BLOG#9 DRIVERLESSCAR

What do you think about “driverless car?” Driverless car means the driver does not need to drive his car. I think we can image such a car, but most of us cannot believe that such cars will be made in very near future, because we think such cars exist in only dream world. However, Google is making such a dream car, and it looks almost done. The detail is HERE.

I would like to expect the effect of actually using the driverless cars. If such cars are released for ordinary people, I think many people want to drive or ride on it. We don’t need to lose our way. Therefore, they will try to buy it. In the world, there are 965,257,286 cars. I don’t know how many people of 965,257,286 try to change their car, but the economical effect should be huge. Also, drivers may be able to sleep during drive. I think there are more opportunities that father drives than the opportunities that mother drives in your family, but fathers are often too tired by daily job to go out. However, fathers don’t need to drive this car, so they try to go out in weekend more easily, so leisure industry can earn more. However, the profit of public facilities for travel may decrease because more people can use cars more easily.

Secondly, increasing the number of cars, CO2 also must increase. Car industry have to cut the emission of CO2.

Thirdly, the number of car accidents may decrease as the condition that driverless cars can drive accurately because sometimes drivers are tired and sleepy, and these conditions make accidents.  However, if the cars cannot work correctly, it could make huge accidents and the number must increase.

Fourthly, the age restriction may relax. As far in Japan, people who are older than 18 can get the chance of driver’s license, but the confused techniques are not required unless cars drive automatically.

As my opinion, driving car by ourselves is one of pleasures. Someone could say, “even if driverless cars are invented, you can drive yourself”. However, we must rely on new technology like mails instead of hand writing letters. Of course, these new technologies are attractive, but I feel something unhappy.

Motoki

Blog#9 smoking

Sotaro

Smoking is said to be bad for the health. Also, society started to think about non smokers. For example, dividing seats into non smokers and smokers in the restaurant or smoking is banned in all the taxis in Kanagawa prefecture. Therefore, smokers are having a hard time. Today, I would like smokers to stop smoking by explaining how smoking affects you and others, and how you can stop smoking.

  Smokers, I have a bad news to tell you. Non smokers can live 5-8 years longer than you. Simply, you will lose 5 minutes and 30 seconds of your lifetime by smoking 1 cigarette. If you start smoking from an illegal age, you would live shorter. If you start smoking from high school, your life would shortened by 10 years. You would live 15 years shorter if you start smoking from junior high school. Nicotine and carbon monoxide are mainly causing sickness like lung cancer, laryngeal cancer, or asthma. Especially, you are likely to get laryngeal cancer by 32-100 times compared to non smokers.

  Smoking affects others, too. Smokers mainly intake mainstream smoke, while non smokers those who are near to smokers mainly intake secondhand smoke. This is because mainstream smoke comes through inside the tobacco while secondhand smoke isn’t and contains a lot of harmful substances. Passive smoking can cause 5 times likely to get lung cancer or it may cause premature birth or a miscarriage for women and tympanitis for children.

  Fortunately, health insurance will be applied by retreatments. You can choose from nicotine patches, nicotine gums, or tablets without containing nicotine prescribed by doctors. If you stop smoking, there are a lot of benefits like you can breath, smell, or taste better than before. I would like to say one thing that if you start to quit smoking, never ever smoke again. Just one cigarette will rewind you to the beginning.

  By looking at these facts, there is no benefit of smoking. Smokers are stinky and have dirty teeth. Smokers and their surroundings will more likely to go to doctors that they will have to pay money. In my opinion, I don’t want them to use my taxes that I have paid for health insurance. I wish a day comes without caring about smokers.  

BLOG#9 a message from Steve Jobs

Shun

Hi, everyone. One day, I watched the video that Steve Jobs delivered an address at Stanford University on a Commencement. And there was a part that I was really impressed. I refered to a script on Stanford University News site. Here. “Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death,leaving only what is truly important.”

 Now, I would like to ask you what you think about this. Do you agree what he said, or not?

Let me present my opinion a bit. For me, I totally agree what he said.

I bet it is because a death inspires people’s dull and languid consciousnesses to life strongly. Generally, during a life, people find their own goals or dreams and make numerous choices to realize them. But, no matter how resolute wills people have, too much long term readily weaken them. That is to say, once I think there is enough time to do anything and forget the time left, I become apt to imagine unnecessary, surplus things that obscure truly important ways. Consequently, I am likely to make the choice that makes me make a detour to fulfill my dream. that is actually ineffective. As Jobs mentioned, all expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment of failure are stemmed from the excessive thought due to the long lifespan. If people were to be in the right presence of death, they would realize the limited spans that make them struggle for the goals without looking aside. That way, big and proper choice must be made because they become aware it is the only way to accomplish their own ends.

