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.

東京理科大学 Listening & Speaking 1b: Ainu greetings・アイヌの挨拶

Hello!

How are you? Here is a post about Ainu greetings (アイヌ語挨拶).  

Activity
Let's look at these greetings! What do you think they mean? 

Iramkarapte. (イランカラプテ)     He. (ヘー)

E-iwanke ya? (エイワンケ  ヤ？)

Ku-iwanke wa. (クイワンケ  ワ)

E-re hemanta ya? (エレ  ヘマンタ  ヤ？)

K-ani anakne ____ ku-ne. (カニ アナㇰネ ____ クネ)

Check your guesses - were any of them correct, or close? 

Discussion circles

Here are the leader discussion circles questions. 

Remember that in groups with only three (3) members, that the leader is also the vocabulary master! 

For the summarizer

Are you ready to summarize the reading/CD talk? (Can you give us your summary of the reading/CD talk?)

For the details master

1. Why is time on task important for foreign language study?

2. About how many hours are needed to get a score of 300 on the TOEIC?

3. How about a score of 700?

4. So how would you define ‘time on task’?

(Leaders - think of 1-2 more questions of your own to ask the details master!)

For the vocabulary master

What are characteristics?

What is a principle?

What does elite mean?

What does it mean to do something actively?

(In groups with three (3) members: Summarizers or details masters - think of 1-2 more words of your own from the reading or listening to ask the leader!)

·           

Video 
Here is a short video about the Ainu language. It's a chant that in a way tells the story of the Ainu. Here is only one question about it:

How similar do you think the Ainu language is to Japanese, or other Asian languages you know or have heard? What's your feeling about it? (If you watch and listen to this video directly on YouTube, you can turn on Japanese subtitles [字幕]. Try it!) 

I hope you find this video interesting.

See you next time!

(Answers to Ainu greetings at top of post)

Image: By Unknown - Japanese book "Series of Japanese geography and folk culture: Vol.14" published by Shinkosha, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7622792/courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Video uploaded from YouTube. All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s). I do not own the rights to the video or the content within. Uploaded for classroom purposes only. 

Ainu greetings answers content courtesy of Wikitravel.

東京理科大学 Writing & Composition 1a: Japan's indigenous people - the Ainu・日本の先住民族「アイヌ」

Hello!

How are you? Today let's look at Japan's own indigenous people (先住民族) - the Ainu.

Let's look at the picture above. It's a map of Japan showing the original area, plus the widest places of where the Ainu lived.

At one time they lived from the northeastern part of the Tohoku, all of Hokkaido, and the way up through Sakhalin Island (what many older Japanese call Karafuto「樺太」) and even up through the Kuril Islands (千島列島). 

But now they only live in Hokkaido. Their numbers are small, and they have married mainstream Japanese people enough so that they do not look so different. But they are proud of their culture and traditions. 

Here's a picture of a gathering in an Ainu village from around 1905:

Activity 1/homework
Here is one video about the Ainu. Watch it and answer the questions below it. It's in Japanese and is short, but watch the video more than once if you have to.

Please write answers to these questions in your notebooks:

1. The first man is Akibe Tokuhei, the deputy executive director of the Ainu Association of  Hokkaido. What does he say is the first thing that Ainu people do when they get together? 

2. Which rights does he say that the UN said are basic to all indigenous people around the world?

3. What is the most important right he believes that the Japanese government took from the Ainu?

4. What kind of right in government does he want the Ainu to have? 

5. What does Sakai Mina say about the dance and music of the Ainu Rebels band? 

6. What kind of image does she say that most Japanese have had about the Ainu? 

7. How did she used to feel about being an Ainu? 

8. When did she begin to change her feeling about being an Ainu? 

9. What does "ainu" mean in the Ainu language?

10. What did the Ainu do for their traditional way of life for centuries? 

Here are the board notes for our class today on 6/10:

Take care! See you next time!

Images: Top - by Arnold Platon - This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this:  Japan on the globe (claimed) (Japan centered).svg (by TUBS). - Own work (Vectorization), based on this map, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25364093/Ainu group - by Unknown - Japanese book "Series of Japanese geography and folk culture: Vol.14" published by Shinkosha, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7622792/courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to these videos, artwork, or the musical content. Uploaded for educational purposes only. All rights reserved to the copyright holders.

東京理科大学 A英3: Supporting post for writing assignment 6 - about hikikomori・作文6のサッポートポスト「ひきこもりについて」

Hello!

How are you? Here is another supporting post for all of you who might want to write more about issues with hikikomori. 

Once again, this is a heavier topic, so anyone wanting to try for this for their writing will get some extra points. 

If you need to refresh yourself about the 6th writing assignment, go to this link here. 

Support & preparation (準備) 
This is another video - this time, a TED Talk in Japanese of a mother who had an adult hikikomori son. This might give you also some more background, this time from someone directly involved with this issue, about hikikomori and what they need to re-enter society. 

Watch it as many times as you need. This time there are no questions - but note down your reaction.
What do you think of it? 

Good luck with this! See you next class!

Image: By Hiroh Satoh from Japan - HIKIKOMORI night, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28635776

東京理科大学 A英3: Writing assignment 6・作文6

Hello!

How are you? In this post, I will introduce our 6th writing assignment (作文6) for the year - writing our opinions on news and issues topics (時事問題) of your choices.

Topic

You have a lot of freedom with topic choices for this writing assignment. Choose any news item, or an issue in society – in Japan or another country – that you have an opinion about. 

But if you have trouble thinking of a topic, here are some choices for you. Look at these and choose one (1):

• The aging population (老齢人口) of Japan and what older people need for their support
• Social media and its problems (for example, fake news, or selling of people’s personal data by Facebook or other social media sites)
• Issues and/or things that need improvement for your university student life
• Possible problems and/or issues connected with the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics
• Voting rights (投票権) for 18-year-olds in Japanese elections (選挙)

For an extra challenge, here are two topics that are even deeper, and also even more timely and important. One of these we have already looked into today - about hikikomori. But I will give extra points to students who try for writing about these topics – and I will have supporting blogposts for these topics:

• Hikikomori and their needs for social adjustment (社会適応) in Japanese society
• Refugee issues (難民の問題) and what refugees need for immigration (移住) to Japan

I am gathering writing on these topics into a book called Voices & Ideas - this is a book about student opinion writing on news topics and social issues. The best of your writing on this topic could go into this book, so write to the best you can! 

How much to write

I would like you to write as much as you can, around 3-5 paragraphs' worth of writing - but of course if you can write more, go for it!

Deadline (締め切り)

It will be December 17th (12/17), so I want you to work on your first draft (下書き) in class from now in your notebooks in pencil. Bring your drafts to the next class. 

I will try to talk to as many of you as I can to review your drafts, and you can change things about the draft as you need to, then write to the finish, print the final version out, and turn in your work. 

Good luck with this! I look forward to reading your great writing on these issues!

Image: By Skagens Kunstmuseer - Lisette Vind Ebbesen med en kopi af dagens avis, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56159623