First Lesson!

So, I had my first lesson with Mrs. Fujisawa.
It went really well. I explaqined what I was going to do for the day and then we did it.
For this one I really wanted to get an idea of what she did and didn't know as well as what she wanted to know.
For the first hour we talked about ourselves. I asked her a lot of questions and asked her to ask me questions as well. it went great! I found that the questions that seemed to be really good were "why" type questions. Like why does she like this and things like that. When I say really good I mean questions that she seemed to need more help on. After we finished that we took a short break for tea and cake. Then we started talking about her work more specifically and what kinds of things she wanted to learn.

I've decided that what she needs is conversation practice (duh^.^) meaning practice coming up with topics to talk about and being more specfic in answers (especially to questions like why). Also, she wants to make sure she knows polite language for speaking with customers in her Art gallery.

So....we decided that every week we'd run through a scenario where I would be a customer and she would use her conversational skills she's been learning on me. this will be good because I can pretend to be different people and she will have to think of ways to carry the conversation based on my character. It will be interesting.

We also talked about the possibility of having lessons at museums sometimes so that we could talk in english about artwork. She thought that this was a very good idea.

And also Mrs Fujisawa is going to write down any questions she has during the week when she is using english. That way she can rbing them to me.

SO, all in all the lessons was succesful. The Fujisawa's house is very nice and big for a house in tokyo. It has two small gardens and a separate small building for tea ceremonies which Mrs. Fujisawa is fond of.

I really enjoyed the lesson. I'm not so nervous anymore.
Yay!
Peace!

Sophia Best and Ikebana

So...My school activities have finally started rolling.

Andrew talked about Sophia Best in his blog as well but I should probably explain.
Basically we are volunteering (twise a week because of a lack of volunteers) to go to an elementary school and teach kids things about our culture. The first session was last friday and it was so fun. The kids were very cute and seemed to enjoy what we were doing. Whenever they answered questions they got up, pushed their chairs in, and stood behind them. this was especially entertaining with one word answers. One child drew a picture of andrew and all of them seemed sweet. I had fun but felt a little like I had to take control because Yoko, our Japanese leader for the group, was a little quiet and both Andrew and the other guy, Rene, seemed to be at a loss. I must say Andrew picked up though and did very well. I think he was one of the kids favorites.

Andrew and I were with another group today, though we did pretty much the same presentation. this group of kids were less well behaved though. They were much louder and more aggresive. And kind of mean to their teacher who was younger-which may ahve something to do with it. Still, I had fun and one of the kids gave us some plastic beads. Kids are really funny. I dunno, I'm really likeing the experience and look forward to friday. We're going to talk about seasons.

Now...last wednesday I finally checkout out Ikebana. It seemed really cool! Difficult though. I think joining is really going to iporve my Japanese as well. I met a really nice girl named Yukari who also mentioned she was in art club after I told her I was an art major. so she may be my in for that club as well! The people in Ikebana were very receptive. It costs a little money, for the flowers, but I may watch for the first few sessions since I'm really not sure what to do. I'm really excited and I hope to get to know Yukari better as well. She even texted me later to tell me she hoped I enjoyed the club. anyway, I'm especially looking forward to this^.^

Hmmm....
so...
I think Im done with updates.
This is a good thing.
Lessons with Mrs. Fujisawa start tomorrow. I'm nervous....^.^

Much Love!

A trip to Obaasan's!

So...on Saturday the Fama nd I went to visit OKaasan's Mother. I call her Obaasan(which means grandma in japanese-though I'm not sure if Im supposed to call her this or not).

We first met her at a chinese buffet. Real chinese food is good, and less greasy...I mean, american chinese food is good too but I get the feeling that the stuff we had here was at least a little bit healthier. It was delicous and I also got to meet OKaasan's dad. He was nice and friendly. The first thing he said, I think, was that I had a slim face. I'm not sure what that means...^.^

After lunch we went to their house which is more traditional than my family's house. I liked it. They showed us a ton of pictures. apparently OKaasan's dad loves taking pictures, and he even took some there! It was fun and I saw pictures of OKaasan when she was young and some wedding photos. She looked gorgeous!

After awhile we all went to an electronic store where the grandparents bought Manami a new Laptop. I think it was a coming of age gift or something...I'm not really sure. It's nice though.

