6/16/2010

It was the last ELP class of spring term. Time goes by so fast!
We saw a documentary video of students' project in England and Ireland. It surprised me that students' power could move the government and change a big law. What's more, they all were younger than I...what a surprise! It made me feel like I have to do something to the society to make a difference. Anyway, if we gonna do some presentation in ELP class, that shouldn't be just giving information but something bigger and worthwhile.
Lastly thank you Rab so much for your teaching. Your class gave us many things helpful for college works and social issues which we should know. They made us aware of what's really going on in the world. I'm very interested in Politics or International Relations, so I will probably see you in sophomore ELP class:) Anyway, I thank you a lot. we'll miss your class in fall term.

6/15/2010

Today we discussed 12 items to bring to the isolated island.
I recommended chicken very highly and everyone else said like "why do you stick with chicken so much?" haha
but still I think we need them. Not only for eggs or food but they crow every morning regularly and we can tell time from them:) Plus, they are easier to keep than cows and pigs-they are too big to bring.

Portugal vs Ivory Coast 0-0...a scoreless game is always frustrating. I wasted time and it was really disppointing.

6/11/2010

we saw a lot of videos about environmental issues yesterday.
I never realized such horrible things done by companies until I saw them. I liked fast food, but I have to think about the problems hidden in it from now on. Meatrix was a great video. It seems funny at first look, but it also brings us a serious, important message. Many people know Matrix though I've never seen it, so it's message can appeal to people over beyond the boundary, which is effective to make people aware of such global problems and take action. I think, however, only making those funny movies is not enough to make difference. Making people aware of problems is OK, but what comes next? Though a number of people will probably watch the movie, those who actually take action will be few. The campaign for Tibetan priest's release is a good example. People took real action and finally succeeded in releasing him though they broke small law. The most important thing is to take real action. We can combine cyber action and real action and be successful. Anyway I thank those who make great videos and Rab for showing us them.

6/8,9/2010

Yesterday we discussed Hemingway's political view and hidden massage of The old man and the sea. Unlike other books of Hemingway, OMS has some unrealistic scenes and Rab said it's realted to his Christianity, which is an interesting view. Yet I think Hemingway made unrealistic scene in the book because he hadn't written good books till OMS. Before OMS he struggled to write attractive novels and critics said his career was over. OMS is like an last-ditch attempt for him, so he changed his policy that he only wrote realistic things.
After discussing his political view we did some debate practice. Yusuke said that in OMS sharks are critics and the book, OMS, is a big fish. And hemingway probably thought that sharks=critics would attack(criticize) a big fish(the book). It's a creative & interesting idea, isn't it?

Today we discussed out essay and did debate practice like yesterday. I had to defend my opinion, but I counldn't and sometimes said that I think so... I'm not a good debater. Some criticisms from others are very valuable and make essay work easier:)

6/7/2010

Today's NP was about Hemingway. I didn't know his frustration with his father and sons. When I came to know that, I could have more profound insights into the book. The NP teacher said Christianity is related to his story. It's an interesting view. He also connected art(artist) and fish(fisherman), but I couldn't really understand it.

In class we discussed a lot about environmental issues. If we all became vegetarian, the world could manage to produce enough amount of food for all the people in the world. However, it's bad news for me because I don't like vegetable and I love meat. Tuna is also my favorite. I think we should refrain from hunting them, but it's an unrealistic idea. Once people taste and like it, they can no longer stop eating it. Changeing diet style is very hard and people in developed countries is reluctant to do so apart from some people who take problems of developing countries seriously. We cannot solve this problem easily.

Ch.8

I totally forgot to make a post about ch.8!
I don't remember the details, but I reread some part and try to recall them.

I want to controvert two parts of his opinion. First, Nisbett says that Western lawyers' goal is satisfaction of justice whereas Asian lawyers usually tend to seek for compromise. Is that true? I often heard about how ridiculous Western lawsuits, especially those of America are. The most surpriseing case is that an American house wife took action against microwave company because her cat got seriously injured when she put it into microwave. She claimed that the company should have put label on microwave that says Don't put animals into the microwave. She eventually won the suit. There are a number of ridiculous cases like that I ever heard. Western lawyers' goal seems to win logically rather than satisfaction of justice.

