Lost in childhood

My dear solid friend of the secrets gardens of Porto. Thank you very much for your message and for your support. Although I am learning Japanese, married to Japanese lady and living between Asia and Europe, I am not so much fluent in Japanese.

Strangely, communication and mastering the Japanese language are two separate issues.

In the last missions we organized for Western Companies to Japan we adopt a new methodology: A translator who provides the translation from Japanese to English (or other language) and an observer, a retired Japanese Executive from major Japanese Corporation.

We often notice that the perception of sounds and true meanings are two different realities.

One of my friends in Japan is a British Citizen living in Japan for over ten years married to Japanese Lady. He is locally in charge one of the world main media companies. Being quite fluent in Japanese, he never uses the Japanese language in business meetings, but always a translator. With a record of so many misunderstandings in the past, he does not want to endlessly repeat the same errors.

The Japanese language is highly ambiguous and plenty of multiple meanings. Awareness of these complex matters requires a Japanese education, from the cradle.

Speaking some Japanese is essential to evidence respect to Japanese people and society but one must understand that one will never go inside the mindset of Japanese souls. It is a process lost in childhood.

Going a little deeper on this matter:

River in the Japanese language is represented by the kanji 川

When a Japanese thinks about a river, he sees an image, he has an emotion that activates the right hemisphere of the brain – emotions.

On the other hand, when a western thinks about a river he is getting a concept, activating the left part of the brain - rationality.

Hashi, a Japanese sound with several meanings, is the title of this blog.

In the dictionary we find 3 Kanjis for the sound hashi - (橋　箸　端 )


橋– Bridge
箸– Chopsticks
端 – End, tip, edge, margin corner

Japanese is also a language with a limited amount of sounds,

Aware of the limitations of language in the communication process, my efforts have been focused on the understanding of Japanese, Chinese and other Asians.

Anyhow, I am taking my best efforts to speak their language.

Thank you very much for your attention

My Best Regards

Paulo Vieira

Aren´t Banks also corporations?

Yes, but from a very different kind. This was the answer I provided to my friend.

They take one´s money and they use it to lend it to another person. They pay a low retribution for the funds they got and ask for a higher interest on what they lend.

Therefore, when a bank deepens into bankruptcy; its repercussions are wider than any other corporation. But that´s only the beginning; it is a fatal stabbing on the trust spirit on which the banking system roots its foundation, its survival.

Hence the critical point: Banking is not just another economical activity; it is a business activity which carries a heavy load of responsibilities, managing our most precious collective asset: Wealth.

In the last days, I have been reading some interesting articles on the New York Times and on Mainichi Daily News about what the world can learn about the experience of Japan dealing with its financial crisis.

In the current crisis, it supplied me with so much food for tough, so much data for brain digestion.

A better reflection on the measure Japanese officials had to take confirms that you got to do what you got to do and do it quickly. Is it about more money and faster?

The panacea of quasi-nano interest rates, fiscal stimulus and vain cash infusions will become a huge useless shot in the dark and a burden for our future.

Japan took too long to recognize there as a serious crisis, only in late November 1997, when of Sanyo Securities and Yamaichi Securities collapsed, they were able to overcome the denial phase.

One may very easily state how similar these situations were regarding the failures of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers.

In 1998, the Japanese Diet, passed the Financial Reconstruction Law, providing around 515 billion USD to acquire Japanese financial institutions in danger, as well as the Financial System Revitalization Law which created the Financial System Agency, an independent regulator

But only in 2003 did the government finally started the proper way for a recovery, forcing major banks to submit to full audits and declare bad debts. Two trillion yen were spent, nationalizing key banks, such as LTCB - Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, one of the major banks, whipping out its shareholders and allowing weaker banks to fail.


As a matter of fact, Japan's financial system only started to recover in late 2002 when Prime-Minister Junichiro Koizumi ordered an uncompromised and full extended audit on Japan´s main Banks, 6 years after the beginning of the crisis
This was the Takenaka Plan and it finally disclosed the full extent of bad loans in Japanese Banks.

Mr. Heizō Takenaka,minister of Finance, stood firm to his principles:
1 - "Don't cover up. Don't distort principles. Follow the rules."
2 - "I told the banks clearly, 'I am in a position to supervise you and I am not open to negotiation."
It took three more years to finally get the majority of bad loans off the banks' books and more banks were nationalized. From 1992 to 2005, Japanese banks wrote off about 96 trillion yen, 19% of the country's annual G.D.P.

This became the turning point in the banking crisis, helped with a swift increase on the exports to the United States and China, a significant support on the recovery on Japan's economy.

Leaning on these insights, I start questioning my beliefs about the role of government in society and economy .

Difficult beginning

It has been stated that the beginning has been a long and difficult moment. One may easily state that issue.

Every time I focus my attention on this project, some urgent request comes along and diverts my mind into the assorted issues of my professional demands.

For many years I have wanted to dedicate some of my time to write about my activities between Europe and Asia. I would enjoy, not only to describe these moments, but also to express my views and feelings about the many issues that have stated over these last years.

Professional bonds and the requests of confidentiality have set an unsurpassable barrier on this deep desire. Now, after nearly 7 years, I believe that the time has come to express myself freely, or, should we say, with a certain dash of freedom.

So many day with bad weather but today the sun shines and warms me up. It has been a cold weather with snow. But Tokyo also shines in the snow.

I remember my first night in Kyoto. The snowflakes were falling so slowly, so elegantly. It was the perfect atmosphere for a fantasy dream.

For nearly I week I saw the snow falling on the inner garden of the Hotel like a poems on a postcard. I never had the time to visit the garden, but I'll never forget that view.

Reality is more striking than any fantasy.

And now, I am going to fly!

道 - The way - Tao – Do- 道

"...A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct..."
Manual of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan – "Dune", Frank Herbert

It is also in the Tao ( 道 - とう - みち):

Practice no-action;
Attend to do-nothing;
Taste the flavorless,
Magnify the small,
Multiply the few,
Return love for hate.

Deal with the difficult while it is yet easy;
Deal with the great while it is yet small;

The difficult develops naturally from the easy,
And the great from the small;
So the sage, by dealing with the small,
Achieves the great.

Who finds it easy to promise finds it hard to be trusted;
Who takes things lightly finds things difficult;
The sage recognizes difficulty, and so has none.

Chapter LXIII , Tao Te Chinge – Lao-tzu