WEI for this semester.

I think I did good job!!!

My name presentation!

For the podcast, click here!

M&M.

1. special power of blue M&M.

Check it out here!!

5th podcaast!

1. A man who loves santa.

2.Otaku?

click here!

Is Japan Losing Its Culture?

Japanese history goes back more than 2000 years, and of course, it has many kinds of traditional culture, the history of America, however, is much shorter than Japan’s. In America there are many immigrants that contribute to the original American culture, and they are effecting each other in a good way. The original American culture is changing drastically now in consequence of increase in immigration to America; of course, this change is not due only because of immigrated people. As for Japan, now, more types of western culture are starting to appear in things such as: sports, music, food, life, and language; Japan almost looks like America! Japanese people are wearing American style clothes, watching American movies, learning the American language; Japanese people love American things! Many Japanese people say that Japan is losing its culture as well as some TV news programs. Japanese people say that the Japanese old traditional cultures are becoming less dominant, such as the people who play Japanese traditional music. Japanese young people rarely know what the Japanese old traditional culture is, or how to do any of the traditional festivities, or the history. You might ask then, is Japan gaining American culture and losing Japanese traditional culture? The answer is NO. There are various reasons why the answer is no. Japan is not losing its traditional culture because the Japanese traditional culture is getting more popular in other countries. The Japanese government is also making new laws to preserve Japanese traditional culture.

Japan has many traditional parts to its culture. To begin, Japan has very traditional music. One of the most traditional of their culture is Kabuki. Kabuki means to act recklessly. Kabuki expresses the lifestyle of bad person resembling fun. “Kabuki” shows the lifestyle of the Edo era (Columbia Music Entertainment 1). They have face painting, (The Basic Color is White). The reason why they use white to paint is all because of the background. In the Edo era, Japan didn’t have a very good lighting system, so they had to paint their face white (Hitorigoto 1). They also use red, indigo blue and brown when they paint their faces. All of the colors have meaning: red shows courage, strength, and righteousness, indigo blue is always worn by the villain, and brown signifies the demon or specter (Dictionary of Kabuki 1).

A second, part of the traditional culture are sports. The traditional Japanese sport culture is called Budo, which a category name for all martial arts. Kendo is an example of Budo. Kendo is similar to American fencing; in place of swords bamboo sticks are used. However, the true direction is to get strong mind and to make ourselves; it was also used as a more protected way to train for samurai (All Japan Kendo Federation 1).

Third, Japan has their original language that has been used for an immense length of time. Japanese is one of the oldest languages in the world. They use three different kinds of characters which include Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. One of the differences of the Japanese style of literature compared to the American method, is they read the characters from top to bottom (“About Japan” 1). Another difference between the two is the Japanese language only has five vowels, and Japanese grammar doesn’t have any concern of whether a noun is countable or uncountable (MISJ 2). Due to the fact that the Japanese have an original language that is very individual from other languages, there are more people in other countries across the world that are becoming more interested in learning the language.

American culture has strong power in Japan, which could become a problem. A good example is, Rock ‘n’ Roll music. It began in the 1950s and 1960s. Rock ‘n’ Roll is a compilation of many different genres of music. The music first became popular in small clubs and on the radio, later, teenagers could watch Rock ‘n’ Roll bands on television (Rock ‘n’ Roll Music 1). Young people in Japan love varieties of western music. The problem is that there are no people who buy Japanese traditional CD’s, and there are dozens of western CD’s in Japanese music stores. Japanese people don’t like Japanese traditional music because it is not fun or exciting and Japanese traditional music culture is getting weak in Japan, but other countries are adapting the traditional music of Japan; examples will be further discussed later. (Journal of land surveyor 1).

American traditional sports are affecting Japanese traditional sport culture as well. One of the examples is baseball. The overall history of baseball is profusely lengthy. The game’s name was initially bat and ball. It is from Britain, and it developed in the United States (Wikipedia “Baseball” 1). In America, baseball became much like a business and it quickly became an international game; 20% of the major-league players there have ever been were born outside of the United States. In the minor leagues, 50% of the players were foreign-born. This game has had many effects on Japan. Television ratings of major-league baseball games grew in Japan because of Suzuki Ichiro’s, (a Japanese batter), success (Gene A. Buding 54). Baseball has been a popular in Japan. Almost all of Japanese high schools have baseball clubs, and they have a big championship called Koushien (Wikipedia “Japanese baseball” 1). In 2006, the 1^st job Japanese boys wanted to be in the future was a professional baseball player. These elementary school boys are becoming more interested in other cultures, and due to this the number of people who have a traditional Japanese job will diminish steadily (Excite news 1).

