SHINJYUKU'S CHRISTMAS ILLUMINATIONS

Yesterday, I went to Kinokuniya book store at the south exist of Shinjyuku Station. The book I'm reading now for a book report was an abridged edition, so it was less than 100 pages long. Therefore, I was trying to get the original version. Though the store was almost closed eight at night, I barely arrived there in time. However, unfortunately, I found that the original version was over 600 pages long, so I couldn't help giving up reading it. Getting out of the store, Christmas illuminations around Shinjyuku Takashimaya came into my sight. It was so beautiful and made my disappointed heart worm. Before coming to Shinjyuku, I stopped by Omotesando to go to the dentist, but I couldn't find any Christmas illuminations which used to be there before. As far as I remember, we could enjoy them this time of the year about 7 or 8 years ago. I believe that the timing of Christmas illumination was delayed due to saving money and I agree with that but miss them at the same time. In this sense, Shinjyuki could be a limited place to be able to enjoy Christmas illuminations.

THE GIVING TREE

I attended my school's regular church service today. Through the lecture, I came to know a book called "The Giving Tree." This book is recommended to read especially for Christmas time because we can learn the real meaning of Christmas. I have never heard of the book, but soon found that it was worth reading. Therefore, I would like to let you know how wonderful the story is !!!

IE2 Writing #3

Asia
Asia can be distinguished from other areas such as Europe, America and Oceania because it has not only a complete non-white culture but also other unique characteristics. Asia occupies 80% of Eurasia continent and has 60% of the world population. Therefore, it also has a variety of geography, history, people, culture and society. In this sense, it is difficult to describe Asia as a whole, so let me divide it into six regions –East Asia, South East Asia, South Asia, North Asia, Central Asia and West Asia so as to explain the difference in each characteristic.

East Asia is the first of these regions. It accounts for 40% of the whole of Asia and includes Taiwan, Japan, Korea, China and so on. They have the same ancestor called Polynesian Mongoloid. They also share a temperate rainy climate, so people can easily adjust to the environment. China had a great influence on the culture of other East Asian countries in many ways. For instance, character, religion, architecture and the custom of using chopsticks all came from China and still exist to the present day. After World War ∐, Japan and other countries in this region have achieved high economic growth. Especially, China has become developed for the past decade and so many wealthy businessmen can be found in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

South East Asia is the second region. It is made up of Indonesia, Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos and so on. Most of this region has the tropical climate with annual rainfalls. Moreover, thanks to monsoon, rice-growing is the leading industry in Thailand and other countries on Indochina. As you know, they used to be European colonies until the mid-20th century, so they fought for independence with European powers for many years. Thailand is the only country that maintained its freedom. Religious diversity can be found in this region. For instance, Islam is popular in Indonesia and Malaysia, and Buddhism is common in Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar, and Christianity is believed in Singapore and the Philippines.

South Asia is the third region. It includes India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Bangladesh and so on. They have long rainy season and three fourths of the total amount of the annual rainfall concentrates this time of the year, so more than 100 million people totally depend on agriculture of this season. On the other hand, small amount of rainfall keeps them from food and water. Therefore, 50 million people suffer from starvation every year. In addition, they have a bunch of serious problems such as poverty, growing population, infectious disease, the low penetration rate of primary school education and so on.

North Asia is the fourth region. It is made up of Mongol and Siberia, the Southern part of Russia. Most of this region has cool-temperate and dry climate, so it is not suitable for agriculture. Therefore, people have continued a nomadic way of life from a distant past. They totally depend on domestic livestock and caravan trade for a living, so productivity of this region is lower than that of agrarian society. However, Turpan which used to be a vital ground of Silk Road is still prosperous as an important oasis town. With the exception of nomadic culture, Mongolian sumo-wrestling has become a part of popular culture and many have come to Japan to become professionals.

Central Asia is the fifth region. It includes Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kirgiz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and some parts of China such as Tibet and East Turkestan Autonomous Region. Most of these countries used to make up the former Soviet Union. After they became independent with dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, this region was classified into “Central Asia.” This region has played an important role as a main artery linking Europe and Asia for thousands of years. Ancient Chinese, Greek and Roman and Indian culture met here and influenced one another. For instance, Gandhara art was created mixed with Hellenism style of art and Indian Buddhist images.

West Asia is the sixth region. It is made up of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Unite Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Palestine, Egypt and so on. This region is also called “Middle and Near East” or “Islam World”. Mesopotamia and Nile civilizations were born in this region. In this sense, West Asia has the longest history in the world. Egypt has a lot of ancient remains and has attracted many tourists. Most countries have been well off by receiving benefits from Persian Gulf oil, so world-class rich people can be found in this region. On the other hand, some countries remain in a constant state of war. Many people are killed at every single moment under these circumstances. In addition, the world is watching the situation and also worries over the reoccurence of terrorism.

