Bound for Akemi

Quiz show in class

2006-01-25T04:01:00.000-08:00

Darren and we did a quiz show (?) in today's class. It was about Semester Review, Current Events, World Knowledge, and Foreign Languages. My team lost this time, but I could get some chocolate(^_^)
I was so shocked that I have poor knowledge about what is happening to the world now. I am trying to watch news program on TV and to read newspaper as much as possible, but I do not know much about world events. I have written for this blog that I am going to read newspaper every day before. HOWEVER! It was more difficult than I thought. First, I have to spend more time for homework and commuting on train every day. I need more time for sleeping, that I have realized. Second, I do not have basic knowledge about economics and politics, so it makes me difficult to understand what newspapers and newscasters say. I should have learned these things earlier. There are some reference sources in the library for these information, so I will try to look up these things and gain more knowledge, I hope.
IES program is getting done. Tomorrow is the last IES class. This program was hard, but beneficial for me. I learned the importance of being more patient and tough through this course. Many of my classmates are going to study abroad soon, but I'm not. What I have to do is to do what I want to do next semester, too. I am the only person who can change and open my future, so I want to keep encouraging myself from now on, too.

I PASSED the test!!!!!!!!!!

2006-01-25T03:52:00.000-08:00

I got a great news from my piano teacher today. She told me that I PASSED the piano grade test that I was talking about in the previous blog! Now I am soooooooooooo happy! I was just worriying that I have to change works that I play if I failed to pass this time. But! anyway, I passed the test. How happy I am. I cannot remember the moment I really felt happy last time... I will remember this moment for the next happiness. and I will keep practicing piano, too.
My next goal for piano is to pass the licence grade test, which makes me easier to be a piano teacher of Kawai. I am not considering if I would be a piano teacher in the future, but these certification would show how hard I have been practicing the piano and how much I like playing the piano when I do jobhunting in a year. I hope I could continue playing the piano in whole my life because I can be relaxed when I play the piano alone (of course, I get nervous when I have to play the piano in front of someone else!).

Gradetest for piano

2006-01-23T00:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I had a horrible event, gradetest for piano. I have been playing the piano for about 15 years. I have been challenging to get upper grade for pianist, which is by Kawai. I had been practicing two works for this test for a long time because I failed to pass the previous test. It is a difficult time for me to overcome the wall of music, I mean, I have difficulties in going beyond the present level and skill of playing the piano. It is hard for me to be patient to this struggle, but I have a goal to play a Polonaise composed by Chopin in the future, so there is no way except keeping practice the piano. Although I did my best when I had a test yesterday, I felt that my piano is not good because I made a lot of mistake and did not show anything to listeners. What's worse, I was so upset during playing the piano and could not calm down at all. I hope I could have more confident when I am playing the piano.

Sayuri, Fiction!?

2006-01-19T20:03:00.000-08:00

I got a surprising informaiton from Peter this week. I was so impressed by a movie called "Sayuri" as I wrote about that previous blog. I thought that story was non-fiction, I mean I thought the story a real one. Althought I felt some strange feeling when I watched the movie for the first time (actually, I've watched the movie twice!) such as a Japanese girl with blue eyes, I had guessed these strange parts of that movie would have been for making foreign people easily understand the world of Geisha. However, some parts of the movie and the original story of that movie written by Arther Golden are said to be different from the 'real' story told by a woman, Mineko Iwasaki. I bought a book called "Geisha of Gion", and found that she was born in a family that have geisha since before. I might have chosen a wrong book, but anyway I was so shocked. I guess that some misunderstandings happened when Golden had an interview with a woman, Sayuri in his book. Golden actually studied Japanese traditional culture in university, according to the introduction of "Memoirs of a Geisha", but I felt, it is good and easy to know other countries' culture, but it is difficult to understand completely the informaiton at the same time.

New Chinese class

2006-01-18T07:15:00.000-08:00

I got a wonderful news from my Chinese teacher last week.
Students could not study Chinese in their third grade here untill this year.
But according to my Chinese teacher, new Chinese class which is called "Chinese communication" will start from the next semester. When I heard this news, I was so happy. This is because I was wondering whether it is OK that I could study Chinese by taking only one class per a week. Of course, I had thought that is not enough. I had not been interested in Chinese when I entered this university, but now, studying Chinese makes happy. So, I was so relaxed to know that I can study Chinese more than now. New class is about discussing in Chinese and studying for certifications of Chinese translation.
Japan and China have an important relationship now. China will develop its economy dramatically in the future. Many companies want people who can use or speak Chinese. Therefore, I want to do my best to achieve speaking not only English but also Chinese well.

