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Someone may always be watching you
The other
day, I received an e-mail from a company called Amazon.com. It recommended some
books to me. It was surprising because almost all the books they promoted
suited my taste. Then, I wondered how they could possibly know my taste. As you see from my example, ubiquitous computing has already started begun in this country. Let’s start with the advanced ubiquitous computing device that we are all familiar with; the cell- phone. These days cell-phone companies developed some new functions; such as electronic money function, train ticket function, internet and GPS. GPS in particular will play an important role in the ubiquitous computing world. GPS stands for “Global Positioning System”. The GPS cell-phone will tell the satellite where it is, and the satellite can send the map of its vicinity. Then, please imagine, if all the citizens had GPS cell-phones, and the police could get their information through the satellite, the police could oversee all the citizens, especially those who had committed crimes before. Then, the police would be able to maintain better security. How do you feel about this? I feel it’s uncomfortable; and it’s an invasion of privacy. According to the Yomiuri Shimbun research in 2005, seventy percent of people answered they are afraid of the ubiquitous computing society. People are afraid they might give the information unconsciously, and it might be abused by someone they don’t know. Hiroyuki Nakamura, the consultant of telecommunication and information, claims the threats of ubiquitous computing. He warns that someone might steal the card information by special devices in the crowded place. The stolen information can be abused in many ways. For example, after stealing your information, a swindler may call you and demand money pretending your family is in trouble. In fact, such cases are increasing. According to the National Police Agency, more than 20,000 people became the victim in 2006. There are some ways to avoid threats. The first is being responsible with personal information. It means people will be able to make their information available by choice. The second is developing the system which will tell you when and where the information is taken. This system will help to avoid leaking and stealing of information. Unfortunately, these security systems are not developed well enough. I think ubiquitous computing is advancing further than the security systems. We already live in the ubiquitous computing world. Even though you may not realize, someone may always be watching you. As you already know, it is very useful on one hand, but you have to beware not to leak the information about yourself on the other hand. Our priority should be safety rather than convenience.
On my way I have a dream which has not changed since my childhood. I like shows such as musicals and concerts of famous artists because dancing and music are universal. In addition, the show in the theater has only one chance each time to perform to the specific audience. It means that shows are living. It is going to change everyday. Timing is not exactly the same when the actor speaks the same lines. They will sound different depending on the conditions, feelings of actors or dancers. Even the happenings could be evaluated in the shows. The movies don’t have this. In the case of movies, whenever we watch them, there are just the same lines, same faces, and the same scenes in the same timing. Once the movie is completed, we can not do anything more. But the shows are different. There are no completions. I think this is the reason why I like showbiz. That’s why I want to be a director of live shows. I want to make my own show someday, which has a lot of messages I want to deliver. But, I know it is difficult to realize that. In fact, when I was a high school student, there were no teachers who really knew this job. Every teacher with whom I talked about my future always said to me, “You have a good dream, but it’s a little nonsense as there are only a few opportunities to get and you may not be the one who can take one of them. You are already 18. You have to think more realistic about the future.” Someone laughed at me. Others tried to change my mind. But I couldn’t understand why they did so. I didn’t want to understand what they said. My mom was always telling me you can do whatever you want. And you can go anywhere you want. These words must have been spoken from her experiences. I can remember now what she told me before. When she was a student, she wanted to be an instructor of skiing. So she wanted to go abroad to get the license. But there were no cell-phone, no internet, or even no international calls within her reach. Once she left the country, it became difficult to get in touch. So her mom cried. When my mom saw her mother’s tears, she felt she committed a sin. Accordingly, she had to give up her dream. But now, she tells me that she would never cry even if I went far away from her or I tried something very hard because she believes the way I choose. I have finally found the important things after I heard those words. I don’t have to worry about what third party people say. Now, I can say to them, “If you want to laugh at me, please do as you like.” In my childhood, I misunderstood. I thought I was strong because I was alone, and I didn’t believe anyone else. But things have changed. I realized I have my family or peers, who really believe me, help me, and understand me. I found they made me strong. I also believe them. It was fortunate I could meet them in my life. If I give up my dream, it would let them down. It must be boring to spend my time only for myself. I strongly feel now that I can achieve my goal whatever may happen. I want to deliver this message to children or people who share the similar thought with me to have the strength to believe in their own future through my shows.
