ty's blog

2007-01-21T09:09:00.000-08:00

The essay about Friendship

As you know, friendship is very important in our social life, and it is one of the bases of our life. When I thought about friendship, I came up with one question; what is the friend? I think that there are two kinds of friend if I divide it roughly. One is the friend who I keep company with superficially, and the other is the friend who I keep company with genuinely. I want to get along with all of the people I meet, but it is physically impossible, so to have the friend who I keep company with superficially is unavoidable.
“What is the friend” is very difficult question because in general, I can say that the person is a friend even if he or she only attends the same class as mine. (It becomes possible if the class is organized by a few people. In SILS, Intensive English is applicable to it.) Personally, I cannot make friends with that kind of person because I am “hitomishiri” (shy).
In “THE MATERIAL CHILD”, Merry White mentions about “Shinyu” that is best friend, but I think that there are few people who we can call “Shinyu”. I do not know about others, however, I do not have “Shinyu”. Of course, I have close friends, but I cannot call them “Shinyu”.

2007-01-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

Essay about Sexuality

When I read “THE MATERIAL CHILD”, I thought that the actual circumstances about sex in America is terrible because author stated that “At a time when AIDS and teen pregnancy rates are high and climbing, the result is that 72 percent of high schoolers have engaged in sexual intercourse, 20 percent of American teens report four or more sexual partners, and 63 percent of American teens do not use birth-control measures.” Is it really true? I was surprised with it even if I know the actual circumstance about sex in America is not very good. However, I think the circumstance in Japan is not good too as long as I watch TV or read magazines. Probably, sex intercourse and pregnancy in low age have been becoming a problem in all over the world.
Author wrote that “according to data from magazine readership surveys, two-thirds reported sexual activity by the age of fifteen.” When I read this sentence, I thought it is too extreme and perhaps wrong data, but author added that “Reporting on sexual activity (not necessarily sexual intercourse) is not always reliable and it is hard to generalize from this sample to the wider population of teens.” So, I was satisfied about it and knew the difficulty of research on sexual activity.
Next, I want to mention about the class which dealt with sexuality. In the class, we watched some videos made by Japanese and Colorado students. In one Japanese student’s video, interviews to Japanese students were recorded, and every student interviewed answered “I am ashamed to talk with parents about sexual things.” I sympathized with this opinion very much.
Overall, I thought it was good to be able to deal with this theme, “Sexuality”, because we cannot discuss it usually.

2006-12-15T18:44:00.000-08:00

The essay about Materialism

I learned many ways in which the marketing industry tries to shape trends and to influence teenagers to buy things in class and from " MATERIAL CHILD ". There are many ways even only about advertising on magazines. First, idol or spokesperson is used to attract reader's attention. Second, the result of surveys or expert's advice is put to convince readers that this advertising is trusted. In addition, details about shops also encourage readers to go to the shops. I was surprised because I have never considered about how marketing industry tries to shape trends and influences teenagers to buy things.
However, trends change too quickly. It is very embarrassing for us since it is regarded as not so good thing to be left behind the fashions in general. I have wondered it for a long time because I think it is not necessarily good to keep up with the latest fashions. Do you think it is good to wear the same clothes as others? I think it is better to wear the clothes which we like than to wear the same clothes as others.
Next, I want to write about the contents of " THE MATERIAL CHILD ". Merry White says that " Teens equate high price with quality ", but I think the older generation also equate high price with quality. In particular, ladies in middle twenties prefer high price brand goods like Chanel, Hermes and Louis Vuitton. I do not like high price goods, but I can say that there are many durable goods in high price goods. I think that the ideal product is cheap and durable, but in reality, cheap products tend to be fragile.
Merry White also says that "Novelty " trend goods " are the least durable, and so rapid in their run through the market that the distinction between Tokyo and the hinterlands is exacerbated.", though, I do not think that there is the distinction between Tokyo and hinterlands. I lived in a hinterland before I came to Tokyo, but I did not feel the distinction. I could get enough information from magazines and TV shows.
In conclusion, I could not agree with Merry Whites's idea in this chapter.

