Finally (almost) done with the thesis

Not writing a blog for awhile can have serious consequences. A friend of ours called up to ask whether everything we are alright.

Yes, we are still alive. My hands have been busy writing the final thesis.

I'm relieved to say that today, after 21 225 words and some 82 pages it seems complete. (Still need to get a final word from the professor.) Thank you all for your support!

Now I can again concentrate on something else - like reporting about interesting things in this blog.

Though that may be a fantasy because from Friday onwards I will spend my weekdays working. Maybe observations about Finnish work culture.

April Fool's Day falls upon that same Friday. Let's see if I fool Yumiko. Usually she's pretty easy...

All of you out there, enjoy the spring! It's finally coming!

And now a compulsory photo taken last month. This is the front of the company where I did my thesis.

Be kind to interviewers, they're only trying to do their work

I was interviewing people in Helsinki last Tuesday. It's a part-time job alongside of studies.

People do not think highly of such job, and I can see why. Bothering people with dozens of questions on their spare time in a chaotic shopping mall, just as they have got out from work to do their grocery purchases.

That Tuesday was the worst slump so far. Recalling the event makes my blood still boil, but I can only blame my self.

The idea was to interview anyone who came out of the store, and basically figure out why one chooses to shop in this store and not the other.

The day was almost ending, and I was just checking my phone for messages. On the same moment one quite chubby man who had packed his week's food made an eye contact. He was about to walk away so quickly I put the phone into my pocket, and asked him "How are you doing?" He turned his face away saying, "Why do you ask? You're not interested anyway how am I doing."

Nice start. This guy wasn't obviously in a mood to answer, but I went on replying "I thought asking that would be a nice way to begin a conversation." The guy frowned at me and said, "Well, I'm not interested to have a conversation with you." That made two of us, but as my duty is to get the questionnaire forms filled, I asked him whether he'd be interested to participate anyway.

This man abruptly refused and was about to turn away, but then suddenly he bent down to pick up something from the floor. After a brief moment he got up holding up a 5 euro bill in his hand. "Look at this!" he yelled squeezing the note firmly. "Maybe I can answer your questionnaire after all."

Half of the form was complete, but then he started to get hostile. He was criticizing almost every question. "What is this question, 'is the store socially responsible'? Isn't every store in a way contributing to the welfare?" Who the hell has invented these god damn questions? You? I think this questionnaire is ridiculous!"

All I could do was to explain, "I'm only interviewing, and that's my poor job. If you help me out on this I'd be very pleased." He softened a little and continued to answer. Then as I turned to next page his fury exploded at once. "With how many questions you dare to bother me? I need much more than 5 euro to answer your foolish questionnaire! I've done a marketing research once, and I know how they should be. The hell with it! This is enough!"

His shouts echoed in the mall as he was marching away. You can imagine I felt down, and the fact that interviewer's wage is counted per completed form made the situation even more annoying. Half an hour wasted only to get irritated. Splendid.

I put my hands into my pockets and gathered my wits. A 5 euro note had been in my pocket, but where was it now? Oh dear, it had dropped...

A parody of the short history of teaching

In the beginning there was a teacher, the students and a class room.

Technology advanced, and one day the class room had to give way for web-based learning or e-learning.

There was puzzlement among mentors: was this new form of transferring knowledge a friend of a foe?

For everyone's relief, e-learning found its place in the realm of education by time. And though it required lots of training and patience, at the end, even the most conservative intellectuals complied to use web as a complement teaching.

Years passed and there was a harmony of multiform teaching. But just as people had became familiar with e-learning they were confronted with a new rebellion. It came with such a speed that nobody even realized it had already arrived.

Educators were filled with a new kind of loathing that was labelled as Social Media and user created content! The wild, untamed nature of this newcomer was most feared among teachers. A word was going around that it could dispense a central part of the teaching: the teachers.

Such rivalry was too much to comprehend, and the members of scholar world joined forces to prepare for battle. It was an unjust combat. The enemy possessed some mystical powers, yet unheard of.  In an instant, after casting the secret magic, the pupils got enchanted and grew an addition to Social Media. Educators fled beaten. They had lost the war.

In the end, all that was left of original setting were the students. They lived happily ever after, reading comments and making status updates on their  doctrine that was also known as the book of faces or curtly Facebook.