Finally we went to an Onsen, for my first public bathing experience. Manami was with me and at first I felt a little awkward getting naked in front of her plus all the strangers in the onsen(same sex only). Acfter awhile though, I got used to it. It just wasn't a big deal, there were old people, young people, kids, fat people, skinny people. It just wasn't a big deal. The onsen was really relaxing. I could totally see how someone might just sit there all day long. We tried the Sauna as well but that was a lot less relaxing. I couldnt breath and the smell of wood was so strong I could taste it. IT was choking.

For those of you that don't know...because not even I knew it that perfectly...here's the order of Onsen bathing(at least at this place):
First, you shower and rinse off.
Then you get in the onsen and sauna and whatever.
Then you shower and actually wash and rinse off.
Then you get into a different onsen which is more like a tub with jets.

And that is the order. IT was a tad confusing but Manami was there to help me along.

After the Onsen we all went home and that night I went to a party with people from my Japanese class. It was fun. I had a bit of wine but couldn't stomach much more than that. Because it was at a friends aparment and his whole family is in town, I even got to eat some turkey and mashed potatoes. That made me really happy.

It was a great day.
^.^

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was very fun for me though I did feel more homesick than I have in a very long long time.
I spent most of the day with Okaasan. First we went and saw the Art Deco show at a Museum in Meguro. It was a really great exhibit which was more focused on drawings rather than paintings. I suppose the focus of the Art Deco period must have been more on fashion....I'll have to learn more about it. Many of the drawings were very sharp, crisp, architectural type pictures of rings and jewlery. It was gorgeous. They even had some of the jewlewery present. They also had a lot of images of women wearing fancy outfits and it was almost like fashion designs. Very inspiring. I really enjoyed the exhibit.

Outside the Museum was a large garden area which even included a smaller Japanese garded which was gorgeous. It had a small teahouse and a japanese bridge and lot of trees called "Momiji" which turn red in the late fall. The trees here hadn't changed yet and we may go back to see them when they are all red. It was really beautiful.

Park Pics:



after this Okaasan and I went to an international super market and bought a few things. Outside they were selling christmas trees and inside a lot of thanksgiving things. It made me very homesick! But I was happy too. Christmas trees here are very expensive, maybe 300 dollars. Still, if I lived in Japan for good I would buy one. They smelled so good!


after this we walked around and saw a bunch of christmas decorations in different areas. One place we went to was near ebisu station and the lights here were gorgeous!


Also, iinsdie the station was one of those moving sidewalks. On the way back to the train I was looking at some ads on the wall while standing on the sidewalked. Ever wonder what happens if you don't step off of it at the end? It's not pretty. Since I was standing sideways, and not paying attention, I completely toppled ovder. I had no idea what had happened but I laughed a lot. I was embarrased but wasn't hurt, good thing^.^

when we got home Manami and her friend Miki (from the taco tako party) were there and we all began to work on a gingerbread house. Apparently I'm good at it. Miki and Manami thought so anyway. During this time I talked to Rae and Mom and Alec on the phone for maybe two hours. It was really great to get to talk that long. I must confess, I was really getting a little sad and that cheered me up. Also, Manami and Okaasan talked to Rae. I'm excited for Rae and Mom to get to meet my host family next February.
Yay!


More pics on my photobucket under "thanksgiving"

Olympic Park

So, this was about a week ago and Okaasan already wrote about it in her blog but I thought I should write about it for a few reasons.

firstly, this was just a great day spent with Okaasan. I really enjoyed walking around the park, and it was beautiful! PLus, I got to see a bunch of runners and walkers and people just being friendly. The park also has a skateboarding area which I thought was cool.

But there were two really great things I liked.

I have to mention I have been trying to find Kyudo lessons for awhile now. Kyudo is traditional Japanese archery where the bow is something like 6 feet long. I like archery a lot and thought it would be a great experience to try my hand at Kyudo. Most schools have clubs but I wasn't aware of one at Sophia so I'd been searching websites for lessons elsewhere...I've had little luck.
It turns out the Olympic park has a Kyudo range, which I guess isnt too surprising actually. So Okaasan and I checked it out. We talked to a student who was very polite but spoke REALLY fast so it was hard for me to understand most of it. OKaasan related what he was saying to me. Apparently Sophia just started a Kyudo club, if I'm didn't misunderstand. I've been having troublke locating it though, and I'm also worried I won't be able to commit the right amount of time, but I'm at least going to see first.

