2014年4月29日火曜日

The Limits of Locavorism

I referred this article for the topic;
http://kellygallagher.org/resources/AoW%201314_17%20Locavorism.pdf
The Limits of Locavorism.

First, locavorism is the opinion that claims eating food that is grown close to where you live is good to both our health and environment.I think this word matches the Japanese word chisan-chisyo.
This idea seems to great, but as you can see from its title, this article shows its negative side too.

This article reveals that some popular beliefs are not supported scientifically. For example, beliefs like eating locally produced food reduces what is called food miles, so it decrease the greenhouse-gas emission, or it makes us healthier because such food doesn't contain harmful chemicals are denied by analysis.

I was surprised by reading this article, because though I've heard about this idea of eating local food, I've never suspected this idea is actually good or not.
Of course I can't simply say this idea is false and just a belief, but this article makes me want to know more about this topic, and issues concerning food.

2014年4月27日日曜日

Is imprisonment a necessary system for dealing with all criminal acts?

Is imprisonment a necessary system for dealing with all criminal acts?
I have to answer "yes" to this question,  because we don't have an alternative way to deal with them now.

But how about this question:
Is imprisonment a appropriate system for dealing with all criminal acts?

I cannot answer "yes" to this question, because I think this system doesn't accomplish its role.

The role of imprisonment system is to let prisoner to be born again, and eventually decrease the number of crime.
As everyone knows, many criminals repeat committing crimes after released from prisons, and the number of crime isn't decrease after all.
So we have to change its system.

In U.S., some experiments are already performed.
In one experiment, prisoners are made to breed stray dogs. Through this experience, they can learn patience and satisfaction of accomplishing tasks, and the percentage of repeating commit crimes is greatly decreasing.

I think we have to come up with such new ways and adopt actively in Japan, too.
Imprisonment is necessary, so we must change its system in order to make society better.

2014年4月24日木曜日

ICU as a Hybrid Institution

In the lecture of Dr. Paul Wadden, he mentioned universities in U.S. and Japan, and finally remarked that ICU is a hybrid of them.

I've known that there are many differences between American universities and Japanese universities, but I was surprised how ways of thinking in education differ.

Though many differences and similarities are remarked in the lecture, I thought the instance of Koshi(Confucius) and Socrates was especially interesting.
Possibly the difference in education between the East and the West had began thousands of years ago, and still deeply rooted in the culture.

Dr. Paul Wadden said characteristics of universities in U.S. are the freedom of movement, elective courses, and diversities of students, on the other hand, in Japan, many universities have opposite characteristics.
But ICU is the half way of them.

I could rethink about the merits and demerits of Japanese universities by watching the lecture, and it reminds me the uniqueness of ICU.


2014年4月22日火曜日

Don't judge a book by its cover

"Don't judge a book by its cover."
This is an English proverb that means "don't set your mind unless you check the content",but there is another meaning that "don't decide a person by its looks."

I think this meaning has two sides.
For example, though if you think it is difficult to get along with some people at first, they can be your good friends by knowing their characteristics.
On this example, this proverb encourages you to have wide view on people.

On the other hand, sometimes this proverb tells people to become more suspicious.
For instance, you may be deceived by someone if you decide the humanity by its looks.
Good looks do not always mean the person is actually good.

Although it is easy to understand this proverb's meaning and this term is often used in Japanese too, I think how you receive this is person to person.

2014年4月20日日曜日

What Is the Perfect Cat?

What is the definition of the perfect cat? I think it is

・The cat doesn't resist any offers of the owner, and doesn't make troubles. It keeps every orders that the owner comand it to do, and doesn't scratch or bite he/she.

・The cat understands the owner's thought and what he/she want it to do. If the owner is depressed, it understand the feeling and sits close to him/her.

・The cat it is not only sensible but also cute. It sometimes gets nervous when the owner  doesn't care for it so much, and want he/she to care about it more.

・The cat it sees the owner off at the entrance hall when he/she goes out, and welcomes he/she homes back. It sleeps on the owner's bed and melts his/her heart.