Japanese Culture

Normally, a people’s culture as the total way of life is as a result of the historical, socio-cultural developments of that community. The case is not any different from that of the Japanese culture. This development is clearly exemplified by the fact that virtually all of Japan’s culture such as the Shinto shrines, the beliefs and practices surrounding the shrine and the construction works are based on the myths and legends that were associated with leaders such as Sugawara no Michizane. Similarly, some of the architecture and practices were based on the beliefs concerning the pantheon of gods that characterized the Japanese culture.According to the Japanese culture, mythology and folklore, the Sugawara no Michizane is the proper name for the Tenjin, the indigenous spiritual force that is also known as the personification and the embodiment of the ideal Japanese scholar, politician and poet. As another name for Sugawara no Michizane, Tenjin stands for both sky and deit y, with the same denotation of ‘the god of thunder. ’ The history and culture of the ancient Japanese have it that Sugawara no Michizane rose through the ranks in the government during the late epoch of the 9th century.Nevertheless, at the beginning of 10th century, Sugawara no Michizane succumbed to the plot of a rival group which had traces in the Fujiwara family. This resulted in his demotion and subsequent deposition to Kyushu. This development would later herald his lonesome death which paved way for drought, plague and widespread deaths among the populace in Daigo Empire. The princes of the empire would also fall herein. It is interesting to note that after this development, there were endless spates of lightning rainstorms and heavy deluge.The gravity of the matter is that the locals interpreted these developments as phenomenal and supernatural attestations of the spirits being displeased and irked by the exiling of Sugawara no Michizane. This led to the building and construction of the Shinto shrine located in Kyoto. This shrine was later called the Kitano Tenmangu. In this regard, the office and post of Sugawara no Michizane was thus restored posthumously, while any mentioning of his exiling was totally expunged from the records (Samovar, et al 2009) .As if all the above is not enough, Sugawara became deified as the Kami or the Tenjin-sama of scholarship and learning. It is against this backdrop that most of the Shinto shrines in Japan are dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane. Another important way in which the beliefs, superstitions and practices related to the gods affected the Japanese culture is found in the culture of burial and funeral rites. Particularly, the act is known to have been rejuvenated during the fourteenth generation of Haji family. At this time, Nomi no Sukune as the descendant of the god Amenohohi was the supreme leader.As of the ancient days, during the rein of Emperor Suinin, the funeral arrangements and burial arrang ements were primitive to the core, to an extent that the deceased would be buried alongside his kinsfolk. The burial of Empress Hibasuhime alongside the clay images of 300 potters at the behest of Nomi no Sukune in lieu of living retainers and relatives on the account of the need to have a just government was the first breakaway from the somewhat devious culture. This paved way to the assimilation of the culture of burying people with clay models, as opposed to the living.With time, the culture of burying the dead with the aforementioned accompaniments soon became faced out. Similarly, it is the family of the Sugawara no Michizane that the Confucian movement as a religious way of life. At the same time, Confucian scholars arose from this group to supply the Japanese culture with the culture and spirit of intellectualism. The Haji, together with the middle rank of the Sugawara formed the society’s middle rank, mainly serving the ancient Japanese culture as courtiers.Conversely , that the ancient Japanese culture has its genesis of the belief in the gods is well underscored by the fact that the Japanese culture has been believed to have emanated from the gods. In a closely related wavelength, it remains a fact that Furuhito gave the petition of concerning the Japanese family and history. It is against this backdrop that the Japanese family and culture is known to have been divided into three stages. The stages start with the legendary point or stages; the period of loyalty; and the period of the decline of the Yamato’s family status.All the offshoots of the family are said to have descended from the god Amenohohi. Amenohohi on the other hands is said to have come about as a result of the gods, Amaterasu and Susanoo coming together in a procreating contest (Lebra and Lebra 2006) . The legend has it that Amaterasu took off to the cave, for which Susanoo followed in hot pursuit after her. At this point, Amaterasu is said to have swallowed Susanooâ€⠄¢s sword, giving rise to three girls who were known to be the children of Susanoo.Afterwards, Susanoo swallowed Amaterasu’s jewelry, with the spitting out of five boys. These five boys are known to be the sons of the Amaterasu. Among the five sons is Amenohohi. The fact that this above account is seen to be ubiquitous to among the Japanese is well underscored by its appearance in Nihonshoki and Kojiki letters; albeit the letters exhibiting variations in details. The Kojiki source has the Amenohohi as the ancestor of the Izumo magistrate and the Haji family among five other local magistrates.Despite the scantiness of evidence that would authenticate the accuracy and originality of the Haji account. It is suggested that the Haji sources originated from the Izumo who served in the Yamato courts and also as supervisors of funeral arrangements and pottery making during the ancient times. Investigation into the political and social institutions of the Yamato courts before the 645 AD Taika Reforms yield better and more productive information on the Haji family (Varley, 2000) .Both historical and archaeological evidence point out that the affairs of the Yamato courts and Japan’s primordial social and economic structures are known to have dated as early as the pre-historic era. This standpoint is clearly underscored by the historians’ agreement and approach of dividing the tomb period together with all its markings of religious leadership from the middle tomb period as characterized by heavier military paraphernalia and symbols.Given the above developments, it is easier to see that the Japanese culture was totally fixed upon concepts that bordered on: common lineage and history, to which it was believed that all the concerned clans emanated from the gods [Amaterasu and Susanoo]; common culture and common traditions and religious beliefs. References Lebra, T. S. and Lebra, W. (2006). Japanese Culture and Behavior: Selected Readings. New York: Prent ice Hall. Samovar, L, et al. (2009). Communication between Cultures. New York: SAGE. Varley, H. P. (2000). Japanese Culture. New York: McGraw Hill.

