Back in Berkeley

I've been back in Berkeley since last Monday, but only now am I starting to feel re-adjusted to the time here. The jet-lag was hard to get over this time. Berkeley feels so very boring to me after having spent the last two weeks in Tokyo on vacation. There was always something interesting that I could do in Tokyo, but here in Berkeley when I think of the potential options I almost feel as though I'm living in the countryside. Things close too early here, and there are no interesting places to go in the evening after I'm done working. The one thing about Japan that I don't miss is the way that just about everybody smokes everwhere.

Now I'm trying to figure out the fastest way that I can make my way back to Japan, hopefully to stay for an extended period of time. I have several years to go in the Ph.D. program that I'm in, but I'm hoping that there may be some way that I could collaborate with somebody working in Japan, and have a nice excuse to go work there for a while, and at the same time work on finishing my Ph.D.. I'm taking Japanese again at Berkeley, and the class is a little bit harder than it was last year, of course probably due to the fact that it is a third year Japanese course. Sadly though, my speaking ability is still a little below par, though it improved a little bit during the two weeks I was in Tokyo. It really helps to be constantly surrounded by a language to learn it.

All I can think about is Japan. I'm probably literally obsessed with Japan, according to some psychological standard. When I go out with friends I quickly seek out the Japanese or Japanese American people in the crowd and talk with them for hours on end about the things that I like about Japan. It is kind of funny, because whenever I meet a Japanese person and they find out how much I'm interested in Japan, almost always their first question is "WHY?!?!?!" I guess to them Japan isn't very interesting at all, and they seem really surprised when a foreigner finds Japan so interesting. I have a couple of things that I say, and usually they end up agreeing with me in the end.

I am Kermit

I just looked at 21st century Nancy Drew's blog, and was intrigued by the muppet personality test. I used to love the Muppets when I was a kid, so I took the personality test and got this result:

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know. You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems. Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green. Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

The Muppet Personality Test

My favorite Muppets were Kermit, Gonzo, Rolph, and Animal. But while I was at it determining my Muppet personality, I also took a couple of other tests:

You Should Spend Your Summer at the Beach

You're a free spirit who is always thinking of new ways to have fun. And you don't just love summer... you live for it. So, you really should blow off your responsibilities and head to the beach!

Where Should You Spend Your Summer?

You Are 56% Control Freak

Generally, you are in control but not a control freak. Your life is usually in order. However, sometimes you get too obsessed with making everything in your life picture perfect.

Are You A Control Freak?

Your 1950s Name is:

Francis Vincent

What's your 1950s Name?

Your Love Number is 4

You are a creative and expressive lover - a true romantic at heart. An introspective soul, you know exactly how your ideal relationship should be. But if you don't get that ideal, you tend to get a bit pouty and dramatic. You need someone who can roll with the punches, that's for sure!

What Is Your Love Number?

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 30% Conservative, 70% Liberal

Social Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

You Should Travel to Japan

From freak sightings in Harajuku to awesome sashimi, you'll love Japan. And who knows? You might end up on Japanese TV!

What Asian Country Should You Visit?

This is really not too surprising. I'll be in Japan in fewer than two weeks now.

Your Brain is 73% Female, 27% Male

Your brain leans female You think with your heart, not your head Sweet and considerate, you are a giver But you're tough enough not to let anyone take advantage of you!

What Gender Is Your Brain?

You Belong in Amsterdam

A little old fashioned, a little modern - you're the best of both worlds. And so is Amsterdam. Whether you want to be a squatter graffiti artist or a great novelist, Amsterdam has all that you want in Europe (in one small city).

What European City Do You Belong In?

You're a Freaky Kisser

When you kiss, you want to experience something new A new technique, a new partner, a new piercing... And your own personal kissing style is very unpredictable There's no saying where your tongue or hands will go

What Kind of Kisser Are You?

I don't know if that sounds very good...freaky kisser. Hmmm.

Your Ideal Relationship is Marriage

You've dated enough to know what you want. And that's marriage - with the right person. You're serious about settling down some time soon. Even if you haven't met the person you want to get hitched to!

What's Your Ideal Relationship?

Hahaha, I'm getting older I guess.

Your Japanese Name Is...

