June 17th Last Blog Entry...?

Sooo I guess this is my last blog entry...
this is probably going to be one of those really cheezy blogs where i just go on and on about how much I love my stream people...just to warn you beforehand

anyways, i remember the first day of ELA. I was extremely nervous because I honestlyhonestly never in a million years, thought i would be in stream 1. so i just automatically thought these stream 1 kids would be intimidating and beat me up mentally. haha
but no, they didn't. they welcomed me and not only did they accept me but they also respected me which made me feel so 'at home.'
the first discussion, i think i was with moe, johnny, megu and haruka. i remember being so nervous i almost couldnt say anything. buttt as discussions inevitably became a daily part of my life, i got used to it day by day. i know i say this quite a lot but the environment i was in, in the stream 1 classroom was completely different from the one i had in my returnee program in high school. these stream 1 kids are trulytruly special. they represent youth and also a loudloud voice; everything that is pretty much needed in this country. i genuinely think that these people have the potential of making a change in this country or wherever.

Now,
Rab, thank you so much for the most fulfilling 3 months i probably have ever had in my entire life. You taught us to doubt almost every single thing that exists, to not just sit there and accept everything that's been given to you but to actually go and fetch for the information. we all love you so much and i know this isnt the end...like really this isnt the end cause im taking your class in the winter.haha

i really am going to miss ELA with the mac rooms and funky fridays and all its glory.
best semester...
by the way these are the photos we took yesterday! i smell a new screen saverr.aha

as green day said it,
'I had the time of my life...'

Corporation 4-6

First of all, the way chapter 4 started up was excruciatingly painful to read. I mean I bet it is normal for corporations to think about profits even during a tragic event but still, it was shocking. Even during the 311 earthquake, a lot of people who werent affected probably thought only about stocks, gold and what not. This all reminded me a lot of the movie 'Wall Street' with Charlie Sheen(before he went crazy) and Michael Douglas. If you watch the movie, you can actually see how the money moves behind the public eye and there's this quote, a bit long but fits the situation perfectly.

"The richest one percent of this country owns half our country's wealth, five trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons and what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It's bullshit. You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own. We make the rules, pal. The news, war, peace, famine, upheaval, the price per paper clip. We pick that rabbit out of the hat while everybody sits out there wondering how the hell we did it. Now you're not naive enough to think we're living in a democracy, are you buddy? It's the free market. And you're a part of it. You've got that killer instinct. Stick around pal, I've still got a lot to teach you."*1

In the last chapter, it says that corporations were 'originally conceived as a public institution whose purpose was to serve national interests and advance the public good.' This made me laugh a bit because I couldnt imagine a world where corporations-the HEAD of money making, being good. BUTTTTTT, then again, if i think back on Koji's presentation, there might be. 

I think all of this teaches us that corporations dont have to be all bad and caught up in this capitalistic world. They have a choice of doing good but prioritize their interests over the people, just like any dictator would to save his own country. As long as the market, the people keep quiet then none of this will ever change. Recognition, is probably the most important thing. 

All in all, this book was a very stimulating one. I think I want to watch the movie once more though.haha

*1
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/quotes

June 17th Presentation Timeeee

So the last group left was Yusuke, Maki and Izumi.
All presentations were interesting, but I gotta say, Izumi's got to me the most. It just might be because I personally am interested in photography but Izumi's was the first and only presentation that I felt like changed me or should I say, my outlook on photography. All of the other presentations that were given throughout the past couple of days were good but the thing is, after I hear the topic/argument, the content of the presentation never really contributed on influencing me...it's hard to explain but after you listen to a topic and the presenter's opinion on it, you(listener) construct your own argument and then you listen to the whole of the presentation hoping that it will influence your original stance. I feel like Izumi's was the one that successfully did this. I still don't understand what it was that made this possible but I'm guessing it was the way she spoke...it seemed as if she wasn't trying to remember the content of a cheat sheet but rather simply trying to deliver a message. It's scary how much the audience can interpret this.
Next up was Kristi. I am so glad that she got to give her presentation. She explained very well how the Koto works and how it is a too often neglected instrument. I was very well convinced to the point that I actually started wanting to play it.haha
although i do wished she wouldve given a bit more detail on why she thinks Koto's lost its popularity since that's her main argument not how the koto works.

Rab also mentioned today that we should say in the beginning of the presentation why people should be convinced by your argument and such.
It was such an experience having presentation classes with Rab but I don't feel content. I am definitely taking the presentation classes in the winter!

June 14th Am I a Psychopath?

Another day of presentations,,,

So the first group was Koji, Masamune, Takumi and Robyn. 

Man Koji is so good at this. He basically went against Rab's idea of corporations and first of all, I think that was a very brave thing to do. Second, even though Koji gave a number of convincing ideas,  my stance towards corporations have yet to change. It would definitely be great if we could use corporations for the better of developing countries but reality is, corporations are taking advantage of those opportunities. I'm not a specialist in this field so I can't say much but. 

Next it was Masamune! It was interesting to listen to Masamune's presentation since I am completely opposed to the olympics being held in Japan. If the olympics were to be held in Japan, I can only a train jam packed with people...as if it weren't crowded enough already. I wanted to ask Masamune a question, but due to time constraints, I couldn't. Anyways, my question was what Masamune thought of the lack of enthusiasm towards the olympics amongst the people.

