global issues

last class

2006-01-25T18:10:00.000-08:00

i will have the last IES class in the next period.IES always has been a big part of school life, and i cant really believe that there is no more class.i am partly glad that all classes are over,but i feel a little sad as well.
when i chose to study in IES class, i didnt expect that it would be so hard.actually not all classes were that hard but there were many challenges that i had never experienced before.after the two years IES classes, i think im ready to study abroad.i want to make good use of this two years experiences when i study in korea.

teaching experience

2006-01-25T17:57:00.000-08:00

in my korean class,all students have an opportunity to be a teacher for one day.in every class,two or three students take turns teaching materials from textbook.my turn came last week,and my short lecture was about structure of sentence.we do this in my class because teaching the others helps students a lot to learn.when i was preparing for my turn,i carefully had to study it again not to make mistakes,so it helped myself to learn as well.
i just had the last korean class today.since i changed the class from the second semester,it seemed very short time that i attented the class.however,the class was very helpful and i liked the way of studying korean in the class.

colonial legacies

2006-01-23T23:45:00.000-08:00

my final paper for darren's class was about colonial legacies in Korea.japan occupied korea from 1910 to 1945.during the 35 years,japan did many horrible things to korean people.many people were oppressed and even killed.their culture was suppressed under the annexation.korean people were not allowed to speak korean or study their own history at school.majority of things that japan left korea after the occupation seem very negative.in my paper,i wrote that there are also a few positive things that japan did to korea such as some improvements of education and industrialization and modernization of korea.i think it is true that some things turned positive after the annexation,however,i dont think japanese did such things for korean people.japanese just wanted to do those for their sake.japan made railroad in korea to carry weapons,and improved agriculture to produce more rice which were eventually exported to japan.as a result,even though there are a few things which seem to be positive now, japanese cant be praised because they they just used the land of korea and people there.in my paper,i wrote that korean people need to look at not only negative colonial legacies but also some positive colonial legacies in order to make better relathionship with japan.but i am well aware that its not easy thing to do,and while i was writing the paper,i didnt even think that i would do it if i were a korean.

Hanshin earthquake

2006-01-16T18:39:00.000-08:00

11 years have passed since Hanshin earthquake happened.i was 9 when it happened and i dont remember it very well.only thing i remember is that i was shocked to see destroyed cities on tv.i visited Kobe for the first time last year,and i thought it is a very beautiful place.it must have taken so long and needed lots of effort to rebuilt the city.
every year when 1.17 comes around,people remember the earthquake and try to be more careful and get prepared for earthquake that might happen again.but i just heard news says that people are becoming less cautious with earthquake as time passes.it is the same thing in all places in japan.even when people know that they might have earthquake,they tend to think that it is in the distant future.people need to pay more attention toward earthquake because it might happen at any moment.

why are there more male writers than female writers?

2006-01-12T00:53:00.000-08:00

i think there are some reasons why there are more male authors than female authors.first, men used to have better education than women, therefore there were more opportunities for men to become a writer.second,writing was considered a job for men and not for women.women were not thought to be intelligent in the past so they didnt have chance to write.third, provinces such as history and science are often written by male authors.it seems there are more provinces that men write than women write.
in school textbook,more male authors are introduced than female authors.i hope more female authors are introduced and get more attention.

visiting beautiful kyoto

2005-11-03T17:06:00.000-08:00

this is my first blog since second semester started...i should have started to write eariler...
i went to Kinkakuji and Kitano tenmanguu with my friends yesterday.it has been more than ten years since i went to Kinkakuja last time.so i barely remembered how it looked like.it was more beautiful than i thought.it would be different and more beautiful if it was sunny...too bad...i wasnt very interested in such traditional temples until i started to visit them recently.i realized that it is important to visit the traditional places and know more about them so that i will be able to tell people about Japan a little more when i go abroad to study from next year.i have to study more history though...anyway....it is nice to visit kyoto in fall.some leaves are already red.it will be more beautiful in the end of november.
i came back to my hometown in Aichi yesterday.it is nice to be home...im leaving to nagoya now.i hope everybody is having fun in gaidaisai.

no more scary bombs!

2005-07-16T06:25:00.000-07:00

it is almost 60 years since two atomic bombs were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.only two bombs took two hundreds thousand peoples' lives away.people know how scary the nuclear weapons are.
in Aomori,there is a factory where a huge amount of plutonium is going to be produced that can be used for nuclear weapons.japan already has plutonium that is equal to 5,000 atomic bombs.the factory in Aomori can make plutinium that is equal to 1,000 atomin bombs per a year.this factory is going to start producing plutonium from this year;60th year since the atomic bombs were dropped....
some people are forgetting the tragedy of Hirashima and Nagasaki.this could cause another tragery.the factory should be stopped.i got an email that told me this information from Greenpeace yesterday.now Greeanpeace is calling for people to write messages against producing plutonium in the factory.i'm going to send a message,hoping there will be even a small change.let's take action!

who should decide?

