津田塾大学オペン・スクール時事英語でディスカッションII・3/13 - second round final presentations

Hello to all my discussion students,

By 鄭 若曾 [Public domain, Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons 

How are you? My apologies for the lateness of this final post to all of you. The shots I sent from my Smartphone on Wednesday night somehow did not get processed by the server, so I did not receive them. 

I tried again yesterday and got only a couple of the photos I took. Unfortunately, none of the shots of Chie's presentation have still arrived. So as to not keep things delayed any further, I decided to post this anyway, with some things and comments of my own added. Again, I'm sorry for the delay and hope that you catch this post.

Here I will show a few of the images that did come in from the second round of your great presentations from our final class. 

The image at the top of the post is from a 16th century Chinese map of the Ryukyu Kingdom to illustrate Rumi's presentation on the Senkaku Islands dispute. Here is a little more from her presentation:

My apologies for this picture not being shot perfectly - I took this from her handout! Here's another: 

Good job to you, Rumi, for this! I don't see how easily this dispute will get resolved, though for the sake of peace and security I hope some kind of agreement on both sides will be reached. 

Similarly, Chiharu gave an excellent presentation on certified products for consumer goods. Here's another image:

That our everyday shopping can make a difference is wise, indeed! I think a lot of people have known about these labels for awhile, but I think many still don't know that major commercial producers and vendors are getting on board with this initiative. I certainly didn't know that Meiji and the other big confectioners are now putting these labels on their products. It's a major breakthrough for those who have pushed for these labels to be on these everyday products to convince the big companies to put them on there.

Here are my comments on Chie's presentation on Japanese students and the recent trends on their rates of study abroad (again, my apologies for not receiving the shots I took form the server to show here):

As I mentioned in the last class, while commentators may feel younger people are turning inward, I still think the greater factor is economic. The money for studying abroad is not there the way it used to be, and coupled with what I feel is an inflexibility on the part of employers that results in pressure on university students to rush into the job market in advance of the jobs actually being there and before they know what they really want to do in terms of a career path, we have a situation where the kind of growth in young people that is often made possible by exposure to foreign cultures is bypassed. I feel this forces young people to lower their horizons and look inward, and it's not a situation I think is healthy for Japan in the long run when Chinese and Korean students are making their way abroad and returning as changed people for the better from their experiences. 

Overall, I thank all of you for making this short course a rewarding one for me as a teacher. I hope I could create an atmosphere for all of you where, if you came away with  something worthwhile and encouraging for any further desire or need for an enhanced ability to discuss and present in English, then I will feel I have done my job. 

Thank you so much, and good luck in any future career plans or paths you have. 

おつかれさまでした！Take care!

津田塾大学オペン・スクール時事英語でディスカッションII・3/6 - first round final presentations

Hello to all my discussion students, 

Peter Pantzer & Sven Saaler: Japanische Impressionen eines Kaiserlichen Gesandten. Karl von Eisendecher im Japan der Meiji-Zeit. München 2007. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

How are you today? To begin with, thank you for the first round of presentations from last night. I was very excited to see what you could do and will give my reactions here. 

I've found, and posted a picture above, of Sir Ernest Satow as a way of illustrating Tsuyoshi's presentation last night. Very interesting and illuminating. 

My remarks about Oliver Cromwell may not be accurate, however; here's the to the Japanese Wikipedia article on Cromwell: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/オリヴァー・クロムウェル (for some reason, it will not let me do an embedded link with this URL, so I have pasted the URL here). But I still believe Ernest Satow's stance on the constitutional and diplomatic questions of the shogun's status as a head of government and state of Japan may have been informed by his own country's history, and experience, with Oliver Cromwell. 

Here are the selected shots of Haruka and Makoto's presentations on same sex marriage. Again, very illuminating and courageous for tackling what is an uncomfortable subject for a number of people:

For the both of you (and really, for anybody in the class), here's a link to a fascinating debate that took place this week in my home state. On it is both the excerpt of the debate, and the full debate, between a gay Catholic blogger/journalist and a Christian minister on the question of civil unions for same-sex couples in American society. It is lively and incredible. 

When you get a chance, I recommend either of you to watch the full debate (only when you get the chance - it's long!). 

I'll look forward to seeing the second round of presentations next week. Take care!

See you then!