Japanese exports rise more than expected

By Robin Harding in Tokyo

Published: January 27 2010 01:41 | Last updated: January 27 2010 04:06
Source:  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5c106e9e-0ae1-11df-8a26-00144feabdc0.html

Japan’s exports in December were 12.1 per cent higher than a year ago, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday, in a sign that economic recovery led by exports to Asia is on track.

The figures mark a rebound from weaker trade numbers in November. Economists at Goldman Sachs said that stronger-than-expected export growth might lead them to upgrade their forecast for Japan’s economic growth in the last quarter of 2009.

Compared with the previous month, exports were up by a seasonally adjusted 2.5 per cent, the 10th consecutive monthly rise.

Continued growth in exports is seen as essential to Japan’s recovery because there is little sign of a self-sustaining recovery in domestic consumer demand, even after a substantial fiscal stimulus.

If exports increase enough to absorb some of the weakness in Japan’s manufacturing sector, it should lead to increased employment and investment by companies, creating a more sustainable economic recovery.

Exports continued to be driven by the growth of Japan’s neighbours in Asia. Exports to China rose by 43 per cent and exports to Asia overall were up by 31 per cent.

There was a strong rise in exports used to feed China’s manufacturing industries. Exports of chemicals to China were up by 98.5 per cent on a year ago, exports of machinery were up by 38.9 per cent, and semiconductors were up by 49.5 per cent. Vehicle exports to China rose 94.2 per cent.

In a sign of just how dependent Japan is on emerging market growth, however, exports to the US fell 7.1 per cent even compared with a low figure in December 2008.

A separate data series from the Bank of Japan that adjusts for changes in export prices – a better guide to the underlying trend – will come out on Wednesday afternoon.

What's Better Than the Robotic CCTV?

tee-hee  :P

Twisted and Sprained

JESUS H. CHRIST!

what's wrong with me? i sprained my ankle the second time since last month.

I was walking to grab some food for dinner just now and i suddenly lost my balance, ended up my palms on the ground and my ankle twisted.

Luckily the clinic was nearby and I got my feet wrapped in thick bandage =.=

Ah.. how am I supposed to go to work tomorrow? sigh

Part 2..... DONE !

teehee... try to imagine how happy I am right now.

I just solved a very difficult problem for Part 2 of my commmission-calculation worksheet.

Formulas formulas formulas...

Sometimes things when they come to you, you might think they're very simple works. Yet when you really put your hands together to construct the whole thing, it's not as easy as it seems. Concepts can be very straightforward but the process of building the model to produce a proper calculation mechanism aint simple at all !


Here goes:

How do you actually calculate percentage commissions for insurance agents of 4 different levels when they get promoted to another level? This comes together with compensation %.

There. I spent a day to figure out this model. Lots of logical functions to construct. Not easy, people.

Boss, please appreciate :)

Part 1 Done !

Sha-la-la-la-la ~~  hohoho!  You may not realise how happy I am right now.
but nevermind :)

I finally managed to figure out the correct formula for my commission calculation report.

At first I faced the trouble since yesterday with the many levels of IFs in that (stupid) formula.
*scratching ma head*

And just now, my mind suddenly twisted towards the right direction and PRESTO! Got it right :D


I would surely preserve this one !
=IF($H8<101,
        IF($I8<1,0,
              IF($I8<2,J8*0.05,
                    IF($I8<3,J8*0.03,
                          IF($I8<4,J8*0.02,
                               IF($I8<5,J8*0.015,0))))),
IF($H8<102,
       IF($I8<1,0,
            IF($I8<2,J8*0.09,
                  IF($I8<3,J8*0.04,
                        IF($I8<5,J8*0.02,0)))),
IF($H8<103,
       IF($I8<1,0,
             IF($I8<2,J8*0.06,
                   IF($I8<3,J8*0.03,
                         IF($I8<4,J8*0.02,
                               IF($I8<5,J8*0.015,0))))),
IF($I8<1,0,
       IF($I8<2,J8*0.35,
             IF($I8<3,J8*0.25,
                   IF($I8<5,J8*0.15,
                         IF($I8<7,J8*0.1,0))))))))


Now its part 2...=.=

Birthdays

Sheesh... what a day.... what a day !

I'm stuck at home, doing the same work since yesterday morning, did not sleep much, still doing it.

Not sleeping much has been my lifestyle. Rather than telling people that 'Sleeping Is For The Weak', I have to admit that I dislike sleeping. Sleeping makes me feel weak. Really (or is it because Im the lazy one who just doesnt wanna get my ass of my bed after one good sleep? ahaaa... but shhhhh~ :P)

Anyway, it was my birthday 2 days ago, my 27th one. I did not celebrate this round in a formal way, rather, i gave myself an excuse to attend my ex-colleague's wedding reception. It was pretty much a photography session rather than sitting down quietly, feasting on foods on the table. In fact I did not eat much that evening. I was at the front most of the time, snapping pictures of the bride and the groom. Photos will be up as soon as I compress them. They are really HUGE.

Just now, Mii was talking about birthdays.

miyuki is waiting for the Hat Yai trip~ says:
hi

Me says:
helo mii
how r u ?

miyuki is waiting for the Hat Yai trip~ says:
how u ce3lebrated ur bday?

Me says:
I went to ex colleague's wedding

miyuki is waiting for the Hat Yai trip~ says:
i tot got bday cake?

