The World Peace

September 21st was the International Day of Peace. Therefore, today, I’m going to write about war and peace. I think it will be a hard topic for me and also for everyone. 

These days, there are wars going on everywhere in the world and not only adults but also children go to battlefronts. A lot of people enlist the army and are being killed and injured in a battle. 

I’m sad and my heart aches when I think about this circumstance. On the one side we live well, even people who are younger than me are fighting on such dangerous places.   

I considered why wars break out all over the world. 

First, the world are consisted of a lot of countries and it has no government. Actually, it has the United Nations and the United Nations Security Council. However, it will be not easy to stop fighting and solve the problem between one country and the other because there is no system that concentrates power in such organization. Therefore, people don’t resolve the issues and the war break out.  

Second, some countries have long-term issues about territory, national border, and the independence of the regions and it causes a war. If one country try to seize the territory or violate a frontier countries will start a conflict. Also, a region try to gain the independence, people sometimes begin a battle against their country.  Most of these problems will keep for long time, in other words, it will be a historical problem and it is difficult to settle it. 

Third, some nations want more profit. For instance, they hope to have more military, territory and territorial seas and airspace. Perhaps, in the past, people fought to get more food to get out of the hunger. The desire which people would like to get something more would cause a lot of wars. 

Besides, wars are happened because of religions, punishment for other country, or protection against other country. 

Then, I wonder what we can do now. We should know about the disastrous of wars and learn history about wars. Also, we should learn about other countries and different cultures and understand the differences. Ｉ　think if people try to understand different cultures and thinking and think about wars, the disastrous wars will decrease.

In Japan, most students visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki where had the dropping of atomic bombs or Okinawa where happened land wars about 70 years ago to learn about wars when they are elementary school students. I have learned the war and peace since I was a nursery school student. 

I don’t know how to be taught about wars in other countries. However, I have many friends who came from different countries, I like them, I want to understand their thought and keep being on friendly terms with them in the future. I hope that there will be no war all over the world and everyone lives in peace.

the international schools in Japan

Today, I’m going to write about the advantage of studying in international schools in Japan. 



These days, we have more opportunities to talk with foreigners and use English as a result of the age of the computerization and globalization. However, a lot of Japanese have never spoken English in daily lives and we hardly meet foreign people in the streets in usual in Japan.

In my opinion, more Japanese have the opportunities to improve their English skill and learn different culture.


In this case, you may think it is good for them to study abroad.

First, if we study abroad, we will be able to improve our English skills, especially, speaking skill. People have more opportunities to speak English and we have to speak English there to communicate with our teacher, friend and people who live and work there. If you are able to speak English, you will have more choices when you get your job.

Second, we can learn different culture. People have different culture from region to region. Different cultures have different custom, religion, clothes, foods and other. If we go abroad, we can know these difference by ourselves. It is good for us because we have more opportunities to communicate with foreigners who has different culture in this international society and it help us understand them.

However, in the other hand, if people go to another country to study there when they are kids or young, they can’t understand their own cultures like the system of school in Japan, Japanese thought and Japanese traditions.


I found an interest article.

In the article, the author mentions that
children don’t necessarily have to live outside their parents’ home country to foster this third culture (a mixture of　first culture by their parents and the second by their foreign hosts). Increasing numbers of Japanese parents are going against the grain and placing their children in international schools here, principals at the schools say, even though the government classifies these institutions as gaikokujin gakkō (foreigner schools) designated as “educational institutions for non-Japanese students.”

 Tomaintain their native language and culture, Japanese mothers feel a greatresponsibility to supplement their children’s international education withadditional home or outside schooling. This can take the form of after-school Japanese-language juku or attendance at the local elementary public school in the summer, taking advantage of the fact that while international schools breakup in early June, regular local schools typically continue on through the third week of July.


In this case, people can learn Japanese culture and other culture in Japan. People can learn the differences. If they live in other country or have international job, they understand different culture easier. Also, if you stay in Japan, you don’t confuse the custom or thought.

In addition, if people let their children go abroad, it needs a lot of money and they worry that their children live in other country, far away from them. Nevertheless, if they choose that their children go to an international school, they don’t need the worry.