The second thing that was really fun was the dog park. OKaasan and I must have spent an hour or so just watching dogs and children and people in this little area. I have mentioned that Japanese Dogs are cuter for some reason, right? It was really fun and the dogs were all cute. Sometime I'd like to return to just sit and sketch for awhile.

Pictures of the Puppies!

More on my photobucket!
Did I mention Japanese people love to dress up their dogs? It's really quite amazing, and the dogs seem to be used to it too.

Also, the Dog in the Jacket above is apparently a really popular kind of dog, and so costs maybe 200000 yen....that's crazy! But Okaasan says it is so. Okaasan really wants a dog like the one from the movie "The Mask" which seems to be pretty popular here.

That's all for the park!

Updates Forthcoming

Is that the right word?
In any case, I apologize that I have been very busy for awhile and havn't been able to update. Tonight I should be able to add all the new entries I've been wanting to share with you all since something like last week. There is a lot and I plan to write all the big stuff in separate entries.

In some shorter updates I'll say that yesterday was interesting because Andrew and I checked out a bible study that is in both Japanese and English(the connection courtesy of Andrew's parents). It was nice, though, some things were a little odd(mostly about the place we were meeting at) but I think we'll probably try to make going a habit since everyone was friendly and it seems like a good group of people.

On Sunday Andrew and I went to a place called Ameyokocho, right outside Ueno(I have yuet to actually enter the park but that is to be remedied next weekend). It was fun to walk around the side streets and see all the little shops and people selling stuff. If I'm not mistaken the history of the area is that it is where the western items were sold when they first came over...something like a black market? I can't remember exactly andf I may be confusing it with another place. In any case, it was a nice to walk around there and just outside of the area is this huge toy shop which we only saw a bit of because I was starving.

In other notes, I sent out postcards, around 20 or so. So a lot of you should be getting them. It was cheaper than I thought it would be so I'm a little worried they won't show up...still, keep an eye out. I've alos made the decision that I'm not really going to ship gifts home for you guys. sorry, but I realized it would be too expensive. I'll send letter and postcards and normal cards though. Maybe when mom and Rae come I can send some stuff home with them, I'll probably have to.

Andrew and I have been planning a trip to Sapporo for the Snow fest. I think we've found a place to stay that's super cheap so Im excited. We will probably book it today. I definatly can't wait to go and I hope I also get a chance to do some snowbaording while I'm up there, we'll see.

Anyway, that's all for short updates. The big ones come tonight...
Yay!
Peace!

English Lessons to start soon, plus, another 'sort of' Culture note

So...Lessons have been confirmer with Mrs. Fujisawa. Let me say, her elegance tranlates even into her emails.
We've decided to meet once a week(the exact day to be determined each week due to the fujiasawa's busy schedule) at 7:30 at her house. They live very, very close so this is no problem. The first meeting is to be the 29th of this month.
Lessons should be about two hours long and I will be paid 3000 yen per hour. Sorry Dad, couldn't be as bold as you wanted but I felt asking for more was too much. Mrs. Fujisawa's english is already very good and she really only wants a conversation partner. I will be paid monthly.
I'm already getting very excited about this whole thing. If anyone wants to suggest good topics for conversation then please do. I already have a few ideas in mind. Mostly I just need to get Mrs. Fujisawa really comfortable and confident in her english.
I'm so pumped!
Maybe I was meant to be a teacher after all...

On some minor notes...
I had my Cinema midterm today. Im pretty sure I got an A or either a high B. It was pretty easy because Id seen all the movies, paid attention during classes, and done the readings.
Also, I got my first phone bill. Only 5331 yen and thats including an extra 2700 yen for starting the plan...so It'll be even less next time. Yes!