Why are there less female writers than male ones???

2006-01-15T01:35:00.000-08:00

I was so surprised at the result that I remember more male writers than female ones.
Actually, I do not know so many female writers even Japanese ones.
There must be a lot of reasons for this strange result.
First of all, female could not be educated so much in the past, especially in Japan. Men always have responsibility to hear their family or house, so they have to be brilliant enough to be the leader of their family. On the other hand, daughters had much less responsibility in their future because they left their house after marriage, and what they had to do is mainly bringing up children and taking care of their husbands and family. Few woman could write in the past. Therefore, this can be one reason why the number of female writes are less than male writers. Unless educated, it is impossible to write novels and poems.
Second, although this point is related to the first reason, women were socially and politically powerless than men. There were some female writers who did movements for female freedom and social rights such as Raicho Hiratsuka. Before these movements, it was taken for granted that female are powerless than male because women were said to have little time to think about a lot of things such as love, friendship, and politics. So female writers would have had difficulties in appealing their thoughts to the society.
The history of female writers is long, but their abilities were not widely accepted in the society from many reasons. During Heian era (about 1200 years ago), there were some famous female writers who worked for educating hyarachy family. However, it must have been difficult for women to write and to express their feelings and thoughts to society because of historical background. I do not know about foreign situations of female writers, but similar things seem to be said, too.
There are less female writers than male writers, so automatically teachers tend to choose more male writers for their students.

Happy New Year!!

2006-01-04T23:49:00.000-08:00

New year has begun, and I have a lot of goals for this year as usual.
First, I want to get a licence for Kawai's piano teaching. I have not practiced playing the piano so much last year, but I have been gradually increasing the time for practice so far. So, I want to practice more and more to get better skill of piano. I could not take a ballance of studying and having fun last year(this is always difficult, though...), so I hope I could do better this year.
Second, I hope I could improve my linguistic skills such as English, Chinese(, and Korean!!) more. I bought some books for studying these language, but I have not used them so much. I got good information when I had a conversationg with my uncle on Jan 2nd. He says that people who are good at foreign language have to have other skills except language. According to his story, his company have many people who are good at language, but they usually do not have what the company want such as communication skills, knowledge about economy, and so on...
Surely, I do not have economical, political, and financial knowledge so much. I need learn these things, but it seems a little bit difficult in this university. So, I decided to read newspaper again. As I tried before, newspaper seems boring sometimes, but I MUST read newspaper this year to improve my abilities and knowledge. He also said that companies need people who speak Chinese, so if I could master Chinese, I may be able to be a good worker in the future.
I have many other goals, but these are my BIG challenge for this year.

New Year Cards

2005-12-29T06:03:00.000-08:00

Winter break is here! But I am not enjoying it so much. Because I have to do some homework. and I have to write new year cards. For this year's new years card, I sent to many people to say "Happy New Year!!", but I got less number of new years cards than I sent... I was so shocked, and now I am wondering if I should send new years cards. Many people say new year messages via e-mail. It seems somehow sad because I am happy when I get new year "cards". Some people might say that it does not matter whether e-mail or post cards. But...I mind.
I would send some cards with great wish to get some reply.
The end of this year is coming, but I have not finished cleaning up my room neither. What I am surprised the most is large amount of paper, paper, paper!!!!! I did not think that I printed so much paper... I feel guilty sometimes because I feel cutting down many trees as I print for my essays. I tried to use my "used paper"(that I produced during the first semester), but I could not decrease the number of it. Now I am living surrounded by paper. My mother and sister also say that I have too much paper. I wish I could send these paper to recycling center or I could reuse them.
Global issues are always close to me...

"Sayuri", the latest great movie!!