Keep peace
in your mind! We live in
the competitive society now. People get busier as they become adults. There should be something else in life, however, besides working so hard. In spite of the fact that an individual’s health is greatly influenced by our emotional and mental state, we tend to behave against it. People say, “I have no time” or “I have lots of things to do today”. We are busy studying, doing part-time jobs, and sometimes because of romance. But don’t you think we need some spiritual comfort? I personally think that we should find enough time for ourselves, however busy we may be. Searching for effective ways of having spiritual comfort is our sincere desire. I have found them for myself, and today, I wish to share them with you. The first way; just to run The second way; to make better use of time in the morning There is a Korean proverb, “the plan of the year is made in spring, and the plan of the day is made in the morning.” If you get up early in the morning, you can well arrange things for that day. When I do so, I can use time more effectively. If I have a cup of juice in the morning, I feel happy and enjoy the good balance of my mind. Then, I won’t get sleepy. As you must have experienced, if you begin the day early, you feel the day very long. Then, you can deal with lots of things that you thought you couldn’t because you felt busy and hard. The third way; to place your-self in the natural environment Living in the information-based high-technology society, people get less involved with each other and haven’t had chances to contact with nature. In my understanding, nature is an excellent source of keeping peace in your mind. I suggest, therefore, you go somewhere outside to have contact with nature. Nature gives you a refreshing change and soaks away your stresses. Have a few minutes and see pretty birds, dense growth of trees and the blue sky. They may provide you with comfort. I am not very sure about the reasons why we can get comfort in that way. You can also feel comfortable in your home filled with love or in listening to the music. The trouble is; when we have stresses we don’t know how we get rid of them. The
most important thing, I believe, is that you find your own and suitable way. The world is definitely becoming more and
more complicated. More stresses you would have accordingly. If you happen to be seeking an idea on how to keep peace in your mind, why not try one of mine? I hope it works for you, too.
Care
experience Today, I’m going to speak about “education”. My ambition is to become a teacher. Now, I’m taking the education classes studying to get the license of it. There are many classes. They are generally very hard. One of them is “Care experience”. It was a very instructive experience for me. Education is absolutely hard and difficult. I went to a school for handicapped children. The students who go to that school are not so many. I took charge of the class which had two boys. They couldn’t speak well enough but they were so cute. I didn’t care about their disability. I had the impression that they were much better than I thought. One boy taught me a very important thing. They had the school trip while I was there for the “Care experience”. Of course, I took part in it. The school trip is very important for the students. We went to Tama zoo by train. They learned how to use the train there. To use public facilities is also very important for them to go out into the world later on. So we sometimes need to be strict to them when teaching. When we had to move on, one of the boys stopped walking and sat down there. I called him to walk but he didn’t move. He started to cry eventually. I was at a loss what to do. I thought I should carry him. But the teacher didn’t carry him. She called him to walk, just watching and calling him again and again. She tried to make him walk by himself. He barely walked by himself but sat down again soon after. Even after that, she just continued to watch and call him. I finally learned that is how the teaching should be to disabled persons. In ordinary schools, the teacher would carry him. But at schools for handicapped children, teachers try to make the students do by themselves as possible as they can. It sounds too strict but it isn’t. It is for the sake of students. Unless they can do things by themselves, they could never go out into the world. Well, when she watched and called him, her eyes looked cheering him. It was not only hard for him but also hard for her. I learned two very important things to become a teacher in this experience. First, it is difficult to communicate with disabled persons. They can hear what we say, but we can’t hear what they say. So we must understand what they want from their gestures, and expressions. Second, it is important for them to do by themselves. This should be the most important of all. Before I had the care experience, I had thought I would help disabled persons for everything. In fact, teachers in the school tried to make students do everything by themselves. To become a member of society is the goal for the students. I didn’t know much about disabled persons. But now, I think I know a little bit. They have a handicap since they were born. They must try harder than normal persons for the same results. After this experience, my opinion of disabled persons changed quite a bit. There must be my friends here who also want to be a teacher in the near future. They may also think in the similar way. To teach someone is absolutely a hard work, the rewards out weigh the work. Thank you for your attention.