And now...
A "sort of" culture Note

I'm not really sure if I can call this a culture note or note...honestly...what really falls into the category of culture anyway?
In any case this entry is about Convienence stores. In Japan, when they say Convienence store, they meant it. By the way, in Japanese a convienence story is called "Konbini" and convienent is called "Benri". In any case, I'm talking about any one of them; 7 eleven, lawsons, Am/Pm, newdays, etc. Not only can you get foodm which is normal in worldwide konbini's, but you can copy papers, fax papers, pay cell phone bills, most have those cool ID photo booths outside, and more exciting and convienent things like that. Of course, they arent attatched to gas stations like the ones in america either...And I'd say the hot food they have tends to be better..but thats a personal question I suppose.
Maybe they arent so special but I like them. Maybe I like how the Japanese seem to have a real hold on convienence. I mean...I really feel like a major concern here is how "benri" something is...and I love it...it also provides a certain amount of efficiency, which I also love.

In any case, this was all brought about me finding out I could pay my cellphone bill at 7 eleven. Im really, well...just enchanted by this.

Much love!

International House Japan-Reception in honor of Peter Drucker and his wife

So...
The recepption was interesting.
First, let me start by saying I really didn't have any clue what it was going to be like and I had the strange sensation of all my Japanese leaving me the minute I walked through the doors of the building. I had also just spend 45 minutes looking for the place (it's a good thing I always get to places really really early) so I was a little frantic. But I calmed down...quickly too, which surprised me.
And, upon meeting the Fujisawa's, I found my Japanese had indeed not left me but simply nestled itself a little more comfortably in my brain. What the heck does that mean? Anyway, I found conversation witht he Fujisawa's pleasant and easy. Mr. Fujisawa is flamboyant, if only because I can think of no other way to describe a Japanese man as friendly and outspoken as he is. Plus he obviously adores his wife. He pretty much knows only a little english, though I think he may know about as much as I know Japanese. Mrs. Fujisawa is very beautiful and was indeed wearing a kimono. She was very softspoen and I think a little shy to speak english. but her english is good. I like them both a lot. We talked out some details but I think they will all be solidified via email. Anyone reading this have a good suggection for appropriate payment? Mostly Mrs. Fujisawa needs a conversation partner so I will meet her once a week and we will simply have conversations in english.

In any case...
after talking with them for awhile I asked Rick what exactly I was supposed to help with. He directed me to the information desk where I met three very nice ladies. Everyone else went into the Reception room and us four packed gift bags for the guests. After that we waited for people to leave. This part was a little dull and I would have liked to hear the talk about Drucker. I did do some homework and even read up on Drucker in a book they had at the desk.
After everyone left(some 2 hours later) we four ladies got to eat (along with the hosts of the reception and Mrs. Drucker). The food was really good and I had my first raspberry and blueberry since arriving in japan. I spent a lot of time talking with the other ladies from the information desk and they were all very nice. One of them had been to australia for some ten years and she was especially kind to me. She gave me her card so I may email her.

The only thing I am mad at myself is that I did not directly meet Mrs Drucker or Speak with her. It simply that there was always someone talking to her, plus...how was I going to introduce myself? It's not even like I knew that much about her or her husband. I did meet a few other interesting people and I even scroed some tickets to an art exhibit at a museum.

All in all it was a very good evening. And I even got a ride home. Yay!
I think that's everything. Oh, I really wanted one of the books they were giving away as gifts. Although it was in Japanese I was going to send it to Dad. It was a book of quotes for daily use by Drucker...I wish I could remember the title. In any case...
Good night!
Much love!

Birthday Fun!

For my birthday I, with the help of Andrew and his friend John(from the dorm, not from UGA), organized a little Kareoke get together for a nice group of people. Some people didn't come but man, they missed out, because it was tons of fun.

We went to a place called Do Re Mi and got a room that had its own stage and a fun lighting set up. I met a few new people, had only one drink, and we all sang till about midnight thirty. We started at 9ish so it was a good long time. Yay! The night started with a bit too much heavy metal for my taste but things lightened up after awhile...it was fun, and I even thought the metal was entertaining. I think my favorite parts were:
1)When andrew sang Kiss from a rose and Duncan and Ross and John all swooned (as well as me)
2)When I finally found DJ Miko's version of What's Up and got to sing it as the last song of the night
3)When Deborah, this very sweet looking french girl gets up and starts singing dome death metal song and sounds like they actually do when they sing it...scary!
4)How the only Japanese guy there showed everyone up (except maybe Andrew) cuz he actually sang the songs in Japanese and did an awesome job...