In this way, Asia has various aspects of these six-divided regions. The atmosphere in Asia is very different of that of Europe and other Western countries and it is because Asia has an absolute non-white culture and its geographical and cultural uniqueness. From my point of view, South East Asia now represents the image of Asia because the expression of “Asian Taste” always remains me of Thailand or Indonesia. China also gives me a great impression from historical point of view. These six Asian regions have little in common this way, but share the feeling of unity one another as a member of Asia.

DEAT POET SOCIETY

Let me introduce one of my favorite movies. "Dead Poets Society" was released in 1989 which was the time when I was a high school student. What I met this movie led me into knowing Robin Williams. He was playing well as a passionate English teacher, John Keating. One day, Keating was sent to Welton which was a private boy's boding school with a reputation for high enrollment rate in Ivy League. However, he was unlike in previous teachers in many ways. His way of teaching was so unique that his students were puzzled for the first time, but they became interested in his lessons and himself as well. Through his lessons, he tried not to teach Wilton standards, but would rather teach more extraordinary than that. "Carpe Diem" in Latin and "Seize the Day" in English were in the habit of his saying. Some of the boys began to look for something they could get really carried away. They made a circle in which they read classic poetry together. The circle was named "Dead Poets Society" because they liked to read dead men's poetry which inspired the passion they hided inside themselves. In the society, they talked about what they felt and thought. There was a boy who would like to be an actor and there was another boy who dared to ask a girl who had a fiancee for a date. The boy who would like to be an actor was Neil and he couldn't tell his father about his dream. Neal knew he had no choice to meet his father's expectations in which he would keep enough scores to become a doctor. On the other hand, Keating understood how Neil though and encouraged him to live his own life. However, his father tried not to let Neil go and finally lost him by suicide. Keating was blamed for the death of Neil and had to leave Wilton. Some students understood what really happened to Neal and that it was not Keating's fault... In this movie, Ethan Hawke was playing one of the students,Tod Anderson. Actually, I'm a fan of him. In his another movie "Taking Lives," I have never him playing such a bad man! I could find new Ethan in that movie and liked him better as an actor.

IE3 Writing Assignment # 1

Should Euthanasia be Legalized?

Euthanasia has been a controversial issue for many years. For the past few decades, euthanasia has been legalized in several countries such as The Netherlands, Belgium, France and Australia. On the other hand, Japan still maintains a cautious attitude toward euthanasia for ethical reasons. Even though euthanasia is not ethically justified, it should be legalized under certain conditions from a humanitarian point of view.

Why is euthanasia unacceptable? In general, it is unethical to take lives intentionally for any reason. Once “voluntary euthanasia” is allowed, suicide and murder, in a broad sense, can be accepted. In addition, suicide and murder are considered sins for religious reasons. According to Religion Facts, “Christians are mostly against euthanasia. The arguments are usually based on the beliefs that life is given by God and that human beings are made in God’s image. Some churches also emphasize the importance of not interfering with the natural process of death.”

Moreover, some are against euthanasia because they consider a person a social creature who has a duty to live as a member of the community, so he/she cannot treat his/her life selfishly. Others are against “involuntary euthanasia,” in which a patient’s family makes a decision to discontinue life-prolonging treatment, because they believe that no one can treat someone’s life freely.

However, if a patient who is in a terminal condition suffers from an unbearable pain or treatment, euthanasia, so called mercy killing, is emotionally understandable so as to remove not only physical but also mental pain. Some people say that quality of life is more important than living longer. In this sense, euthanasia is regarded as death with dignity.

Some possible cases of euthanasia have taken place in Japan before and the doctors in question have been charged with the commission of murder. However, according to Wikipedia, the latest judgment says that euthanasia can be taken into consideration under the following conditions:
1. “Death is getting near”
2. “Accompanied by unbearable physical pain”
3. “To remove and relive pain”
4. “Company with patient’s request”

In the fourth point, there is another question of whether only a patient has the right to take control his/her own life. If so, “involuntary euthanasia” could be unacceptable. However, when a patient is too young or in a vegetated state, how should the reality be handled in which some families suffer from anxiety, economic problems and fatigue from nursing.

Taking these circumstances into consideration, euthanasia should be legalized under the right conditions. First of all, “the above four conditions” should be clarified by law and “involuntary euthanasia” should be allowed in some cases. However, any further exceptions should not be allowed because this must be clearly distinguished from the encouragement of suicide or murder. It is desirable that a person fulfills his/her own life for ethical and moral reasons, but euthanasia is emotionally understandable form a humanitarian point of view.