2005-12-11T16:14:00.000-08:00

Hello, everyone! Winter break is coming in about a week. However, I am doing everything badly... I hope I could overcome essays and assignments:-)
Yesterday, I watched a new movie which is called "Sayuri". I was so looking forward to watching this movie. As I expected, it was sooooo nice movie. I was so surprised at the author of original story. He is not a Japanese but an American!! He was (probably) major in Japanese history, and visited Japan. I was so shocked that a foreign writer can write about Japanese culture so dramatically. Even present young Japanese people would not know about Geisha so much.
This movie was about a woman who lived as a geisha. A lot of facts that many japanese women faced were included. It was a quite long movie, but I did not feel bored at all from the beginning to the end. I strongly recommend everyone this movie!!
Everyone in this movie sometimes used Japanese such as "Konnnichiwa" and "Arigatou". But, only what I felt strange was that everyone plays roles as Japanese, they are speak English. It is very natural because this is a Hollywood movie, but I felt it was like...... a Japanese story in a different country(confusing, though).

Everyone, keep Osaka dialect!!

2005-12-07T19:57:00.000-08:00

I had a Chinese class today as usual, and had an interesting talking from my teacher.
She was one of the judge of Japanese speech, and one of the students did a speech about Osaka dialect. In China, there are many dialects such as Shanghai dialect and Kangdong dialect. Many people in China can speak Putonghua(common language in China) because national broadcast uses this language. Therefore, people living in Shanghai can speak Shanghai dialect, of course, and Putonghua as well. Some people are afraid of extinction of Shanghai dialect because of spreading putonghua. Some Chinese textbook for elementary school introduces Shanghai dialect a little bit.
So, my question is ... is it necessary for Japan to keep some Japanese local dialect. When it comes to Osaka dialect, many people in Japan know Osaka dialect even a little bit. According to my teacher's story, middle aged women who come from Osaka loudly use their Osaka dialect a lot even if they are in foreign countries. Maybe, I'm sure, Japanese people do not have to care about the extinction of Osaka dialect forever:-)

History Textbook controversies

2005-11-19T18:03:00.000-08:00

I had a group presentation on this Friday. It was about cultural critiques about history textbooks of China and South Korea. I mainly presented differences between Chinese and Japanese history textbooks. It is said that Chinese history textbooks include some political issues. Also, the guidebook for teachers says that teachers pass the anger to Japanese soldiers to their students not to forget what happened during World War 2, and to how awful Japanese military was for Chinese people. On the other hand, Japanese history textbook does not passionately say that Japanese military did wrong or bad things to Chinese and Korean people during WW2. In Japan, people learn history for universities' entrance exams and general knowledge. I also had not know how a lot of Chinese people still get angry at what Japanese soldiers did in the past. However, I wonder if it is good that history textbook include emotional expressions or not. Moreover, is it good that people represent historical events without clear evidence??? (especially about Nanjing masaccre) I do not know history so much, so I cannot strongly claim Chinese and South Korean history textbook. But, I think that history should be seen and learned objectively.

Awesome advertisements!!

2005-11-15T05:48:00.000-08:00

Today, I watched some advertisement for TV in Darren's class.
They were about American consumerism, and some of them were so impressive.
Especially, I was shocked to see the last one, which shows Americans eat much more pork than other countries and that they are the most consumering people in the world.
I did not understand the interview of CNN about this advertisement, but I felt much this advertisement has a great impact on people. However, I wonder if many American people would be affected by this so much. Are there any organizations or institutions that criticize this CM? I guess, there would be many. The United States is, as everyone knows, the best economical country in the world now. This country cannot be managed without industry. Yet, now many people pay attention to enviromental and global problems so much.
I felt that every other countries had been (have been) seeing what America is going to do, and they follow the United States in many current issues. Is it impossible for worldwide nations to try to change the world without following the US???

Serious thinking???

2005-11-11T04:28:00.000-08:00

I had a little bit conversation with my piano teacher.
I am going to take a piano test next week, but it is difficult for me to improve my skill without grand piano, she says. She recommended me to buy it, but as everyone imagine, grand-piano is so expensive. I do not know whether I will be a piano teacher or not. So far, I like playing the piano so much since I realized that I cannot reliese my stress without piano. However, this is totally different from buying expensive grand-piano. I have been thinking about my future job. Which job is good for me? What kind person I am? ( It is obvious that I am a serious person, though.) Someone says that I am still the second-grade student at university and do not have to think about my future so seriously... I do not know this world and myself so much. Therefore, it is impossible for me to decide what kind job I am going to apply so easily.

