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.