電気通信大学 ASE II: Japan & the future・日本の未来

Hello! 

How are you? A big otsukaresamadeshita on the presentations last week. Good job on those! 

Now here is a post on the future - this time, Japan and the future. 

Look at the picture above. It shows an average Japanese family having dinner, and it comes from a Japanese magazine article from 1954 about home life. Is there anything different about family dinner time now than from then? 

Activity
What kinds of social or cultural changes can you see happening in Japan in the future? Japanese society and culture has already been through many changes since World War II. 

Take a look at these next group of pictures. They show some changes that have happened in around the last 50 years or so, up to now. What do you notice about the buildings, or the cars, or the way people dress? How do you feel that things have changed? 

Chuo-dori, Ginza, Tokyo, late 1960s

Chuo-dori, Ginza, Tokyo, today

Japanese young people, early 1960s

Japanese young people, today

Some contemporary fashions in Japan, late 1960s

Some contemporary fashions in Japan, today

Now let's take a look at this video about the Tsukuba Expo in 1985. This was almost 20 years later, but already things had changed since the 1960s: 

I have just two questions: 

What was the theme of the Tsukuba Expo? 

What kinds of achievements did the Tsukuba Expo want to show?

Other questions to think about:

So what kinds of changes can you imagine happening in society or culture in the future from now? What sorts of fashions might people be wearing? For example, would long hair come back into fashion among men? Would women wear mini-skirts again? Or - would men wear skirts and women wear suits? How about music? What would it sound like in the future? 

What designs in cars could you see in the future? Would we see a return to some older designs in cars? How about buildings? How might they be different? Perhaps would we see something in the future that people 50 years ago would never have imagined! 

Now here are the board notes for our class from 11/19:

See you next week!

Images: Top - by Unknown - Japanese magazine "Photograph Gazette, May 1954 issue" published by Government of Japan., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17850644/Ginza in 1967 - by Roger W from Sarasota, Florida, U.S.A. - Tokyo - Chuo-Dori, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60804070/Ginza in 2017 - by Gary - DSC08269 - Chuo-dori Ginza, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40961932/Japanese young people in 1964 - screenshot taken from Japanese+youth,+Tokyo,+1964+(11).jpg/Japanese young people today - screenshot taken from https://www.google.co.jp/search?biw=1199&bih=746&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=w2dXWpWxAcr08QXcjLHAAg&q=japanese+young+people&oq=japanese+young+people&gs_l=psy-ab.12...0.0.0.37755.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c..64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.ZsHKi1iiTEI#imgrc=VXhxXXgo1PeJ-M:/Fashions in the 1960s - screenshot taken from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggSgihLQJ00A84oVxNXdnaTdsbeTOGyngG-Cw7QCFjOczG3LECPdEbMZn_H9xcCV5UGrB9aZYdZqsodtUNL0InEGB4x1qi37sgsipFgP8_t3ThGqxbukg0V5zUJZvTYyx5ZwU6YWul76k/s1600/Street fashion today – screenshot taken from images on Instagram.
I do not own the rights to the images originally posted on Instagram. All rights reserved on original images to the copyright holders. Screenshots of images uploaded for educational purposes only.

電気通信大学 ASE II: Japan & the future・日本の未来

Hello! 

How are you? Here is another post on the future - this time, Japan and the future. 

Look at the picture above. It shows an average Japanese family having dinner, and it comes from a Japanese magazine article from 1954 about home life. Is there anything different about family dinner time now than from then? 

Activity
What kinds of social or cultural changes can you see happening in Japan in the future? Japanese society and culture has already been through many changes since World War II. 

Take a look at these next group of pictures. They show some changes that have happened in around the last 50 years or so, up to now. What do you notice about the buildings, or the cars, or the way people dress? How do you feel that things have changed? 

Chuo-dori, Ginza, Tokyo, 1967

Chuo-dori, Ginza, Tokyo, 2017

Japanese young people, 1964

Japanese young people, 2017

Some contemporary fashions in Japan, late 1960s

Some contemporary fashions in Japan, 2017

Now let's take a look at this video about the Tsukuba Expo in 1985. This was almost 20 years later, but already things had changed since the 1960s: 

I have just two questions: 

What was the theme of the Tsukuba Expo? 

What kinds of achievements did the expo want to show?

