Dr. Michael Pasquale CEO AiMIYO LTD

Well I have been exceptionally busy over these holidays with some business issues other than Plastic Surgery. The office has been closed which has given me some time to put into my web development business personally rather than delegate. As many of you know and as my title of this blog states I am web designer and Internet geek. The team I have assembled and our web company is very unique. From the start we decided one of our area of expertise would be multilingual web sites. I would also add another important point which is that we believe that multilingual is not enough. A translation of a web page is not enough   because what is a web site  but a sales and marketing doorway. Even if the company we represent is not a classical sales of products type company,  it is still about sales. This means any company wants the web site we build to represent them in a most positive light. So in that sense it is selling an image to the viewer.

As I mentioned, multicultural- not simply translation of language. So what I mean by that is when we put a companies words into another language we do not just translate the words , but make the cultural message adjust to our audience as well. This is very important because the sensibilities of the Chinese for example , may not be the same as the French so the way material is presented may change , not just the words.

When we design a web site for different languages  our company AiMiYo LTD has the translation staff and the design staff from the culture (country ) on board with us  as a team approach. This multilingual, multicultural team is what makes our web sites different I believe. Please follow us as this grows. We are now building our new company web site at www.aimiyo.com for english, and in Japanese at www.aimiyo.jp. We will be adding languages over the next year such as Chinese , Korean , French and other  European languages as well.

Until next time

doctor808

Recently,  I hijacked my cosmetic surgery friend’s ( in Tokyo)  –Mixi.jp  account. I did this for various reasons , one being that since I have a web development firm that works in all cultures and languages I wanted to gain an understanding of this. Secondly,  its very hard to get your own mixi.jp account unless you have a Japanese cell phone so I just stole his. Sorry Taka.

Mixi by the way is a Facebook on steroids , for those of you who want some understanding of this. It has a login page which list , your profile , friends and what your friends are saying in their blogs. The blog summary  is a very popular item. If you see something interesting you can click and follow that persons journal. There is one the big differences I noticed between the myspace type things and the facebooks of the world and Mixi. The Japanese take their blogs very seriously and there are millions of them. Many Japanese house wives entire world seem to be blog-o-centric.

One other thing I noted is that “everyone is paranoid” which means that not only are the internal security controls very tight,  but most people unlike Face book or Myspace will not put their own picture up. Its Iconic images or many men for example will have woman’s pictures as theirs probably of some models. Also of course there are  the Japanese Pokeman type images seen,  as well as flowers , fruits vegetables etc. This makes it difficult to tell who you are clicking on. In my case its even more difficult because I do not read Hiragana, Katakana or Kanji,  as of this date. So I spend half my time with translation software trying to guess what they are saying. This can be most difficult. Take for example the case of a place called First Kitchen which is a food store in Japan. The Japanese have a funny habit of abbreviating many things so they shorten the words– like Family Mart becomes Fami-ma. Well according to some sources First Kitchen becomes ” fukkin” when they speak abbreviated format. So as you are reading someone’s blog it is feasible that they say ” My friend and I went fukkin”. Sorry for that,  but it illustrates my point of possible miscommunication very well. So when I translate I do not get the full meaning of the blogs.

最初の台所  or  パイズリ I apologize to those offended,  but I think I have this right.

I am also informing you that unless you know Japanese well you probally will not make any friends. I have two friends, my  Japanese web designer and someone who I have no idea or what they are.

The other interesting thing is you can see who visited your page unlike facebook or myspace. I for example was like an elephant in a china shop clicked around not even know what I was clicking and someone told me their friend asked them why I left my footprint? Perhaps they thought I was a trouble maker?  At any rate I suppose one must be senistive to these issues.

Overall I like this mixi. From a web development point of view I did see some advertisments from some cosmetic surgeons and other things. I dont know if viral type marketing like one can see in Youtube or Myspace is possible. Yet I think is see some value but not like in American Social Media.

