Heads up: This post is 19 years old. My thinking may have evolved since then — read it with that in mind.
Last night, my sister got us free tickets to Japan Society’s “U.S.-Japan Innovators Project Symposium: Improvisation, Creativity, Collaboration: Fueling Innovation in the 21st Century”. The first speaker, Daniel Pink, is actually on a fellowship from Japan Society, and he talked to us via high-speed video link from Keio University in Tokyo. I was really impressed with the quality of both the video and audio quality. (And the quality of the actual speech itself too.) The video was projected onto a huge screen and the resolution is very high, there was no lag in neither the video nor audio feed. Anyway, his speech was about his new book - A Whole New Mind. Basically, it’s about how our left brain, which does logical things, is becoming less important than our creative right brain. I couldn’t agree with him more… especially on the issue of current education systems and standardized testing. Those stuff absolutely kills the children’s creativities. Then, we get to hear jazz musicain Marty Ashby play. Good stuff. One thing he mentioned was that children are born innovative and we adults keep taking it away. Finally, Hiroshi Tasaka, Professor at Tama University, talked about … Adult Joy… LOL! Sounds dirty. But actually, it was pretty meaningful. The things that I took away from his speech was 1) it’s hardship that makes a person grow. 2) Life is happening while you make your plans. 3) once again, it’s hardship that shapes your path in life. 4) The person who gives you a lot of pain and sadness is your Buddha. 5) The Japanese verb “to work” 働く can be interpreted as はた + らく ~ neighbour + happy. So, to work is to make your neighbours happy.(?) 6) and finally, never put your speech notes onto powerpoint and show them your audience while reading off of them. Seriously though, I enjoyed it very much, especially given my current state of “hardship”. LOL… So, my bitch-ass boss is actually my Buddha and she’s shaping my path. LOL. Enlightening!
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Designing the Future: Japan’s Tech Revolution - A Customer-Driven Corporate Perspective at My Journey to Japan — 2007-06-12 11:13:20
[…] couple of weeks ago, my sister told me about a U.S.-Japan Innovators Project Symposium event at the Japan Society in New York. You can read about my thoughts on the event from the link […]
Designing the Future: Japan’s Tech Revolution - A Customer-Driven Corporate Perspective « Before I Die — 2008-12-14 09:37:30
[…] couple of weeks ago, my sister told me about a U.S.-Japan Innovators Project Symposium event at the Japan Society in New York. You can read about my thoughts on the event from the link […]