Comparison and contrast of the general facilities and operations at DFW and Dubai Cargo Village

Dallas has a facility with unique features like the automated people mover, under this system the supplier personnel maintain the system while the owner operator the system. Both the supplier and the owner shares the facilities, this system was designed and enforced by the APM program.While in Dubai Cargo they don’t have the automated people movers systems. In terms of their size Dubai center is the bigger as compared to DFW. Both centers are similar in terms of meeting the regulation and standard set out by the aviation authority. (Uher 2005)The `secret sauce` of the UPS Worldport operationThe hidden secret sauce of the worldport is the flex. This is because flex manages the configuration of the building. All the applications which rely on each other know the destination of the package. Flex executes the configuration two times within one particular day.One his done during the night shift (for the packages of the next day) and the other is done during the day shift. (It proce ss over three hundred thousands second day air packages) The package tracking data is fed into the UPS data center in Mahwah, NJ by the two systems (one for international and one for domestic).The information is later used by the customer to locate their luggages or goods via the UPS website. After a package has completed its journey through the one hundred and twenty two miles, the package is directed to a destination chute that is loaded into a container, after which it is then rolled into the aircraft.In the entire process packages are only handled twice by the human beings: this is during loading and when unloading. Before the containers are loaded to the aircraft, they are pushed into the automated scales where they are weighed and checked.As the last container is being loaded into the aircraft, the conveyor’s belts hum ceases momentarily and the worldport becomes almost silent for a short duration. After a few hours a new team of TSG technicians start to inspect the IT hardware as they prepare for the next shift.The system will be reconfigured and a new sort plan will be formulated by flex. This system can be used with other companies, if done it is likely to increase the efficiency of the services that the company is delivering. (Uher 2005)Advantages and Disadvantages of the Hub and spoke system to MASkargoThe disadvantages are: Any disruption at the hub like a security problem or bad weather can result into delays into the entire system. secondly the operation efficiency of the entire system is greatly affected by hub’s capacity, thirdly it is difficult to schedule a flight given that the airline has to take into consideration all the needs of the spokes, lastly different airlines are selecting different cities has hubs this makes it difficult for the airline to get a reliable partner. . (Singh B 2003)The advantages are: it centralizes the operation, this makes it cheaper for the company in terms of management; lastly all the packages can be separated at the hub. (Singh B 2003)The major milestone achieved by Emirates Sky Cargo in 2005-2006Emirates Sky cargo succeeded in achieving the following: they bought three Airbus A 310 301Ft in Germany. This was going to be the first airbus that the airline was going to have. By buying the airbus the company succeeded in increasing the number of customers that they were going to serve, the company has also built a new center which is the biggest in Middle East.Comparison of the Dulles `Building 5` to MASkargo, Qatar and Emirates centersThe cargo building 5 has a handling space that measures 250,000 square feet, it has windows mezzanine office space measuring 37,000 square feet, its aircraft apron space is 440,450 square feet, storage space of 440,450 square feet.This makes it bigger than the MASkargo center in Malaysia; however the building is smaller as compared to Emirates and the Qatar centers. The drainage system of the four centers are the same, this is because they have to adhere to the international standards.The importance of capacity planning to airport management in regards to aircraft or passengersCapacity planning is important because it helps the airport authority to handle the traffic at the airport. Whenever the airport authority knows the numbers of planes that the airport can handle they cannot not allow any excess plane to come into the airport, this will reduce the number of accidents that are likely to occur in the airport as a result of congestion.Reference:Singh B 2003 Cargo crunch Malaysian Business News paper June 16th 2003 issueUher M 2005 Schriftenreihe des Instituts fà ¼r Transportwirtschaft & Logistik PDF retrieved from www.wu-wien.ac