I have not discussed with my Japanese associate yet but at some point we will find an answer with regard to using Mixi.jp as a marketing tool for our clients. As far as plastic surgery marketing–well like I said I did see two Japanese cosmetic surgeons advertise. I will keep you updated in any significant issues of Mixi but dont expect much until I can learn more Japanese language.

Doctor 808

Since I am an nternational plastic surgeon and my internet company is international,  in that we have capability for  multiple languages both in my plastic surgery office,  as well as web company ,  I read blogs in other languages.  Yet as my readers know, I barely can read some Romaji Japanese at this point, so how do I do that?  Well I use translations software.  On my Mac , I have a button on the browser that if for example I am reading  this blog:

「ハワイ美容整形外科」　豊胸・二重・脂肪吸引・フェイスリフト・フォトフェイシャル・レーザー脱毛・スキンケア

Which says something to the effect of Hawaii Cosmetic Surgery I click on my translate button and whoopee— its in english!  It is not accurate in Japanese , but I get the idea what the author is talking about. It works much better for simplified Chinese and European languages these are clearly translated . Unfortunately Nihongo is not so easy.

The blog to the left is about various aspects of Plastic Surgery in Hawaii, notably my practice. The  interesting issues about these Japanese Blogs is the bloggers. The culture it seems takes a more ” diary “approach to their blogs. They are heavily scattered with a lot of insight into the bloggers mind. I wonder if this is due to the nature of Japanese culture,  where there is the public face and then the face which is hidden. That means that there has been pressure on Japanese society to all stay within some very confined limits. The nail that sticks out,  gets hammered down so to speak. So the blog especially if anonymous or a written in psuedo-name. allows for greater freedom of expression.

On the other hand the American Blogs are more expressive of individualism it seems and its about the author and what he or she thinks should be said and DIRECTLY. As example , I will tell you I am the best plastic surgeon in Hawaii and perhaps the world (said with tonque in cheek) but the Japanese are more subtle and have a certain humble aspect so they would not say that.

If this is good or not,  you have to judge for your self , but I believe this is what I see when comparing the blogs by Japanese writers and American Writers about Plastic Surgery or other topics such as Hawaii vacations and the like.

Another aspect I note about American Blogs is they are usually very commercial, as many blogs are becoming. In my case of www.doctor808.com which is a mixed plate of Web stuff , Plastic Surgery, Travel and Muay Thai I tend to simply bring the reader into various aspects of my life so they can perhaps figure some of these things out how they help. I also enjoy entertaining and as my readership continues to grow I get more comments to my email.

Yet there is a commercial aspect to this blog as well. It is one I have discovered indirectly which does help with my internet company. That is the value of blogs to help gain ranking in google. This is pure advertising but it works great. Some SEO blogs really give the reader nothing in return meaning that their purpose is to gain rank or clicks and earn accordingly. It is well documented that this adds to how well a web site will rank in google. As mentioned in an earlier post about ethics of some these internet companies I strongly disagree with the making your blog for pure commercial benifits as does google. So I think of it more as two way street. I try ot bring good information, written by me as well as entertainment to my readers. In return my blog becomes valuble and the commercial aspect comes with that. That is difference between my blog and the blogs my company promotes and the borderline fraud of some blogs out there who write nothing but keywords and seek to try and obtain rank only. They are rather ruthless with no redeeming value.

At any rate, I suppose my point is lets keep the internet clean to some degree and in doing so we can have our own interest in mind as well. You have to give to get I suppose and I dont think there is anything wrong with that. Yet taking all the time is another story I will save for another blog. Seems many Americans are turning into takers more than givers these days. It gets back to the golden rule of treat others as you would be treated.

doctor808

American Eagle

Today we completed http://www.militaryplasticsurgery.com which is our newest web site creation for Plastic Surgery and Military Members ( yes including military discounts) . Appropriate I would say for the 4th of July!