Work Cited:
“安楽死の法的扱い” Wikipedia／ 安楽死：
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AE%89%E6%A5%BD%E6%AD%BB

“安楽死と尊厳死” 生命倫理 倫理の公民館：
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/village/good/ethics.html

Christian Views of Euthanasia and Suicide/ Modern Christian Views on Suicide- Euthanasia and Christianity: Religion Facts：
http://www.religionfacts.com/euthanasia/christianity.htm

IE3 BOOK REPORT #1

BOOK REPORT NO.1

1) MLA CITATION:
Author: Golding, William
Book Title: Lord of the Flies
City of Publication: Faber and Faber Ltd.
Date: First Published in 1954
Pages: 225

2) RESPONDING TO THE PLOT:
If I were Ralph who is a main character in this story, I am not sure that I would have kept a rational way of thinking and behaving as a leader in such as chaotic situation. Even if I disagreed with Jack, I might have given in to pressure and become a member of his hunters. However, the existence of Piggy and Simon would have encouraged Ralph to maintain a sense of justice and persist in his belief. If I were the author, I would not change anything in the story, but I would describe more details about how the choir members such as Jack and Roger became savages.

Quotation 1: “What can he do more than he has? I’ll tell him what’s what. You let me carry the conch, Ralph. I’ll show him the one thing he hasn’t got.” (page.189)

This is a quotation from one of Piggy’s statements. Piggy is the most sensible boy in the group but his existence is mostly ignored only because he looks clumsy. One day, his glasses were stolen by Jack and his hunters to make fires for game. Then, Piggy decided to fight against Jack who was much stronger than him. For Piggy, a conch was a symbol of rule and order. Piggy would like to show the importance of order which Jack didn’t have any more. I found this scene the most impressive because Piggy who was wimp seemed brave to stand up for justice.

Quotation 2: “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill. You knew, didn’t you? Close, close, close! I’m part of you! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” (page. 158)

This was quoted from the word that the head of the dead pig called “Lord of the Flies” said to Simon. I could learn that the beast existed not as a real enemy but as a symbol of international human evil. In addition, I could also learn that Simon was the only boy that could realize the dark side of human nature.

3) ANALYZING 7 LITERARY TERMS
Setting: It is the time when World War Ⅲtook place. A group of schoolboys trying to evacuate from England meets with a plane crash on an uninhabited island.
Point of View: Omniscient
Conflict: Ralph (a democratic leader) vs. Jack (a dictator.) There are always conflicts between these two different types of leaders because Ralph has respect for discipline while Jack is obsessed with the lust for domination and barbarism.
Climax: After Simon and Piggy were killed by the savage, Ralph barely escaped from them and was finally rescued.
Symbol: A conch means a rule, order and discipline because it was used to signal an assembly
and the boys had the right to speak when they got it. In addition, the beast was a symbol of internal human evil as mentioned above.
Irony: British boys who were accustomed to living by rules turned into savages who could kill people.
Theme: People are inclined to go wrong in nature under the closed ircumstances. Therefore, we need rules. However, human morality is so fragile that it can be destroyed easily, so we need to have self-awareness as Simon did.

4) REFLECTING ON THE STORY
What I found shocking was that such young boys became savages and killed people. However, I thought they might have been too innocent to make right decisions. If some adults were included in the party, I thought what would have happened. I doubt if things would have changed. I also found some appealing characters in this book. Especially, Piggy was described vividly, so I could imagine who he really was. Simon was described as a god-like boy who fought with human evil. The environment in the story is very different from that in my own country because it is an uninhabited island without any civilization, so they couldn’t help living a primitive life. In my country, we are surrounded by convenient technologies. The most apparent difference between the book and the film is that the boys are not English but American in the film. Moreover, the situation was little different between the book and the film because the author did not mention the derail about World War Ⅲ, but the war was referred to as a battle between America and Russia in the film. However, I could find no gap between the book and film about how Piggy was described.
William Golding, the author of this book, participated in Normandy Landings during World War Ⅱ. This experience has inspired him to write this book appealing interior human evil which would cause cruel wars and a breach of peace. I agree with the author’s view of people and life because the Holocaust was a reality in our history. Through this story, I can learn that we have to take control of ourselves so as not to lose moral and reason in any situations. I have never experienced such chaotic situations such as wars, but I would like to keep the lesson in my mind. Ralph was finally rescued but Simon wasn’t as I expected. I had an uneasy feeling that Simon would die when I found the word he said to Ralph, “All the same. You’ll get back all right, I think so, anyway.” I thought that what he said not “We’ll” but “You’ll” would imply that Simon would die.

EBISU

Then, we drove to Ebisu to buy some groceries at Mitsukoshi department store. Mitsukoshi is located in Ebisu Garden Place with European style buildings and gardens. On our way to Mitsukoshi, suddenly, something big came into my sight. It was a chandelier made of thousands of baccarat. The chandelier named "baccarat eternal lights" was so beautiful that many visitors gathered around it. It is 5 meters high and about 3 meters width. 8472 pieces of baccarat were used for it, so it looks gorgeous, doesn't it!? If you have a chance, pls see the luxurious chandelier!!