Evolution of Advertising in Nigeria Essay

The Nigeria Advertising had its humble beginning rooted in colonial history, advertising development could be traced to about 1928 with the birth of West African Publicity Limited. An off shoot of UAC, the company was set up to cater for the marketing activities of the colonial masters in both Nigeria and West Africa. This company was later to transform to a full fledged advertising firm in 1929 known as Lintas with two other subsidiaries newly Afro media, the outdoor medium and Pearl/Dean, the cinema arm. With the setting up of the companies then headed by expatriates, the companies were to enjoy a monopoly for a long time to come it was not until 1950’s when other advertising agencies started to emerge on the scene. Ogilvy, Benson and Martha (OBM) and Grant were later to join the fray to form the big three in the industry. The medium of advertising was in its infancy in those days Federal Government owned National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) where he only television stations that operated in the four regions of East, West, North and later Midwest. These regions later set up their private stations pioneered by the West, at Ibadan, prior to independence. In 1960 and 1962 respectively, Enugu and Kaduna followed suit. And with the creation of more regions by the General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) administration and creation of more states by both Alhaji Shehu Shagari and Ibrahim Babangida regimes, more state government-owned television and radio stations were established. Daily Times, Express, Tribune, New Nigeria and Sketch were among the fore-runners in newspaper publishing. Some state governments also published newspapers that addressed their local audience. Two major magazines- Drum and Spear from Daily Times stable were also at the time published. Between the early 1960’s and 1970, there was no spectacular development in the industry. But the promulgation of Nigeria Enterprises as promotion Decree of 1972 popularly known as Indigenization policy urshed in a new phase in the industry. The policy transformed key positions in corporate organisations to indigenes. Mr Silvester, Muoemeka was by the dictates of  the policy to emerge the first indigenous chief executive of Lintas. Lintas further empowered more Nigerians to take up the business of advertising some of whom had to leave broadcasting to embrace the new thinking. By the later 1970’s however, two ambitious agencies, Rosabel Advertising and Insight Communication, sprang up. The coming of the two agencies which till today are still doing very well, no doubt, was a watershed in the industry of advertising in Nigeria as the agencies brought new ideas into the industry while taking creativity to a higher. Before the turn of the decade, 23 agencies had been formed. With the steady growth in the number of practitioners and agencies arose the need for associations to be formed to advance their common interests and a regulatory body to that would regulate and standardize advertising practice. A meeting of the agencies held at Ebute Metta, Lagos in 1971 was to metamorphose into Association of Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria (AAPN) with the objective of  Protecting practitioners against unfavourable business. The association was later renamed Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria. As the industry continued to grow in volume of business and complexity, more and more people were attracted to the industry. The need to establish an institution to regulate advertising practice became apparent. This gave rise to the establishment of Advertising Parishioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) by Decree 55 of 1988, later renamed Act 55 of 1988 by the civilian administration on November 1989, the first meeting of the association held somewhere in Ebute-meta, Lagos finally culminated. APCON started operation in 1990 with the employment of the pioneer registrar in the person of Dr Charles Okigbo. The era of economic restructuring and liberalization opened up the Nigerian business to global economy. Foreign investments started flowing into the economy the expatriates who once left the shores of the land due to the indigenization policy gradually returned. And with them, the boom in economy. Aside, privatization of mass communication medium in the 1990’s also witnessed the setting up of private  owned media houses which are platforms for advertisement placements. â€Å"But in the 1990’s the sector came alive. Not only that alarming and ambitions agencies such as Prima Garnet, Sotu and Caesars sprang up, the sector began to expand beyond advertising as full services public relation firms such as the Quadrant JSP and Quest were established. Also the era witnessed the mad rush of foreign affiliations. While some agencies sought this affiliation to help boost their human capital, others just joined the bandwagon just to feel among.† As the business expanded, related services providers joined the fray to cash in on the boom. Not long after they formed themselves into association to also further heir cause and protect their interest. Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN) emerged. Not long the industry became an all corners affairs. Competition became very stiff and practitioners started adopting unwholesome means to undercut one another. Industry debt became a major issue to the extent that it attracted the attention of past federal government who encouraged the practitioners to find a way of resolving the perennial problem. Just as competition continued to get stiff, agencies did not rest on their oars as they embarked on training of their staff who will be able to meet the challenge of modern day advertising. As creativity took centre stage, the industry witnessed a lot of innovation and creative ideas. The foreigners who started coming back brought with them standard and professional which changed the advertising landscape. Restructuring, training and brand building and creativity have taken centre stage.

