30,000 tonnes of food "wasted"

I founfd this news on BBC!

The giant supermarket Tesco has revealed that 28,500 tonnes food waste were generated in their store and distribution centers. Despite this supermarket has been struggle with this problem not to produce any waste, it does not go well. This store stated they want to make a change in their store.

After finished reading, I thought of the case of Japan, because the Japan wastes the largest amount of waste in the world. Therefore, Japan is worse than this company. When I worked some restaurant, I astonished the amount of it. The stores created so much amount of waste everydays. It is really "Mottainai"!! this word is kind of Japanese spilit toward the feeling of throwing the food in vain. But unfortunetly, I have no idea to solve this problem. It is because, the stores can not manage with holding enough foods, so they tend to stck more and more food to attract the customer. The bad thing is to throw the food without any hesitation when these foods don't reach the shelf-ife.

Question!
* What is your norm to choose fruit or vegitables?
* What do you think aboout the waste of food?

Starbucks Marketing Price in China

 I read this article about the worldside coffee chain Starbucks.
 The company is now expanding its market especially into China, but the prices of drink are about one-third more than at a Starbucks in Chicago because of the blind faith of local consumers in Starbucks in the country.
 I love coffee though I merely go to Starbucks. Some college students and people tend to think where they go as a cafeteria is Starbucks in spite of many others. Sometimes, I use such cafes to have a coffee break, but I don't stick to Starbucks; however, some of the consumers do. I think that the strategies in China are working well because there has to be such customers in the country as well. After reading this article, I kind of got interested in how marketing prices differ depending on sales places. I hope coffee prices in Japan are not so expensive though.

Q1: Which cafeteria do you go to? Why do you choose it?
Q2: What do you know is sold in higher price than the raw price in Japan?

School aims to give biracial kids a place to ‘be themselves’

I found the article on children who have a Japanese mother and a foreigner father (especially an American father) in Okinawa on Japan Times.

A special school for mixed children was established by their mothers in Okinawa. Though it provides good education, there are some problems; finance, poor official supports, the range of ability among children and unorganized working environments. Moreover, those children need to take strong Japanese education to live in Japan.

I have never heard any stories that mothers built a school for their children by themselves. Therefore, I was really surprised to read this article, and I thought that managing education by themselves must be effective to learn what they actually require. On the other hand, I also thought that Japanese government or local education committee should back them up. However, as I read the article, I got a little confused about the importance of Japanese education for them. Learning English means learning their background for them, so it would be important. However, they need to acquire Japanese abilities to adapt themselves to Japanese society. 

Now, I want to ask you about mixed children.

Do you think that it is difficult for them to go to the same school with Japanese? Why?

Do you think that children must concentrate Japanese education to work in Japan?

World's best airports to sleep in

I found a interesting article on cnn.

According to this article, something we can do at the airport is not only shopping but also staying to wait our flights. Essential criteria for sleeping is "the four C's: comfort, convenience, cleanliness and customer service. The best airport to sleep at is Singapore Changi Airport which is the top for 17 years. The worst one is Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

It is important that we can stay and sleep at the airport because if the flight started early in the morning, I have to go there before midnight due to the train schedule. In Japan, the Narita international airport is not good for sleeping at because around a convenience store is closed until the midnight and we can stay at only a lobby. Also there are neither any shower rooms nor beds to sleep. It is not so comfortable that we get tired. On the other hand, the Shin-Chitose airport provided a spa and bathrooms perfectly. As the article said, the Inchoen airport is very beautiful and convenience. I think all of the airports should be provided bed rooms and shower rooms, if so, travelers could go at the midnight easily. I often use some airports as a trip so it will make me happy.

In addition, I have 2 question here: Which airports do you think most comfortable? What things make the airport comfortable?

Facebook allows teenage users to post publicly on site

I found this article on BBC.

Facebook will allow users under 18 to post publicly on the site, in response to user’s requests. Facebook’s directors decided it for teenagers to improve the experience on Facebook. However, there are concerns about abuse, so the default of sharing is set as “friends” to remind anyone can see their post.

