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.