Pictures:
DuncanJohn and Ross

Flo Justin
Deborah, Justin, Taji

So...that was Friday night. On Saturday around one Andrew and I as well as Okaasan, Manami, and her friend (Mika? it think...sad because I have such a terrible memory even after talking so much with her) began cooking. Manami did the little drawing thing that chooses jobs randomly so Mika and I were in charge of Takoyaki and Andrew and Manami were in charge of tacos. We all eneded up helping each other out anyway. It was really fun and then we sat around eating and talking for probably a couple hours.



Manami bought me the cutest thing...I forgot to take a picture of it tho...its a little thing that bobs its head...she also made me a cake...though neither Okaasan nor Manami knew how to spell my name!^.^

The bear on the cake is named Rira Kuma and I love this character...which Manami and Okaasan both know.
After eating cake and food (way too much by the way^.^) we played a really strange game that I dont think any of us actually understood. I won though. Hah hah. It was advertised on the box as the most popular game in the world...I don't think that's true tho.


It was a great birthday! I also got cards from Grandma and grandpa, as well as mom's gift and Emily and Titi Gloria sent me e-cards. I also got a lot of well wishes on facebook.
Whoo!
I'm 20 now...yay!

Much Love!
PS...I got an A on my women's history paper. He said I had a unique argument but I could have expanded it a little furthur...

Score!!!

Okay...
so I got my test in lit back today. I guess I underestimated my ability to BS....either that or I actually knew what I was writing about. I got a B. Seriously though....I was completely convinced I failed it because I didn't think I had answered the questions at all. Wierd.

In any case...birthday is tomorrow. Ill open mom's package first thing. Dad...I got your book...of course...I didnt realize it was going to be in spanish...the pictures are pretty and I saw a lot of the work from Coit Tower in San Fransisco which is cool.

Okay...I'll probably be sending a huge batch of postcards out in the middle of novemeber..beforte then if everyone please shoot me an email or message or something reconfirming their address just to make sure I have it right....

Much Love!
(Im turning 20! I'm turing 20!)
^.^

Being a student

Yep...not much happening except school. I thought maybe some of you might be intersted in reading my women's history essay. I like it a lot...though I have realized a few of the problems with the paper. Still...it might be of interest to some as it contains many references to a lot of the classic Japanese Literature we've been reading in my classes.
Here's a brief outline of the texts I've read in both my literature and women's history class along with brief information on their contents:
(the majority of my readings have been excerpts)

Kojiki-Historical Prose...ummm....this was one of the first books of Japan? it is a sort of history/myth lore about the creation o f Japan..though it continues on into actual history of the emperors. Very similar to the Nihon Shoki. I read ecerpts from the first book and book 2. Book two contains the story of Takeru(can't remember his first name). Interesting fellow.
Nihon Shoki-Similar to the Kojiki. According to sources it goes a bit furthur along in actual history than the Nihon Shoki. I like Kojiki better.
Manyoshu- A collection of Waka(court poetry). Organized a little sporatically. Important poets would include Hitomaru...I enjoyed his poems though on the whole its hard to understand the relevance of the majority of the poems. (I've never been good at Poetry).
Nihon Ryoiki-Also called "tales of karmic retribution" and the like in some tranlations. An old heian text that has a lot of Buddhist(sp?) origin...or is it confusianism? In any case all the tales are examples of how people who did the right thing were rewarded. A lot of supernatural in the stories. Intriguing...but also just kind of funny.
Kokinshu-A later collection of poems which epitomizes the Japanese way of organiztion. This means temporally not by date written or author, etc. For instance..the first 6 books are about the seasons...and they are ordered from spring to winter with no regards to when the poems were written or by who. The first 5 books of volume two are all about the process of love which follows a pattern comparable to the seasons(I.e. from first sighting to the death of the romance...because most romance in japanese literature does not end happily)
Konjaku Monogatari-I read two tales from this. The first being "How a Man who was Accompanying His Wife to Tanba Province got Trussed up at Oeyama" which is what th emovie Rashomon is based off of. The second was the story called "Rashomon" which actually had nothing to do with the movie.
Ugetsu Monogatari-I read a few stories from here. A lot of supernatural stuff that is pretty cool. One of the movies Ive watched for cinema is based off of two stories in this book that I didnt read.(the movie is called Ugetsu Monogatari)
Onna Daigaku(Greater learning for Women)-An edo period creation which enforces certain ideas about the place and "destiny" of a woman. Basically get married and serve your husbands family loyally. Literature of the period usually incorporated these ideas and helped to enforce the sense of the fuedal system...does that make sense? Im so bad with words...
Tosa Diary-A diary of a woman travling home from tosa..its actually written by a man who was pretty masterful of court poetry. He manages to write in many different voices....I liked it.
Kagero Diary (The Gossamer Years:Diary of a Noblewoman of Heian Japan)-An actual diary. It's interesting but pretty frustrating because all the woman writes about is her realtionship with the prince(meaning one of many...not the actual emperor or soon to be emperor) and her rleationship kind of sucks. And she is a complainer. And she hardly writes about her kids and only writes about her family when they leave her(vie death and or moving)...and she does manage to write a bit about her rivals...its just..wierd and frustrating...but good notheless.
Taketori Monogatari-The tale of the bamboo cutter and the princess from the moon. Its amazing how many japanese stories, animes, games, etc have references to this tale. The princess' name is Kaguya Hime(yes Jessie and Rae-think sailormoon). It's a pretty good story. I especially like how the princess is pretty cold to all the suitors trying to win her hand...they all fail, including the emperor...Its great! Also..the story at the end about the naming of Mt Fuji is aparently false...but still....interesting.
Five Women who Loved Love- read two stories from this book. More supernatural involvement. One of the ones I read was actually about a man named gengobei who only loves boys until a woman dresses up as a boy and makes him fall in love with her. Its funny and ironic because Gengobei epitomizes the ideal woman of the time wheras the girl is like a man...I liked it. Maybe this is because this story actually ends happily.(i.e. no one is haunted and everyone lives)
The Tales of Ise- A collection of poems and prose which are supposedly the life of Narihira(a big name poet)...actually there's no way they could all be about him but it's more the idealization. He's supposed to be a sort of Japanese Don Juan..maybe...I didn't especially love it.