Until reading this article, I did not know that users under 18 were allowed to share posts only with “friends of friends” on Facebook. Besides it, I did not know children under 13 cannot use Facebook, so I was surprised how much care Facebook took with privacy of young people. Losing the limit of sharing posts is a chance for teenager to communicate with indefinite people and to know various kinds of news in the world. But there are some crimes which are committed through SNS such as Facebook, so I think users should remember their posts can be seen by anyone, and consider whether they will share their post.

Questions:
・What do you think about the change(Users under 18 can post publicly on Facebook)?
・Have you ever shared something on internet sites? What contents did you share?

1.6 Million Dollars Legacy

 Have you ever bought so much expensive things on the internet market or antique shop before? Me neither!
So today I found an interesting.... and quite rich news on Japan Times website.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/10/20/world/titanic-bandmasters-violin-is-sold-for-record-1-6-million-at-auction/#.UmSzdphTCSo

This article says the violin which was used by the bandmaster in Titanic has sold 1.6 million dollars on Saturday by a figure collector. The bandmaster's name is Wallace Hartley, the one victim of Titanic's disaster.  It was originally gift from his fiancee Maria Robbinson and mede in Germany. Unfortunately,  this instrument is not able to be used because this is corroded.

Titanic tragedy is now well-known by us by the popular movie. I guess this accident brought human beings how the ship must be built, and I want to pray for them. Anyway, I cannot image what can I do if i had 1.6 million dollars. Maybe I won't buy this kind of legacy,  but I want to go traveling abroad, like Germany. Also,  I wander that how this violin was left. It cannot be played already because of rotten from long time ago. Moreover, this article doesn't say who had been keeping this one. If I can, I want to see this violin a t once in my lives.

So I want to ask you guys
1.What kind of things do you pay 1.6 million dollars for?
2.What a thing have you ever amazed at the most?

Well, this is the song said that Wallace played during the ship sinking,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwLl5nY5WPI

Peace you.

Where is the best city?

I found this news on CNN.

Every year, the world's best cities are chosen by readers of magazine as Readers' Choice Awards. This year, 16,000 properties were chosen by 1.3 million people. The results are different between each year, and this year, Bruges and Cape Town tied for 11th.
  

According this article, the top cities are changed every year. Actually, I’m not familiar with some top cities that ranked and I don't know about the top city, San Miguel de Allende, so I searched about it and I found some pictures. They were really good, for example, the cathedral. About the other cities, Japanese historical city, Kyoto was tied for 14th place. I think Kyoto is one of good places and many foreigners visit there, so it is natural to be selected as a good place. There is information not only the best cities but also the top hotels and resorts, and top airlines. I think it is interesting to compare with the results of the past.

I have questions for you.

1.    Have you ever been to these top cities in the article?

2.    What do you think is the main point that cities have chosen as the best?
 

Sleep to clean up your brain

I found an interesting article about sleep on BBC.

According to the article, your brain is working on washing away the waste toxins which were made from a hard day's thinking while you sleep. If clearing away some toxic proteins is failed, they may cause brain disorders. However, your brain can be only either asleep or cleaning up at once.

I am really amazed at the great role of brain while you are sleeping, and functions of your brain always surprise me. Reflecting on my everyday sleep, I can easily understand that my brain is filled with the waste toxics because of a lack of sleep. Recently, my condition has been not that good, and I am sleepy whenever I am at the university, but now I realized the reason why I do not feel well. It is that my brain cannot clean up some toxic proteins and it influences my brain badly. Although I am very busy with my homework and part-time job lately, I will make it rule to sleep enough for my health.