Military Plastic Surgery Website

Many Americans hardly know anymore why we celebrate the 4th of July. This day in 1776 is thought (although there is some debate) that the Declaration of Independence was made and signed. The story is very interesting, in that the founding fathers of the USA were taking an extreme risk to  discuss such a thought as to gain independence from the British Empire. They easily could have been hung or drawn and quartered for such treasonous act.  We today in the USA forget how much freedom we have now ,to say what we want and to discuss freely ideas. This simply was not possible in 1776.  A person who spoke against the King of England at that time could have paid for his or her words with his or her life. It is unfortunate today we have taken our freedom for granted and there is high risk of  losing that freedom . President Reagen said we are only at any time one generation from losing our freedom.

Our military , the young men and woman who serve to protect that freedom seem to be a group who know well what freedom lost can mean. They have seen it with their own eyes and heard it with their own ears in Afghanistan,. Iraq and elsewhere,  the misery brought on by dictatorship and years of lack of freedom. We need to really look around and see the world as it is, learn history and current events and see what leads to loss of freedom to prevent that from happening here. It can happen and is happening as you read this. The Romans did not notice either,  until it was too late and they lost their republic. It seems a republic ( USA is not a democracy , never was but  a republic) like ours can only last maybe two hundred years…??

I just hope our young people will take the time to really learn something about our history, not just about what is cool or the trend of the day. I do both so can you. You can do cool things and learn history , keep current at the same time.

Plastic Surgeons 4th of July

On the fourth of July, this plastic surgeon does what many Americans will do, that is barbecue outdoors. In fact,  I just finished two of the most juicy hamburgers I have ever known. I cooked them myself on my lanai on a charcoal grill. I dont care for the gas grills which are popular, it just does not taste the same. Also we had pork-n-beans and potato chips with a side of pickles,,,hmmm good.

I don’t eat that way often,  other wise I would need liposuction myself,  but on occasional holiday its fine. Its a sorta of traditional issue on the 4th of July for this plastic surgeon in  Hawaii. I wonder if the military in Afghanistan and Iraq are having hamburgers and hot dogs too?

I think many are and we hope they are safe!

So for any of my readers who follow this blog either for Muay Thai Kickboxing , for Web design or Plastic Surgery in Hawaii—yes its cool,  but lets take a minute and really appreciate what today is. Take a few minutes and look up some facts about Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Ben Franklin and others who signed that declaration on this day in 1776. It a day that changed  the world.

doctor808

Dr. Michael Pasquale

I have not written for a while about the progress our web development company is making. We have now a few clients,  as we expect a slow start and this is intentional. Our concept is to give a ethical quality product at a reasonable price to those in the beauty industry ( although we will take on other projects , this is our primary focus).

Many in the beauty industry such as Cosmetic Surgeons, Plastic Surgeons and Spa and Skin Care professionals are actually very naive about the internet. Consequently we see a lot of our friends being taken advanatge of by unethical internet hawkers. As example , one of our clients was paying her “internet guy” about 300 dollars per month for web site maintenance and putting a few pictures up. 

She was a real estate agent and she asked me to look at her web site and see if  i could make any improvements. I set down with the client and she tried to pull up the site. Suddenly she says “Oh thats right my internet guy told me hackers had gotten into it and messed it up”. I then asked the client when this occured and she told me about two months ago. I inquired further and asked her why was it not back up after 2 months. She explained that her internet guy had told her it was French Hackers who really destroyed a lot. 

Well that is one of the best song and dance routines I have head from an “Internet guy ” yet. Those french must be pretty good hackers to keep a web site off line for two months. Two months of maintenance fees to her Internet guy with out any web site visible??? Needless to say that seems very odd indeed. 

The point I am making is that to someone without much Internet knowledge, such tactics to get paid for not actually doing some work can and do work. Yet I think as professionals , these unethical types stain all of us and make us look bad. I told her to give me his number and I would happy to help him for free  get rid of these “french hackers”.  