Hence, I approve his opinions.  What do you think about it?

Thank you for your reading. I strongly recommend you reading his script!

BLOG#8 new toilets

I read an intresting article in BBC news site.What do you think this toilet?  This is a new kind of game when we are in a restroom for men, I think. This is made by British company Captive Media. A similar product has already been launched by Sega in Japan. The co-developer of the UK device says his product has some compelling design features.

The way of playing of this game is here. We can enjoy several games like quiz, ski and maybe shooting.

I think ladies may look down on this kind of game for men, and men who enjoy such a ridiculous game. Certainly, if I go to restroom and watch many men playing this game, it must look so strange. But after waiting my turn, I couldn’t help playing this game. I think all of men do same behavior. So I think this game must compel men.

Further, not only for pleasure for users, but also for valuable for developers and owners. Toilets are necessary for human unless we live, therefore we couldn’t help using them. It means about 3 billons people have to use it. If developer put advertisement on, a lot of men must watch it. And it could be easy to do marketing, because that scope is specified to men.

For the shop owners who equipped with this game, they may eliminate the time for cleaning toilet. I think the restroom for men is dirtier, especially after using children, than one for women. But if men concentrate on their task (or game), toilet must be more clean.  

Considering these facts, this toilet equipped with game is marvelous invention. I would like Japanese companies to equip them in many place like station, shops and parks.       

Motoki

Blog#7 My passion toward GHIBLI

Shun

To start with, I love GHIBLI’s movies! Now, I'll tell a bit about them.

Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata have made today’s GHIBLI. Miyazaki mainly made fantasy storys that girls and boys are focused on, like “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind”and “Castle in the Sky”. Then, Takahata focused on the human emotions in an ordinary dairy life, like “Grave of the Fireflies” and “Only Yesterday”. Tosio Suzuki, GHIBLI’s producer, said many of their movies stress the growth of the girls or boys at their puberty. For example, in “KiKi’s Delivery service” a little cute witch who doesn’t know much of the world is a main character. She has to go live an unfamiliar town alone and undergo a hard time to become an independent woman. As for “Whisper of the Heart”, a junior high school girl decides to reconsider her life when she gets to know her future boyfriend then she desperately struggles to find her own way. These are the story about growth of the young. On the other hand, their movies also have an aspect of philosophy.” Princess Mononoke” and “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind” emphasize the harmony between nature and human being. Their movies are not just recreational ones. Every time I watch GHIBLI’s movies I realize their messages over and over.

I love “KiKi’s Delivery service” the best. Second, “Whisper of the Heart”. Third, ”Spirited Away”. It seems like I like watching a girl striving to accomplish something hard.

What do you think about GHIBLI? Or what is your favorite piece out of GHIBLI’S ones?

I want your opinions.

Blog#7: scary story about becoming a lawyer

Sotaro

Hi. I am in the law faculty and in the law department. I am often asked this question, “Are you thinking of becoming a paralegal?” My answer is if I have a good sense of legal mind. I cannot say I would definitely want to become a lawyer. The reason why is what I would like to introduce about.

The majority of people who want to become lawyers, prosecutors, or judges, would graduate from university and go to law school. After you have a qualification for graduating from there, they can take the law examination. You cannot take the test as many as you can. You can take three times within 5 years after graduating from law school. Most of people don’t pass the test in one time or in the first year. If you fail three times, you can take the test for getting a qualification for a legal examination. This is extremely difficult. The percentage of successful applicants are only 1.8 percent this year. A lot of people who have failed three times in the legal exams would have to find a job, but this is difficult as well. A lot of people would be around 29, so many companies refrain from hiring them. Other choices would be give up becoming bars (housou) and become gyouseishoshi or shihoushoshi ( the translation of these words in English do not exist).

  In my opinion, it is a very hard task to select my future. When the system of law school started in 2006, the percentage of passing a shin-shihoushiken ( legal exam) would be around 80 percent. Guess what? It is now less than 30%. Also, a lot of people who go to law school would get a scholarship, which they will have to pay back in the future.  The average amount of money is more than 7 million yen. I think this is too much of a burden. It is said that only rich people can become bars in the near future. This can be seen in Gakushuin too. Have you ever seen students wearing Armani clothes or Bvlgari watch in Chuo building? I think our country should rethink the system of law schools.

Thank you for reading!!

Blog#5: iPad and jeans

     In Sankei newspaper on the 9^th of November, I found the article about Steve Jobs. The reason I chosen this article is that the explanation of this article is very interesting for me. This article is written by Noguchi Yukio, who is one of famous economist.