Second, the author says Japan is where there is not widespread acceptance of their role in clarifying and advancing thought about scientific matters. However, we can see how Japanese people have achieved so many things and invented many useful gadgets. Japanese people can clarify and advance thought as well as Western people.

6/4/2010

We worked on second essay in computer room again last Friday. I kept on searching on Google Books for almost 2 hours. I found it difficult to pick up proper information for my essay out of all the books because it has too much information. It's kinda complicated.

I have to work on my essay and read The Old Man and the Sea from now on... after checking some World Cup news. I'm looking forward to it so much:)

6/2/2010

It was a very beautiful and sunny day! We had class on Baka-yama today though I was little late for it. Having class in such a place is really nice and special to ICU. I guess no other universities have such a class.

We were working on Hemingway's The Old Man and the sea. I could see from the book how much he disrespected female. What is witten in it like women's craziness, it's absolutely nonsense and a terrible idea. Given the situation he went through, however, it may be natural for him to think that way. Women's right was hardly accepted in his times and he divorced three times.

Rab said the story was so boring and I agree with him. The old man fishing a big fish. I was wondering what is interesting about that. Yet I haven't finished reading it, so by some chance I will change my opinion after reading.

6/1/2010

Today we were told our PWT test score. Mine was not good because I made a huge mistake of construction. I hope I could take the test one more time.

Then, we used computer and developed our essay. My essay topic is difficult to search because there are few books about the topic in ICU library. What's more, my topic seems still less argumentative than others' topic. I have to think over it again.

Hmm...I don't have much to write today. Oh, some probably wondered why I was wearing suits;I visited a company related to English education today's morning for kind of my club activity. I was a little bit nervous, but it waa a good experience and practice for card-exchange.

5/31/2010

Today Rab taught us the truth of the presidential election in America. I never knew that many people didn't go to vote because all American people seemed enthusiastic about politics as we could see in the news (like lots of people surrounded Obama and shouted yes, we can!) I think we should not decide the head of the country when the number of people who don't vote for anyone is majority. It means that people ask for someone else. In present political situation in Japan, However, all the candidates are those whom people don't want to vote for, which make the general public more uninterested in election and voting.

Then, we discuss our essay topics. My topic is international marriage and I've been researching on it. This topic is very difficult to reseach because there is little information about it. I have to look for some more resources...

5/28/2010

We checked our essay on sentenceworks today. Sentenceworks is an amazing tool! I don't know how the machine revises essays properly as if it were a human. However it has some flaws. It suggests that I should change the word 'know' into 'no'. It sometimes goes crazy like that. Still I think it's one of the best tools we can use for essay.

And Rab taught us some less-biased news sources. I didn't know one of them before. I used to see google or yahoo news, but they have many sponsors and advertisement. I should carefully look for bias. Unfortunately all media has some bias. We need to be critical, think and look for good reasons. University is such a good place to train the ability.

5/26/2010

Today Rab was absent from class because of his family's accident. I hope his mother in law and son will get better soon.
Sylvas, who came to class instead, taught us how American political commercials use slanting, charged language. I was very shocked when I carefully saw the commercials scene by scene. There are a lot of distortions of truth. I'd been always on Obama's side during the election and I liked him, but now I think otherwise. What I thought about Obama seems what media deliberately made up. I realized how strong I was influenced by media.
I felt really sorry for McCain when I saw one of the commercials about his war wounds. However, I've just seen Rab's mail and found that is not true as well. What on Earth is the truth?? I can't believe anything of them after all.

5/25/2010

I'm the best student in CB! because...
I listen to Rab carefully and pay attention all the time in class. I always look into the eye of Rab when he is speaking. Of course I NEVER fall asleep in class.
Plus, I do my homework by the due date. I make a blog post for each class, research well on my essay topic, and I've read Larson, Barna and Birk(I know some of the students haven't read Larson or Birk yet! hehe)
That's why I am Best student in CB;)

Now I feel a pang of conscience because in fact I haven't finished reading Nisbett yet! I have to read it from now...

5/24/2010

We discussed our essay topic today. My topic is International Marriage, but it's not so argumatative. I'm of two minds whether I should change my topic or not...
I'm very interested in the topic though.