Life is important The other day, I saw one TV program about the pet boom and animal protection. It told that there has been an extraordinary pet boom in Japan in recent years. People have an animal as a pet all together. Some animals live a life as if they were human, wearing clothes, and putting on their shoes. And even fitness clubs and esthetic salons exclusively for pets have started to appear in the market. We could say, “Pet industry is growing now”. This situation looks gorgeous at first sight, but in fact that’s not true. A TV program reminded me of one incident. It was some years ago when our family decided to keep a dog as a pet. We visited the local health center so that we would be the foster parents of an abandoned dog. As soon as I entered the room where abandoned dogs were accommodated, I was surprised at the enormous number of them. So many dogs were locked in the narrow cage, sadly yapping. The number exceeded my expectation. I didn’t know what to say and became sad because I thought of their fate that they would be killed several hours later. What is worse, certain things made me sad, too. One of them was behaviors of dogs. They came closer to me, constantly wagging their tails as if they were making an appeal for themselves. They tried to be loyal to human, in spite of having been abandoned by them. When I felt their enthusiasm in their behaviors, I really sympathized with them and felt anger against human who selfishly deserted the animals. After all, we took one puppy home. He grows nicely now. The latest data tell us that 112,618 dogs and 261,054 cats were killed in 2006 in Japan. Some dogs and cats brought to health centers occasionally became laboratory animals. In order to stop increasing the number, we must do something that we can, such as contraceptive operations and surgical castration. Quite a few people desert their pets, because they think that it is tough to bring their pets by themselves to a health center. However, the fact is that the number of dogs and cats who were deserted and found is only a handful. I want them to carefully think that hunger and pain of animals are intolerable. Some people abandon pets, and others save their life. Certainly, to keep deserted pets may be a good deed. However, you must not make a decision lightly. Pet keepers must raise animals being sensitive to their feelings in the comfortable surroundings. It means that you should spend lifetime with them. For the simple reason of your ad hoc pity feeling when you saw them, you can never go on keeping deserted animals. Not to keep an animal as a pet is also one of the options of expressing your affection. Animals are very cute. Accordingly, it’s only natural for people to wish to keep animals as pets, but once they have decided to keep, they must have responsibility to take care of them till the last moment. Animals are neither groceries nor consumption articles. We must remember that the lives of all creatures are equal and precious. Thank you.
Global
warming and influence of it Today, we live in a comfortable society with developed technologies. Cars enable us to move quicker than walking or running. Lamps provide us with brighter rooms. And phones help us talk with friends who live far away. But they give us not only advantages but also disadvantages. One example of disadvantage is the global warming. Global warming is the phenomenon in which temperature rises due to excessive greenhouse gases like CO2. Greenhouse gases absorb heat but don’t release it. This system keeps the earth warm. But since 1900s, greenhouse gases have rapidly increased and temperature has continued to rise. Concentration of CO2 in 1800s was 280ppm, but in 2005 it went up to 379, and the average of world temperature rose 0.67℃ in the last 100 years. This is 10 times higher than ever. This increase has a lot of bad effects. For example, 20% of ice in the North Pole has been melted. And the ice of Greenland, which is in the north of the earth, is also melting. According to hunters in the north Greenland, glaciers there have receded about 15kms. This prevents Greenlanders from hunting enough. In the polar region, ice plays a very important role in keeping the temperature low. If ice is melted, the temperature there would rapidly rise. So, the polar region will be more affected than the low latitudes. Melted ice flows into the ocean and raise the sea level. The sea levels of the world may rise as much as 59cms. Now, a lot of the ground is being submerged. Maldives, where 230,000 people live and which consist of 1,200 islands, are in danger now. The rising sea levels have a great influence on Maldives. Today, in Male, the capital of Maldives, the sea level rises and reaches just to their land. Same situation applies not only to Male but also to other islands of Maldives. To deal with this problem, people of Maldives built a seawall in 1980s. But, the sea level has continued to rise and the seawall was built over and over again. Another case is Tuvalu, which is a small country in the South Pacific Ocean. Storm surge often attacked Tuvalu. Intruded by seawater, people can't raise crops and they can't live. Today, the government of Tuvalu is seriously considering overall migration to another country. Greenland, Maldives and Tuvalu are not the countries emitting a lot of greenhouse gas. Why do they have to face such problems? Advanced nations also have danger. In fact, Venice, a famous city in Italy, is caught in storm surge called "ACQUA ALTA". ACQUA ALTA itself is a traditional phenomenon. But, the problem is that frequency of ACQUA ALTA has increased since 1990s. Government of Italy makes a plan against ACQUA ALTA. But this isn't satisfactory. Many countries have a sense of crisis and make agreements on saving the earth. In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol, in which many countries agree to reduce emission of CO2, was signed. But, almost no countries will ever achieve the targets. We need to reduce emission of CO2 and we can contribute from our routine actions. For example, if you reduce time of watching TV programs by 1 hour per day, you can reduce 4.8kgs of CO2 per year. Saving water can also contribute because water treatment requires a lot of energy. Another example is using your own shopping bag, using less air air-conditioning, or less car driving. We need to think to save