Debating with Mariko

2005-10-24T23:28:00.000-07:00

Our class had a mini debate last week. My group argued against Junichiro Koizumi's Yasukuni shrine visits. I am so poor to speak English, so I could not express my arguments enough as I prepared with my partners. Today, Mariko asked me some questions about my team since my arguments were unclear to the audience. As I explained my arguments, we started a mini debate, again!! We asked some questions each other, and repled for these questions. I kept being the against side, but more we argue, less I had clear arguments. I know I have to keep my argument side, but I realized that it becomes difficult to develop my arguments. The same thing happens when I write an essay. As I continue to ask some questions to myself like"why...why...why...?" Debate is so tough, but I can realize my poor general knowledge, my speaking ability, and the difficulty to convince others. However, it was fun that I could have a mini debate with my friend.

Viewpoints of History

2005-10-19T17:08:00.000-07:00

I have been studying about historical events in Darren's class.
I had learned history(Japanese history and World history) in my high school. However, studying history in high school is totally different from now. I had believed that what my text book says is true and one answer. But now, I am doubting what the writer of essay might be wrong. To my surprise, there are many point of views for one historical event. Many kinds of people experience one big events, so there are many ways to see one event. Among these viewpoints, there are subjective, neutral, and objective opinions. I also have different opinions for current events. Therefore, I realized that studying history is quite interesting if I do not study it for entering universities or memorizing for tests.

Chinese Conversational Program on radio, again!

2005-10-12T21:43:00.000-07:00

I used to listen to my radio and take Chinese lessons except Sundays. However, I could not keep up with it because I had to do a lot of work than I can do. I wanted to continue taking that program, but I decided to stop listening it for a while...
Now, many IESbs are applying for studying abroad, but I do not. So, what I thought is now is the moment I can resume the radio program again. Probably I have more time than others and I want to study Chinese more and more. The new program has just started in this October, so this was the very good opportunity for me. I will do my best to finish this radio program in six months.
By the way, I am applying for going to China for a month to study Chinese the next spring. I am still afraid of going to China since I do not know about China so much, cannot speak Chinese so well. Moreover, there are many problems between China and Japan. However, the Olympic is going to be held in Beijing in 2008, and the next EXPO will be held in Shanghai in 2010! So...now China is making the world pay much attention to it. I hope China and Japan will keep getting along each other. and I also wish I could make a lot of Chinese friends in China and understand each other to promote these two countrys' stronger friendship.

Confused massmedia

2005-10-09T06:50:00.000-07:00

I have started paying attention to daily-news again.
That is because I felt that knowing the society is necessary to join the national politics.
I could not decide an exact political party last election in Japan. I had not thought that voting was not so difficult to make a decision. However, I was so confused when I voted for the first time. I realized how poor my knowledge about politics is!
That is why, I restarted checking news everyday ( not everyday, sometimes...). I noticed that every commentators on TV makes different speeches, and their arguments are so convincing me. Lastly, I did not understand which is closer to my opinion. I want to learn how to analyze other people's opinions and to make this process useful to get my own opinions and to be a better voter.

Experience in Yamanashi Prefecture

2005-10-04T23:40:00.000-07:00

The 2nd semester has already started, and as I get pressures in my classes I remember the job experience in Yamanashi prefecture.
KGU has an intern-ship program for students, which is a job experience for students to know the real social situation and to think about their future seriously through working at a company.
I worked at a resort hotel for a month. Yamanashi prefecture is near Mt. Fuji, and also has clean air and water ( and Fuji-Kyu-Highland!!). However, there was no transportation system such as railways or taxes. Instead of these convenient tools, most of people there have their own cars.
During the job experience, I and other KGU students lived far from the hotel, the company let us use the company's car.
So far, I do not have a driver licence, so 3rd year student drived for us everyday. I felt sorry a little bit for my unablity to drive. I had no idea to have a driver licence before I went to Yamanashi, but my mind has changed.
Now, I do not need cars in my daily life since I can use railways or bicycle, and that is enough for me. Furthermore, cars produce much CO2 that is the main cause of global warming. I was very against cars, so it is very strange that I feel like to get a driver licence.
Personal benefit or global benefit....this is still difficult to say aloud for me.