Other questions to think about:

So what kinds of changes can you imagine happening in society or culture in the future from now? What sorts of fashions might people be wearing? For example, would long hair come back into fashion among men? Would women wear mini-skirts again? Or - would men wear skirts and women wear suits? How about music? What would it sound like in the future? 

What designs in cars could you see in the future? Would we see a return to some older designs in cars? How about buildings? How might they be different? Perhaps would we see something in the future that people 50 years ago would never have imagined! 

See you next week!

Images: Top - by Unknown - Japanese magazine "Photograph Gazette, May 1954 issue" published by Government of Japan., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17850644/Ginza in 1967 - By Roger W from Sarasota, Florida, U.S.A. - Tokyo - Chuo-Dori, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60804070/Ginza in 2017 - By Gary - DSC08269 - Chuo-dori Ginza, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40961932/Japanese young people in 1964 - screenshot taken from Japanese+youth,+Tokyo,+1964+(11).jpg/Japanese young people in 2017 - screenshot taken from https://www.google.co.jp/search?biw=1199&bih=746&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=w2dXWpWxAcr08QXcjLHAAg&q=japanese+young+people&oq=japanese+young+people&gs_l=psy-ab.12...0.0.0.37755.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c..64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.ZsHKi1iiTEI#imgrc=VXhxXXgo1PeJ-M:/Fashions in the 1960s - screenshot taken from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggSgihLQJ00A84oVxNXdnaTdsbeTOGyngG-Cw7QCFjOczG3LECPdEbMZn_H9xcCV5UGrB9aZYdZqsodtUNL0InEGB4x1qi37sgsipFgP8_t3ThGqxbukg0V5zUJZvTYyx5ZwU6YWul76k/s1600/Street fashion in 2017 – screenshot taken from https://medium.com/@TokyoFashion/japanese-street-fashion-2017-15-things-you-need-to-know-ab06eabfca39

電気通信大学 AWE II: Fall semester final writing assignment supporting post (Part 2)・後期末作文の付記 (Part 2)

Hello! 

How are you? Here is one more supporting post for your final writing assignment about Japan and the future. 

Science and technology are not all there are about the future, because there is also society and culture too. You do not have to focus on science and technology in your thinking about the future - there are also things such as fashion and music, and the looks of cars and buildings, and the way people live in their day-to-day lives.  

Look at the picture above. It's a Bon Curry ad from 50 years ago, when it first was sold, in 1968. At the time, this was revolutionary - a healthy meal in a pack that could be boiled in a pot of water. This was similar to what the Apollo astronauts ate in space!    

Activity
What kinds of social or cultural changes can you see happening in Japan in the future? Japanese society and culture has already been through many changes since World War II. 

Take a look at these next group of pictures. They show some changes that have happened in around the last 50 years, up to now. What do you notice about the buildings, or the cars, or the way people dress? How do you feel that things have changed? 

I choose the 1960s a lot because so much of that time was rich in imagination about the future for many Japanese. So take a look at these pictures:

Japanese young people, 1964

Japanese young people, 2017

Some street fashions in Tokyo, late 1960s

Some street fashions in Tokyo, 2017

So when we think about the future from our viewpoint now, what kinds of changes can you imagine happening in society or culture in the future? 

What kinds of fashions might people wear? For example, would long hair come back into fashion among men? Would women all wear mini-skirts again? Or - would men wear skirts and women wear suits? 

How about music? What would the music of the future be like? What designs in cars could you see in the future? How about architecture? What will buildings in the future look like? These and many other questions are the kinds of things you can think of! 

Good luck with this! I hope this can give you more ideas on how you can write on Japan and the future. 

See you next week!