Then half of us explained their topics in front of everyone. I liked Sayako's topic about Esperanto;language invented long years ago for all the people to communicate with the same language in the world! I heard about it before. The idea seems interesting, doesn't it? Plus, the topic gonna be argumentative if it is compared to English. Kana's topic also appealed to me. The difference of the way of negotiation in Japan and foreign countries. If we know the difference and adopt better way, it will be useful when we start working. I really look forward to seeing others' essay.

5/21/2010

We had class in ILC today and looked at some stereogram, but I counldn't understand them at all even though I stared ithem over and over again. Everyone else said like Oh~! or I got it!! It just upset me. For me stereogram is so frustrating...

We also saw an dancing girl that can identify you're logical or creative, which was really interesting. I seem to be more logical than creative. I was surprised that most of us are more creative than logical.

And we learned and discussed 'group think.' We can be easily tricked like Rab did to us because we tend to believe what other people around us believe. It's typical for Japanese. We must care about such a thing because group think can somehow justifies even wars. It is very dangerous.

Ch.6

This chapter is mainly about the difference of perception of the world between Western and Asian. Western people tend to categorise and encourage induction while Asian tend not to categorise but think about relationships of objects in the world.

I was surprised to see how differently Asian and Western students categorise things. In page 140-146 there are some experiments shown and I categorised them in the very same way as the author said Asian students might do. I even don't know why Western students categorise them in such a way. I realised that the gap of perception between Western and Asian was actually very large.

The author says Asian people are not interested or don't have tradition of categorising like Western people, but I think dividing(categorising) things along relationships is one kind of categorising, too. It's just a different way of categorising(We can call so) from Western one. It seems to me that the author implies Western way of categorising is correct and Asian's is not. I just don't think so.

5/19/2010

Today we learned how to make presentation successful. Practicing eye contact was a little bit awkward. I found that making eye contact naturally was more difficult than I thought. And, I usually look upper right when I forget what I'm gonna talk, but looking upper right means telling a lie! I didn't know that.
Rab is very good in presentation. He looked like an expert of baseball when he pretend to be an Asahi Shinbun journalist even though he knew nothing about it. Showing confidence is the most important for presentation. I have to practice it to be a better presenter.

5/18/2010

We had another phychology test today. My drawing was like... 'Me'. I mean, I seem to think I am center of my life because I drew a very big house covering most of paper. It was interesting, but it's not as reliable as yesterday's test. How big the presence of parents or myself is hard to measure and abstract ideas.

Then we discussed Barna. I think the biggest block out of six Barna mentioned is High Anxiety caused by Language Problem. When I went to New Zealand I had such a trouble. One of the students said to me several times that he couldn't understand what I was saying. I became anxious about being said like that again and it was hard to talk to him since then. This case usually happens.

We also discuss preconception. Rab picked up one preconception that 'the black runs fast'. There maybe some nurtural reasons, but I think it's caused by a natural factor. If black people run fast because they walk a long distance, what about ancient people? They had no vehicles and had to walk a long distance for food, but ancient Japanese had very short legs. I don't think the difference comes from a nurtural reason.

5/17/2010

We had a very interesting psychology test today! I'd never thought the questions were related to such a test.

I think it is 50% reliable. First and forth question are OK, but second question. It implies your perfect boyfriend. My answer is

Favorite animal : penguin
Five adjectives : calm, small, cute, cooperative and quiet

??? I like small, cute boys? That's totally wrong. I don't like boys like penguin. I was wondering why this question was connected with boyfriend/girlfriend stuff.

Anyway I'm looking forward to new psychology test!

Ch.7

I found just now that I forgot making a blog post about ch.6. I'll make it later.

This chapter shows that the Greeks ignore plausibility and think logically while the Chinese set aside logic, have sense of holism and dialectical, are influenced by plausibility, and show desirability.

I can understand the statement above and I agree that Western and Asian people have such tendencies. Yet I don't think Asian people are less logical than Western. The author argues against the claim the Asian are more logical because Asian students are better in math, but it's not persuasible. Asian students tend to work harder, maybe or maybe not. You can't generalize the fact. Some students are lazy, others not in every country. Second, teachers techniques. I don't think the gap of teaching skill made such a difference. If so, he need more sufficient evidence.
Additionally, I thought the ancient Chinese were actually very logical when I read about Taoism. Taoism shows that changes make contradiction, contradiction cause changes, and that's the way things are. The concept 'bad' arises because we percieve something as beauty. That is a very logical theory, isn't it? I deny that Asian people are less logical. We are logical.
In conclusion, I cannot be satisfied with this chapter's statement.