Yoshiyuki Hayashi

What's your Japanese Name?

Bored

Bored, bored, I have very little to do. I need to make more friends who I can hang out with, because I have too much time on my hands and too little to do with it. I'm finding myself going out to study for my classes next semester already simply because I don't have anything better to do. I have a month off, and I'm glad, but it would be nice to be able to fill that month with something even slightly more memorable than studying for classes that I won't begin for three months. Ugh, I need a girlfriend. It's been over a year, and I don't have school to take my mind off of it now.

Ok, I'm off to go study.

Passed

I'm feeling a little bit relieved, because yesterday I passed my Master's Exam, so I'm really almost done with the Master's Program. I still have lots of class work to finish to pass my classes this semester, but that will all be finished around the 16th. So I'm feeling happy that I'll have my Master's Degree this summer, and be able to begin the Ph.D..

The exam itself was oral. I had to choose three topics within statistics and write three five page (or in my case one 16 page) papers on the three topics. I chose Maximum Likelihood, The Gauss-Markov set up for linear regression, and the Bootstrap. I was surprised because most of the questions in the exam were not directed towards what I had written. I had to remember things that I had learned quite a while ago, and explain them (of course using a blackboard) in a good amount of detail. Overall it wasn't as bad as I had thought it might be, so I think in some sense that I over-prepared for it. I was so relieved at the end, after having asked me to step out for a short time while they discussed whether or not I passed, when they all said their congratulations and shook my hand. For me that really distilled the last two years into a moment that seemed to be the pinacle of my achievement in the master's program.

So perhaps due in part to the large amount of stress that I've been lately feeling, I woke up to a nice cold that I seem to have caught somewhere. And in no attempt to pun, the apartment this morning was also very cold. It seems the landlady has once again instituted her deplorable policy of turning off the heating once May begins. It creates the effect of actually feeling much colder in the "summer" than during the winter. I've written about it before. Those of you who know me know that I absolutely hate cold weather. I would rather sweat in blistering heat than to feel cold. So here I am, wearing thermal underwear, jeans, two shirts, a sweater, and my down jacket as I write this (sitting in my apartment on May 6). Yeah, it may sound excessive to you, but for me it is oh so necessary.

宮本武蔵の作文

I had to write an essay in Japanese this semester, and I decided to write about 宮本武蔵. I'm not posting anything else because I'm too busy, but I thought it might be interesting for those of you who read Japanese to see how terrible my Japanese is. Have fun.

　 宮本武蔵という侍は日本で有名な人物であるが、実はこの人について実際に何があったかという情報は少ない。また、情報の出典によって、情報は本当に違う。 そして、英語では武蔵の情報は見つかりにくくて、正確な情報かどうかも分りにくいのではないだろうかと思う。それで、宮本武蔵という侍について面白い質問 が一つある。武蔵とは実はだれであるのか。それに、私たちはこのような質問の答えは得ることができるか。武蔵の話は半分伝説で半分歴史なのではないだろう かと思う。この作文の中には起こり得た話を書いてみるつもりである。

　 宮本武蔵は戦国時代に１５８４年美作国（岡山県）宮本村で生まれたと言われているが、正確な場所はだれもよく知らない。大人になる前武蔵の名前は宮本弁助 だったけれど、子供時代は情報が少ないのである。武蔵はまだ十六歳なのに関ヶ原の戦いで豊臣秀吉のそばで戦った。それから、武者修行をして剣術を完成をさ せて、国中を歩き回った。一生のうちに彼は六十の決闘をしたが、ずっと負けなかった。つまり、彼の剣術は本当に一流な剣術なわけである。１６０４年には武 蔵は吉岡清十郎という周知の剣道の達人と木刀で決闘と戦って、勝った。

　 １６１２年４月１４日に武蔵は佐々木小次郎という剣道の達人の侍と現代の巌流島（船島）で有名な決闘をした。佐々木小次郎は非常に熟練した剣道の達人で、 異常に長い野太刀という刀を使用した。この決闘の約束の日に武蔵は遅く島に着いてきて、自分で長い櫂で作った木剣を持ってきた。小次郎は武蔵が遅れたので 大変怒っていたが、真剣せずに木剣を使うのは失礼だと思ったようあった。しかしながら、多分武蔵はそんな反応を期待していたかもしれない。武蔵は時間をか けずに勝った。