Suggestion to lunchboxes of KGU

2005-07-18T19:41:00.000-07:00

Students can get delicious lunch in lunchbox here. This lunch is so delicious and more nutritious than Macdonalds. However, there is a serious problem about this lunchbox system. If people continues to get this lunch box lunch, many garbages are made. When people have lunch with plastic (reusable) dishes, they can use dishes again after washing them. It is easier to throw away garbages than washing dishes and using them again. My question is which is better for environment. Plastic cannot be a part of ground after throwing away under ground. However, if people use much water, the waste of water might happen. My suggestion to this lunchbox system is to sell lunch with reusable lunchboxes as to sell with dishes, and to make students bring these lunchboxes back to the shops and to reuse them. Although many people face the shortage of water in summer, especially this year, water cycles the nature and plastic garbages do not have recycle process so far. People cannot realize the importance of natural resources untill they lose these sources. There are many useful things nowadays, so people should choose the right way for protecting the earth!

Great change in my mind!

2005-07-14T05:56:00.000-07:00

This semester is ending, and today we finally finished a great book about global issues! I was surprised at the amount of reading that I did. Through this course, my attitude to global issues has totally changed. Before I had started this course, I had been wishing some great scientists would create something that solve global warming, such as medicine that promotes trees grow faster and stops the increasing amount of CO2. However, unless some people take some actions for global issues, nothing can happen. Therefore I felt like joining this small/big group that is doing something for global issues. I like Zen philosophy in the text book. People have to do something for what they did in the past and the present and to leave this good environment for the future. Many adults would realize this idea (, or do not realize at all?), but not so many people do something. As I said in the past blog, human beings are selfish, including me. People has changed the global environment, so they are responsible for fixing destroyed environment. Now it is the time to work on solving or easing global issues a little by a little!

Different Attitudes toward global issues

2005-07-06T17:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I considered about my attitude to global issues in my class, and I'm still thinking about it.
I do know that global issues are serious problems that all people have to cooperate together to solve them.
However, sometimes I wonder if my actions are working for global issues. I turn off my airconditioner even though the temperature in my room is over 30 degree. I save water since there is not enough water to overcome this summer now. On the other hand, many people do not think that global warming or the lack of water are serious for us. When I was talking with middle aged housekeepers at Kani-Do-Raku where I'm working for the part-time job, they said that the number of over 30 cercius days is increasing and summer is going to be longer. Yet, after saying that, they said that " we may not be alive in 30 or 50 years, so these problems do not matter for us." I felt some anguish at that time. Global issues are connected to each problem, are sustainable, and take a long time for people to realize their seriousness. How dare they say such a thing!? I was so confused what I was doing for global issues. What they said might be right, but I think global issues are everyone's problems. If almost all people are continuing to throw away their responsibilities, it is useless that some people are fighting against global issues.
It is good that every person has own opinion about the present situation, but we can not live longer and leave good living places without making some action toward global issues... Now I am so confused, I am stopping thinking about global issues a little bit. I will think about them again later.

Can't be rainy season!

2005-06-29T04:21:00.000-07:00

It has been so hot recently, hasn't it? This should be the rainy season, but there is not enough rain in Japan to survive this summer. Today, it was heavy rain and I got wet so much on the way to Hirakata-shi station. In Niigata prefecture, flood is serious problem now. However, some prefectures in Shikoku area and Tyuubu area are already encountering the lack of water. I think that this strange rainy season is because of global warming. I had not realized extreme weather so much. I also had thought that strange weather had been just irregular, and people did not care about it so much. Yet, now I am studying global issues, I can feel global warming so much!
My father and my mother (, and sometimes my little brother) grow rice in our ricefield every year. Homemade rice supports our family all year round, so I am afraid that rice could be dying if the great shortage of water were coming. Although I cared about a number of typhoon last year, I do care about the amount of rain this year. I hope that my family ricefield would have much rain, otherwise, I have to make opposite sided rainy dolls ( that call "rain").

