About Hachiko, Japan’s Most Famous Dog

This video is a compilation of information about Hachiko – the Akita-ken breed, the true story of Hachiko and what Hachiko means to Japanese today.

Tanabata Festival

July and August means the Tanabata Festival in Japan where we remember the story of two star-crossed lovers and we put up bamboo branches decorated with the 7 wishes. Watch this video to hear the story.

Katakana, Hiragana, and Kanji

Try to imagine a language where how a word LOOKS tells you what it means even if the word is completely new to you.  Even a quick glimpse will tell you whether the text is about traditional or modern things, Japanese or non-Japanese things.  The written Japanese language takes longer to learn but it is also very informative and what I feel is – colorful.  Japanese is a combination of pictographs and phonetic symbols.

Hiragana is the basic phonetic alphabet of the Japanese language.  Read this chart from right to left, top to bottom. Use this chart to follow along when you listen to the Hiragana Song posted down below. Each character is always pronounced a specific way, unlike English where a character “A” can be pronounced in different ways – short a, long a. Also note that each hiragana character is a vowel sound, or a vowel sound with a consonant. English can combine vowels with vowels, and consonants with consonants.

Here’s a nice introduction to the Katakana alphabet in Japanese and why it is different from Hiragana and Kanji.  Katakana is the alphabet for computer-related words, many modern foods and drinks, and pop culture.  I know it is tempting to try to rely on English letters as you learn Japanese but in the long run, that will slow you down.  Master the Hiragana and Katakana alphabets so you can get around in Japan and sound more natural.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice that Katakana sounds exactly the same as Hiragana but LOOKS more angular.

Here’s the Hiragana/Katakana song to practice the sounds.

and another simple video focusing on just Katakana.

A nice blog site that explains the differences between Katakana, Hiragana and Kanji.

http://www.tofugu.com/2009/06/25/strange-katakana-words/

Here’s a site that introduces you to the computer-related katakana words.

http://web.mit.edu/21f.501/www/kana/katakana/computer-terms/index.html

4 Steps to Finding the Right Person!

After reading several books on decision making, I decided to make this video to show you how to find the right person – for your organization OR for your life.  Learn how to avoid being tricked by the “halo effect” and follow a simple process to make the right decision when selecting an employee, a partner, or just the right person for your life.

Making Better Decisions

Do you understand why people make the decisions they do?  Find out from thinkers such as Nobel Prize winning economist, Daniel Kahneman. You can learn how to make better decisions in your work and everyday life.  Here’s an easy video tutorial I made for anyone to watch.

What does public information mean today?

 

Here’s a metaphor for you. Pension plans. Remember when it was simple?

 

 

It was easy back then. Just throw an office party and offer congratulations.

But today it’s a little more complicated:

This cartoon sums up my impression of what your average employee faces today.



Public information’s also changed. The world’s information is doubling every two years. In 2011 the world created a staggering 1.8 zettabytes. By 2020 it will be 50 times this amount.

Your community is going to be drowning in information. How are you going to communicate then?

How do you support the community with an ever dwindling budget?
What’s the best way to communicate with the community and address local issues?

More information is good – in our society, we’re better off knowing more and having more freedom to choose.

Too much information, discussions, meetings and decisions, however, can mean burnout, paralysis, and fear. People stop listening and participating when they feel overwhelmed. And even if they manage to make a decision, there’s more regret and second-thinking.

Your public information needs to cut through all the noise. Make it easy for your community members to find the right information, make the best decisions, and feel more connected.

Public information today needs to use these 3 Keys:

1. Inform the community of the benefits you provide. Too often local governments focus on the features of their latest service. Your community residents need to solve problems, and if you can provide the solutions – that’s what they’ll pay attention to.
2. Make it easy for people to make decisions. Be aware of how choice architecture works. Richard Thaler in his book, Nudge describes how a university fails in its public information. How even their professors avoided important information to improve their own welfare. More information doesn’t always mean better results.
3. Optimize communication modes to build community. Use the right online communication channel to address current issues. Do you know which mode of group communication has been proven to consistently result in poor solutions? And which mode results in the best solutions? All communication is not the same.

Public Information Should Support

Your Community.

The Information Age Means More Choices, More Freedom, and More Opportunity. Is This Good or Bad? The Answer is – YES!

What does that mean for your company? Here’s a metaphor for you. The phone industry. Remember when ATT was the only game in town?

It was easy for customers to decide what to buy – you either got a phone or you didn’t. Maybe you chose a color. But today it’s a little more complicated:

This cartoon from the New Yorker sums up my impression of the industry today.

Marketing’s also changed. The world’s information is doubling every two years. In 2011 the world created a staggering 1.8 zettabytes. By 2020 it will be 50 times this amount.

Clients are going to be drowning in information. How are you going to market your products then?

I still believe that having more information is good – we’re better off knowing more and having more freedom to choose.

Too much information and too many choices, however, can mean burnout, paralysis, and fear. Clients stop buying when they feel overwhelmed. And even if they manage to make a decision, there’s more regret and second-thinking.

Your marketing efforts need to cut through all the noise. Make it easy for your clients to find the right information, make the best choices, and be less stressed. That’s where I can help you.

I write sales letters to reach clients and produce results. There are 3 concepts I use when writing effective sales copy for your business:

• Tell clients what benefits you provide. Too often businesses focus on the features of their latest product. Clients need to solve problems, and if you can provide the solutions – that’s what they’ll buy.

• Simplify decisions for your clients. Be aware of how choice architecture works. More choices don’t always mean better decisions.

• Provide timely value. Equip your clients with decision making tools. Delight them with useful ideas they can use today. Stimulate positive thinking. Help clients fish out the information that’s right for them from the growing sea of data.

Writing good copy means connecting to the reader.

See samples of my writing in the Sample tab of this website.  If you have any questions, please email CopywriterNana@gmail.com

Good copywriting is an art and a skill, one I hope to keep improving for the rest of my life.

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