5/12/2010

I was looking for Barna's 3B on the Internet, but I couldn't find sufficient information. She seems an emeritus professor(expert on intercultural communication) of Portland State University and 83 years old now though i don't know whether the imformation is correct or not.
Today we discussed the article about English entrance exam in Japan. I think that English should Not be taken away from entrance exam.
In that article, an educator claims that many students dislike English because it is included in exam, but there is no evidence that the exam is the reason students don't like it. In the first place, they shouldn't change something because students dislike them. It's like parents don't give children vegetables because they hate them. It's nonsense. Even if children don't like them, parents should have them eat because vegetables offer children good nutrition to grow up. English is same. Teachers should provide English learning and English exams for students so that they can have a good command of English. English skill is required for today's globalized world. It'll be useful in the future.
Analysts in the article say it is said that English education in Japan yet to give students skills that are applicable to the real world. Again there is no evidence. I admit that Japanese students are poor in English 'communication' skill compared to other Asian students. However, reading ,grammar, spelling and writing skills, which are important as well, may be good, even higher than other countries' students because English education in Japan focus more on such skills through word memorization and so on. It sometimes seems hard and boring, but hardworking for entrance exam would be a good training and motivation. From these reasons, English should NOT be taken away from entrance exam.
In fact, I wouldn't be here in ICU today withough English education in my high school. It taught me how interesting learning English is and English skills of communication, writing, reading, spelling...all about English. I'm really grateful to my English teachers, lessons and school. English education in Japan isn't so bad after all. I'm one of the examles.

5/11/2010

We had a visitor in today's class. She was from not Monbukagakusho but a publishing company. I'm very interested in how she will write about ICU.

In class we discussed assumptions in some examples and how we would adapt to lifestyles of other countries where our assumption doesn't make any sense.
Which do you choose, keeping your identity(custom, religion, lifestyle) or fitting into new environment?-This is a very difficult question. I don't want to change my style and custom as much as possible, so I will shave my legs in Italy. but when it comes to religious or legal matter, that is another, more serious problem. I think Japanese people can more easily throw identity away and adapt to new things because they tend to act the same way as people surrounding you do, and almost all of them don't have strong belief. Identity of Japanese people is vague and fragile. I have to think how I establish identity as Japanese and deal with new, foreign things keeping identity in my mind.

Ch.5

I finished writing about ch.5, but failed to upload and the blog post disappeared. That's a nightmare. I have to write all of them again...
In this chapter, we can see the difference of preference of Westerners and Asian. Westerners prefer simplicity to complexity and Japanese vice-versa. Westerners focus on attitudes and traits of each individual, Japanese on situational factors and context. I kind of understand this analysis. I think, however, personal attitudes and traits are also important for Asian people. I mean, everybody is required to behave in conformity in such a society like Japan, which have emphasis on collectivism. If someone stand out from the crowd, they will have difficulty in the community as the old saying 'nails sticking up will be hammered' goes. In such a society, tiny differences of attitudes and traits usually cause some troubles in school or community.
Second, the author says that Westerners can set individual goals more freely than Asians, but I don't agree with this idea. The common target of the group is very important for Japanese people for sure. However, we can pursue individual goals as well. As a whole I don't feel satisfied with ch.5.

5/10/2010

Today I learned how to write a persuasive essay and discussed the writings about media, which were very interesting. Media's 5 main problems:ownership, advertising, sourcing of news, fear of negative responses(law suit) and anti-communism. I didn't know how much these problems influenced on the way TV stations report before, but now I found that media controls information without almost all the viewers noticing the fact. It scares me so much. The events in Greece is a serious problem now, but other countries called PIGS(Portugal, Italy, ((Greece)), and Spain) is in a crucial stage in economics. I want to pay attention to news on these countries and see what TV reporters say to them.