Biomass Energy

2005-06-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

I presented about biomass energy today. I was so surprised at learning biomass energy includes corn gasoline, which I have described in my blog before. I and Saki did forcus on not this new alcohol but only making electricity. However, I am so interested in this new gasoline, I will keep on a track about this fuel.
While I was presenting about biomass energy, I started to doubt whether biomass energy is really renewable or not. Once people burn sources of biomass energy, carbon dioxide is produced, and sources are unable to be used again. It is said that biomass energy produces less carbon dioxide than burning fossil fuels. However, it does produce greenhouse gas, anyway... Therefore, I am a little confused to think about biomass energy and other renewable energy.
Every renewable energy has disadvantages and advantages as well. Eventually, people rely on natural sources even though they have technological skills and knowledge. What people have to think about is whether people are kind to the global environment or not. As the text said, present situation is the point of changing energy sources, so people must be kind to the environment because people cannot live without nature and think about the usage of energy.

Stop smoking!!!!

2005-06-16T02:24:00.000-07:00

I realised one horrible thing about our campus. The number of smoking students are increasing, and some of them smoke in bad manners. I hate smoking people because of many reasons. Smoke from cigarettes is harmful to non-smokers rather than to smokers. Of course, smoking is not healthy for smokers as well, but I sometimes feel that smokers are selfish. They can be relaxed or less stressful by smoking, but actually I do not feel good to be near smokers. Smoke of cigarettes smell bad, and many smokers seem not to mention about surrounding people. Air brings smoke to people near the smokers. As another reason, some smoking students smoke by walking and throw their cigarettes away (not cigarettes' dustbox...) Moreover, to my surprise, Kansai Gaidai invite two people who are working for health center and recommends smoking students to stop smoking. This is a good opportunity for smoking students, but I do not think that their mind would change so easily. I have heard that many people are addicted to smoking and it is difficult to stop smoking forever. There have been some products that help smokers stop smoking recently, so these products should be used by more smokers. Without buying a cigarette box, people can save about 300yen and keep their health. I am sorry for cigarette companies, but anyway, I am anti-smoking and want to decrease the number of smokers around me. Do you want to smoke in the future or now? Definitely, I do not want to smoke!!!!

★Team minus 6%★

2005-06-03T04:38:00.000-07:00

This is talked at Towa's blog, but I am very interested in "Team minus 6%", so today I want to write about it a little more.
Japan has started this project since June 1st to follow the decision made at Kyoto Protocol. Japan made a promise to the world to reduce the amount of green-effect gas 6%. In fact, factories and plants decreased the gas 1.7%, but houses made more 28% of CO2. Therefore, this shows that people have to make action to reduce CO2, in other words, to achieve the goal made at Kyoto Protocol. Moreover, people are responsible for the global warming.
Team minus 6% suggests...
1. set airconditioners at 28℃
2. stop the waste of water
3. stop idling when people drive cars
4. buy products that are good for protecting the environment
5. bring "my shopping bags" when people go shopping
6. pull out plugs of TV or other electronic machines to stop the waste of electricity

Details of these suggestions are showed on the webpage http://www.team-6.jp/ (it's Japanese page, though), and you can join this campaign if you like. If you signed in, you can be a member of this (it is so cool!) and also can get information about this campaign.
I hope many people in Japan are interested in this project and make some actions for it. A few person cannot make big effect easily, but many people can make it.
I am going to be patient to using airconditioners as much as possible, and to bring "my shopping bags" when I go shopping. Please try to do something to reduce the amount of CO2!!!

Gasoline made from "Corns"

2005-06-01T04:14:00.000-07:00

In Scott's class, I am close to the end of chapter about food. Today, I learned about hybrid cars. I do not know about cars well, so I did not know what hybrid cars are. Actually, I had thought that the energy of hybrid cars is hydrogen. This is because hybrid cars are not harmful to nature, and hydrogen does not make CO2 when it is burned. However, the real energy of hybrid cars were electricity and gasoline. When I heard that hybrid cars can drive from Kyushu to Hokkaido without any extra gasoline, I felt hybrid cars great.
Yet, I realised one problem. Fossil fuels are going to disappear in the close future, especially oil would die out in forty years. Moreover, it takes lots of time to produce oil naturally. Are hybrid cars really good for the global environment? It might be just a way to slow down the speed of decreasing oil. Hybrid cars do not seem the solution to stop global warming.
So, today I want to inform new gasoline made from corns. Can you believe that corns play the same role as gasoline made from oil? I was just surpriesed to hear this news. According to the news, Brazil is the best country that make this gasoline made from corns. When people use this gasoline, the amount of CO2 does not increase as oil gasoline is burned, since the amount of CO2 that corn gasoline makes is equal to the amount of CO2 that corns had got before they are harvested.
This new energy is very innovative energy. People do not have to care how much CO2 are produced from corn gasoline or how much this energy affects on global warming. On the other hand, there are many poor starving people in the world, so corns can be important for these people, too. Here is a new good energy, but people should think the amount of food for each ways such as how to divide anual amount of harvested corn into using for energy and for food.