Rooms Division Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Rooms Division - Assignment Example The functions of the reception office include: There are wide ranges of front office services which include: Reservations, check-in and registration, mail and information, uniformed service and baggage handling, telephone calls and messages, handling guest accounts, and check-out and bill settlement. These operations start from the time a guest calls or sends in a request for reservation/accommodation (www.answers.com). Therefore the staff of the front office starts interacting with guest by taking in guest information and reservation request, leading to confirmation of reservation and finally to the handling of guest on arrival and guest check-in. Front office takes in the guest information for future use and provides the guest with information about the hotel and its various services and thus becomes the connecting link between the guest and the hotel (www.hotelmanagement.com). The pivotal role played by the front office is quite apparent from this very fact that it is the centre of all activities connected with guests in the hotel. Therefore, the decisions regarding the sale of a room to a particular guest, availability and allocation of a room, maintaining guest account by coordinating with the housekeeping and room service are the major front-of-the office activities. It is the first contact a customer has with the hotel. If it is sort from the start, it makes transition much easier when they are in the hotel. The key to the success of a hotel business is service which starts with the first contact between the guest and the hotel personnel of the front office. The way guests are received and treated is very vital because it becomes the basis of their impression and conditions their disposition about what the hotel provides. It is necessary to have a well-defined plan of a Hotel front office area to enhance smooth operations since the front office area is the first place a customer comes into contact on

Research paper in Information technology articals Essay

Research paper in Information technology articals - Essay Example nder research reports about the new version of Microsoft’s sleek and strong server operating system which is enhanced in options by virtualization, networking and security. This is a product which the IT sector cannot resist to use and seems to have a competitive edge over the Linux. The new version of operating system overrides the complaint about Microsoft Window Server resource foot print in terms of memory, CPU and disk space in its 2003 version. However, the new version has accommodated more requirements from the perspective of fulfilling physical server. Windows Server 2008 comes with a 64 bit server operating system that is equipped with a smaller average resource footprint than Windows Vista. Windows Server 2008 Datacenter is built to function with speed from the sleek Server Core which is a light weight virtualized guest operating system. Windows Server 2008 is all set to replace the Windows Server 2003 in all IT outlets due to its independent virtual servers that is efficient in both features and footprint over a wide range of choice. Options to use email, database, robust edge services and collaboration are embedded in the form of add-ons. However, these options can be set in the host level by providing the option of virtualized guest allocating applications and services that use the OS components. In short, one set of SQL Server or Exchange Server extends service for other options like never before. The article goes on to explain the viability of combining Window Server 2008 with an eight core, two socket AMD Barcelona reference server that yields impressive results that applaud the hardware architecture of the Windows OS. The article reveals that Windows Server 2008 is constructed for virtualization. All the stock keeping units (SKU’s) till the Datacenter are equipped to meet buffet scalability. A user can find the detailed features of the server with more accuracy than one could view in Windows Server 2003 like feature to run the OS, where to

