Category: tomoyukih

1. Summary
The other day, the IOC approved the cycling venues for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This places is in Izu, located two hours from Tokyo. Moving cycling venues from Tokyo to Izu would save $100 million in construction costs.
There are, however, some problems. The international cycling union said it is inconvenient for audiences to participate in the event, because it takes about 120 km from Tokyo to go to Izu. In addition, the Izu stadium will need reconstructing and seating capacity will be increased.
At present, All of Tokyo’s venues have been decided, excep for soccer. Those venues will be decided after next year’s games in Rio de Janeirn.

2. Opinion
In my opinion, it is a difficult problem whether we should give a priority to cost or convenience. Recently, Japanese government disputed about the construction costs of new national stadium. Eventually, she decided she would decrease the construction costs, because she met with strong opposition from the public. In order to hold Tokyo Olympics 2020, cost is an important issue.
However, we should consider convenience. To gather more audiences, the venues are important. For example, if the venues were located a few hours from host city, the audiences would have a difficulty going to watch events. To solve this problem, I think, Japanese government should improve transportation.

1. Summary
When people have a medical problem, they often visit their neighbor, friend or relative, not an expert. This is because they have a financial problem or are simply lazy. The advice about a medical problem suggested by non-experts may do more harm than good. People often misunderstand they can solve their medical problem by themselves.
However, a certain medicine works well for someone, it does not mean it will be effective for everyone. People should be careful medical problems requires expertise.

2. Opinion
In some countries, when people have a medical problem, they often ask their neighbor, friend or relative for a advice. The reason for this is they cannot afford to visit a doctor. In other words, people cannot gain medical expertise because of a financial problem. As a result, they often suffer from side effects of the medicine. In my opinion, this problem may be caused by not thorough social welfare systems. The Government should establish the system everyone can receive medical service regardless of being well off or not well off. For example, in UK people can receive medical services free of charge, for the reliable medical insurance system is established.
However, there is another problem. It takes a lot of taxes to establish reliable social welfare systems. The revenue is limited. Therefore, the Govenment should consider the balance between revenue and expenditure, and prioritize what is most beneficial to everyone.

1.Summary
Labour Party and Liberal Democrats have defended the bill to tax credit cuts last week. The last Labour government introduced tax credits to help the not well off as a part of their policy. There are two types of tax credits: Working Tax Credit for those in work, and Child Tax Credit for those with children. The bill is the proposal about Working Tax Credit to be cut to £3.850.
However, the House of Lords opposes the bill. According to Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock, the bill is a financial matter, so that the House of Lords is not entitled to oppose the bill.

2.Opinion
These days, the gap between the well off and the not well off is increasing in Japan. In my opinion, The social welfare system become more important to help the not well off. Tax credit is a part of political measures to support them. For example, Japanese government has introduced the subsidy for those who have children and free tuition system for public high school students. This is a part of the social welfare system in Japan.
However, the consumption tax has been a burden for the not well off. The tax rate will rise from 8% to 10% in April, 2016. I disagree to the rise. This is because the tax is a regressive taxation unfavorable to them. The tax should be imposed on luxury goods, not necessities of daily lives.

Here is my reaction. According to Andras Forgacs, bio-fabrication is a key to solve the food problem. It is said that the world’s population will reach 10 billion in the near future, and we will need 120 billion animals to maintain our population. Maintaining so many livestock has given a burden on our planet. Bio-fabrication techniques have already been used in medical field. He said that we will get meat, leather, or other animal products by bio-fabrication instead of killing animals.

Before listening to the presentation, I thought it is natural for us to kill animals to the degree of necessity of our lives. We always consume many animal products in our daily lives. So, I think bio-fabrication is a creative idea, and partly agree with him. First, bio-fabrication is a humane way. In modern society, we kill more animals than we need, and waste a lot of animal products. In addition, we sometimes breed animals in poor surroundings, and slaughter livestock in a cruel way. If bio-fabrication is introduced in our society, we don’t need to kill animals, and inflict excessive pains on animals. Second, bio-fabrication leads to environmental protection. Breeding animals needs a mass of water, grain, and land. We must cut down many forests to run a farm. Moreover, it is said that to produce one kilogram of beef needs about ten times of grains and two thousand liter of water. These things have caused damage to our environment. Therefore, bio-fabrication helps us to protect our environment.

There is, however, a cost problem. I think to introduce bio-fabrication we need high techniques and a lot of money. In developed countries, if they succeed in introducing bio-fabrication in the near future, they will solve the food problem. However, in developing countries, they don’t have a lot of money. They cannot help depending on breeding real animals. Hence, first of all, we should narrow the gap between rich and poor countries. For these reasons, I partly agree to his idea.

1.Summary
Many graves and human trafficking camps have been found in northern malaysian border area. The finding indicates that human trafficking trade has existed in the region. However, malaysian authorities has denied that human trafficking camps exsist in the country. Rights groups have blamed malaysian authorities for not trying to solve human trafficking. So, the authorities have investigated this.

2. Opinion
In my opinion, human trafficking is an act to infringe human dignities. In many countries, especially southeast Asia, human trafficking has been a serious problem. It’s aim is various. For example, human trafficking groups kidnap children or women for the purpose of forced labour, sexual exploitaion or organ transplant. Also ,in Japan we cannot ignore this problem. This is because Japan is one of the biggest host countries of human trafficking in developed countries. What is the cause of human trafficking? I think that poverty, sexual discrimination, or discrimination against a minority have led to human trafficking. we need to cooperate internationally and tighten the law to solve this problem.

1.Summary
The other day, Hillary Clinton made a speech for her supporters in New York. She has vowed to make economy work, and support every American in her presidential campaign. If she is elected to US president, she will be the first female US president. In the next few weeks, she will make a speech about the issues including the economy, jobs and college affordability.

2.Opinion.
These day, more and more women are playing active part in the society. In some countries, women has been elected to a president and many women have been involved in politics.
In Japan, however, as compared with other developed countries it is said that female social advancement has been backward. The number of women politicians is small in particular.
So, Japanese government is trying to introduce quota system. If quota system is introduced, more number of women politicians will increase. I think More women will take part in the decision-making place, various opinions come to be reflected in politics.

1.Summary
QR code is becoming more popular in South Africa. The code helps South Africans communicate with their friends. it has been used in a lot of business. Especially, mobile payment systems using QR codes are quickly becoming mainstream. World Wide Worx expected that by the end of 2014, QR code users in South Africa would exceed over two million. These are ideal niche for QR code.

2.My opinion
In my opinion, QR code is useful tool, and it is used at a lot of situations. Using QR code, we can access web sites without typing URL. These days, with the spread of smart phones, it is becoming more popular in the Japanese society.
In the business, for example, the code contributes to companies. Many companies have been using it for advertising their products on posters, handbills, magazines, and so forth. It contributes to increasing the sales.
Also, in daily lives, we use QR code. Mobile application LINE is one of the most used SNS in Japan. In making friends,it makes easy exchange each other’s address on LINE. This helps us communicate with our friends.