Continuous developing technologies?

2005-05-25T18:33:00.000-07:00

Oh, my gosh, I have not posted for two weeks! I have to write something now...
I have watched a TV program about the future of the earth. It is said that oil will disappear in forty years. At present, oil is essential for our daily life. I cannot imagine if there were no more oil. People cannot use cars using gasoline, and some of clothes are made from oil. I hope that new energy will be used effectively. It will be good that every house has solar panels on the roofs! Nuclear energy is seen as good energy because uranium can be a big energy in small amount. However, uranium will be toxic after using it, and it is said that used uranium can be nuclear weapons. Making electricity with uranium has been spreading in the world, even in Japan, people should think about what will happen after using limited resources such as uranium or oil. The amount of carbon dioxide has encreased because of over-consuming. What will happen if people continue using uranium in the future? It is good that people make new technologies to make their life better, but there are many global issues on the earth at present, so I wish that new clean technologies would be made and the earth would be a good place not only for human beings but also for the earth and all creatures on the earth.

Working or Housekeeping?

2005-05-12T21:37:00.000-07:00

We are going to be a member of Japanese society legaly, and may have to think about our future a little by little...
I got an article about viewpoints of college female students in Japan to marriage and labor. According to the article, more college female students are hoping to get marry and to do their favorite things. Would you want to marry or to work if you have to chose one of these? In my opinion, I want to marry because it seems a kind of happiness for me. I know that this is a selfish viewpoint, by the way, and what I care more than this question is the influence to economy. If more women marry and stop working, is there any influence to economy? The number of labors decreace, of course, so GDP or GNP may decline(???) Women in this article want to do what they like doing such as hobby. Now, the rate of over 65 people is increasing in Japan, so more labors may be needed, or people may have to work after their retirement ages... It is very difficult to solve this problem ( I always say the same thing, though...), the well-ballanced population should be needed. Therefore, the increase of elderly pople is one problem, and at the same time, the decrease of children is also a problem in Japan. I do not want a rule for fertility like China, but people should not be selfish to overcome population problem in Japan. Probably, the same thing can be said about global population growth, I guess.

Is it possible???

2005-05-11T04:28:00.000-07:00

Wooo, the weather is really strange these days... It was so cool in the morning, and I thought I made mischoice about my clothes. However, it was quite hot in the daytime! Is it the affect of global warming? I do not know, but there may be some connections between global warming and strange weather.
I have been enjoying myself by reading "Japan Economic Newspaper" recently. I realized that I do not know so many things about world situations or economy. I will be twenty this August, and be a member of Japanese adult legally. That's why, I decided to read newspapers as much as possible even though it is Japanese one.
I found a small article. It said that Japan would have more food problems(for example, people cannot grow food so easily, etc...) if Japanese annual average temperature raise ２ ℃. Moreover, Japan needs to reduse almost 80% of global warming gas to stop this problem happens. Is it possible to reduse 80% of global warming gas so immediately or even slowly? I suppose that it is impossible because there are many cars and factories in Japan. I guess it possible to reduse 5 or 10% of greenhouse effect gas if people do not use cars so much and pay attention to this problem seriously. There must be too many causes for global warming, and each cause is connected. Therefore, it should be difficult to stop global warming easily. I do not know what people should do, really because I feel impossible to solve this problem now. I was really, really shocked... Can I live in 30 years? I hope there are less cars that make global warming gas. How do you feel about this problem? Do you have any good idea to solve this problem?