The end.

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This text was a by-product of thesis writing.

Camping meanwhile the sky fell down

I went camping with the company employees. It rained and thundered like the end of the world was at hand but that didn't matter. Some 13 of us spent a night, stuffed in a lodge, eating, playing, talking and wishing there was a TV (to view soccer).

Near the campsite cascaded a slid-kind of waterfall. At first look it looked much fun and everyone wanted to ride down the smoothened rocks.

Closer look changed our mind. The people were bouncing down like loose stones - getting smashed to the stones and more or less hurt. Later it resolved that each year the slide demands casualties.

For awhile nobody wanted to follow their painful example but soon we grew stupider it and went to try it out. Result, red and blue skin and wet clothes and a heap of laughing.

The only way to the water fall was this mossy oldish tunnel. Looking at people walk through it seemed somehow supernatural and spooky, and reminded me of a popular TV-serie from the 90s, The X-Files.

The evening went on, and some of us including me stayed up talking until five in the morning. Nice time, nice people. The people who I work with are awesome but why working in Japan has to be so dull. There's no good without something bad, I guess.

Meanwhile, we were having all the fun and Germany was hurdling Argentina in South Africa the heavy rain caused landslides, floods and other nasty disasters in various locations of Japan.

In Kyushu part of road fell down the mountain face. When cars came around the curve they had no time to see the collapsed part and break but just drive straight off the cliff. In Tokyo streets turned to lakes.

A day with earthquakes

Earthquakes come and go. During our stay here in Japan the ground has rattled several times but we never felt anything.

Two weeks ago the news tooted: "Strong earthquake shakes northern Japan." It had a magnitude of 6.3, and occurred at around 3:30 pm. The shaking was noticed in Tokyo, 250 km away from the epicenter. In the following, a little more information about earthquakes.

Seismic monitors measure the waves that move though and around the earth. There are two main forms of waves: body waves and surface waves. Surface waves travel like ripples on water, and body waves move through earth's inner layers.

Surface waves

Body waves

The two above have several variations, but generally the surface waves, which are easily measured by seismic devices, account for all the visible disasters. The recent earthquake, measured from the coastal station quite near the actual site, was as the picture below shows. At the 3:30 graph an eminent change can be seen. (each colored line represents a time frame of 30 minutes)

Though the epicenter was about 1,000 km (650 mi) away from Oita City, the waves were measured here as well. Below is a graph of the measurements from Oita:

The seismic waves traveled to Tokyo in 38 seconds, and by the average speed of 6.5 km/sec they reached Oita in 2,5 minutes.

On one hand experiencing an earthquake would be a cool thing but then again, it might turn out as an immense terror, which is NOT that cool! For the time being, I better not wish for one. That's it about earthquakes!

The countdown begins

Roughly 80 days left in Japan.

Then it's time to return.

I will miss this place.

No doubt. I will miss Japan.

A solution for aging population

Aging population is an issue for Japan everyone knows it. People live longer meanwhile the number of infants decline. In one way or another this topic comes up every day. An article from BBC: Japan mayor sets paternity leave 'example' points out well one of the causes of decreasing population.


At work we are encouraged and preached upon to bring solutions for it. Indeed, many seem to put a lot of effort in finding a resolution but a little progress can be seen and overall the problem hasn't gone anywhere.

While making my way in the train I met one the professors who used to teach us at the faculty of economics. When I inquired about a resolution for aging population issue he replied with a expression of worry in his face,

"I don't think there's a solution but surely a rapid decline would cause heaps of problems."
For the future, he said, "I prefer a slow decline. It could be somehow managed".

So why aren't people making babies any more? They used to make them easily in the past. Perhaps raising a family has become too difficult. The circumstances have changed by time to unfavorable for having a family. It's just too demanding and expensive. Yes, bringing up even one child requires lofty savings (or at least many believe so). But is it really only about having sufficient savings?


I believe that actually the time spent gathering savings slowly lowers the changes to have a family. A great number of Japanese work from early morning to late evening in order to get paid and to build up savings. At the end of the day most of the precious time has been given to the company and none to having a family. What can we conclude from this?


