Author: kazuhirot

summary

North Korea has conducted an unsuccessful test launch of an intermediate ballistic missile called the Musudan missile which can cover South Korea, Japan and the US territory of Guam. The concern have been arising because North Korean carried out missile test which failed but had wide range at least six times this year. Tension has become high between North Korea and US, South Korea whose troops were exercising together targeting North Korea’s nuclear facilities and leadership.

opinion

We are not sure whether North Korea will louch thr practical missile or not, but Japan has not only the possibility of being attacked by that anytime but also the responsibility of protecting Japan by ourselves even if US troops stay in Japan. In this respect, I think few Japanese are concerned about this fact and government is passive and relys on US too much. Because it’s unclear wherther or not US will still be what it is after the president election, we have to carry out crisis management and make efforts to survive in this tense circumstance. It is true that it is still questionable to alter Japanese constitution or to have troops, but I think we have to give once-over to our style and way as soon as possible.

I believe sharing economy is important in the modern society. Sharing economy, which is called collaborative consumption or consumer peer-to-peer rental, is a socio-economic ecosystem built around the sharing of human,physical, and intellectual resources such as spaces, goods, transportation, and services via the Internet. Sharing economy has been spreading in the U.S. and Europe but does not still spread in Japan. I think sharing economy has immense potential and we should pay more attention to sharing economy. I would like to explain the possibilities of sharing economy and its examples.

Sharing economy allow anyone to become a retailer thanks to the development of SNS. Business using this sharing economy is developing especially in the U.S. and the market is expected to grow up from about 15 billion dollars in 2013 to about 335 billion dollars in 2025.

Sharing economy has many advantages. Owners make money from underused assets while renters pay less than they would if they bought the goods themselves, or turned to a conventional provider such as a hotel or car-hire firm. In terms of the environment, sharing economy is green. For example, renting a car rather than owing one means helping to reduce CO2 because a car is used only when it is necessary. Secondary markets reduce demand for new goods, so environmental footprints go down. Staying in existing homes reduces the demand for new hotels.

Sharing economy can contribute to solving the social problem in Japan: Children on waiting list. There were 45,315 applicants who had been denied places in public nursery schools around the country because of a lack of spaces, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. In sharing economy, the person who cannot leave a child with a nursery school use SNS which people who can take care of a child register.

Some people may say the safety and reliability are not guaranteed. However, mutual evaluation system can solve this problem. On mutual evaluation system, renters can see owners’ simple profile and evaluation and choose one of them. After sharing is over, they can evaluate owners. In such a way owners can do the same things. Actually Uber, ordinary people carry another person with a privately owned car in their spare time, in the U.S. adopted such a mutual evaluation system and succeeded.

In this way, sharing economy has many benefits regarding business, environment, and social problems. I think that this sharing economy plays a big role in the small country like Japan. As long as we apply and make the most of sharing economy more and more, sharing economy become better for people and society.

Summary

The organizers of Oscars have invited a record number of new members to vote in next year’s Academy Awards, because of criticism of a lack of diversity at this year’s ceremony. In addition, all of the acting nominees at February’s 88th academy Awards were white, so the protests led to an unprecedented debate about racial equality in the film industry with social media such as Twitter. In response to this boycott, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences agreed to a shake up of its members to bring in more women and members of ethnic minorities.

Opinion

Recently, more and more people take objection to racial and sexual discrimination,so discrimination is decreasing. At the same time, positive discrimination is increasing. Positive discrimination is the act of giving advantage to those groups in society that are often treated unfairly. I think positive discrimination is not good thing. It is mainly because positive discrimination lead to discrimination as a result. Surely, positive discrimination can help solve the problems. However, it may discriminate those who we try to save from discrimination to give them special treatment because it admits that they are socially disadvantaged people and those who should be protected to give advantages more than necessarily. I think we should treat everyone equally and there should not be those who save and those who is saved. I know almost all companies or groups or things like that who discriminate positively want to show that they don’t discriminate and respect minorities to the world because otherwise, they would be criticized by the society. Therefore it is difficult to solve not the discrimination but the positive discrimination. I think positive discrimination is a proof of taking a step to eliminate discrimination. That’s why I think it is important to keep trying to treat people fairly and in the near future discrimination will be exterminated.

summary

A US navy sailor, Petty Officer Aimee Mejia, has been arrested in Okinawa on suspicion of drunk driving. She was involved in a three-car accident injuring two people on Saturday. Before this accident, an American civilian base worker was arrested on suspicion of abandoning the body of a Japanese woman. There are plans to relocate the Futenma airbase. However, because of a series of alleged crimes by US military personnel, many residents want to see it removed.

opinion

I think that US military should take responsibility for their actions and Japanese should regard Americans in Japan not as foreign part of Japan but as a part of Japan. Indeed, not only US military but also many Japanese cause accidents like that ,so some people may say it is unfair to blame an American to such an extent. I partly agree with this idea. However, I think it is inevitable for incident by Americans to stand out because Japan is racially homogeneous and there is a complicated past between Japan and US. I think U.S military in Japan should have self-awareness that they represent US. I think the best way to solve is not so much completely to separate US base and residential area in Okinawa as to get along with each other and establish deep trust of both sides.