the earth. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, Do
you know “Syodo”? Nowadays, we can often see letters written with a calligraphy-brush. Examples are found in the wrapping papers and posters. And, it seems that people learning calligraphy have been increasing these days. Many people seem to start it as a hobby or to learn as one of the traditional Japanese cultures. I am very glad to see that. By the way, do you often write letters? We have a custom to exchange New Year's cards and summer greeting cards. As technology develops, this custom is being forgotten, isn’t it? Computers and e-mails are very convenient for sure. But I think you are very glad when you receive a hand-written letter because it must be the genuine letter. To my regret, however, it appears that the customs of not only handwriting but also sending letters are decreasing. I wish to keep them by all possible means. Now, let me introduce to you an artist. Her name is Tomomi Kunishige. She writes, or I dare say, draws “EI-KANJI”, literal translation of which is “English Kanji”. It is her original letters created from combination of English and kanji. For example, she writes the kanji of flower with alphabets of F, L, O, W, E, and, R following its spelling. When I saw it for the first time, I thought it was very interesting. And I was attracted very much. This is quite a new idea to fit with the times of now. I wish to take a look at more of her works. Profile of the calligraphy will be expanded by her activity. Especially, it will generate a chance for foreigners to be interested in calligraphy. I am very pleased to see that calligraphy spreads throughout the world. I personally think that calligraphy is a very nice Japanese culture. One of the biggest charms of calligraphy is that different pieces of work are created by author. All senses of beauty of the artist are reflected in one piece of work. And, the author can express oneself through one piece of paper with letters. So, we can guess what kind of person an author is. It is very interesting, isn’t it? It is naturally very important for me to do the calligraphy. And I want more people to show interest in it and spread it wider as a Japanese culture. Calligraphy is my best hobby, but there are still a lot of things about it that I don’t know. I want to know more about it and to make more works myself. If you are interested, why don't you try to challenge with me? I thank you so much for your attention.
“Save
the earth!” Do you know of a beautiful little island called Tuvalu in the South Pacific Ocean？ It is now disappearing from the world map. In recent years, we have been experiencing abnormal weather conditions all over the world. The cause of these phenomena is, as you know very well, global warming. Now, we are facing a crisis we have never experienced before. The IPCC, the research body on global warming, estimates that we have to cut CO2 emissions in half to prevent widespread damage. By the way, how much CO2 do you think we emit a year? The answer is 23 billion tons. That is a huge quantity. Now warm actions are necessary for a cool earth. What should we do to reduce such an enormous amount in half? First of all, we should aim to create an energy-conservation society. The use of renewable energy is essential for this. Renewable energy such as solar energy, tidal energy, and wind power energy emits less CO2 than fossil fuels. Secondly, the development of bio-fuel is needed. The bio-fuel is the ethanol made from corn or sugar cane and the oil for diesel made from soybeans. This doesn’t increase the amount of CO2 in the air. Bio-fuel can even be made from garbage. Thirdly, administrations should take compulsory measures such as imposing a tax on companies polluting the environment with toxic substances. It might be necessary to name and shame the firms who are not helping to solve this problem. Last but not least, each individual person’s attitude is important. In fact, there are so many things we can do to protect the global environment. For example, when we go shopping, we can walk or ride a bicycle and refuse to use plastic shopping bags. If we do these two things, we can cut down CO2 emissions about 80kg a year. In addition, we can turn down the air conditioning, separate garbage, use stairs instead of elevators, and buy eco–friendly products. Let me introduce a story about a hummingbird. “The forest was on fire. All of the animals, insects and birds rushed to escape, but there was one little hummingbird named Kurikindi who remained in the forest. This little bird went back and forth between water and fire, dropping a single drop of water from his beak onto the fire below. When the animals saw this, they began to laugh at Kurikindi. ‘Why are you doing that?’ they asked. And Kurikindi replied, ‘I am only doing what I can do.’ ” I was very touched by this story. His attitude is exactly what we need now. It is important to stop thinking that we can do little on our own. No matter how small the action is, it can become a big action if we all help. If more and more people try to do what we can do, the world will change. The earth is screaming. Only human beings can save the earth. Please take action no matter how small it is, before it is too late. It is our duty to leave the earth in a better state for future generations.
