My adventures at Brandeis' International Business School (and Waseda University in Tokyo): April 2007

My Confidence Has Become Conviction

I ran across this tidbit regarding Red Sox pitcher Matsuzaka Daisuke and it really stuck with me. It was in a story about Matsuzaka-san's first start in Fenway Park, where he faced the Seattle Mariners and Ichiro.

"In 13 years of playing baseball on both sides of the Pacific, he has struck out in three consecutive at-bats only three times -- the other two times in Japan, once in 1994, his first season as a pro, and again in 1999, against Matsuzaka. Dice-K, who was an 18-year-old rookie at the time, was so moved by the experience, he proclaimed, "My confidence has become conviction," a saying that still resonates in Japan."

It might not be clear, but he was essentially saying that where before this he thought he was good enough to be a successful professional pitcher, he now knew he was good enough.

So much of our lives are played out in the small space between our ears that this simply shift in outlook makes all the difference.

This speaks to me in my odd lack of motivation to find a job. I am looking, I have interviews lined up, all of that stuff. But I know there are people much more focused on it. I need to capture some of that energy for myself in the near future.

In part it is because my courseload is heavier than I expected. Mostly my fault, of course. There were several half-semester courses I wanted to take this semester. Unfortunately three of the four were offered in the second half of the semester, so my workload dramatically increased in mid-May.

All that said, I should have an interview lined up for next week. Keep your fingers crossed.

Link to the article mentioned above:

http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2007/04/11/pretty_cool/

A Japanese Approach To Hair...

I find this link to a New York hair salon hilarious, though most of you probably won't

As I wandered around Tokyo, I noticed that young Japanese men and women pay inordinate attention to their hair and pay a lot to have it properly cut and styled. I was in Shibuya at 4am one morning and several stylish hair salons were not only open, but had customers.

Back to the point, the reason that this is amusing is that almost any salon that catered to the fashion set in Japan boasted of their New York-trained stylists.

So is a New York salon claiming Japanese style really just a regular New York salon with a bad marketing plan?