Images: Top - by Unknown - Japanese magazine "Photograph Gazette, May 1954 issue" published by Government of Japan., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17850644/Ginza in 1967 - By Roger W from Sarasota, Florida, U.S.A. - Tokyo - Chuo-Dori, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60804070/Ginza in 2017 - By Gary - DSC08269 - Chuo-dori Ginza, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40961932/Japanese young people in 1964 - screenshot taken from Japanese+youth,+Tokyo,+1964+(11).jpg/Japanese young people in 2017 - screenshot taken from https://www.google.co.jp/search?biw=1199&bih=746&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=w2dXWpWxAcr08QXcjLHAAg&q=japanese+young+people&oq=japanese+young+people&gs_l=psy-ab.12...0.0.0.37755.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c..64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.ZsHKi1iiTEI#imgrc=VXhxXXgo1PeJ-M:/Fashions in the 1960s - screenshot taken from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggSgihLQJ00A84oVxNXdnaTdsbeTOGyngG-Cw7QCFjOczG3LECPdEbMZn_H9xcCV5UGrB9aZYdZqsodtUNL0InEGB4x1qi37sgsipFgP8_t3ThGqxbukg0V5zUJZvTYyx5ZwU6YWul76k/s1600/Street fashion in 2017 – screenshot taken from https://medium.com/@TokyoFashion/japanese-street-fashion-2017-15-things-you-need-to-know-ab06eabfca39

ECA (Speaking) I (All): 過去のファション、スタイル

Hello!

How are you? Today, let's look at fashion from the past (過去のファション、スタイル). 

Activity
Look at these fashions from the past. Which ones do you like? First, here are some hippies from the 1960s:

Now, here are a group of German women wearing popular fashions in the 1970s:

Next, here is a picture of three girls. It's from my generation in the 1980s, and they are wearing styles that were popular then.

Here is a young person from the 1990s, wearing fashions popular then:

Finally, here is some popular fashion from the past decade - the 2000s:

What do you think of these clothing and hair styles? 

Good luck - and see you next time!

Images: Top - "Tokyo, Japan - Nov 24: Crowd At Takeshita Street On No" (courtesy of Sira Anamwong) FreeDigital Photos.net/Hippies - "Woodstock redmond　hair" by Derek Redmond and Paul Campbell - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woodstock_redmond_hair.JPG#/media/File:Woodstock_redmond_hair.JPG/Four women - "Bundesarchiv Bild 183-L0902-114, Leipzig, Messe, neue Mode" by Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-L0902-114 / Ulrich Häßler / CC-BY-SA 3.0. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 de via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-L0902-114,_Leipzig,_Messe,_neue_Mode.jpg#/media/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-L0902-114,_Leipzig,_Messe,_neue_Mode.jpg/Three girls - by jeanne [Public domain]/Young man - "Jonathan Brandis Wiki" by Airwolfberlin - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jonathan_Brandis_Wiki.jpg#/media/File:Jonathan_Brandis_Wiki.jpg/Man on red carpet - "Jared Leto - 66ème Festival de Venise" by Nicolas Genin - originally posted to Flickr as 66ème Festival de Venise (Mostra). Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jared_Leto_-_66%C3%A8me_Festival_de_Venise.jpg#/media/File:Jared_Leto_-_66%C3%A8me_Festival_de_Venise.jpg/All rights reserved to the authors of the original images. 

ECA (Speaking) II (A): ファションを比べる

Hello!

How are you? Today, let's talk about fashion, and what you think of some different styles. 

Activity 1
Look at these fashions from the past. Which ones do you like? First, here are some hippies from the 1960s:

Now, here are a group of German women wearing popular fashions in the 1970s:

Next, here is a picture of three girls. It's from my generation in the 1980s, and they are wearing styles that were popular then.

Here is a young person from the 1990s, wearing fashions popular then:

Finally, here is some popular fashion from the past decade - the 2000s:

What do you think of these clothing and hair styles from these different times? 

Activity 2
Now ask and talk about what you think of these styles with these words:

Cheap/cheaper (than)

Short/shorter (than)

Big/bigger (than)

Comfortable/more comfortable (than)

Expensive/more expensive (than)

Stylish/more stylish (than)

例えば：

A: I think clothes in the 1960s looked cheaper than clothes in the 1970s. What do you think?

B: Me? I think so too. They looked cheaper. I think clothes in the 1970s were more stylish. 

A: I think so too. They had interesting patterns. 

B: What do you think of styles from the 1980s? 

A: They looked cool, and the hair was bigger than the hair in the 1970s! 

B: (…)

See you next time!