Then, here are 2 questions for you,
1: How do you have enough time to get relaxed or sleep when you are so busy.
2:What do you do as supplement to a lack of sleep?

japanese cosme harmed people

I found this article on the japan times

according this article, about 15192 pepole have blothches by using whitning cosme products of Kanebo which is one of the famous cosme company in Japan. 5200 people in a serious condition. For example, some people have  at least three blotches, worse, some have blotch which is 5cm on their face or hands. according the article, about only 3000 people have recovered, but the rest of victims still have serious symptoms.

i was so surprised at the article because i also use this product. i really believed japanese products, and these are famous for safety quality. what is more, these days moer and more womens use cosme products, so cosme companies should be more responsible for their products. I thought i should be more careful and should not rely on somethig too much

if you work in this company, and you made that miss, what do you do to solve the problem?

ehat do you think Kanebo shoul do?

Rescuers resume to help people who are buried alive in Oshima

I found this article on The Japan Times.

The very strong typhoon hit Izu Oshima Island and 18 people still are still missing, so rescuers resumed to help them. The typhoon was named Wipha. 28 people were killed and many building were collapsed by the huge landslide. The Oshima Municipal Government advised to 2300 residents to evacuate because the heavy rain is expected by the next typhoon.

I hope that people who are buried alive will be rescued before the next typhoon coming. Also, all residents should evacuate to the main island of Japan, it is because rain made the ground unstable. And I concerned about the next typhoon named Francisco. I heard that its strength is very powerful, so we should prepare for the next typhoon. Francisco is expected to reach Okinawa area by Thursday morning. This disaster can be the chance to think about preventing the effects of a disaster. We have to raise awareness of disaster prevention.

1 What do you think about this disaster?
2 Should people in Izu Oshima Island evacuate to the main island?

the power of nature

Do you remember that the 26th typhoon of the year attacked Japan last week, don't you?
I found the editorials about it on Japan times.

the typhoon has left great damage in the places of Japan, and at least 51 people have been dead or missing on Tokyo's Izu-Oshima. The auther said even though it was known early that the typhoon would be so strong, preparations were not adequate for the typhoon. The local government must realize that conditions can change rapidly, pay attention to experts' opinions, and take all necessary measures to protect the residents, the auther argue too.

 This article reminds me of damage caused by the 26th typhoon of the year. I saw some news on twitter, and I found a tweet about great damage caused by heavy rain. In Narita, haevy rain caused landslide, and Keisei Narita line was damaged.



At kesei Narita station!!

Anyway, the 27th and 28th typhoon of the year are comming to Japan, so we need preparations to protect ourselves. In addition, local government must warn the resident of danger caused by them as soon as posible when local governments notice it.

Questions
1: What should central and local governments do for preparing natural disaster?
2: What should resident do when they got warning?

 

Hafu in Japan

This is the article including a short movie is just interesting. Check it out!

　About one in 49 babies born in Japan are Hafu nowadays. People usually have positive stereotype for half wherever their parents came from. However, they are struggling with fitting into the culture which may be Japanese one. And this article is about movie on Hafu made by Hafus.

　It was unimaginable that such a huge number of half would be in Japan until a few decades ago. I and almost all of the people imagine that being a half is just excellent, and we feel jealous of them. The truth and real, however, isn't as easy for them to live in a country with two different cultures as we think. I had envied them for some reasons like; they must be able to speak at least two languages and must be good-looking, but it changed by seeing and meeting many hafus. They are not different from us. The movie the article introduced describes the stories that many hafus suffer the difference between them and the others who are not like them. I suppose, especially in Japan, Japan isn't still a global country as the other countries are. Therefore, foreigners or hafus are usually seen to be someone different in Japan although every person is different. This leads hafus to a difficult condition to live. To be global society we have to adapt and change our fixed ideas into flexible ideas. Japan is trying but it isn't still strong enough.

Question:

1 What kind of impression do you have for hafus?

2 Do you feel something different between hafus and you if you have a half friend?

Tribal beauty: Photographer gives snapshot of vanishing way of life

I found this article from CNN.