 I think Japanese have lack of experiences which they communicate with people who have different background and know the variety of cultures and speak English. I want more Japanese to have such opportunities and recommend that more parents know international schools and let their children enter the schools.    




*reference*

The Japan Times 
All-Japanese families take a chance on international schools 

 http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2014/09/14/issues/all-japanese-families-take-a-chance-on-international-schools/#.VBnf4NJOWUk  

(09/21/2014)

My home country

Today, I introduce about my home country, Japan.I was born in April 18^th, 1994 in Japan and I had lived there for about 20 years. I don’t know what you think about Japan and what image you have of Japan. However, this time, I introduce about Japan from my point of view.

 Japan is an island country which is located in the northwest of the Pacific Ocean. The capital city is Tokyo and it is one of the biggest cities in the world which means it has so big population.

Most people who live in Japan are Japanese. Almost of the people speak Japanese as a mother tongue and people don’t speak English generally in their lives. All Japanese start studying English when they enter junior high school as a second language. 

Japanese is so different from English. Japanese has three letters which are hiragana, katakana and kanji. Both of hiragana and katakana have 46 words. Kanji  has over 50000 words. For example, はるひ, ハルヒand 春妃, all of them are read Haruhi and these mean my name. Also, each of kanji has a meaning. For instance, my name 春妃, 春 harumeans spring   妃hi and means a queen.

Japan has some traditional sports like sumo, kendo, judo, kyudo and karate. Sumo is popular among elderly people. On the other hand, sports which are popular in Japanese youngsters are baseball, soccer, volleyball and basketball. These clubs are also popular in junior high schools and high schools. 

Japanese principal food is rice and we usually eat rice with miso soup, fish, beef, pork, chicken, vegetables, every day. Also, we eat noodles and bread daily. 

an example of home-cooked meals

Sushi, tempura, udon, okonomiyaki, and takoyaki are Japanese popular foods. We sometimes eat these cuisines in the house or restaurant. You can eat some Japanese food at the restaurant which is located near WIU. I recommend that you try to eat them.

sushi

tempura

udon

okonomiyaki

 takoyaki

My Opinion about the Ebola Outbreak

Today, I write about the problem about the Ebola outbreak. It is a disease which is expanding in some African countries such as Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. These days, it is one of the biggest problems in the world because a lot of people were already dead and WHO declared the state of emergency for the world. Also, in my country, Japan, the media was reporting about the problem every day when I was in Japan.

Some countries decided to stop the support for a while because of the dangerous situation. Also, according to the article, Dr. Tom Frieden told that ''the more the world isolates and stop contacts with these countries, the harder it will be to stop the outbreak.''

I agree with his opinion. If we let them isolate and we stop contacts, the infection won’t stop and the situation will become worse. It is important to continue exchanging the information and support the countries. I have some reasons I think like that.

First, if we stop contact with these countries, we can’t have some important information from them. For example, we can’t know how many people have the disease and how many people died, how much the disease is expanding in the area. These are so significant information to know the state of the expansion and except whether it is a possibility to cause the expansion to other area. Stopping contacts with such a counties give us disadvantage.

Second, there are a lot of people who don’t know about the risk of virus and how to expand the virus. It means that the easygoing of behavior leads the expansion of the disease. It is necessary to export people who teach about the disease and how people should behave in the area. The education for people who live in such a countries is our important role.

Third, many countries which the virus spread are developing countries and people don’t get enough medical treatment against the disease. Also, the disease is expanding at a very high speed. Therefore, they developed countries should give medical support to them.  We should offer the medical technology both of human resources and material. For instance, governments send medical workers like doctors and nurses who want to go and lend them helping hands. Also, they can send medical instruments.

The third one is a short-term support. As a long-term support, countries which have high-quality medical technology should give the education of the medical technology to developing countries. It is helpful for developing countries to improve the medical skill.

For these reasons, I think that it is essential to last trading the information and support the countries and it connects to come to the end of the expansion.

*references*

''Window to Stop Ebola Outbreak Is ‘Closing Quickly,’ Official Warns  TIME''
http://time.com/3257769/ebola-outbreak-west-africa-cdc/ (09/07/2014)

''2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa-Outbreak Distribution Map
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/resources/distribution-map-guinea-outbreak.html (09/07/2014)