Although the companies play a role in providing livelihood they seem to hinder family planning. The company becomes priority number one, consumes all the time and eventually pushes family aside. Let’s take for example our company. Ironically here we sit next to our desktops picking our brains for ideas on how to deal with aging population, many until as late as 11 pm. Instead of trying to think a solution how about being the solution. Stand up, get out and make some babies!


On the first thought it may seem a difficult mission as the question of money and time arises. But in long term, if Japanese desire to save their own future (e.g. having young people to pay pension when retired), and avoid steeper decline in population, the companies are obligated to give their workers time to create some life.


Think of having a family as investment to the future. At first, the times will be though but making a family will become easier and pay off in the long run. So re-prioritize; take time out from work, stop thinking about whether right now is a perfect time or not! Behold, here's the solution: reproduce!

Not feeling encouraged yet?

Well, the solution may not be that straightforward. To be very frank, I'm not too eager to see a solution for the aging population issue. In the eyes of Finn, Japan has been overcrowded for a long time, too many people trying to make a living in an island that is too small for them. As a positive aspect, decreasing population could gradually revitalize Japan. Not maybe economically but in terms of human wellbeing.

Agreeing or disagreeing?

How can we open our eyes for opportunities?

It's easy to forget to think how many opportunities surround us. Being unaware of the chances is similar to making our way in a tunnel that has no turns, a tunnel where the only way is straight ahead. It is safe to walk in it because all the time we see what lies ahead but at the same time it is mind-numbing because everything is predictable.


When we start thinking of the opportunities around us it is as if the tunnel starts to change from a single straight tube into a network of tubes. The tunnel that was only a long straight line before is now full of turns, one next to another, left and right. Every step brings us to a new crossing that we'we not seen before. In other words, opportunities appear everywhere. We can still disregard the departing tunnels and just continue straight but that would be same as shutting our yes to new opportunities. So lets turn and let the world surprise us! After all, most people regret the things that they left undone not the things that they embarked on.

I admit, sometimes seeing an opportunity is difficult no matter how golden it may be. If our mind is busy focusing on the things that are not possible, or on the routines that fill our life, there's no time to think what actually is possible. Many people I've met say, I'm in this cycle, it's too late to go back so I'll just go on. Fair enough - if you say so it is true for you. But mark my words, no matter what, there's always a way!

Gardening people

Anyone who has visited Japan knows how fine-tuned Japanese gardens may be. Look at this tree. Its two branches stretch incredibly far along the concrete fence. It must be a result of years of tedious care and control.

Metaphorically, it seems that a Japanese garden resembles Japanese people and vice versa.

In a Japanese garden tree and its branches are not allowed to grow wildly. Ever since the early times of planting they are tied, bound and constrained in a meticulous manner according to gardener's desires. Ultimately, after years of bending and twisting the plant fits to its surroundings and grows in a controlled manner.

In a Japanese society, a person and his or her characteristic are not allowed to develop freely. From the early childhood one's identity forms precisely according to the surrounding society where irregularity is not permitted and hardy any space for individualism is spared. Ultimately the person is ought to be in harmony with society.

Oita today

Today, 26th of December, +11 degrees, sunny. Doing a bunch reading at the river side.


This is a good learning environment. Chilly weather keeps the sleepiness away.

Time to say: good bye Tampere and Finland!

Good bye Tampere - this is a start of new era!  I could call it Exchange in Japan. After a bit more than two years of living in Finland we are flying away. Why? Because Finland is boring. No, just kidding. It's not boring. The reason is school exchange - a compulsory issue, which must be completed. In practice it means studying Japanese in Oita university for five months. In addition I hope to pursue an internship in Japan, which would add another five moths to the stay. Ten moths of official stay, and why not enjoy Japan more, so two moths for travelling, which all in all is one year.

I think living in Japan will open eyes to many things, most of all differencences and similarities between Finland and Japan. I hope you find these observations interesting! To keep you updated, I promise to commit to write one post per day.

Because of our move we thought it is time to move to a new blog as well. And so, here it is The look is slightly different, and address too. The top photo is from blueberry picking after berries dyed our hands purple. In menu above we've included interesting blogs that we'd recommend for everyone. Please note if you don't wish to have link to your blog up there of course we will remove it. Well, we hope you find this new new outfit pleasing.