We are about to start the Tale of Genji in lit...woo. THe majority of these can be found on wikipedia if you want to learn more..its pretty cool.

If you want to read my paper you can download it here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/sh8s64
this link is only going to work for around a week or two.

Hmmm...
Other than that?
My birthday is coming up. On friday a huge group of people are going to Kareoke to help me celebrate. Im not going to be drinking tho^.^ On saturday Okaasan, manami, one of her friends, andrew and I will be eating a special little meal together of tacos and takoyaki. Hah hah...it makes me laugh.
Anyway...tis all for now!
Much Love!

oh...as soon as I figure out how to write IN japanese on my computer I will be including short tidbits in japanese so I can practice. Okaasan suggested the idea and said she'd check my work.
^.^

Peter Drucker

Well...since I will shortly be attending a Reception in honor of Peter Drucker, here's some info I've found on him. Also, the reception is in honor of his wife, Doris, who is still alive...(peter died not too long ago at the age of 95 or somewhere around there).

From Wikipedia:
Peter Ferdinand Drucker (November 19, 1909–November 11, 2005) was an Austrian author of management-related literature. The son of a high level civil servant in the Habsburg empire, Drucker was born in a suburb of Vienna in a small village named Kaasgraben (nowadays part of the 19th district, Döbling). Following the defeat of the Austria-Hungary in World War I, there were few opportunities for employment in Vienna so he went to Germany after finishing school, first working in banking and then in journalism. He also earned a doctorate in International Law while he was there. The rise of Nazism forced him to leave Germany in 1933 and after four years in London he moved for good to the United States in 1937, where he became a professor as well as a freelance writer. According to George Orwell, he was one of the only writers to predict the German-Soviet Pact of 1939 [1]. In 1943, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He taught at New York University as Professor of Management from 1950 to 1971. From 1971 to his death he was the Clarke Professor of Social Science and Management at Claremont Graduate University. He also unwittingly ushered in the knowledge economy and made famous the term knowledge worker, which effectively challenges Karl Marx's world-view of the political-economic landscape.
His career as a business thinker took off in the 1945, when his initial writings on politics and society won him access to the internal workings of General Motors, which was one of the largest companies in the world at that time. His experiences in Europe had left him fascinated with the problem of authority. He shared his fascination with Donaldson Brown, the mastermind behind the administrative controls at GM. Brown invited him in to conduct what might be called a political audit. The resulting Concept of the Corporation popularized GM's multidivisional structure and led to numerous articles, consulting engagements, and additional books.
Drucker was interested in the growing importance of people who worked with their minds rather than their hands. He was intrigued by employees who know more about certain subjects than their bosses or colleagues and yet had to cooperate with others in a large organization. Rather than simply glorify the phenomenon as the epitome of human progress, Drucker analyzed it and explained how it challenged the common thinking about how organizations should be run.
His approach worked well in the increasingly mature business world of the second half of the twentieth century. By that time, large corporations had developed the basic manufacturing efficiencies and managerial hierarchies of mass production. Executives thought they knew how to run companies, and Drucker took it upon himself to poke holes in their beliefs, lest organizations become stale. But he did so in a sympathetic way. He assumed that his readers were intelligent, rational, hardworking people of goodwill. If their Organizations struggled, he believed it was usually because of outdated ideas, a narrow conception of problem, or internal misunderstandings.
Drucker is the author of thirty-nine books, which have been translated into more than twenty languages. Two of his books are novels, one an autobiography. He is the co-author of a book on Japanese painting, and has made four series of educational films on management topics. His first book was written in 1939, and from 1975 to 1995 was an editorial columnist for The Wall Street Journal, and was a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review. He continued to act as a consultant to businesses and non-profit organizations when he was in his nineties. Drucker died November 11, 2005 in Claremont, California of natural causes. He was 95.