                    

     According to his idea, Jobs looks like Levi Strauss, who sold a lot of blue jeans during the "Gold Rush" in California in the 1880s. In this term, many mining workers tried to find gold, but soon after that, they collapsed rapidly. But Strauss made tough and strong jeans for such workers instead of mining, and he succeeded. It is same with Jobs that he made the products that are demanded by a lot of people instead of doing same activity.

     There is the possibility that same situation in IT industrial world. Do Japanese companies follow the way of whether mining worker or Jobs? This is Noguchi’s warning against Japanese company.

     In my view, Japan will follow the same way of mining workers under today’s situation of Japanese companies. Japanese product makers just make similar products to Apple. Of course the quality might be higher than Apple’s,  as the experts of electronics. But  generally speaking as laymen like me, Apple’s products look better than Japanese ones.

     Japan has to try to find new potential demand instead of making similar products which were already made by others. It must be difficult, but Japan cannot win in the world market unless it changes the present way.

Motoki

Blog#5: Survey

Sotaro

  My senior(senpai) in my part time job was doing the research about university stutdents' sense of values on money used per month. Let me introduce some of them and make some comments. The survey was answered by 200 students. The proportion of boys and girls are almost the same. By the way, my senior is not a student of Gakushuin.

Q.1 How much do you get by working in part time?
Less than 30,000 yen... 23%
Less than 50,000 yen... 41%
Less than 80,000 yen... 30%
Less than 100,000 yen... 2%
More than 100,000 yen... 4%

My comment: I was surprised that 77% of students earn more than 30,000 yen by working. Some students have to earn money for living, but others may as well study more.

Q.2 How much do you spend on clothes every month?
Less than 10,000 yen... 42%
Less than 20,000 yen... 36%
Less than 30,000 yen... 16%
Less than 40,000 yen... 0
More than 40,000 yen... 6%

My comment: I learned from the servey that university students have a high conscious on fashion. In my opinion, people should wear clothes by their status, so I don't get students carrying Louis Vuitton or Gucci bags unless they are very rich. By the way, I rarely spend money on clothing.

Q.3 How much do you spend on meals?
Less than 10,000 yen... 26%
Less than 20,000 yen... 36%
Less than 30,000 yen... 25%
Less than 40,000 yen... 11%
More than 40,000 yen... 2%

My comment: Some people live with family and others don't, so I can't comment very well, but the results was just as same as I thought it would be. By the way, I spend less than 10,000 yen on meals.

Q.4 How much do you spend on an expense account(kousaihi)?
Less than 5,000 yen... 39%
Less than 10,000 yen... 36%
Less than 15,000 yen... 20%
More than 15,000 yen... 5%

My comment: I was surprised that students don't spend a lot on expense account. I wonder if they have friends. By the way, I use nearly 30,000 yen. I think this is too much.

Q.5 How much do you spend on cell phone(s) bill?
Less than 5,000 yen... 16%
Less than 10,000 yen... 70%
Less than 20,000 yen... 14%
More than 30,000 yen... 0%

My comment: The result was as same as I thought it would be. I think cell phone companies should discount charges. It is too expensive.

Q.6 Which categories do you want to reduce your expenses?
Meals... 57%
Clothing... 5%
Enpense account... 10%
Transportation expenses... 18%
Books... 8%
Others... 2%

My comment: I think students don't save money on books. They should save other things instead.

Overall reactions: It was very interesting to know what university students think of values on money. In my opinion, I don't think students should save money for the future. Amount of money you can earn when you get full time job is much higher than that of part time job. Therefore, students should spend most of money they get during their school days.

Blog#4: Books

According to R25, in this December, Amazon is going to release the electronic books which are called Kindle in Japanese market. Kindle is cheaper than Japanese electron tablets. Therefore Japanese electronics companies could stand on really severe position.

But as we talked about the problem between the hard papers and electronic papers, this movement makes big effect to the publishing business. Publishing companies have to prepare this change. I think this change is not only for the electron books but also the business style. Today the books are not being sold in the world. Popularization of the electronic books will set forward such a situation. Takimoto Tetsushi, who wrote “determination as a weapon”, said publishing companies have to provide the worth except making books, as example managing school by them. It is because consumers need the knowledge throughout books. I agree this opinion. Publishing companies have to change in order to follow today’s world.

However I don’t think also the books entirely. The books have not only knowledge but also the artistic auxiliary worth. Chiyoda-ku library holds “Japanesebeautiful books exhibition.” In this library, we can see beautifully covered books. I like books and the cover. I can enjoy arranging them in the book shelf. Therefore books must not disappear because books have worth for not only the contents but also designing our space.   

Motoki

Blog #3: Festivals in Kitasenju

Sotaro

On October 8th, I went to fireworks festival (hanabi-taikai) in Kitasenju.

Actually, this was my first time to go to fireworks festival.

