English no mori

From The Newspaper(123) 　Generative AI (64)

[AI’s effects : Worst 10 and Best 10] (34)

Best #3: A.I. can solve labor shortages. (21)

(What’s the difference between Tokyo and local cities?)

Recently, he saw 2pieces of related information in a row.

He was not a person who checked Facebook often, but, on this day, he noticed a notice from Facebook reading, “Mr.XXX has posted a new photo ...” Mr.XXX was the person who had organized the workshop in which municipality workers learned how to manage town meetings. He was the leader of the NPO.

He knew that around the time of the workshop and afterwards, Mr.XXX had been sometimes working for Shiwa Town, which is one of his city’s neighboring municipalities.

He accessed his Facebook page.

The new posting was about a new seminar. He checked its brochure. It read that in Shiwa Town there would be a three day seminar entitled, “Shiwa Town Style ~ Re: Public-Private Partnership Projects.”

The brochure explained that in the seminar, they would look back on their projects of about20 years and think about the next stage.

He knew that Shiwa Town has been emphasizing ‘public-private partnership’ in their policies; for example, their library is run by a private sector organization.

In the seminar, the attendants would study about how to manage public-private partnerships and their examples.

The application fee was 10,000 yen (students fee was 5,000 yen). As a seminar, held by the public sector, it was relatively expensive. But, to come to think of it, they are not just a public sector, but also a combination of public and private. Maybe they are thinking that it should be successful as a business as well. And attendants would gain as much as they had paid.

The other piece of information was about a concert.

It was an advertisement in the local newspaper that he subscribes to. There would be a concert by four violinists on the coming Mother’s Day. The violinists were from the famous 12member female violinist group which was led by a skillful violinist master. It would be held in a small hall in Shiwa Town, the capacity was 100 people. The fee was 5,500 yen, with a discount for a mother and her child/children, which would be a discount of 1,000 yen per person.

When he saw this advertisement, he thought that this was a smart idea.

Shiwa Town is a kind of a local town, population is around 30,000, so 5,500 yen might be expensive. But, the 12 member female violinist group was famous, so they could get the audience from the neighboring cities. On the other hand, the four violinists were without their leader, so the cost must be discounted compared to their name value.

The organizer of the concert was ‘Chamber Music Club: Shiwa’ ~ maybe a combination of citizens and the hall. He felt their business sense, and public-private partnership culture is alive in this town.

(To be continued)

No. 609 (2025.4.25)

From The Newspaper(122) 　Generative AI (63)

[AI’s effects : Worst 10 and Best 10] (33)

Best #3: A.I. can solve labor shortages. (20)

(What’s the difference between Tokyo and local cities?)

In the session of the workshops, it was an 8 times/days course. The attendants learned how to find local resources efficiently. They also learned how to manage workshop-type meetings efficiently.

It means how to make consensus among citizens effectively, who have varying points of view and different opinions.

In many cases, normally, if local municipalities want to make plans in order to revitalize the area/city, they will ask a design office. Design offices are consist of architects and specialists of city planning. As they have know-how and experience, they make base plans for that area/ city. They will show their base plan and explain about it to some leaders gathered from neighborhood associations, ex: the woman’s association, elderly people’s association, etc. Normally, if people are shown a plan from a professional, they will stop thinking by themselves.

When he worked at a city hall, he was once assigned to help ten local area groups named ‘Town Producing Association’. Those 10 groups were made with the suggestion of the municipality. They walked around and researched about their areas over the course of a couple of years, and held workshops many times, and began to make their own plans.

When he was assigned, some associations already achieved some results. He was surprised that one association, which is located in a remote area, had made a new road ~several kilometers in length, unpaved, but kind of wide ~by themselves. They wanted to change the inconvenience of travel to the area which has the city hall.

They asked the land owners to donate their lands, they surveyed the lands themselves, and operated machines to build the road (as they were farmers, they had machines like tractors). They worked for free of course, and the road was completed. The city government helped for with the paperwork. They needed approval to make a road for normal traffic. Now, the road is used not only by its citizens, but also tourists who know the road. If a professional office designed this area’s plan, there would be no road.

He is a member of the miso and tofu making group which was organized by one of the branches of the associations in the area. One of the purpose of that association is to enhance citizen interaction. As the area has two types of citizens :farmers and city workers.