Takumi and Robyn both had similar topics.  Not to be sexist or anything but it was reallyreally nice to hear a guy talk about women empowerment, especially because I feel really close to this topic. Robyn's video really spoke to me as well. I absolutely hate it when people say to me, 'don't worry about jobs, you're a girl' which is quite often since I live in Japan. People sometimes think the fight for the equality between the sexes are over but it's not. We need more people like Takumi and Robyn to actually take on this critical issue. 

The next group was Narumi and Kenta...Man I love these two. They made me laugh without even trying. 

Narumi's topic was so interesting, especially the point that 1 in 100 people are psychopaths. The thing I realized here was that not psychopaths are criminals. No matter what kind of childhood they might have had, there has to be a trigger within the society that makes these psychopaths transverse into a criminal. Narumi is amazing. Her personality is just..<3!haha

Next up and last one of the day was Kenta. I always thought that the link between personality traits and blood types was completely absurd, but that might have been because I was 'B.' The relations with the ratio of blood types in Japan and the personality traits was very interesting. It's interesting to hear the decent of what is being told to this day.

Anyways,I can't wait till monday but then again its the last class of ela and im not ready for that yet. 

Jun 12th Art, Dance, Food and Animalssss

So today was our session DOS for presentations!
Boy, are the people in 1A good with presentations. My high school had a returnee program and were, I guess you could say enthusiastic in giving presentations, speeches and all of those public speaking opportunities so we did have a fair amount of times where we actually had to speak in front of a crowd. However, with all do respect towards my high school, the standards are completely different from the kids in 1A. The huge element that sets the line between the 1A kids and my high school is CONFIDENCE. Everyone is so confident when giving presentations. I mean, they could be hiding their nerves but even if they were, they are doing a heck of a good job on it.

I reallyreally liked the way Megumi talked with such poise and confidence. She seemed so sure of what she was saying that it drew the audience's attention to her. It would be great to have dancing in education but as Megumi said, a lot of the teachers would indeed get intimidated by children who are actually learning dancing. It's like the Japanese teachers who teach English in front of returnees.
Hitomi,,,wow Hitomi. They way she presented was so professional. Her presentation was based on so much data that I was actually convinced of her argument to make arts a compulsory education. However, I do not know if the government are willing to change anything.
I loved Yuca's topic. I think the way Yuca presented the topic made it much more relevant to the audience with her use of words and pictures to put on the slide. I personally hate the ordinary zoos that have animals locked up in cages. It just seems so wrong and 'unnatural.' Her point about how we were only seeing one aspect of the wild really spoke to me.
Moeka, I loved the first slide pic she had. hehe
I really do think the services in Japan are better than the ones in America but as Moeka pointed out, the difference in culture may reflect this result a lot. The thing I feel when I go to fast food restaurants in America is that I feel like every service is for a tip. I know I am completely biased but I just feel that way somehow. Then you have services in Japan where you get to see lovely  employees like this,,,

Haru,,I really liked the video she had. It was very thought provoking and convincing. She had so much control of what she wanted to say that I could tell that she was well prepared!
Anyways, I totally agree with her point that everyone is responsible for the accelerating obesity rates. This made me recall the time when a girl sued Mcdonalds for her obesity. It seems ludicrous but then again, you can't blame her for feeling that way...


The one important thing I realized today when delivering a speech is that you cannot forget to make your main point. Sometimes, you get caught up in the content of the argument that you forget the premise and the point because in the end, you're giving a speech in order to make a point.
I can't wait to hear others' speeches on Friday!

June 11th Rab's Review on Yesterday's Presentations

Listening to Rab's review on yesterday's presentations made me realize just how much I underestimated the standards of giving presentations. It was especially great to hear Rab's intricate review on my own presentation.
Today, I finally realized what a slideshow actually was for. Before, I had simply thought it was a tool to   help the presenter emphasize points and maybe add a few photos to visualize the talks. However, it is muchmuch more than that. By using slideshows, you can actually control how the audience perceive your whole presentation. From the dopamines to the contrasts, there are so many methods to make your presentation stand out from the crowd and make a point. I mean, lets get real here. Nobody would eagerly choose to sit down for 30 minutes just to listen to the same person talk and talk and talk,,,but with just a bit of a touch in your slides and the way you talk, you'll be able to turn that situation all around. People would start wanting to listen to your presentations. I mean, I listen to presentations on TED not because I should but because I want to, because it's interesting.
I should probably start watching more videos on presentations to learn my skills.

I also can't wait to start taking Rab's presentation courses in the winter term.

June 10th PRESENTATIONS #1

Before class, some of my classmates were extremely nervous about the presentations but for me, I had this confidence that came out from no where that our group would not be chosen. butt, surprise surprise we were the ones chosen. I guess it was good that I never predicted it would be our group since it cut off a lot of time that would have been consumed on being nervous.
The first group that came up on stage was Megu, Moe, Johnny and Take. All of the members of this group had individual strong points. I really liked Take's video because that was very original and something that would surely bring the viewers' attention. Though, Joki probably stole the whole show. Apart from the fact that he probably naturally has the charisma, he was also very confident and was so sure about what he wanted to say. Most importantly though, he was passionate about his topic. I think passion is sososo important when giving a presentation because no one would want to listen to you if you didn't seem that interested in the topic.
As for me, I think I was too much in a rush. Practice is so important because it really does show in your presentation.

Now that I've handed in my essay and finished my presentation, all I'm feeling is relieved...
I can't wait to start listening to other people's presentations without having to worry if I'm going next:)

p.s.
our group consists of joki, kristi and me. Kristi was sick so couldn't give her presentation but her views on the deterioration of Koto music would have truly been intriguing.