What's the Dream?

             “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”(p.5) Steve Jobs (2005) said in his speech. ”carpe diem, seize the day boys” Mr. Keating said in a movie “The Dead Poet’s Society” These words encourage us to be honest to our feelings; however, there are many obstacles to get over to realize such a way of life. Is it really correct to lead young people to such a gambling life? I support the idea that teaching young people to follow their passion is very important because of three reasons: people can concentrate on what they like, there is no failure that worth nothing, and life should be enjoyable.

              Firstly, to be something in one field, it’s important to be interested in it. For instance, in “The Dead Poet Society” Neal did very well in his school play, although he had never done such a work before. This is because he believed play is the thing he wanted to do honestly. As for me, I liked handicraft class in high school and often concentrated too much to finish in time. However, I enjoyed overtime working; moreover, I always got grate score. Besides, Jobs dropped out college and took only Calligraphy Course that attracted him. Eventually, he became a really famous creator thanks to this skill. Some may claim that few people can work for their favorite things; however, even though attracting things seemed irrelevant to jobs, it’s no problem. According to Jobs’s speech (2005), it’s impossible to predict what will be useful in the future, and those elements that contributed success will be turned out after everything has over. Hence, the most important thing is not what you are interested in but whether you can grab an opportunity to connect your favorite thing with another thing to make them extraordinary.

Secondly, there is no try that worth nothing. Every try and failure would be our foundation to succeed next time. For example, Knox in “The Dead Poets Society” was turned down many times by a girl he liked; however, he never gave up and tried again and again. Eventually, his earnest feelings were conveyed and he went out with her. This kind of story is not only in fiction but also happens to real people like me. When I was in a junior high school, I did a leader of Choral competition for three years. There were competitions once for a year. In First and Second year, I missed prizes because I was poor at leading people; however, everybody kept believing me and I learned how to motivate class members through the failures. Thanks to these vexing two years, our class got the first prize in the last year. Also, Jobs, who seemed to be one of the most successful people, experienced really big failure. He had been expelled by his partner from Apple Company. Once he fell in despair, however, finally he returned to Apple with more ideas to grow Apple up stronger. In Silicon Valley, what’s important is how many times the one has failed before because people can learn from mistakes and become more experienced person. On the contrary, in Japan, failure is seemed very shameful. In this situation people may well hope to live steadily. However, it’s impossible to keep succeeding. Hence, rather than avoid mistakes, it’s important to learn from them; then it will be turned out that failure is not a risk but a chance.

              Why are human beings living? This question would be the best way to decide how to live. I am living to enjoy my life because I know life is not endless and we can bring nothing to life after death. I don’t want to do anything against my will. When I was worried about which university to go, I chose AIU because I felt something even though I could go other universities that are said much better than AIU in rankings or public estimation. Of course the decision was really hard for me because most people said my decision was foolish. However, now, I don’t regret at all. This feeling is beyond words, but I am satisfied. If I went to other universities, I would regret somehow.

              There are many people who tell young people to live steadily, but few people tell us to live for their passion. It’s true that to fail after following passion is very scary, but even if it failed, the experience would be foundation of the next success. Also, people are more likely to be successful when they concentrate on what they like. Moreover, most importantly, life that is used to pursuit what attracts you would be more enjoyable than life that is spent scarily to fail. Therefore, I agree that role models should tell young people to follow their passion.

One Wonderful Night

It was my seventeenth summer when I left Japan for the first time. I flew to California and experienced many things at a very impressionable age. On the last day before departure, I was really excited because I believed that a totally new world was waiting for me. At the same time, however, I was a little nervous about whether my host family would be kind, if I could make myself understood in English, if I could make many friends… and so on. In fact, the U.S.A was filled with deep love of family and wonderful friendships.

              When I arrived in California, the weather was clear like a deep blue ocean. There was strong sun shine but I didn’t feel too hot because it was dry. Atmosphere was filled with vigor and the smell of fresh plants. Soon, I met my host family who had been looking forward to seeing me for a long time. They said welcome to California and hugged me with huge smiles. I got embarrassed because hugging is not common in Japan except for a pair of lovers; however, I was quite happy to touch their love. I felt my worry and nervousness melting.

              I had many good experiences in California, but the most impressing one was a birthday party on August 6^th for my host brother, Kyle. He was as old as me, so we were not just family but really good friends. My host family was black and poor, so we were not able to buy something special. However, we prepared earnestly from three days before. We cleaned our house, bought some decorations, cooked carrot cake, which was my host mom’s specialty, and Okonomiyaki, which was my Japanese favorite food, together. Preparing for the party was as fun as the party itself.