Pollen allergy

2005-05-03T04:58:00.000-07:00

I am allergic to pollen and some kinds of grasses, so I have serious problems during the whole year! It seems that many people are allergic to pollen in Japan, especially this year. I have just read an article written by Shintaro Ishihara. He argues about the way to grow trees, "Sugi"(I do not know how to say this in English, sorry...) in Japan. After World War Ⅱ, people really needed to plant many trees to support their daily life. "Sugi" is a very good kind of tree to grow quickly, so people planted so many "sugi". Thank to growing many "Sugi", people could make many kinds of products or use it for building houses or making much paper. However, now that Japan imports trees from Asian countries in tropical climate or some other countries, pollen of "Sugi" bothers many people. Japanese Diet does not discuss this problem so much, and a govern department says on its webpage like, "It takes a long time and costs so much to solve this problem. Therefore, we have to replace different species to "Sugi" gradually..."
I am allergic to pollen, so I strongly demand Japanese government to think about this problem and to solve it. Allergy is usually a problem of immune system, and difficult to change the reaction to allergen. Therefore, I do not say that people should destroy all "sugi" right now, but I want Japanese government to research present situation about pollen allergy in Japan and to do their best to solve this problem! By the way, are you allergic to anything?

China and Japan

2005-04-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

Hello, everyone! How are you doing?
I am thinking about the relationship between China and Japan, again.
I am very interested in China and Chinese as a language. I have two Chinese class twice a week. My Chinese teacher had lived in China long time ago. She told students in her class following things. Japanese students do not learn modern world history so much, so they have to know about it more and more to understand the relationship between Japan and China. On the other hand, Chinese people should not care about history too much. Japan and China developed together by sharing Japanese technology and Chinese low costing industry. . .
I agree with her. I do not know what happened between Japan and China so much. I learned about the relationship between China and Japan by listening to her opinions. I think that Chinese people do care about history( if I were one of them, I might care, though. . .) and demonstration against Japan is not good to get along with each other. China and Japan should understand that they are good economic partner now.
I found something about Chinese demonstration against Japan which express present electronic information society. Many people see some websites which insist on demontrating against Japan and demonstrate togather. There is a significant issue about information literacy. All information on the net is not always true, and it is up to readers to decide whether they agree too it or disagree. Now here is also the same problems, people have to know what is happening in the world and what is behind these problems.
I want to hear your opinions about how you choose true information that you seem to believe.
I am looking forward to getting your comments! Thank you for reading, and see you♪

Recycling

2005-04-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the day that trash is gathered in my city. So I want to tell about my opinion related to garbage today.
There are different ways to devide trash into some categolies such as trash that can be burned and cannot be burned, cans and glass bottles, and so on. My city makes people devide their trash into cans and glass bottles, plastic bottles, trash that can be burned, and trash that cannot be burned. I think this is not enough to protect our environment because plants for burning garbage make much carbon deoxide when our trash is burned. If we continued this process, I wonder if it can be a small cause of the greenhouse effect. I want to suggest that people bury trash that can be burned under the ground. My grandfather did the same thing when I was 5 or 6. I can say that it is impossible for people who having no place to bury burnable trash to do this. I think that we must feel this convenient world more and more and must not depend on it. I do want to escape from burning garbage to reduse the increasing speed of carbon deoxide as much as possible. That is because we cannot solve the greenhouse effect so immediately, but we can do something to be one of process that solve this problem.Seeing things such as paper or food as important is one way to cut down the amount of garbage, but do you have any good idea? As a my opinion, we should use garbage from food( peered carrot or potato) as a kind of nutrition for plants or animals.

What is my goals for IES class this semester?

2005-04-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

I am very nervous now because my eyes are so tired to use computer so long. However I'll do my best to get used to using computers.
My goals for this semester is to be interested in doing something with computers. I prefer to write down to type, so I am going to be succesful to type by posting to my blogs. I also have ambitions to enjoy literature class at Mr. Grevstad and social science class at Scott. It is very interesting to think anything in English. I could not think something in Japanese so much in my high school days because I wrote very natural things about anything. Therefore, I want to express my opinions or arguments deeper than before in English.
It is very difficult to express unique ideas, I mean my own ideas. Therefore, I do make effort to think about any issues or assignments so deeply and graduate from myself who is still a year ago.
I said that I'll do my best to use computers so much, but I'm afraid that my eye sight(???), I mean the power to see something far from me, is going worse. I'll do my best when I study, of course, but also I'll do my best to see my eyes more important this semester.

My First Blog

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

Hi, this is my first blog!