Images: Top - "Close Up Necktie Of Businessman" (courtesy of hin255)/FreeDigital Photos.net/

Hippies - "Woodstock redmond hair" by Derek Redmond and Paul Campbell - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woodstock_redmond_hair.JPG#/media/File:Woodstock_redmond_hair.JPG/Four women - "Bundesarchiv Bild 183-L0902-114, Leipzig, Messe, neue Mode" by Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-L0902-114 / Ulrich Häßler / CC-BY-SA 3.0. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 de via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-L0902-114,_Leipzig,_Messe,_neue_Mode.jpg#/media/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-L0902-114,_Leipzig,_Messe,_neue_Mode.jpg/Three girls - by jeanne [Public domain]/Young man - "Jonathan Brandis Wiki" by Airwolfberlin - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jonathan_Brandis_Wiki.jpg#/media/File:Jonathan_Brandis_Wiki.jpg/Man on red carpet - "Jared Leto - 66ème Festival de Venise" by Nicolas Genin - originally posted to Flickr as 66ème Festival de Venise (Mostra). Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jared_Leto_-_66%C3%A8me_Festival_de_Venise.jpg#/media/File:Jared_Leto_-_66%C3%A8me_Festival_de_Venise.jpg/All rights reserved to the authors of the original images.  

ECA (英語基礎表現) I (Super A): 人物を描写する

Hello!

How are you? Let's learn about how to describe people and their feelings (人物、気分を描写する).

Activity/homework
Look at these pictures. Write about the people in these pictures. The picture at the top of this post is an example (例えば) :

This person has a long, curly white beard. He's older and smiling. He looks happy.

Now try to write some extra details about his clothes (洋服がさらに細かい描写): 

He's wearing a cream-colored hat and shirt with a white t-shirt underneath. 

Now add something at the end about his feelings (気分): 

He looks happy.

So, your description (描写) can look like this: 

This person has a long, curly white beard. He's older and smiling. He's wearing a cream-colored hat and shirt with a white t-shirt underneath. He looks happy. 

Try with these other pictures! 

1.

2. 

2. 
3. 

3. 

4.  




5. 

6.

7. 

8.

9. 

Have fun!

Photo credits: 1. "Beautiful Young Woman" (courtesy of posterize) 2. "Preparing For Dinner" (courtesy of imagerymajestic) 3. "Smiling little girl 

Images: Top - "Old African Man" (courtesy of africa)/1. "Preparing For Dinner" (courtesy of imagerymajestic)/2. "Asian Woman Smiling On The Bedroom Floor" (courtesy of Feelart)/3. "Older Man With Hat" (courtesy of Rosemary Ratcliff)/4. "Asian Woman Have A Headache" (courtesy of tiverylucky)/5. "Young Woman In Stylish Outfit" (courtesy of posterize)/6. "Genial Older Man" (courtesy of Rosemary Ratcliff)/7. "Beautiful Young Woman" (courtesy of posterize)/8. "Young Man Thinking Seriously" (courtesy of pod pad)/9. "Seated African Child" (courtesy of africa)/All images from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

週12 ・13 - ECA (Speaking) I (C & A): 過程「話と行うこと」

Hello to my speaking All students,

Image "Take Off At Sunset" courtesy of Time Beach/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? Let's look at telling stories with action (話と行うことを言う) with pictures! 

Activity/homework
Look at these pictures. Make a story with these pictures (イメージに話を作り). (You can use the picture of the airplane at the top of this blogpost!) You can put them in any order you like (イメージの順番がなんでもいい). 

Rules (ルール) 
1. You can use seven (7) of these pictures - but you can use all of them if you want.
2. You have to tell your story (話すを言う) using words like then, next, after that, and finally in your story!

Try it!

Have fun!

Photo credits: Top photo - "Sunset Holiday" (courtesy of imagerymajestic)/Roofs - "Hiyama Tatsuno Hyogo Prefecture" (courtesy of 663highland)/ 

Photo credits: Sunset - "Beautiful Sunset" (courtesy of Photokanok)/Man in suit - "Handsome Young Businessman" (courtesy of imagerymajestic)/Poker chips - "Pocket Aces In The Hand" (courtesy of Grant Cochrane)/Young man - "Young Handsome Man" (courtesy of marin)/Wedding - "The Exit" (courtesy of Elwood W. McKay III)/Sports car - "Classic Porsche 959" (courtesy of M-Pics)/Woman - "Asian Model Woman" (courtesy of posterize)/Drink - "Singapore Sling" (courtesy of Antoine Henrich)/SUV - "Mercedes ML" (courtesy of M-Pics)/All photos from FreeDigitalPhotos.net