America has its own language as well, English and there are many people who speak English. English is becoming world language. Now in Japan, Japanese students have to take English classes in addition to learning English for entrance exams or and for all most all major companies. The English part of the Japanese entrance exam is very hard so Japanese student have to study day and night. Japanese government believe that Japan should make English it’s second language, because English is the public language of the world; if they learn then Japanese people will have a better chance at getting international job. However, some people say that the ability of the students to learn will decrease, because they will not be able to understand fully what is being said, so Japan should not do that (Wikipedia “English” 1). Not to mention, recently, there are many more English words in Japanese conversation. Japanese people don’t care if they use English words in their conversation which is leading to many Japanese youth not knowing true Japanese conversation (Hase, Makoto 1).

It seems as though Japan is losing its traditional culture but this is not entirely true. There are a few reasons why Japan is not losing its traditional culture; however, the affair that is the fact that Japanese cultures are getting more and more popular in other countries. The first example is kabuki. Kabuki was present in places like America, India, and Europe. In Australia, the Kabuki troupe at the Australian National University has been performing a Kabuki drama each year since 1977. There are many good comments about Kabuki other countries. Kabuki is becoming another pastime of the theater of the world (Easy Learn Kabuki 3). A second example is, recently, there have been many people from other countries who are doing Kendo. In Columbia university, Oregon state university, Michigan state university and Indiana university, there are kendo club but of cause not only these university. There are a lot of kendo club in this world. Then again, In Britain they have had Kendo championships; as a result, Kendo is becoming more famous in the world than it already was. Bushido, which is “the written thinking of Samurai,” was a book that was translated and was pointed to other countries. A third example is people from other countries can learn Japanese anywhere, because Japanese companies are hiring people who aren’t Japanese, so they are forced to learn Japanese if they want the job (Wikipedia “Japanese” 1). In addition to all of this, Japanese animations are also getting more popular all over the world. So the number of people who are learning Japanese to understand Japanese anime is increasing now. (Hatena Diary 2)

There are other reasons why Japan is not losing its culture. The Japanese government has made a law to protect traditional Japanese culture. The thinking of the Japanese government is that traditional culture can make the basis of our society. It can help to create a high-quality economy. It can make a person who has immense personality, and it can make peace in the world. The Japanese government is thinking that Japanese traditional culture has very significant meaning. The Japanese government also believes that Japanese language makes our culture and makes the right Japanese spirit. Japanese people need the language to gain knowledge of something. Japanese people should learn Japanese for this reason. Alternatively, they have laws to maintain Japanese traditional culture. The law protects Japanese traditional culture by creating places to watch, join or make the traditional culture’s items. To reflex the opinion of Japanese citizens, to show and give our traditional culture to other countries, to protect Japanese traditional culture and growth, to make developing the original culture which is from each area, Japanese government recover the lively person, and consider about other country’s culture and the progress (MEXT 3). The Japanese government also has laws to learn the Japanese traditional culture at school. It will be interesting for the students, and the students will be attracted by Japanese culture (Agency for Cultural Affairs 1)

Japan is not losing its traditional culture. There are many Japanese traditional cultures. For example, kendo, kabuki, original language. It looks as if Japan is losing its traditional culture because of too much American culture. The Japanese people don’t know about Japanese traditional culture. Actually, Japan was losing its traditional culture. However, the Japanese government has creatively found new ways to prevent the loss of traditional culture. Japanese traditional culture is becoming popular in other countries. People from other countries are learning Japanese language, sports, and music. Japanese traditional culture is becoming more popular than before. This century, the Japanese traditional culture will become world culture and the Japanese culture will be known by people around the world, and will therefore not be lost.

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11071/10000

The Cove ~as a tradition~

I believe every country in this world has own cultures. Some of them look very strange to others. We should try to understand their original culture. However we compare it with ours.

A movie, won an Oscar, “The cove” is telling us how the Japanese doing the dolphin slaughter. It is a Japanese traditional culture to catch dolphins and use as tools, and it is not slaughter to catch dolphins for Japanese.

If you think it is slaughter, we can say killing cow and pig is the same. However, we don’t think it is. The key of this topic is the way we kill the dolphins. We stick a pike into the dolphins’ body and a lot of bloods are coming from their body. The beach is turning to color of red and the dead dolphins. We can see it from the movie.