Usually, the festival are held in July, but due to the earthquake that happened in March, it was postponed to October. The concept of the festival was the revival of Tohoku area.　10,000 of fireworks was used in the festival.

It was not as crowded as I thought it would be and fireworks were beautiful. A lot of  companys are timid of holding events due to the earthquake that happened in March, but I think this is wrong because economy of Japan is not as good as before.

Blog#3 Zombie movie shoot accident hurts 16 in Toronto

Shun Yamaguchi


I found an awful but interesting news about the movie "Bio Hazard".

I heard from Sankei Express and Yahoo News that sixteen actors dressed as zombies were injured Tuesday when they fell from a platform during filming of a new movie in the Resident Evil series.
The incident occurred when the performers were moving between two platforms. The wheeled platform shifted suddenly, causing the people aboard it to fall about 1.5 metres.
Emergency workers at the scene said their jobs were made more difficult by the fact that the injured were dressed like zombies, which made it hard to determine which injuries were real. I'm sorry for the victims but that's a bit  funny.

As it turned out, the victims had suffered leg, back and arm injuries.I hope injuries are not considered life-threatening since they have been playing an important role in the movies.

Here is the the video game version of that movie.

And so on.

#1 Tha financial dangerous of Europe

                                                                                                                                            Takuya Ikeda

According to a October 5th article called "Invest money doesn't come to flow stocks." In the
Yomiuri newspaper, a lot of investors felt the dangerous of stocks,because stock prices has decreased
recently.Also,credits and goverment bonds are safety assets in the situation that Asian economy has
a concern to sluggish. Therefore,investors think it is better to invest in cash and government bonds.
I refer to this site, YOMIURI ONLINE.

Blog#1 "Occupy Wall Street"

Shun Yamaguchi

The recent protests caused by lots of the young have been a hot topic in the US. They have resented the gap between rich and poor. in brief  they were furious at Big Business the rich.Yomiuri newspaper on October 4th said more than 1000 citizens have been participating the demostration every day since middle of September: the demostration had occurred. On October 2th, about 700 protesters were arrested after a horde of anti-Wall Street demonstrators clustered the Brooklyn Bridge. However they gathered again and carry on the demo.It is expanding over Chicago, Los Angels Boston now by using SNS.

On the countrary,now that the park around the Wall Street is full of people prepared for the demo but some of them are just resting and playing, said CNN news on October 3th.They don't seem very serious.

Blog#1: A new pattern of awarding Nobel Prize

Sotaro

  According to a October 4th CNN news, Ralph Steinman was named a winner of the  Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday , but he has been dead from Friday. Usually, people who are dead will not get Nobel Prize, but this time the committee was unaware of his death, so Mr. Steinnman could get the prize.The news told me his accomplishments in detail with movies.
  Actually, this case happened before. Dag Hammarskjöld, second secretary-general of the United Nations was awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1961, though he died in September 1961.  Dead person could get the prize if he was living by the time  the Nobel Foundation announced the nominees for the prize until 1973. From 1974, winner has to live when the Nobel Foundation announced the winner, but this case the Nobel Foundation announced that Mr. Steinman deserve getting the prize.

Meanwhile, a news website called jiji.com showed only photo of his and NHK radio news said his achievements in a sound, both of which I could not understand very well.

Blog#1 Japanese culture

Motoki Ono

As we know, Japanese anime culture is becoming more famous in the world. This movie shows the anime event in France. More than seventeen hundred people joined this Japanese culture event in 4days. This TV program shows the event as comical and welcome for Japan.


To follow such a trend, Japanese government decided a logo “cool Japan” which is for advertising Japanese culture industries on September 13th. The head of the officer said “we need to promote Cool Japan strategy in order to recovery from the huge earth quake.” In my view, becoming famous Japanese culture is very glad for me, but I feel something strange. It is because it looks that foreigners understand Japanese culture from just only one side. I’m worrying that foreigners make the typical Japanese based on “Otaku”.


According to Nikkei newspaper in October 2th issue, Japanology is active in Netherland. The professor says “the most of the students start to be interested in anime, J-pop, manga. But recently some students want to learn the other matters like earthquake.”


I’m very glad that foreigners love Japanese anime and game, but I also want foreigners to understand Japanese more deeply.

hello!

This is my first time to make blog!  I  get really excited  but. I will to refer yahoo. 

My favorite country,Italy

You can see Amaruhiin this video.

I like Italy very much. I have never been to Italy. This is because I like landscape especially Amaruhi

Hello.

This is a test posting by Sotaro. I am majoring law. I am a first grader. You can buy my pen here. I like this scenery.

This is the video I have picked.

Welcome to your blog!

I hope you like the design. This is the way to make a blog.
You can add photos, videos and links to websites. For example, the university website is here.
Try out blogging today and get ready for your first blog next month!