Me says:
haha nope

miyuki is waiting for the Hat Yai trip~ says:
but make sure u made ur wish~

Me says:
didnt
cus no cake
T.T

Suddenly. This saddened me :(

I never had a proper birthday cake before last year's birthday when my ex celebrated for me, and also when my good friend bought one for me. But I have always hoped for one for many many years. Seeing that my friends have people celebrating for them, throwing parties and scattering confetties just made me feel so happy. How I wished my birthdays can be celebrated this way. I guess the reason why no one actually celebrated my birthday was that for so many years, my birthday actually fell on Chinese New Year.. My family wouldnt do it for me.

I wonder why... Does this mark that Im getting old and there seem to be things that I took for granted in the past? Or just plainly getting emotional?

Hmm.... getting emotional aint my tag though...

MOM

Today I got a surprise from someone...

As I looked through my messengers' off-line messages, I noticed one that pretty much interests me. There is an ID which says : Hi Molly :)

The ID was 'Queen'

It looks like this

Looking at the email ID carefully, Queen was my MOM!!!
Surprise surprise.. She used to tell me she's interested to create an account just to chat.. But I never thought she's serious, lol. Anyway, glad to add you mom! :)

Sakima.

This is a kind of chinese snack made famous.

I do not know where the name comes from cus it doesnt sound chinese at all... but as long as it's tasty, it doesnt matter :)

Its called Kim Heong
In chinese it literally means 'smelling nice'

Two days ago, my colleague handed over a packet of Sakima to me. I found it quite interesting because I normally see sakima in a different form, more like semi-crunchy bits sticking together by a type of edible glueiy liquid that gets 2 pieces of food chunks together, and it hardens when its dry under room temperature.

In this packet of Sakima, it rather looks like a round puff.
Interesting isnt it?

You can see bits and pieces of the 'shell...
its very crunchy even after i left it there for like 3 minutes

An up-closed shot I took :)

Ming Tein Food Court

Here you are :)

As promised, I posted some pictures up.. Not sure if they satisfy your eyes, maybe you have very high quality eyesight that you may spot some flaw :D

But please forgive me. Im a learner too. Everyone is, inn'it?

Meng Tein Food Court, PJ ss24

Won Ton Noodle. Colorful :)

Sarawak Kolo Mee (their famous local noodle)

Here is the menu. Seems to have a lot of add-ons

Taken with flash.

This is my favourite shot : Streetlight

Alas~

Agh... seems that my cpu has a problem : data cable doesnt work on it. or rather, the few-year-old machine's USB ports didnt work.

lol. If you had no idea what i was talking about (which I believe so :P), I went to meet my new semi-slr seller Mister SL (as advertised) to grab my new baby. Took a few photos under his kind assistance in the car as well as in a food court nearby. He's generous enough to insert a 256-mb CF card to serve as a memory storage media into the pouch.

So Uber Excited.. XD


And SO, I went home after that, took some nice shots for the Queen of the house (the one you see in my avatar with a fair skin tone and a shade of tan :P)... then wanted to transfer all of the pictures to the pee-see... and woot! usb did not work :O

Hmm... nevermind I thought. I might as well wait til the next day to upload the pictures into my office pee-see... but wootx2... I did not have permission to do so... need consent from the IT administrator.. =.=

Chinese calls this : mafan
Malays call this : memafankan
Brits call this : (what?)

lol.

Anyway, uploads failed. I think I might be getting a card reader.
=)

til I post up photos. Stay tuned !!

Reborn

Yay! Im back!

Sorry folks.. been M-I-A (if you dont understand this acronym it's Missing-In-Action)

So I tried to continue on my first Carpe Diem blog but seems that the image creator is no longer active so all my stuff were GONE!

Nevermind... I can create another one no problem with that :P

So... whats up with my life... er... basically my birthday is coming soon (next Sunday) and im thinking of getting myself something. I somehow knew no one's gonna possibly get me this beauty so i surrendered to GOd's will :P

Tadaaaa !! This is it. My so-called 'black beauty'

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35

The on/off : compared to other slrs its a switch instead of a button

Leica lens: My dad the professional photographer (who passed down his 'talents' to me) always says this : With a Leica lens, YOU CANNOT GO WRONG!

Wide LCD

Pretty inni't?

Here are more information :

Panasonic FZ35 Basic Features

• 12.1-megapixel 1/2.33 CCD sensor
• 18x, 27-486mm equivalent zoom
• 4x digital zoom
• ISO 80-6,400
• 60 seconds to 1/2,000 second shutter speed range
• Max aperture: f/2.8
• Electronic optical viewfinder, 201,600 RGB pixels
• 2.7-inch color LCD monitor, 230,000 dots, articulating mount
• Full Manual through Automatic exposure available, including Aperture and Shutter priority and 26 Scene modes
• SDHC/SD cards
• 4.6 x 3.0 x 3.5 inches (118 x 76 x 89 mm)
• 15.0 ounces

Panasonic FZ35 Special Features

• Movie mode captures up to 720p HD movies
• POWER O.I.S. Optical Image Stabilization
• High ISO scene mode up to 6,400 (at reduced resolution)
• Multi-area AF system with single-point high-speed focusing mode
• Face detection can memorize faces
• Autofocus tracking
• Intelligent multiple metering with Center-weighted and Spot metering
• Intelligent Exposure
• Intelligent ISO
• Intelligent Scene Selector
• High dynamic range scene mode
• NTSC and HDMI output ports
• DC-in port

I got myself an offer though... the whole package inclusive of the lens cap and SD card and postage and everything (except the bag I will need to top up another MYR60) costs RM1400.

Hmm.. good deal aye?

ahh... be prepared to survive on grass already... lol!