Ch.4

I don't understand this chapter well because too many experiments were showed there. That was very complicated. In this chapter the author mainly says that Westerners focus on objects-discrete, unconnected things and Asians on subjects-continuous masses. I don't think the fact can be generalized because the each experimental scale seemed small. However, this analysis is to the point. Garden is a good example. I was wondering for long why Japanese garden was very different from western garden. One day a TV program about garden said that 'unity' of garden, I mean, how rocks, moss, trees, ponds and flowers blend is the most important thing for Japanese garden. Japanese garden expresses its theme by all of themselves like 'Kare-Sansui'. On the other hand, Western garden requires individual beauty. Each component of garden must be shaped beautifully and Each of them makes up the garden itself. The example exactly shows us Western and Asian(Japanese) characteristics mentioned in ch.4.

Media

I saw a news program telling about Greek financial crisis this morning. They announced that some people in the demo became violent, 3 people died and public school teachers "occupied" national TV station. Although the news report did not say who was bad, it sounds like people in the demo were dangerous. The screen showed people run away from the main street avoiding gas flow. It was just same as yesterday's movie. I don't know what really happened in Greek, but I was very scared of the TV program reporting the news in such a form.

5/7/2010

Today we had pre-PWT test. The time was too short for me. I read Meiland last week, but I didn't remember the details. The questions were difficult to answer.
What impressed me most today was the movie 'This is what democracy looks like.' I had never dreamed that such violence was done by police. What's more, it took place in America, which is usually called a really democratic society. I was shocked and disappointed at so called democratic countries. They always criticize countries under tyranny, communism and socialism because they suppress people. What about their own countries? People are beat up there. There are no difference between the countries. I don't know what a real democracy is anymore. Maybe perfection of democracy doesn't exist in this world. Still I think such acts of violence shouldn't be allowed and I don't want to get wrong imformation through media. I didn't care much about news in daily life. Today, however, I realized I really have to pay attention and take action about the issues.

Ch.3

In this chapter the author analyzed sense of individualism and collectivism in Europe and East Asia.
I was kind of persuaded by his analysis. Japanese people are always said to be self-critical and not good in expressing themselves compared to Westerners. You can see that in politics;Japanese prime minister(particularly current one) is indecisive, likely to have long-term dialog(it irritates other countries) and pictured at the edge in the photo of the summit.
I think, however, this characteristic of Japanese people can be a big advantage in the international society. I don't remember exactly who put it, but someone (Japanese) working for an international organization said "European people tend to go into individualism and push their opinion through. In such a case, Japanese sense of collectivism is indispensable for an international conference. A little more expressiveness and Japan would be able to show its presense. Japanese people have potential as a leader." I was really impressed his word because I had thought that the Japanese couldn't be on such a position because of its personality.
The story went off the track, but this chapter reminded me of his word. The author's analysis was to the point and the different characteristics of all the contries in the world make up the world today. The comparison made in the book was very interesting.

4/30/2010

Today we learned a formal academic structure of essay. I used "you" or "I" and question mark a lot, so I had to rewrite many sentence. Writing essay was more difficult than I had imagined. It's not just writing the facts and justifications but persuading readers with good reasons.
I didn't know the rules of essay such as Chicago or MLA and I got confused. I chose Chicago for my essay. I really want to improve the skill of writing.

4/28/2010

Today we learned the structure of essay and had a computer class, which was really amazing! I didn't know I can use zotero anywhere with my USB. That's very useful. What's more, Google tools surprised me so much. There are many option such as timeline, past week...the most helpful one must be wonder wheel. I should've known the tool much earlier. I should add google tool bar, rikachan and X-marks right away as well.

4/27/2010

Today we discussed Meiland's essay, but the questions were detailed and difficult to answer. Test is coming soon after GW. I don't know I can get through it. When I revised it, I got impressed by one phrase that I had never taken notice in my first reading. It was one of five justification for basing belief on good reasons;Basing belief fits together well with democratic society. It is an interesting viewpoint. As he said, we have to have good reasons to persuade someone to support our opinion because majority always win in such a democratic society in Japan. There maybe something else I didn't notice before, so I have to read all of Meiland's essay again.

