The Tokyo Olympic game add to Karate, Skateboarding, climbing and baseball-softball for the 2020. Karate will join to 80 competitors. Karate spots was born in Okinawa in the 15th century, and it is said that it is close to Chinese material arts. Why traditional karate has not been added to the Olympic sport? By the way, judo is to debut at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964. The reason was in the movement around the world, with stalwarts long preferring to their opinion rather than to work together to create a global form.
In the world, there are only a few sports which have been adopted into the Olympic games. What criteria must a sport have in order to “fit” into the Olympics? The criteria would include thinks like competition population, tradition, and popularity. I would like Cheer- Dance to be added to the Olympics. Dance has become a compulsory unit in Phys. Ed. at school, and attention has been drawn to the competition. Also, Cheer-Dance isn’t just about dancing. It requires teamwork, courtesy, and mental strength, which helps young people learn a lot to grow. I think that by adding Cheer- Dance to the Olympics, our society will be positively impacted.
World Economic Forum’s (WEF) release annual global competitiveness ranking. Japan has ranked 8th out of 138 countries and region, down from the previous year’s sixth. The reason is “Japan’s innovation prowess seems to be eroding”, the WEF said. Other countries of the ranking is not much change, Switzerland is 1st in the competitiveness ranking for the 8 years in a row, 2nd is Singapore, 3rd is United State. United Kingdom is 7th in the ranking, but this ranking was before to leave the EU, so United Kingdom will drop ranking next year.
WEF said that Japan’s innovation prowess was decline, so dropped competitiveness rankings. However, I think that Japan still has technological prowess. It is the “quality” of Japanese technology. In general, Japanese are diligent, skillful and made-in-Japan products are long-lasting and safe. There is a lot of technology that attracts attention in the world. But now, the working population is reducing in Japan because of the aging society, and at the same time, technology developers are also decreasing. In other words, I think that Japan has elements, but there is no one to develop them. Even the population decreases, Japan must think of the way that does not reduce developers.
400 people and over100 shops have been damage in Venezuela after rioting and looting over food shortage. Because of highest inflation rates at 180% and if they can queue for subsidized food, they don’t get the food. The National blame politicians for government mismanagement for the shortage. But the government says the shortages are part of an economic war being waged to drive. According to Disdago Cabello, it is a problem that government blame the opposition for inciting violent protest. The reason is “these are fascist groups which are generating unrest” he said.
Now, about 850,000,000 people is food shortage. World population is about 70 hundred million people, so one eight people are starving in the world. Reading this article, I studied about the food shortage in the world. What most impressed me was that all adults in the country of food shortage unanimously say , “We can put up with it, but our children are hungry. We hope at least children alone can eat…. ”. Parents are hoping that the kids to grow up healthy even in the midst of food shortage. However, most parents in poor countries and we are in the same generation. This makes me feel utterly miserable. And I somehow understand the reason why they feel like rioting or looting as this article says.
I believe the educational environment of Japanese college students is not enough.
In general, the Japanese college students have an image that does not study as compared to the foreign college students. First, compare the time for study amount of Japanese students and American students in one week. The former account for about 70% spend less than five hours while the latter account for about 80% spend more than six hours for study amount. Thus there is a large difference in the study amount. I have 3 issues. It is part-time jobs, campus facilities and the curriculum.
The first issue is a part-time job. A recent research by Japan Student Serves Organization showed that college students cannot find enough time to study in their daily life, because 73% of them do part-time jobs after school. In addition, the average working hours are about 10 hours in a week, so their part-time jobs prevent them from studying. On the other hand, foreign students work and save money in the summer vocation when they have no schools. So, what do part-time jobs mean for university students? They provide life experience to students, so Japanese students regard it as important to continue their job. On the other hand, a reason why foreign students do a part-time job is to earn school fees, so working a lot in long vacation is also important for them. In other words, Japanese and foreign students engage in a part-time job from different reasons.
The second issue is campus facilities. Foreign universities are located in the countryside away from the city. Within the campuses, there are 24-hour libraries, dormitories as well as sports, cultural and medical facilities. Their university life can be completed inside the campus. On the other hand, a typical Japanese student lives in an apartment in a big city and spends a lot of time to commute. Also the frequency of library use is low, and there are not enough sports facilities. Like foreign universities, I think it is important for Japanese universities to arrange the study environment of their students controlling their life range.
The last thing is the curriculum. It is not common for Japanese students to review and preparation the classes. I think there are 2 main reasons for that. First, since the performance evaluation in a large class comes only at the end of the semester, students do not feel it is essential to attend classes. Second, there are few interactive lectures, so students have no problem even if they come to classes without review and preparation. In contrast, in foreign universities even a large lecture provides the interactive activity with small groups. Like foreign universities, it is also important for Japan to spread the interactive teaching method, where students are not passive but active.
As mentioned, I found big differences in part-time jobs, campus facilities and the curriculum. Therefore, I believe the educational environment of Japanese college students is not enough and I should improvement in this issue.
The U.N. refugee agency announced number of refugees expected this year are 248,000 which is far lower than 1 million it has foreseen. Beyond this number there are the facts of border closures in the Balkans in February and decision made by European Union and Turkey to halt migration to Greece. But this strategy only caused largely static population in urban areas which needs a $670 million budget and could not stop the refugees and migrants motivation to move into Europe. It caused them to facilitate their onward travel further exposing to human rights violations and exploitation.
When I consider about acceptance of refugees and migrants in Japan, I feel Japan has negative policy about it. Japan only admits 11 refugees and 110 refugees to stay for a long time for humanitarian reason out of 5000 refugee applications. This number is obviously low compared with other nations. The refugee issue might cause various anxiety to nations. As I saw referendum of U.K., the refugee issue was one of the trigger for British people to decide to leave the EU. Since Japan has small territory compared with U.K., it is understandable for Japan to accept more the refugees is very difficult. I think Japan should deal this issue through the referendum as U.K.
My topic is about medical in China. I read an article about cornea transplant of pig’s eye on to a 14 years old Chinese boy. The boy nearly lost his right eye’s sight after he was injured by a firecracker. Since there is a shortage of human cornea available for transplant in China because demand far exceeds the number donated, the surgery was the first of its kind in southern China. The doctor said that the method of transplant means about one-third to half of the five million patients for blind people could be helped.
After read about the article of pig’s eye transplant to human, I considered about organ donation system. Japan and other countries follow “opt in system” which means that organ will be donated only from the people who agreed to donate organ after one’s death. On the other hand, Spain follows “opt out system” which means the organ will be donated without one’s agreement after death. Opt in system will protect aspect of the deceased’s intention, but will not generalize the organ donation. On the other hand, opt out system will increase organ donation numbers, but however, it means the country and government will control one’s life after death. Japan has low to protect the right of individual respect in the 13 article of the constitution of Japan. Therefore, I think one’s life after death should be protected with intention as human rights. I would conclude with my opinion that Japan should follow “opt in system”.