　 武蔵は剣道の達人で有名なだけではない。武蔵は芸術家でもあったし、哲学者でもあった。有名な「五輪之書」という本を書いている。その本は剣術について書 いた本であるが、また武蔵の独自の世界観について書いた本でもある。彼の世界観は本当に面白くて、独特だと思う。彼のどりんぼというおじさんは僧で、どり んぼの影響を受けたため大人になった時武蔵の考え方は時々僧の考え方のようである。例えば武蔵は世の中のできるごとを経験することとか観測することなどは 大切なことだと思っていた。武蔵は厳しい人であって、いつも自分のことでは高い規格に合うようにとがんばっていた。お金と贅沢は重要なことではないと思っ ていたのであろう。

　 武蔵について知らないことは多いが、象徴として見ることができるであろう。武蔵は決断、高い規格、独立した世界観を象徴すると思う。面白いことに、武蔵の 考え方は部分的に禅の考え方と似ている。例えば、武蔵の書いた本は剣術の本であるが、本当に哲学の本のようである。剣法を完成したがっていったが、また芸 術と詩の重要性も理解していた。私には武蔵について一番面白いことは 武蔵が一人で世の中で経験から学んで、自分の心の言っていることだけを聞いたことである。

whatever

So after about two months here is yet another installment of the exciting literary achievement of the 21st century, my blog. I've been working so constantly over the past few months that I never feel like writing anything anymore. I'm so mentally tired all of the time that I don't want to have to exert myself in any way beyond what is required of me at school and work (which is also school).

I don't know if I've announced this earlier (there are still probably people who I haven't yet told) but I was accepted into the Biostatistics Ph.D. about a couple of months ago. So "I pass the test. I will diminish, and go into the west, and remain Galadriel." All throughout Spring Break I've been studying for my Master's Exam, and for a midterm that I'll have next week. I'm so sick of always working all of the time. I think I'm going to end up dropping one of the classes that I'm taking. I've just felt like I'm under so much pressure lately. Trying to be good at everything that I do has tired me out. I wish I had a couple of more weeks where I could go run off to some far away country and disappear for a little while, relaxing and enjoying myself. I've been wanting to plan a trip to Japan this summer, but I'm not sure yet whether or not I'll be able to do it. I'm always so poor now. The common complaint of a gradute student.

Secularism in Europe

There has been quite an uproar lately in the muslim world regarding a few cartoons published in a Danish newspaper (the Jyllands-Posten). What is so exciting muslims is that the cartoons were caricatures of the prophet Mohammed; something that is forbidden to do in muslim societies. What makes little sense to me is how muslims in the middle east can expect democratic and secular western countries to follow muslim religious practices. The Danish newspapers had and have every right to publish cartoons of Mohammed, or any other religious leader, for that matter. Secularism is one of the great strengths of western society, and is in fact one of the principles which help all within the west to enjoy greater religious freedom. In the middle east the governments are autocratic, dogmatic, and hypocritical, and because of this a number of them actually protested to the Danish government in an attempt to remove the cartoons from the press. They apparently did not understand that in democracies the government does not control what is printed in newspapers (at least not directly).

Today several European newspapers reprinted selections of the Danish cartoons of Mohammed (France Soir, Germany's Die Welt, La Stampa in Italy and El Periodico in Spain). I feel that this kind of response to the outrage in the Muslim world is completely appropriate, for it is an expression of the freedoms that secular democratic countries possess. It is regrettable that the cartoons may offend some people, but sometimes it is important to risk offending others in the expression of certain principles. Take inter-racial marriage for example. In the early part of the last century it truly offended a large section of the white population when they saw a white woman married to a black man (rare though it was). But it is and was important to risk the offense of such white people to protest against such racist and segregationist views.

The repression of religious autocracies is deplorable, and for me this is perhaps the strongest criticism that I can make of many of the current middle eastern countries. Secularism in government is a principle that I deeply believe in. I do find it interesting that they have not been reprinted in any US newspapers. Perhaps US society is not so secular as we think?