There are so many victims of if not down right fraud , lazy excuses and needless delays. Who knows how much money she lost in those two months? In her business one sale could be 100,000 us dollars as she dealt with high end properties. I know I have in my early years lost quite a bid of money by simply listening to my “web guy”.  

I am not sure what advice to give to new people who are starting to realize how much a good web presence can add to a business to avoid scammers. Yet i think the best is….if it does not seem right it probably is not. What to do? Well just like in medicine get a second opinion!! This could save you thousands of dollars. If the second opinion is different than the first , well then get a third opinion. I know I get questions all the time and have no problem with a “free consultation” if you will. 

Our company is taking things slow, declining a few clients for reasons that we know we cannot offer them anything of value at this point. We are taking on clients who we feel confident we can benefit. That is our approach , slow steady growth. We try to under promise and over deliver. I hope that will make for a successful formula. 

Doctor808

Japanese Study

                     A quite morning of study  for Doctor808 ???

This morning I was up at the crack of dawn determined to get in my Japanese study time. I left the house early after  I spoke with my significant other and did the morning dog routine. I jumped  into  my hummer, drove to Starbucks and then sit down for an hour of study before work.  It was going very well, I had two pages of lesson completed both spoken and written. THEN THEY CAME……

A Gang Of Cantonese!!!

I have nothing against Chinese people , in fact my significant other is Chinese. Yet here I am trying to study,  enjoy in a  nice tropical breeze, the peaceful quite with my favorite coffee. This is all  very  conducive to study. All of sudden an Asian man walks up and starts pulling outside tables together near me.  He not only pulled one but then two and then a total of five tables and 15 chairs.   He lined them up all in nice neat row , next to me.  A t first I thought he was crazy as sometimes homeless people come around there and do strange meaningless things such as that. Then I realized —OH MY GOD –NO NO NO, it was evident he was preparing for a crowd and getting chairs and tables together for THEM. 

 I am not against Chinese per se,  but when you are trying to study a gang of Chinese having  social event next to you  is not a great idea. To make matters worse they were not just any Chinese,  but CANTONESE speakers. The difference is huge when compared to the  main land Chinese who speak Mandarin. Cantonese speakers when in a group sound like a major fight is going on as they talk. Its not that they are fighting , but it is the nature of the dialect. This is much different than Chinese Mandarin dialect which actually  is very calm , sweet and like a song. Chinese are much like Italians, my ancestry, they are very loud when being social.

I had to end my study as the loud sound of Cantonese chatter was overwhelming. First one person yakking then another  then all talking at the same time. It appears as if there is strong competition for talking!! I found  myself thinking back when I worked in China Town in New York City and the words I had learned in Catonese  from those days were entering my head without permission.

No longer could I think to myself “Genki Desu KA? ” but now I was thinking ” Ne Ho Ma ?“  My thoughts were taking a beating , my blocks to the environmental distraction were failing and had failed. As the cloud of asian languages were confusing, overwhelming and non stop swirling about in my brain—I was having second thoughts about learning Japanese , maybe I should learn french.

drmap

Well my purpose is to promote both our web site business and plastic surgery. So I am thinking about how to apply this media. I send some facts about plastic surgery sort of a factoid which may interest people like “breast augmentation by silicone is increasing dramatically” if they read this and are interested they can drill down to my web site eventually etc.  Other ideas are news blurbs about plastic surgery or maybe something interesting I have come across. I placed on the side of this blog a twitter widget which list some of my recent twits and you can follow my twits by clicking there as well.

Where this will all go I am not sure but it is interesting to try and figure how to use this in promotions or just fun. Recently I was following the twits from Bangkok when they had the political unrest which provided a new perspective as things happened. So I guess I had a ring side view from people on the streets of Bangkok.

More information can be found at www.twitter.com .