Of course party was far more fun! Around six o’clock, our friends started to come together with a dish from their home. We walked laughing to a nearby park and ran to the full extent of our powers without any reasons. It sometimes happens especially when people are young. Everybody was laughing in loud voice. After we got tired and hungry, we managed to return home where carrot cake, Okonomiyaki and other dishes were waiting for us. I was very glad when every American friend said Okonomiyaki that I made was very delicious. I felt confidence as a Japanese person. To be honest, the carrot cake was too sweet for me, but the fact that we cooked together made me happy. I gave Kyle a Shogi as a birthday present which he liked when he stayed in my home in Japan. Other friends also got interested in Shogi, so I taught them how to play and enjoyed together.

Sky got darker and darker as the time went by. No one knows who started, but when we realized, everyone was dancing and singing. People’s faces were burning. We kept talking till the time we fell asleep because of tiredness. At that time, at that place, there were love and friendships. In that night, I felt for the first time to be a member of California in true meaning. One wonderful night I’ll never forget.W

Global Inventions Carry...

There have been many great inventions in technology, Education, Transportation, Communication and a few other areas that have seen a lot of useful inventions. Especially the three inventions that have most influenced globalization are English as a Second Language (ESL), the Airplane, and the Internet.

First, ESL, which means speak English even though it’s not mother tongue, is a wonderful invention that made communication between foreign people much easier. For example, I have a roommate from Hong Kong, and we talk in English. It’s common in globalized society, but actually it’s incredible, because a Chinese person and a Japanese person can talk in English not in Japanese or Chinese. You don’t have to learn as many languages as the number of countries your friends come from. ESL carries people’s opinion overseas without effort to learn many languages.

Second, the Airplane also contributed to globalization by realizing very fast transportation. Specifically, when a Japanese diplomat tried to go to the U.S. by ship during the Meiji era, it took more than one month. Besides, because of its long duration, those who could go overseas were just very rich people who didn’t have to work, and diplomats whose work itself was going abroad. Today, however, we can fly all over the world in one day, so most university students take a trip to foreign countries during summer vacation. Moreover, indeed every AIU students goes abroad to study, but this system wouldn’t be realized without the Airplane. The Airplanes carry people to far away in a very short time.

Third, the Internet brought innovation for globalization because of its low cost to communicate between countries. Skype, for instance, allowed for free video chat on the Internet, so people can talk with others in the whole world for free. Thanks to Skype, I often talk with my Kenyan friends face to face. If you went to Kenya actually, it would cost more than 150,000yen. Of course e-mail that can attach documents and movies also had big part in globalization. It’s true that the Internet can’t transport a person, but it carries information very cheaply.

Today, there is a feeling of dynamic globalization in daily life. In fact, it stands on these three greatest inventions, ESL, airplane and the Internet that carry our opinion, body, and information.

Ideal School where Everybody can Shine

              In our society, always a few people take active parts, while others are quiet. Is it just a dream that everybody can be brilliant? No, it isn’t. In Kunitachi high school, everybody can fully show what they can do and concentrate on doing their own best, thanks to its three wonderful environmental futures.

              In Kunitachi high school, there are a lot of students who have their own strong aims because of the difficulty of entrance. Most high level students in western Tokyo apply this school and only half of them can pass its entrance exams. Students must study very hard for preparation, so in this process students deeply consider what they want to do during school days. Those who found it concentrate realizing it after entrance. Even if some students couldn’t, this inspiring peer group makes every student outgoing and aggressive. They strongly inspire each other and be really good friends. As result, they find their own good aspects and start to develop it through school life.

              Every Kunitachi highschool students belong to some club activities, and they perform their best in their own fields. For example, many sports oriented students belong to baseball team, and they once went to “Koshien” as the only one public school. Kunitachi high school is known for its high academic level, so this result surprised a lot of people. The myth that they had word tanks at the stadium is famous. Also, “Shorinji Kenpo club” and “Cheerleading club” are very strong and always attend national convention. Moreover, some students attend academic convention such as Math Olympic or Science Olympic and get gold medals every year. Thus, every student takes part that fits each one.

              “Kunikosai” that is held by students in September is the most famous school festival in Japan. Especially plays produced by third grade students are very famous and they are often featured by magazines. Third grade students prepare for it for six months to practice, have lectures by professionals, make decorations, music, homepages, stage settings, lite settings…etc. and each classes work on cooperating all of the class members. Eventually more than 10,000 people come to see it during two days festival. At the last of play, many students cry for happiness of achievement and sadness of the end. Spectators cry as well to see their earnest effort.

              Kunitachi high school not only provides every students place to take active role, but also blush up them through these opportunities. Therefore they believe Kunitachi high school is the best place to shine by themselves.