A lot of people think it is just the dolphin slaughter, but it is our traditional culture and it keeps our lives better. That is what we should understand.

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Total 9337/10000

The view of lives

There are a lot of jobs in this world, and we dream to get a job that we want. Some people think that it is great to get a job which we can earn a lot, and others think it is important to get a job which we can feel the contentment for it. In the movie”The Nanny Diaries”, there are two types of people as I mentioned. In my opinion, it is important to get a job which attracts you a lot.

In this movie, Annie Braddock graduated a college and her mother wanted her to find a respectable position in the business world. In this case, her mother think the position of the society is important and the money. On the other hand, Annie found that it is important to feel some fulfillment by doing her job.

I understand the both side of ideas, and I think both of them are right. The key is how we can keep the balance of these thoughts. One way to keep the balance is that “Do whatever you want”. Actually, most of people who earn huge money are doing a job what they wanted to do. It is sounds so egotistic, however it’s the best way to take the idea of both side.

212

Justice will prevail in the end

These days, the WikiLeaks group is on the television about leaking the classified information on the internet. It is hard to understand what problem will happen after they put the information on their web site. However, we know that they are just telling the truth that we need to know.

I will support what they have done today. We have the rights to know what the countries in this world are doing now, and the things it’s very important. The case of North Korea is one of those examples. The situation in North Korea is getting worth day by day, and we should keep our eyes on them to keep our lives safety. WikiLeaks find out the truth that Kim Jong Il was unlikely to live beyond 2015, which is good for us because they might lose their power as a country. If I live in South Korea, this information makes me feel easy about the situation between those two countries.

What they are doing now is investigated by the U.S. government about the leak of U.S. classified information. However, I am sure the justice will prevail in the end.

(189 words)

Proactive Report

On February 13^th, I played “Morceau Symphonique” by Alexandre Guilmant for trombone. The music was edited by E. Falaguerra in 1937. 1^st movement’s key is in E flat minor and time signature is 4/4. 2^nd movement’s key is in E flat major and time signature is 3/4.

I performed this piece at the student recital on February 13th. I could hear the sound of my instrument more clearly than when I play in a practice room because the hall is bigger than a practice room and made the sound softer. However, it makes us difficult to play between piano and trombone. The recital hall made a difference. The air was really dry, so I could not play a good quality tone at the time.

In my opinion, the beginning of the first piece has a very deep meaning. It starts with a soft, slow tempo, and it says with expression. I try to change the tempo every measure and to play expressively. First phrase finishes slowly, and soon, the tempo changes gradually to around 120. The next phrase starts with loud, con anima, and marcato. The phrase after that sounds much faster compared to the last phrase.

The second piece of music is really bright compared to the first piece. The piano begins with the trombone following. The tempo is allegro moderato. There are many slur and marcato makings. It will be more effective if I play slur and marcato differently. The dynamics change to very soft throughout the second piece, and finish with pianissimo (pp) at the end of the music.

After that, the third piece starts out very softly with andante sustention and with time signature 3/4. It sounds like the beginning of the first piece. Suddenly the dynamics change to fortissimo (ff) through a measure and then returns to piano (p) again.

The Forth piece’s dynamics start with forte (f) and the time signature is in 3/4. It is sounds like the second piece. The first phrase starts with the tempo around 104 and becomes faster at each phrase. Each phrase has a very face-paced melody. Finally, the tempo goes to 144 and finishes with fortissimo (ff).

This music appears as an A-B-A-B style. This piece does not stay in the same tempo—it changes every phrase and dynamics.

I really like this music. This music fluctuates (changes) between soft and strong feelings. I do not really care for music that only has a constant loud or strong emotion. I want to give listeners a variety of both light and powerful sounds so this music was especially moving to me.

What I did learn through this music is that “music is not easy.” I spent a lot of time to practice this music alone and with an accompanist. However, I still have problems with this music. I think that it is really hard to make perfect music. I always have to practice music and I have to make music more clearly. This is what I learned through this student recital.