2006-12-14T06:42:00.000-08:00

The essay about SCHOOL

In "THE MATERIAL CHILD", Merry White write about examination (jyuken), and also about "yobiko" or cram school. In fact, I went to cram school to get good grade and enter good university. In my case, cram school had little effect on me because I almost studied in my high school, but in general, cram school or "yobiko" influences student's grade and the university which students enter a lot. I often watch feature about cram school on television (I think it is because Japan struggle with a drop in scholastic ability), and find a students that rely on cram school too much. I think cram school surely plays important role on the examination, but it is wrong to think that cram school is all. Schools teach students another important things. For example, they teach how to get along with others or relationship between "Sempai" and "Kohai", so I think the idea that cram school is all is completely wrong.
However, there are a lot of the collapse of class in Japanese school. I wonder why these situation happen. It is probably because I have spent happy school life. As I mentioned before, Schools play an important role, so we should cope with this problem seriously.
Recently, a lot of suicides because of bullying happen. I feel sad whenever I watch that kind of news on the television. In a news program, a commentator said " The students who are bullied have to fight with bullying.", and I think it is right, but it is very difficult to fight with bullying, so schools and family must support the students who are bullied.
This topic was also reported in the news program, but schools hid the suicides because of bullying. Surely, the reputation for the school may fall down, however, it is wrong to hide the fact. Now, mistrust of the schools rise up rapidly. Schools have to contact with students and their family sincerely and regain trust from them.

2006-11-16T19:13:00.000-08:00

2006-11-16T18:33:00.000-08:00

The essay about Family

I want to mention about Japanese parents, children, and family mainly since I am Japanese, so I want to think about Japanese affairs deeply.
Merry White says that "Many Japanese teens are under academic pressure", but I think that is the very true. In fact, I felt the academic pressure when I was high school student even if my parents did not tell me to study hard. Parents is the cause of academic pressure partly (because there are parents who tell their children to study hard.), but Japanese society that it is good to enter good university or company is one of the big factor.
Merry White also says that "Housework and homework often conflict in the Japanese family, but the latter always takes precedence." I think this also has to do with academic pressure. Generally, Japanese children must spare their time to study, so they do not have much time to help the housework. It is unlucky for Japanese children because the society does not necessarily need the person who can study, but needs the person who is independent. It may be my personal opinion, but I think so.
It is stated that " children in small families will be indulged and not properly trained at home, and that without siblings they will not learn to cooperate and compete well." in "THE MATERIAL CHILD". I think it is also true. I grew up with my elder sister and younger brother, and I learned to cooperate and compete well by growing up with them. In addition, there were a lot of good points that I grew up with them. For example, I learned a lot of play or games from my sister, and I acquired how to care about others by taking care of my brother. Thus, growing up with siblings gives us a lot of good effects.

2006-10-15T07:03:00.000-07:00

Hello, my name is Takashi. I'm a student of waseda university in Japan and studying English.
I belong to SILS, and SILS stands for School of International Liberal Studies.
I haven't been to foreign country, so I want to go to a foreign country someday.
My hobby is to play basketball, and I also like to watch NBA game.
I like Allen Iverson because he is little, but he scores a lot of points and he is very tough.
Maybe, I think he is very popular among Japanese basketball players.

初めまして、僕の名前は貴史と言います。僕は日本にある早稲田大学の生徒で英語を学んでいます。
僕はSILSに所属しています。SILSというのは国際教養学部を表しています。
僕は外国に行ったことがないので、いつか外国へ行ってみたいです。
僕の趣味はバスケットボールでNBAの試合を見るのも好きです。
僕はアレン＝アイバーソン選手が好きです。というのは、彼は小さいのにたくさん点を取るしとてもタフだからです。
多分、彼は日本でバスケットボールをしている人の間ではとても人気があると思います。