Basically...he was a big pioneer man of certain aspects of the business world.
According to Rick Dyke(the guy who invited me) he had one of the largest collections of ink paintings (sumi-e?). Also according to Rick, he's pretty well known in Japan, though my host family has never heard of him.

there are a ton of websites about him as well:
http://drucker.cgu.edu/
http://www.pfdf.org/
http://cguweb.cgu.edu/faculty/druckerp.html
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/99oct/9910drucker.htm
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ecbig/soctrans.htm#Drucker
http://www.business2.com/content/magazine/indepth/2000/08/08/15450
http://www.best-in-class.com/research/bestpracticespotlights/drucker.htm
http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC32/Drucker.htm
http://www.inc.com/incmagazine/article/0,,ART888,00.html
http://www.lib.uwo.ca/business/dru.html

Some quotes I found that I liked:
-Efficiency is doing better what is already being done.
-Do not believe that it is very much of an advance to do the unnecessary three times as fast.
-As a rule we perceive what we expect to perceive... The unexpected is usually not received at all.
-There is the risk you cannot afford to take, [and] there is the risk you cannot afford not to take.

yeah..I think I would have liked this guy. I'm a big fan of efficency.
^.^

Peace!
PS-I may have bombed that Literature test but I completely ROCKED my women's history essay. PLus I got my Religion and the Arts paper back...A-! hah hah! I may hate writing them but I guess I'm okay at essays...why can't my lit teacher make us write essays so that I can Rock his class as well?
Alas....

Disney Tokyo!

Here's a long overdue post about last week's trip to Disneyland tokyo...

IT was awesome!!!
I've only ever been to disney world once for a day inwhich I saw MGM and half of Epcot...so to spend an entire day in the park goind on all the rides and seeing everything (particularly the castle) was very cool for me.
I'm a child at heart so Andrew and I acted like the biggest tourists...which was fine because all the other people there were doing the same thing. That's one thing that is great about amusement parks...it's one place where you don't have to feel ashamed to act like a tourist(not that I ever do^.^feel ashamed, that is).
Also, since it was halloween you were allowed to wear costumes, as long as they were disney chracters. I guess japanese kids and teenagers, even adults, love costumes because the majority of the people there were decked out. It was great.
So Andrew and I also did the tourist thing and bought ears and hands and food and popcorn and stuff like that...I absolutely adored it!
In any case, here are pictures..also...more in photobucket:


this one is for sara:
"I'm a monster!!!"



What! Real nature in Disneyland?




and these hot pics are for alice...saw em in the subway and had to snap a few shots:


Check out our cute accesories!
Those dang ears are cute but annoying to get fixed on my head real sturdy like...hee hee...


So...thats all...Promise to update sooner...probably tomorrow morning...
Much love!

PS-I definatly bombed my first literature test despite studying all day saturday. And I wont meet the Fujisawa's until the 13th when I go to the Peter Drucker thing...more info on that in my next post!
^.^