2005-07-15T04:33:00.000-07:00

today,we learned about euthanasia a little in literature class. it is a popular topic to discuss,and there are many different opinions about it.today's discussion topic was "who should make a decision of euthanasia" and there are mainly three answers;patients,families,and doctors...or maybe there is not right answer though.
i personally believe patients have right to make the decision.if i were a person who is terribly sick,i want to decide how i end my life.and if i were i person who have a very sick person in my family,i want him or her to make the decision.i can't step into his or her life even if i have a close relationship.
of course,patients are not necessarily in the condition that they can tell their will to the others.they might be unconscious so that they cannot say what they wish.this is a problem if the patients should make decisions.so maybe people should make a will while they are not sick.this sounds a little sad....but i think it is not a useless thing to do since people can never know when they face life crisis.

possible future

2005-07-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

today was the last class we learned about global issues.we talked about some possible figures of the future.when we listed what we think the future will be like,most of them were very negative such as increase of temprature and terrorism.but what people want the future to be like is very positive.the gap between them made me a little sad.Scott told us how to carry out our plans to make the future for the better.it doesn't sound very difficult when i just heard it.but i know actually doing is extreamly hard...there are 6 steps but i always stop at first step.
we have learned about glabal issues for about 4 months.there have been so much to learn.but i think i learned the most important thing today from scott.he said that he started to wash his milk containers(?) and recycle them.he actually showed us that we can do something.and even it is a small thing,just start doing is important.

pay ambulance

2005-07-06T06:11:00.000-07:00

in japan, people can use ambulances free.it usually costs money to use them in the other countries so i feel lucky that japan has free ambulances.however recently people have discussed whether there should be a charge for using ambulances.
some people use ambulances when they don't need them.they use it like instead of taxi because they know that they don't have to pay money.hospitals usually cannot resist people who call for embulances even when they are not sick at all.
more than half of people who use ambulances are not seriously ill.maybe they are a little sick but not in emergencies.so there are not enough embulances when real injured or sick people need them.
those are some of the reasons why some people think there should be pay embulances.i recently used embulance when i had stomachache.i was just fine when i arrived at hospital so i felt very embrrased and sorry for using it.i was glad that i didn't have to pay for it when i paid expensive medical bill at the hospital.but when i think there might have been real sick people at the same time i used embulance,i feel very sorry for them.so i think there should be pay ambulances to prevent unnecessary use of ambulances.

no rain in the rainy season

2005-06-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

the rainy season has started a couple of weeks ago.usually we have many rainy days from the middle of June to July but we have had little rain for weeks in this year.i am glad about it because i don't like rain very much,but at the same time,i am a little concerned about lack of water in this summer.if it does not rain a lot in the rainy season,it will affect the amount of water people can use in summer.the weather is pretty strange recently.i am worried about it as well.
i hope to have rain only when there isn't much available water for people,and the other time,i hope that we don't have much rain.i feel that i am a selfish person...
anyway,i think i need to wash my clothes before the real rainy season starts!

litter,trash,garbage....(are these different?)

2005-06-12T05:15:00.000-07:00

okinawa is famous for its beautiful beaches,and they have attracted many people.however a very shocking news was recently reported;the number of litter that drifts ashore in okinawa has greatly increased,now there are 10 times as many litter as there were 7 years ago on the okinawa beaches.most of the litters are not renewable.on of the causes might be increase of tourists.okinawa has become a popular place for sightseeing,and now more and more people visit there every day.some rude tourists leave trash after they have fun on the beaches.increase of tourists develops okinawa's economy but it is not always good for its environment.
however the news also reported that there are more litters from foreign countries than from Japan on the okinawa's shores.it is very strange...
Okinawa is far from here:Osaka,so people cannot easily go there to pick up the litter.but even here,trash can be found in many places,so people should consider more about this prolem....today i found the garbages on the street that were messed up by crows.i wondered who would clean up them.there was a net over the garbages but it didn't work very well.people should not bring the garbages the day before they are collected.i know many people don't have much time in the morning though.