Ethical Use of Assessment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethical Use of Assessment - Research Paper Example As a function of this, this particular analysis will seek to analyze the way in which school counselors are employing a new variety of risk assessment tools in order to draw inference on key levels of violent tendencies or anti-social behavior. Naturally, such models are not in and of themselves a perfect or all encompassing tool due to the fact that many individuals who have exhibited the type of sociopathic tendencies that have become the thing of nationwide news never exhibited any known or verifiable symptoms; however, it is nonetheless a key area of growth into which the high school counselor can seek to polish his/her skill level as a means of seeking to draw down the very real level of risks that currently exists within our current educational system. Naturally, one of the most important functions of this particular tool of violent risk assessment is to help to provide a level of information with regards to the propensity of a given student to display potentially harmful behav ior both to themselves, their loved ones, or those within the educational environment. As a means of reviewing the effectiveness of such an approach, a litany of studies has sought to measure such a determinant within the recent past. Several of these studies, such as the one Bernes and Bardick, indicated that school bullying was oftentimes a key determinant of violent behavior that is one of the few warning signs that the school counselor has the ability to be aware of (Bernes et al 2007). In such a way, seeking to implement the given assessment tools to both of the affected parties within a situation in which bullying takes place is a fundamental starting point in seeking to provide insight into one of the key and causal areas that affects upon the level of violence. Other studies have indicated that despite violence prevention efforts, one of the most powerful mechanisms in which school officials can seek to both deter and understand the existence of violent behavior and its prec ipitating factors is to ensure that the seriousness and extent of violent and pre-violent behavior within the student body is a determinant that is thoroughly and thoughtfully weighed by the shareholders within the process (McAdams 2011). With regards to the ethical concerns of enacting such an assessment tool, there are few if any that have been uncovered as a function of the research that has been employed within this brief analysis. Moreover, the fact of the matter is with regards to the application of the assessment tool, the ethical concerns that are presented with regards to utilizing such a tool are far outweighed by the ethical concerns of not implementing it at all. In other words, the dangers associated with not putting into place such a tool of analysis are far greater than the ethical concerns that might be endangered by putting one into place (Cawood 2010). Lastly, with respect to how such a tool of assessment would integrate with different ethnic and culturally diverse groups, the level of assessment and the individual assessment tools that have thus far been listed work across these groups and provide the same level of inference. This in and of itself is important to note due to the fact that few of the other assessment tools that could be put into place or utilized by a high school counselor would have the same level of

The importance of the perception communication at work depending on Dissertation

The importance of the perception communication at work depending on the Generation X and Generation Y - Dissertation Example These diverse attitudes and principles translate differently in a workplace context, with both generations having unique values associated with what constitutes an effective and motivational business model. There are significant gaps in research literature describing what specific characteristics of a business model will motivate and inspire workers to achieve top quality performance in the job roles of Generation X and Generation Y. In most respects, knowledge on both generations tends to illustrate Generation X as an independent and headstrong generation with pre-established principles and values. In opposite accord, Generation Y is presented as more liberal, flexible, and success-minded in the organisational context. This sizeable gap in knowledge specifically includes knowledge of the importance of communications for both generations. ... 1.1 Research aims and objectives The aim of this research project is to determine the level of importance of communications in the workplace as it pertains to both generations. This is to determine if communications strategies can be an effective motivational model for both Generation X and Generation Y. This study maintains three specific objectives: Determine what actually motivates both Gen X and Gen Y in a workplace context Determine how both generations perceive communications as a motivational tool Identify proven models of motivation that have been effective in boosting performance for both Generation X and Generation Y. The study will consult with various secondary literature sources to paint a portrait of both generations, with special focus on attitudes, principles, experiences, and expectations for an organisational job role. Results of findings will be compared to a primary research project (which is described in this proposal’s methodology section) to determine wh ether communications can be considered a viable motivational model for both generations or for a single generation. The results of this study should assist in closing some of the gaps in literature that currently exists regarding motivational strategies for both generations and recommend a new model of motivation that could potentially improve business culture and strategic performance when applied to Gen X and Gen Y. The goal of the project is to create an innovation in knowledge about both generations that can provide new direction for managers in organisations that struggle with Gen X and Gen Y employees to gain top quality performance and dedication to meet strategic goals both short- and