Recently, he climbed a 250m high mountain named Hachiman-tateyama, which is thought to have been used as a fort in the 11^th century. When the members of the association of the area researched about their area’s history, they found the importance of the mountain. They built an explanation board at the gate of the mountain road. He read it this time, it was built in 2008.

He also recognized another round shaped picture sign which showed the mountains and their names seen from there, which is situated on a plane space, that is thought to have been the location of the fort.

On the route he climbed up and down, there were 10 milestones which were made by stone, on which there were words like 1^st station, 2^nd station... They were new, so he knew that that group’s activities has been active even now.

(To be continued)

No. 608 (2025.4.18)

From The Newspaper(121) 　Generative AI (62)

[AI’s effects : Worst 10 and Best 10] (32)

Best #3: A.I. can solve labor shortages. (19)

(What’s the difference between Tokyo and local cities?)

When he worked at a city hall, he was once assigned to the section to support and encourage neighborhood associations and other local community activities.

One time a prefectural worker asked his section to have a course of lectures for municipality workers of the region which included his city and the neighboring cities. Not only municipality workers came, but also people who were interested in the topic came. In total, about 20 or 30 people gathered.

It was kind of a longtime ago, but he could remember the following things:

Two people from a NPO came as lecturers and hosts of a certain workshop. The participants, some were leaders of groups for local activities, gathered at a large room in a community hall where he worked.

One of the members of the NPO was the leader and the other was a young professional looking lady in that field. They introduced themselves that they worked in Niigata City to make a more active city community and citizenry.

Although he hadn’t joined all of the programs, he helped prepare the venue and other things. Sometime she skipped to be there because of his other jobs, and this was the most pitiful part, when he recalled the event.

But, he could remember certain particulars, like that they used 8 cm by 8 cm Post-it stickers. They also used sheets of big special paper, the same size as same the whiteboard.

For preparation, they put the large special paper across the whiteboard. From there, they put several individual pieces of paper on the larger sheet. Then they passed around several Post-it stickers and black markers to the audience. The writing could be seen from the back of the room.

The host of the workshop gave instructions like this:

Think about tourism resources in X area. Anything is OK. You don’t need to be limited to historical sites, tourism landmarks, and crafts.

He gave them enough time and gave the participants as many Post-it stickers as they wanted.

And then he asked one parson from the audience to read one of his/her memos. After reading aloud, the partner, the young woman, took that Post-it sticker, and put it on the paper on the whiteboard.

The Post-it sticker might have read, “Good restaurants which serve local foods”.

Then, he said, “If the others have the same type of opinions, please give yours to her.” And she received other Post-it stickers and put them on around the place near the first Post-it sticker. The sight means that the number of the Post-it stickers is the number of the applicants that thought the same thing.

The host proceeded to the next person. He or she might have said, “An old lady who speaks old tales.” Another person might have given the paper of “I know a woman who sings chanson.” In this case, the host wouldn’t say, “This is not related to speaking old tales.” The partner would put that Post-it sticker a little farther away from the old lady’s one. The hosts knew that this type of new information and ideas can make the workshop active, and make people think more flexibly. This strategy can create efficient ideas.

(To be continued)

No. 607 (2025.4.11)

From The Newspaper(120) 　Generative AI (61)

[AI’s effects : Worst 10 and Best 10] (31)

Best #3: A.I. can solve labor shortages. (18)

(What’s the difference between Tokyo and local cities?)

What’s the core idea to decide between success and failure?

He believes that people’s ability is not any different from people in big cities and small cities, towns, villages.

He thought that the core part whether projects will be successful or not starts from ‘incentive’; another word is ‘momentum’.

And, in big cities this works advantageously.

In big cities, new ideas and new technologies can be shown easily.

To get some new ideas in big cities, you can soon go to a big bookstore, and search about it from a lot of books. You might even have a chance to meet experts in a common field. There are a lot of symposiums and other events to give you ideas in big cities everyday.

From human beings’ features, a person’s potential is no limitation. If he or she has big motivation, they have a chance to do it.

He has been writing short stories for more than 10 years. He has written more than 600hundred stories. He asked his American friend to check his English short stories every week. This is momentum. He started his writing in 2012, 13 years ago. He could say if he hadn’t had an appointment for the next week to check his story, he couldn’t have continued writing his stories for this long.

Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, any big companies would start their company from their garage. When they were making their companies, they had been talking with a lot of people around them. These conversations allowed them to keep their momentum.