501

How to solve the Sleeping problems

There are a lot of problems about sleeping. Sometimes we can’t fall asleep, we feel tired when we wake up. Here are solutions for these problems. First, if we are tired, we are trying to sleep as long as possible. However, it is not good idea to sleep as long as possible. If you sleep more than on other days, the rhythm of your body will be different from normal. Then you will spend the day with your body feeling bad. The best way to avoid from that tiredness is to sleep earlier than normal day. If you usually go to bed at 12, then go to bed at 10. Second, if you are stressful every day, you will be tired even if you sleep in long time. Studies suggest that when you are stressful you probably want to go back to bed again when you wake up. On the other hand, if you feel everything is going great or you are having fun time, your body and mind are released from stress, and you can fall asleep very well. Therefore, you should spend time with your friends or do some exercise outside to release your stress. Third, when you take a shower or a bath. The temperature of the water is really important. When you are falling asleep, your body temperature is going down. It helps your sleep. So, when you take a shower or a bath, you should set the water temperature lower. It’s really important to have a great sleep and feel great when we wake up. If we feel tired when we wake up, we don’t want to do anything. When you solve the sleeping problems, your life will be happier.

297 words

Studying English

I believe the English is the world language. Most of people in this world can speak English, or studying English. There are some experiences you will have by studying English. One of the experiences you will have by studying English is that you can make a lot of friends around the world. As I said already, people are studying English at school in the world. If you can speak English, you can talk with most of people who are from all over the world. Other benefit of studying English is that you will know how the Japanese is great. I have been to America for two and half years for studying music. I also studied English at the college. It was really hard for me to read books in English. I found that it is happy to study in Japanese and understand in Japanese. I also found that Japanese culture has really long history. The biggest benefit of studying English is that you will know how you don’t know about Japanese history. There are chances to talk with exchange student from America if you are in English major, and usually we will start to talk about Japanese history. However, most of Japanese people don’t know how to explain Japanese history in English. I was one of them. Then they will start to study Japanese history in English or study how to explain in English. By studying English, you will know Japanese history, and you will find a lot of foreign friends, and so on. English make you as world wide person.

268 words

The Differences and Similarities Between Japanese Education and American Education

Education is the most important subject of keeping this world safety. When the world war ended, American government changed Japanese education system for keeping the peace. Therefore, there are some similarities and some differences. First, there are “Home school” system in America, the people, who decided to do “Home school”, don’t have to go to school everyday, but their mother or father have to teach to their child for each subject. They also have some tests as normal student. However, Japanese education system doesn’t have the “Home school” system. Japanese students have to belong to school till 15 years old. It is one of differences between Japanese education and American education. Second, Japanese students have their own classroom, and the teachers has to move the classroom every time. However, American students doesn’t have their own classroom, therefore, the students has to move for next class. The benefit of having their own room in Japan is that they can communicate with their classmate a lot, and make a strong connection between them. Third, the Japanese and American education system has “second language requirement”. Both countries students required to take second language class at school. Usually, Japanese students required to take English class. In America, there is Spanish class, German class and so on. The purpose of having the second language requirement is having an international view. There are differences and similarity between two countries. However, both countries have the importance of education’s idea. I believe it is the biggest similarity of two countries.

252

The view of lives

There are a lot of jobs in this world, and we dream to get a job that we want. Some people think that it is great to get a job which we can earn a lot, and others think it is important to get a job which we can feel the contentment for it. In the movie”The Nanny Diaries”, there are two types of people as I mentioned. In my opinion, it is important to get a job which attracts you a lot.

In this movie, Annie Braddock graduated a college and her mother wanted her to find a respectable position in the business world. In this case, her mother think the position of the society is important and the money. On the other hand, Annie found that it is important to feel some fulfillment by doing her job.

I understand the both side of ideas, and I think both of them are right. The key is how we can keep the balance of these thoughts. One way to keep the balance is that “Do whatever you want”. Actually, most of people who earn huge money are doing a job what they wanted to do. It is sounds so egotistic, however it’s the best way to take the idea of both side.

212

The Way You Wear Your Cloth

There is many way to wear clothes in this world and there is much opinion about it. “Snow boarder Kokubo barred from games opening ceremony over dress code” Japan Today was discussing the way he wore the Olympic dress. In my opinion, we should wear cloth formally depends on the situation.

The problem of the snowboarder was he wore the official uniform informally when he arrived at Vancouver. There were a lot of media and they took picture of him. If he wore it informally not in front of media, it wouldn’t be a big problem. The reason of this problem was because he didn’t think when he need to wear it formally.

We can say same thing about youth who are sagging their pants. If they are pants-sagging when they are hanging out with their friends and wear their school uniform formally, the media don’t argue about their fashion. Because they do it all the time, people take a critical attitude to them.

However, it will also be a problem if they are pants-sagging too much. Showing their underwear to everyone is just disgusting.

It is important to express what they think about their fashion. However, it is more important to think when they can express it especially in Japan. We should not forget that there are rules of this society.

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