4/26/2010

Today we discussed our writing topics. I was looking for strong evidence and effective data to support my opinion, but I haven't found anything useful yet. Rab advised me to use logic, so I decided to begin to look for new ways to support my position. I thought many students in this section did well in research and their topics seems interesting. I'm looking forward to reading their essays. I have to read books and do more research from now... I'm not sure if I can go to bed today.

Ch.2

In ch.2 Nisbett describes why Greece and China deffered so much.
He mentioned many aspects of them;political system, location, life style etc. Some of them convinced me, but he needed more details to make me satisfied. As for location, both of Greece and China had maritime location. The Greeks traded with people with different view, how about China? China also traded with many foreign people through the Silk Road. Not only the Greeks that encountered people from other countries. Why particular the Greeks? I would like the evidence that proves the only Greeks could develop in that way.
Second, the sentence"Science was invented only in Greece" seems strange. I was wondering why the historian could claim so. "lack of curiosity"(on Chinese) also sounds weird. I agree with him in respect of the fact that the Greeks were more curious than the Chinese, but the ancient chinese were also curious. They developed their own technology, culture and thought. I think the author said a bit too much about it.

The geography of thought Ch.1

Today I found I was a really slow reader and I couldn't understand the book so much. Meiland's essay taught me how to really understand reading, but saying is one thing, doing another.

In ch.1 Nisbett compares the Greek and the Chinese. They had very different view and the reasons he mentioned were persuasive. Particularly some of the characteristics of the ancient Chinese which he mentioned mirrors the Japanese character(ex. harmony is the priority, they thinks themselves a part of large organism, they don't debate so much), which is not surprising but funny.
The Greeks are better in science but worse in causality than the Chinese, and vise versa. That is also interesting and I learned a lot of new things through the analysis on their technological development.
However, I wondered why Chinese and Greeks(Some students also mentioned though).
The title of this book is how asian and westerners think differently, but Asian is not equal to China, also Westerners is not equal to the Greeks. I said above that the ancient Chinese view was similar to Japanese one, but it doens't mean everything is same. Every country has different position and point of view. Nisbett cannot sum up them into only 2 points.
Moreover, the modern society tends to focus on each individual. We cannot make a sweeping judgement about their perception.

ZOTERO

Today we learned about Zotero.
Zotero is...

Zenithal technology you've ever seen
Omitting any complicated process on the Internet
Taking you to any page you wanna go immediately
Entertaining you
Rock(it just rocks)
Oh what an amazing tool it is!!

Thank you

4/21/2010

Today we learned how to write a good essay, which appeals to people.
I've written some essays(If I can call them "essay") in my high school, but I didn't pay attention to the structure and how the readers thought. I learned humor and eyec-atching phrases were required in an essay. It seems very difficult. I have to try hard to make my essay attractive.

4/20/2010

Today we discussed our writing topics, which was very difficult.
Our topics seemed not to have any assumptions at first, but I found some "dogmatic" part of them. I heard the word "dogmatic" for the first time today and I was shocked to see that our thought tend to be dogmatic so easily. I have to learn to think more critically to find dogmatic part of paragraph.

Today's class

Today I learned how passive my reading process was.
Though I had thought I really understood Meilland's paragraph, when it comes to discussion, I couldn't explain it at all. I found that reading with understanding is difficult, but important. I have to get used to the way of reading.
And I totally forgot 3Bs on Meiland, the most important process before reading.
Meiland's 3Bs can be seen here.
I was suprised to know he was a christian. His opinion absolutely contradicts christianity. From this view point, ICU also contradics it because they have policies of christianity and critical thinking at the same time, which seems weird to me.
Anyway I have to decide my writing topic after this...

Today's class

Today's class was really interesting but complicated because
this was the first time I used Mac computer, which confused me so much.
What's more, I had never have my own blog.
Today I came to know that blog has many useful functions.
If I can use all of them effectively, my blog would be more attractive.
For now it is too difficult for me to use many tools, so I have to learn
about blog, or computer a lot more.

he first music video ware really amazing and the editor is so genius, but
the second one also appeals to me, maybe I liked it more than the first one.
People all over the world played one music together through the Internet.
It's just so exciting and impressing, isn't it? Anyway, I love both of them.
I want to join the video, but unfortunately, I can't play any music instruments well.

First one
Second one