Jimmy Nelson who is a British photographer visited 35 different tribes in all 5 continents and he records the indigenous people's  lives and customs before they disappear with taking photo. According to this article, he says"Africa is evolving the quickest in my opinion. It has lost the majority of its ethnicity and authenticity." Actually, many traditions or customs has banished in each region as time goes by. Especially in Africa many tribes that have their own customs exist still now. Indigenous customs are very unique and they can be a pride of being in the tribe. Keeping something generation to generation is quite difficult, but we can feel the connection between us and ancestors. The connection can be the respectful feeling to ancestors or family. My hometown also has traditional and unique event which is called "pompom-tsuki". In the event, children visit each house and hit the garden's ground with clubs made of straws while singing together. The event's purpose is wishing good harvests. I think the event is important for children to feel relationship with other people in the town. So, we should think how hand down our traditional custom or event.

I'd like to ask you the following question.
1. Does your hometown have any traditional events or customs?
2. Do you think we should hand down the tradition to the next generation? Why?

Terrible disasters on the mountains

 I found this article about the disaster on The Japan Times.
 In New South Wales State of Australia, the firefighters struggled against the wildfires that were stretched over 300 kilometers on Sunday. The main causes of this wildfires are high temperature, winds and low humidity, and also the weather was forecast to deteriorate further Monday and Tuesday.
 When I read this article, I was afraid mountains because I found dangers of disasters lurk in not only sea but also mountains. In Japan, I do not hear the topics about wildfires that were naturally occurring, but recently awful landslides were often occurred after the heavy rain like typhoons and then a lot of people had been killed by them. In this case, only one man died but in February 2009, wildfires killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes in Victoria State. There are no mountains which seem to occur landslides close to the KUIS, although we have to consider about disasters in mountains and be careful to do not get caught in them.
Now, I wanted to ask you that 1) What do you feel about this news? 2) Do you have any ideas to escape from disasters?

Iraq suicide bombing hits Baghdad cafe in Shia Amil area

I found a sad news on BBC.

At least 37 people died because they were attacked by a car loaded with explosives in Baghdad, Iraq. It is said it was a suicide bombing targeting a cafe Recently Iraq has undergone violence in some areas and lost more than 6,000 lives of people.

I felt sad when I understand the current terrible situation where many people are randomly killed by militants in Iraq. Of course I will tremble if I imagine that the same incidents frequently occur in Japan. Although I am not familiar with the system of keeping the peace in Iraq, I am proud of Japan maintaining the highest level of the peace and I hope Iraqis will be protected by the domestic law or military forces. I insist that irresponsible killing should be blamed and reconsidered as a heinous crime more because there will not exist anyone who will be punished, because they are also involved in the bombing.

Now please let me ask you some questions.

1: What do you guess is one cause of the some incidents in Iraq? For example some people complain the gap between rich and poor people…

2: What kind of actions do you think the government should take in Iraq?

How much better is standing up than sitting?

I found the article on BBC.

According to the article many of us spend up to 12 hours a day sitting on our bottoms. It is bad for our health, to cause diseases, and also it shortens our life. These problems related to that our bodies deal with sugar so we keep blood sugar under control.

Actually I often sitting my bottoms watching You Tube, DVD, TV or listening music etc…in my free time but such a habit of laziness would be cause to sick. I surprised that fact. So I will try to change my bad routine. I understand that I can't all stand up at work but I can change some small thing. For example when I get train, I try to keep standing if there are vacant seats or I try standing while brushing my teeth or calling on cellphone. Simple movement helps us to keep our all-important blood sugar under control.

1.    What are you doing in your free time?

2.    What can we do for our health?

Daughter's Wedding

I read a beautiful episode this week. Scott Naggy is 56 years old and he has cancer. He has been lying on the bed since last year because of illness. His daughter, Sarah is going to hold the wedding and He promised that he will attend her wedding. However, the doctor was uncertain if he could attend the wedding. After all, thanks to the volunteers who are doctors and nurses, he could attend his daughter's wedding. When I was a high school student, my sister got married and I attended her wedding. My parents, especialy father cried and at that moment, he seemed to be happy. I thought that it is hapiness for fathers to attend their daughter's wedding. If I get married in the future, I want my parents to attend my wedding. The father suffers from the cancer and he is dying so it is sad thing for him and his family. Through this episode, I thought that I want my parents to live a long life. I want to spend a good time with my family forever. How long do you spend a time with your family? Do you want to hold the wedding? Do you want to invite your parents?

