Working from home

Thanks to COVID, a way of working has been dramatically changed. My company has also introduced and promoted working from home. One of my junior colleagues has been suffering from a slight fever for two weeks but she was working from home. He had a bunch of things to do, so he worked overtime almost every day while being sick. His manager didn't ask him to do so, but he wanted to complete his tasks. Working from home brings flexibility and discretion for us but we need to use it wisely. 

Have a barney

I took my wife to a vaccination site tonight. It took about 30 minutes to arrive and 10 minutes to get vaccinated. As soon as I got in the car, she told me that it didn't hurt, that she didn't feel a shot. I said,  "That's impossible!" but she asked me whether or not she recieved an injection repeatedly while going home. Since I ignored what she was saying, she got angry with me. She is a real worrywart, while I am not worried about little things. Needless to say, we are having a barney, so I need to fix it...

When to get back to normal

JAL and ANA, two biggest Japanese airlines, cancel or reroute European flights. I couldn't believe that but it is inevitable for our safety at this moment. I have been thinking that we might be able to travel abroad this year. In Japan the sixth wave of COVID infections has passed its peak according to the experts. The number of the infections has still remained at high level in Japan but the situation in the world has been improving and the people have started getting back to normal. Traveling abroad might be way down the road..

Responsibility of jobs

If one of our team members fail to achieve their goal, who is responsible for the result? Of course, the member has the responsibility, since they receive the salary that matches up with their performance. If so, what is their manager's responsibity? Managers are ought to maximise their team's performance, which means their roles are to use their management skills to ensure their member's goals. Managers should have their members develop plans and follow them up until they are completed. If there is a delay, managers should have members develop and implement countermeasures to catch up. In my conclusion, the responsibility should ultimately belong to managers.

It is not fire on the other side of the river

Recently I have been watching CNN and BBC news headlines more often, and closely while following key people in the world on twitter. One of the biggest benefits of learning English is that we are able to get as much information as possible in a timely manner. We live in peace and too far from what is happening now. It is important for us to at least see and understand the facts. There is not fire on the other side of the river for us. Depending on the circumstances, our neighbor might take the same action as the country that has been attacking their neighbor. I hope the terrifying situation will come to an end peacefully and as soon as possible.

Input or output

Focusing on Input or output might be a chicken-or-the-egg controversy. I think that Japan's school education system focuses more on input than output. Especially Learning English is to memorize grammar or vocabulary. In the consideration of the circumstances where most Japanese people are not able to speak English, we should think of a way of learning English. Of course, there are some reasons why Japanese people can't speak English. For instance, Japan has enough domestic business where most of the people could work and live. However, the situation has been changing and the necessity of English skills has increased. We need to think about how to learn English so that we can put it into practice.

Learning history is important

Why has the invasion happened? I am not familiar with Western history since I haven't studied thoroughly. World history was one of subjects in the first year of high school but from the second year it was an option to choose either Western history or Japanese history, so I went for Japanese history. Western history was too complicated for me to remember because there are various countries and many people of different times. However, it is with no doubt important to understand what has happened in the world and why. I picked up a text book of World history for high school students from my bookshelf. I wish people in Ukraine safe and pray for peace.