the problems of territory

2005-06-05T06:36:00.000-07:00

yesterday i went to Yasaka shrine with Mariko.we saw a couple had a wedding there.it was raining but the wedding was still impressive.
anyway,after seeing the ceremony, i started to look at the some messages on the small wooden boards that are written by visiters.people leave the messages at the shrine to make their wishes come true.some of them are written by people from abroad,and i found one from a Korean visiter.i couldn't read everything but the first sentence says "Dokto islands are Korean territory" it was very surprising for me because i didn't imagine that i find such a political comment on the board.but it made me realized how much people in Korea care about the islands.
there is a website called "Cyber Dokto" that is made in Korea.it is made to let many people know that Dokto is Korean islands and it is translated into four languages;chinese,korean,english,and japanese.i don't think i can trust all information on the website but it is a good way to know how people in Korea think about the issue.
China and Japan also have a problem of territory.china already set up the facility near the border to draw the resouces.there has been discussions about the issue between the two countries but they are still far from comprimise.Korea has also practically controled the islands since 1954.i think japan is always late to take actions to the problems.it is not easy to find a point that both of the countries can agree.either one has to give up somehow.i don't think there are many things that people can do about the issue.but perhaps we can have great influences if we have enough interests and knowledge about it.

History

2005-05-27T06:30:00.000-07:00

i recently started to study japanese history and some historical issues.i am very dissapointed that i have almost no knowledge about them.when i was in high school or in junior high school,i didn't have any interests in history so i was always half asleep in the history class.now i regret so much that i haven't studied history hard.i started to study japanese history because i think i should know about japan more before the study abroad examinations.also i am interested in some issues between korea and japan such as yasukuni shrine problem or takeshima island poblem.so i am learning about them too.
it is easy(sometimes not)to just memorize historical events but it is very hard to really understand them without thinking why they happened and knowing the backgrounds of them. and it takes a lot of time to do that.
and one more difficult thing about studying history is that i think there are no right ways to think about it.i mean there are the certain facts that are generally regarded as the truth.but who can really tell the truth?history has many different aspects if it is seen by different people or the countries.so i need to make my own views to look at it.

the study abroad exam is coming now!i'm so worried and nervous about it.i hope all people in IES b who applied for the program will be accepted.let's do our best!!

again,not a global issue at all but...

2005-05-09T06:53:00.000-07:00

the title of my page is "global issues"but i haven't written about a global issue so far.maybe then i should change the title...:)))

anyway,today i'm writing this blog because i want to ask people some questions.
i just got an email from my father and he told me about pension which i will have to pay after i have become twenty.it realized me that i am turning twenty soon and will have more responsibilities.in japan,people over twenty are called "adult",and i wonder if i am ready for it.i think that i am not grown up enoguh to be called adult yet,and also afraid of many responsibilities that will be on my hands.i know that people can't be adult just because they are over twenty.but i still think that i should do something....well...first of all,i'm not even sure what being adults are though.does it mean having more responsibilities?or being more independent?or having power to live through the society?or earning enough money to live?or......
what did you do or think when you reached the age of twenty or anything that people generally started to be seen as a adult?or what do you think you will think or do when you reach the age?
maybe the age is not a big problem to discuss at this point.but i think it's important to think about the matter of being adult.
hmmm....i wrote a lot!i guess i gotta start doing the other homework now!
oh,and i have one more question here.what do you think about pension?it's our duty to pay pension but....fourteen thousand yen (?)per a month is quite a big deal for me....

not a global issue but...

2005-04-23T23:23:00.000-07:00

I'm writing my blog in Katahoko library that was recently opened.I'm very glad that i can use internet here because i can't do it in my house.i was going to write about a global issue that i'm interested in.but.....i changed my topic and i want to write about the manners in public place.because here is soooo noisy!i can't believe that there are so many small children running and shouting in the library!
i sometimes misbehave too.but there are often someone around me who tell me not to do it.and i appriciate that they tell me that.
so....should i tell those children to stop running and shouting in the library?......i don't think i will do it.i just watch them rather than tell them to stop.
not only in the library but in many places i see people doing what they are not supposed to do.but many people just ignore it like i do now....what would you do if you see people are misbehaving around you?do you tell them to stop doing it?or ignore it?
I'm leaving here now because i'm the latter one.

My goals for IES this semester

2005-04-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of things that I want to accomplish during this semester.First i need to get used to use a computer and type.Since I haven't used a computer very often, I don't know much about it and I'm kind of scared of it...So First of all, I need to learn how to use computer more and practice to type faster. My IES teachers always say that computer skills are very important, and students will not be able to success without them when they study abroad. I think it's very true
so I will try hard.
Second, I think I will read many books and stories during this semester.I'm afraid my reading speed is not very fast.so I need to improve it.What is important is not jutst reading speed but how much I understand the marterials. It means that I also need to improve other reading skills.
There are more things to write but I have to go now!!

My First Blog

2005-04-11T17:42:00.000-07:00

Hello, this is my first blog.