THE most expensive instrument?

I found surprising article on CNN.

 [Summary] According to UK-based auction house, on Saturday, a violin which played by Titanic’s band leader sold at auction for more than 1.7 million dollars. It is by far the highest price ever fetched for the sunken ship. Nothing can beat this enormous price said Sopin, who helped verified the fact that the violin came from Titanic.

 [Reflection] I just read the headline and I was really surprised. Just one music instrument’s price has been 140 million yen. I think it is too expensive although I know that some music instruments are expensive such as a piano and drums. But, considering Titanic’s memorabilia, it may be reasonable. Almost people know about Titanic, and Titanic’s accident was made into movie by James Cameron. It was awarded many prizes and it became one of the most successful movies. I understand why the want such things even though it is expensive. I want to get some goods I interested in like soccer, bands.

 [Question]
Q1. Would you like to buy historical things like that?
 Q2. What do you think about this price?

A shock of death by poisoned food to army dogs

I read an article from BBC this weekend. Eighteen army dogs ate infected food, and three of them died after eating it at a defence center in Leicestershire. The other 15 dogs were also affected by it but they had recovered now at the Defence Animal Centre in Melton Mowbray. How the food was poisoned is still not clear. According to the article, it is said that someone accidentally poisoned the dogs. If it was true, the people who take care of the enemy dogs have to take care about their food. The dogs cannot talk like people but they can show their feelings such as to be hot or tired, and they can move from the room or sleep by themselves. Also, they can avoid visible dangers by stepping aside. However, about the food, they cannot choose. Naturally, they eat what they are served without doubt so the people have to make sure that the food is surely safe or not.

I have two questions to you. The army dogs’ food has to be tasted because they are important for the military. Are you for or against? General people adopt many retired working dogs. What is your opinion about it?

 

 

Serious problem about air pollution.

I found serious news about air pollution on the BBC.

The evidence which shows that air pollution can be a cause of not only some diseases but also cancer for your body were reported by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). It is said that air pollution can be categorized into the same category as tobacco smoke and plutonium.
I think that the fact is very important for all of the people now, because the environment is suffered from air pollution and made worse especially recent years. In Beijing, much smog is emitted everyday by people because of using cars. The smog cover the city and has been become very serious environmental problem. I have watched news that the smog is including a lot of PM2.5 and the amount of particle has been increasing.It is said that the particle makes asthmatic's physical condition more worse. In this way, air pollution will be the cause of a lot of disease, so I think that people have to be more strict to the pollution problem.

Question
1 Do you have any ideas to stop the problem?
2 What kind of things will be affected by the problem except for your health?

Big typhoon attacked Japan

I was surprised to see this news from Japan Times.

On Wednesday, typhoon named Wipha came to Japan with strong winds and intence rains. Because of this, many houses were collapsed and some people were killed. Also, some transportations wouldn't work. This typhoon brought a lot of damages to Japan.
Actually, it is said that this typhoon is the biggest typhoon in this year, so I was afraid of this typhoon. On Wednesday, I didn't have to go to school, so I stayed at home. Even I was in the house, I was able to hear the big sound of the winds and rains. I also felt the house shake due to the strong winds. Unfortunately, some people were dead especially in Izu-Oshima island as this article states. Typhoon is the natural phenomenon,so we wouldn't be able to avoid it. We shoud try to consider how we protect ourselves from typhoon. We might make our houses stronger by doing something and protect for taking refuge.
I also think the cause of typhoon is related to global warming. It changes the world climates and makes it easier to occur the typhoon.
Then, I came up with two questions. 1. What do you think is the causes of occurance of typhoon? 2. Do you prepare for emergency evacuation because of natural disaster?