To get momentum and incentive, making a network is key; but, it is difficult to have and keep.

Local people are sometimes shy and/or hesitant to communicate with others. People in big cities are more “open” in this meaning. If they need some advice, their footwork is light.

Recently, he read an article entitled, ‘For the effects for immigrant and interaction, Entrepreneur Training Camp have been held ~ studying programing.’

In Hachimantai City, which is located next to his city, its government has been holding ‘Programing Camp’ to raise IT entrepreneurs every year since 2015. Until now, about 400 participants have joined. There have been more than 4,500 applicants for the course. In the 2024 fiscal year, from November to March, 36 attendants took part in and studied intensively.

He checked on the internet. The course was held every weekend, Saturday and Sunday, or sometimes Friday through Sunday, from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

The article read that the campers lived in cottages in the campsite together. Living besides the lecturers, they had time to interact with them. They could talk about their own business plans, etc. From the graduates, 13 had started their new business. Attendants who joined the course from other prefectures, and started to live in that rural city is not a small number.

One of the attendants was from Fukuoka Prefecture. He had worked as a chef in a Japanese food restaurant and as a police officer, and is now working for a truck delivery service. He is now working to develop a program to reduce re-delivery.

The article emphasized that during the days of studying hard, they feel a sense of camaraderie.

(To be continued)

No. 606 (2025.4.4)

From The Newspaper(119) 　Generative AI (60)

[AI’s effects : Worst 10 and Best 10] (30)

Best #3: A.I. can solve labor shortages. (17)

(What’s the difference between Tokyo and local cities?)

To come to think of it, there are a lot of things that don’t have to be from big cities or from big companies apart from sports and restaurants.

Oppositely, what are things that demand big cities or big companies?

If you want to make cars, ships, and/or airplanes, their makers should be from big companies because they need a lot of precise parts. When electric cars started, new car companies appeared, mainly in China, because electric cars have one-tenth of the parts of gasoline cars and it is easier to maintain its safety. But soon, only a few electric car makers will remain because if their prices are the same, consumers will choose more efficient and safer cars which are made by big companies which can gather a lot of designers, engineers, professionals, and better materials, etc.

If it’s bicycles, you might be able to make your own bike, but shops won’t trust your bikes. Onetime, he bought an electric assistance bike through Amazon. It soon broke, and he complained to the maker, but the maker who is located abroad ignored him. Manufacturers should have responsibilities for their products after selling.

In this meaning, electric appliances should be made from certain trustworthy companies because they could possibly result in causing fires, in the worst case.

You can’t make and sell drugs.

You can’t make concrete buildings because they hold a lot of people own lives. But, you can build your own house if you get help from an architect, electricians, and plumbers.

If you want to hold a concert of an orchestra, you need to reserve a concert hall, contract members of an orchestra, and sell tickets. If you want to make it a decent business, it should be systematic and have manpower.

Recently, he happened to see a TV program which featured a famous pop song group named ‘Yoasobi’. The program introduced that they have concerts not only in this country, but also in other countries. They always gather tens of thousands of young fans. In 2019, the leader, who composes music by himself using his PC, was unknown and happened to watch a video on YouTube, which the vocalist had uploaded her song. He decided to meet her and asked her to make a group, although she was completely unknown as well. Soon they made a unit and started to become famous. Now the group was one of the most popular groups for young people. In this web-based world these types of things happen.

If you are a good writer or a manga artist, you have many more chances these days because there are a lot of prize contests and dramas on TV, and subscription TV requires more and more contents. If your contents are digital, you can apply many times with the same piece of work.

He heard that more companies than before allow their workers to have second jobs. More companies recommend leaving their office without putting in overtime. They started to realize that a good working environment will result in worker efficiency shortage and cost cutting. It means that more and more workers can use their free time to level-up their skills, even if it’s a hobby. It might make money.

Recently, he received an e-mail from a worker at a private school. They were looking for a guide around the city for a customer from abroad. He received the offer and the worker apologized through the phone saying that she worked remotely, so she couldn’t go to the venue of the guide.

Also recently he had a chance to talk to his former coworker, who said that he works remotely, although he lives in the same city of the office. His employer accepted his offer to work remotely for some reason because they really needed him.

The new web-based environment will make skillful individuals to work more freely. It is also a chance for companies who are seeking workers.

(To be continued)

No. 605 (2025.3.20)