Working
makes you grow up Can you imagine what your life would be in the future? Most of you will experience some job. Working is necessary for us. Nevertheless, the young who don’t get any job have increased in recent years. In fact, one out of three isn’t a regular employee. Some of them intentionally choose the easy way because they aren’t confident in themselves. They have a negative image about a job. Now, we must think how we should live. Although I had also been afraid of my future, a person, who is a professor in my university, helped me to grow up. I used to think that working is hard, and that we work only for the sake of our own benefits. And therefore I had a negative image about working. After graduation from university, the young are naturally taken for granted as working adult. Furthermore, we can’t live without eating. If possible, I didn’t want to become an adult. There were many things that worried me, and the most typical was the lack of self-confidence. That’s why I always took the easy way. It seemed very difficult for me to go the hardest way. Whether I like it or not, time will come soon when I must live by myself and get the job. This is why my image about the work was bad rather than a way to be happy. Then one day, I went to school and took classes as usual. One of them was about the career education. As I haven’t found yet how I should do that, I was very interested in the lecture. The professor taught us how to think about the true meaning of working. He said, “To do a good job would make you happy because work could give you many chances to grow up.” In short, we can change ourselves in a better way. In addition, he also taught us that the young could contribute to the nation by working in the society. This lecture impressed me very much. I found that it was important for us to work and become independent. Now, I really hope to work as a person. And I am going to set several goals for my school life. In fact, unless I achieve them, I doubt if I will have chances of happy life. In conclusion, I learned two important things. First, I learned that even though the work looks tough, it would surely lead us to a wonderful life. It’s up to you to take advantage of that or not. You would face many difficulties but you don’t have to be afraid of them. All your experiences will surely help you to succeed in the long run. Second, I learned that working itself is already contributing to the society. The society expects the fresh power or ideas of the young. And you also have a duty to develop your nation. By working, you can gain something very precious to live. Let me give you one good example. When you work for someone else, you will find yourself to be kinder to others. Thus, the real aim of work is not only for profits or benefits but also for our own growth. It is definitely necessary for our life to work.
Wait
just a moment, please! No information given by media should be trusted 100 per cent. The more I study about media, the more I get to think like that. By the way, I define media here as TV, radio, the Internet, movies, magazines, and newspapers. Academic reports could also be regarded as part of the media in that they convey a certain message to their readers. I do not like to react as they intend me to do. So I first try to suspect and then find out what the truth really is. I try not to cry when I see the movies and dramas intended to make the audience cry. If I can’t help, I would rather disguise my feelings and may secretly weep. Because of such a personality, I often quarrel with my father. Let me give you some examples. When my father says, watching the news on TV, “The rise in crime is recently making the Japanese society dangerous,” I respond, “What do you mean by ‘recently’? When is it? Where is ‘the Japanese society’ specifically? How many pieces of news have you watched? Did you try newspapers? Why can you say the news tell us the truth? Aren’t you controlled by mass media?” This is a bad daughter. I do not want to have this type of child myself. It is often said that atrocious and juvenile crimes are increasing just as my father said. Is that true? Professor Hamai, a criminologist in Ryukoku University says, “Atrocious crimes are less than those 20 years ago. The society has never become more dangerous. Police statistics as they appear are inappropriate to use for measuring crime. But mass media do not usually understand it and are creating myths of increasing crimes.” In a society with fewer crimes, mass media tend to exaggerate small cases, continue to report on one case for a longer time, disclose private information of criminals and victims in detail, and make up the whole news like a story. Watching such news, audiences are likely to believe that the society is getting dangerous. Furthermore, data of Hirota Teruyuki, an educationist, show that juvenile crimes in Japan today are less common than before compared with other developed countries. Juvenile and atrocious crimes have rather halved in comparison with 30 years ago. We can obtain information not only from mass media but also from academic reports. What I mean is that you should not give too much weight to certain resources. Not until you reach genuine information by swimming in floods of data including TV news or academic reports, would you recognize the world for what it is. Otherwise, you would be controlled by specific information. You might think that you cannot enjoy or believe anything with such doubtful
viewpoints. But how would you feel if you are manipulated when you think
you are enjoying? Is that really what you want? I doubt it. It must be
better for you to understand what things really mean and pick up what you
really want. It may be sad to doubt things. But at the same time it is
interesting in a sense to know the rationale behind why you feel something
is interesting. |