learn to put yourself in someone’s shoes. It means to try to understand another person’s feelings, thoughts, or situation by imagining yourself in their place. You lack it hopelessly.

You were late to school 19 times out of 53 days last term. That’s unacceptable. I was afraid that your classmates thought you were lazy and did not go to bed early enough. I wish you would stop staying up late and go to bed by 11 pm. Then, you can wake up at 7 am comfortably. I was so disappointed to learn that the 19 times you were late, despite my waking you up at 7 am every weekday.

You think that you always receive the brightest spotlight, and everyone is jealous of you. I have some good news to share with you. The shiny, bright spotlight you constantly receive 24/7/365 is an illusion. There is no such thing. Nobody gives you a damm. So, you can relax a bit.

However, people can spot the person without proper hygiene because they stink and smell really bad. But they will never tell that person about it. Instead, they will discuss it behind the person’s back. In short, “You should always apply deodorant after taking a bath or shower.”

You cannot waste someone’s time. Mind, they only have finite time on this planet, like you do. Respect their time. They don’t want to listen to a story that never ends. They don’t want to listen to a story that doesn’t begin with a summary. They don’t want to listen to a story that they don’t understand. If you observe their faces, you can spot their discomfort while you are talking about something that you are passionate about. Not everyone wants to learn about the event horizon of a black hole.

When you write a blog, create a TikTok short, sell a product or service, or promote tourism to your country, setting a clear target audience is crucial. I am a fan of these Ads. Tourism Australia set the target audience, or country, in these cases, clearly, hiring the Australian actors that were popular in the target country at the time, and highlight the unieque charms of Australia for their target audience in each case.

“Matesong” Tourism Australia Ad 2019—Target Adience: Poms (people of the United Kingdom, particularly England)
Starring Kylie Minogue and Adam Hills

“Shrimp on the Barbie” Australian Tourist Commission Ad 1984—Target Adience: the Americans (people of the United States)
Starring Paul Hogan

Well, the latter, they did not pick the popular Australian actor in the US because there was none in 1984. Despite being a well-known in Australia, Paul Hogan was still unknown in the US in 1984. His fame in the US skyrocketed after the “Shrimp on the Barbie” tourism campaign, which began in 1984, and the release of the movie “Crocodile Dundee” in 1986. Speaking of “Shrimp”, that’s American English. In proper Australian English, it’s called “Prawn”.

The Australians may be crossed if you keep calling Aubergine “Eggplant”, Petrol Station “Gas Station”, Lift “Elevator”, Fist Floor “Second Floor”, Aircon “AC”, Tellie “TV”, Thongs “Flip-flops”, Mate “Friend”, Brissie “Brisbane”, Tassie “Tasmania”, Arvo “Afternoon”, Rego “Vehicle Registration”, Pink Slip “Vehicle Safety Inspection Report”, G’day Love “Hello My Dear”, Aussie “OC” (should be pronounced “OZ”), Good on Ya “Well Done”, No worries “You’re Welcome”, Stuffed it Up “Messed it Up”, Brekkie “Breakfast”, or Barbie “Barbecue”.

Last but not least, on Christmas Day, unlike the Americans or Poms, the Australians first Slip-slop-slap, then throw prawns on the barbie with their mates and families, and finally go to beaches with their bathing suits on, wearing their thongs on their feet, and play beach cricket.