MetLife

Billboard Live Tokyo is one of the greatest places to enjoy a METropolitan Life in Tokyo. My favorite musicians come here more than Blue Note Tokyo: Laura Izibor last August and Chrisette Michele last week.

Live performance also brings rediscovery of a new aspect of a musician (or a song). At Laura's live, I reconfirmed "Shine", "Don't Stay", "From My Heart to Yours" and "If Tonight is My Last" are best songs while learning "the Worst is Over" and "Perfect World" are good too. She was putting her heart into every single song, making her soulful songs even more heartful.

Chrisette Michele was a very skillful entertainer. She was good at making her audience enjoy her live by shaking hands and even giving a hug (!! I wanted to be the one!!). She also added a spice of jazz to some of her songs.

My wife and I spent a wonderful time.

良い胎教にもなったし!!(笑)

Ultimate Goal?!

Having been going to grad school for one month, one of concerns I share with many friends is family relationship.

Weekday's classes are from 6:30pm through 10pm, and 9am through 6pm on Saturday. As working on homework more and more now, we're getting less time to spend with our family.

Knowledge is power, and to make it sustainable we got to study. But, is family time (and relationship) an opportunity cost we have to give up? Of course not!!

Still, during a 15-min break or before a class begins, my friends say, "my wife complains we don't go out lately", "my wife's getting mad!!", "I don't talk much with my wife these days" and the like. Then, we wonder how those who graduated have managed the relationship.

But, seemingly our school provides a solution by offering a course like "Strategic Thinking and Communication". I'm not taking it, but the school recommends to take in the first semester.

Or Finance itself might provide an answer because Finance is defined as:
the study to search for how to allocate limited resources on a time horizon.

Studying "the Introduction to Finance" and "Corporate Finance", I will find an answer hopefully.How to effectively and efficiently allocate my limited time.

Tackling Tax

"Nothing in this life is certain but death and taxes," Mark Twain said.

This is not the reason, but somehow it turned out I'm taking two tax courses this first semester: "Tax Law" and "International Tax Accounting". Both classes are quite interesting in many ways, but especially in that the professor/lecturer have backgrounds from the opposite ends.

The Law is taught by a former top of National Tax Agency while the latter by a tax consultant from a Big 4 accounting firm. Given the decline of tax revenues, the Agency surely want to tax more. On the other hand, a tax consultant advises "tax management".

tax burdens

Living in Japan, it's hard to see one's tax burden. Many of us need not file tax return individually. Our employers do it instead. 5% of sales tax is not as high as that of Europe or America. While unemployed last year, though, I felt the burden as painfully as much. Perhaps, such trauma unconsciously led me to take the two classes.

Nothing is certain with which grade I pass the courses. But, as Tokyo's autumn is getting deeper and night longer, I have more time for study. "Autumn for Study" (勉強の秋) has come.