What Asperger Syndrome is

Asperger Syndrome is one of disease, however, it has not only bad effects but also good aspects in some way. It was recognized in 1981 by Lorna Wing. People who have Asperger Syndrome are monomaniac, in other words, they stick to a particular thing. Sometimes they show incredible ability about it. For example, Daniel Tammet, who is the originator of POKEMON, is an Asperger Syndrome patient. Moreover, Steven Spielberg is also an Asperger, and he is one of the most popular movie makers. Put this persisting character other way around, they can’t adjust unexpected happenings. Specifically, only the change of dishes makes patients’ appetite poor. Also, they can’t put up with unusual things. For instance, when they go a trip, they get nervous and feel very scary because sight changes a lot from their houses. Adjustment disorder also means they are poor at communicating with other people, because people’s reactions can’t be expected easily. There are as many reactions as there are people, so those patients get confused. In two points stated above, that monomaniac feature and lack of communication ability, Asperger Syndrome patients might seem similar to otaku or nerd because those people also stick to particular thing and are often poor at communicating with others, but they are distinctly different. While the otaku’s feature comes from their nurture, the characteristics of Asperger Syndrome patients are by nature. They are born with dysfunction such as guessing and adjusting problems. We must take care, however, Asperger Syndrome is indeed by nature but it’s not hereditary. It takes place suddenly. Today’s society doesn’t have enough knowledge about Asperger because of its short history. Unfortunately, people often misunderstand that they can’t speak as well as non-handicapped people, so those patients seeking jobs are often discriminated. Contrary to this major mistake, however, they don’t have any linguistic problems. Moreover, they are same as non-handicapped in terms of both physical and IQ, too. In fact, they can live with non-handicapped people together only if surrounding people can be positive about Asperger Syndrome patients’ characteristics. Indeed, Asperger Syndrome can’t be cured by today’s medical technology, but they can take an active part in their own fields. We have to encourage those activities. Now, non-handicapped people had better to accept Asperger Syndrome patient’ features so that the society would be more comfortable place for them to live on and they can fully show their talents.

Why Adolf Hitler had great power.

          Adolf Hitler could get enthusiastic popularity because he was a great strategist. While he is very notorious all over the world for strong oppression and genocide of Judea, he was very popular among German people in his time. I guess there were three big reasons for it.

          First, he could get his citizen’s belief by his actual achievement. There was the Great Depression in 1929, so people were conflicting with a very difficult economic situation all over the world. In this situation, Hitler stood as a prime minister in 1933 and he reconstructed German economy. By removing the regulation of wages and increasing public enterprises, he realized high employment rate and rise of economy under the great depression. The infrastructure made in the public enterprise is even now used conveniently. Second, he let his people be proud. In those days, German citizen was depressed because of the lost in World War I. The Treaty of Versailles deprived 10 percent of German territory, and prohibited having big army. In spite of these state, he carried out very strong policies. For example, he annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia. I can easily imagine German people be encouraged to recognize their own power even if it was evil thing. Third, his talent forward propaganda should have been big help to get support. The very his period, radio showed up and be rapidly spread. He used this kind of advertisement effectively, so the German people must have been brainwashed. Human kinds are often imprinted when they are told similar things time and time again, even though those were the words that promote persecution of Judea.

          As I mentioned above, it seems that there were three main factors giving a crafty tactician dominant power –“actual achievement”, “giving pride” and “strong propaganda”-.  

About my mother

My mother is too kind to believe she is my mother. She is very short and little plump. She has dark brown tender eyes that see through my mind. When I hide my worries, she always noticed it and listened to me. Then she gave me some constructive advice in warm calm voice that makes me peaceful. I often could have another perspective to my problems thanks to her advices. For example, when I was a captain of my kendo team and in trouble with my team mates, she advised me to open my mind to members and put it into words. I wanted them to understand what I wanted them to do through my behavior, but I realized that people sometimes can’t understand each other without words. It’s true that Mother’s advice was not welcome all the time, but Mother was the only person who consider about me better than about herself. The color of her hair is the same with her eyes- dark brown-, and that reaches her shoulder. It is also very fine and shiny. Her straight hair scent sweet subtly. The fineness of her hair inherited me and that is my one of favorite parts of my body. She works very hard putting us family in first priority. Without her our family wouldn’t work. Whenever I saw her, she wore her apron and doing some house works. For instance, she put a lot of scattered things in order, and did laundry twice a day. Her apron smelled of detergent powder. She also cooked very well, and her affectionate handmade dishes healed me even how terribly I was exhausted. My one of favorites of her dishes was consommé soup made with some bacon and daikon. She didn’t add something special, but it tasted differently from restaurant’s one. She loved our family member so deeply that she could work very hard asking nothing in return. I really respect her from bottom of my heart. She worked as an English teacher when she was a junior college student and taught her students very gently. She went Boston and stayed her host family’s house during summer vacation when she was seventeen years old. The experience leaded her to majoring in English literature and becoming an English teacher. From her experience she introduced me an exchange program provided by my home town. At that time I was not so interested in foreign countries, but she strongly recommended saying it must sustain my long lasting life. With her big patient help, I could apply the program and passed the screening. In this program our family had to accept American student in our home, so it was very hard for parents, too. However, she was obliging enough to take care of him very well. Of course that experience became life changing one for me, and I had no words to express my gratitude to her. She is the kindest person that I have ever seen, and I strongly believe no person is kinder than her.