Discussion 11: Gender Gap

5. Is it possible for men and women to be equal?

     I think it is impossible. Of course, I do want it to be equal and I want to support it strongly. And human rights, such as giving education, job opportunity and voting should be equal. So, I really think that the situation of gender gap in developing countries should be improved especially.
     However, there are some differences between men and women physically and we cannot change them and they can be a limits. When we think about the developed countries, such as Japan, there are still some gender gap but it may be difficult to improved in some fields. So, I think we need to get same opportunities and chances with understanding and accepting the differences of each genders.

Discussion 10: Tourism

4. Is tourism good or bad for the planet? Explain.

I think it is bad for planet and it cannot be good for it. It is because, it is necessary to use some transportations for traveling and almost all the transportations need energy, such as coal, electricity, etc.
I know that it is bad for planet, but at the same time, I 'm quite sure that it cannot be stopped to travel with transportations.
And I guess we have one solution for it. It is creating recyclable energy. It is not perfect for the planet, but it is much better that non-recyclable energies. We need to change all the energy resources for continuing enjoying tourism.

Discussion 8: Beauty & Social Pressure

6. What do you think of the "dress for success" advice for interviews (p.72)?

     I think that it is a really important thing and this is really true. When interview, interviewers tries to find your personality. However, the materials to know about your personality are quite limited and not so much in just a few minutes. So, dress is one of the important materials to tell your personality. In Japan, almost all about the dress for job interviews are decided and there are so many rules. So, sometimes, I think it is too much, but at the same time, I can feel that it is true that we can show more beautiful with these rules. Not only for the interviews, but also in the daily life, dress is important for success. You may not be able to have a good image to the person who wear some old clothes, although you can have a good image to the person who wear  some nice clothes.

Discussion 6: Think Positive

2. Are you a "glass half-full" or a "glass half-empty" kind of person? Explain with examples.

I think that I am a "glass half-empty" kind of person by myself. However, it is not all the time and it is only for my favorite things or what I like to do.
For example, when my cellphone's batery bacomes half, I feel that 'there are only half battery, so I should not use it so much'. And also, I feel there are only half when I eat my favorite foods and when the Arashi's concert I feel like that too.
That's why, I feel that I am a "glass half-empty" kind of person.

Discussion 5: Happiness

4. If you were in charge of creating a gross national happiness (GNH) index, what factors would you take into account?

I would like to take about whether they can say "I'm happy" or not and healthy.
I think that GNH is much more difficult to measure than GDP or GNP, because happiness cannot be seen. So, the most important thing is that whether the people of the nation can say "I'm happy" or not.
I think Happiness is not always connected with income and rich. Actually, Japanese GNH is really low, even though GDP is quite high. Whether they can say happy or not is connected with their own value and the environment where they grew up and it is really hard to be changed.
And also, I think that healthy is one of the most important measure of GNH, because without health, we cannot do anything.

Discussion 4 : Family Matter

2. Give your opinions about the best way to help a mother with a newborn baby.  Also, think about the traditional Japanese examle where a new mother moves back to her own mother's home for a month to get support.

I think that the traditional Japanese way is the best for a mother with a newborn baby. I have three reasons to say so. First, a mother can be relaxed  at the house where she had stayed before she married. I think it is really helpful for a mother to make her everyday life usual. Second, by living with her parents and being taught how to deal with her baby, she can know how she was brought up when she was baby. I think that it is really good opportunity to know that and she can be noticed how it is hard as a mother of a baby. And third, mother can talk with her parents a lot. After she born a baby, she can talk with her parents not only as  a child but also as a parent. So she may be able to feel thank you for her parents. With  these reasons, I think that traditional Japanese way is really good.

Discussion3 : Love around the World

2. Give your opinions about gender roles in dating. Think about who should ask for date, who should pay, and the traditional roles for men and women. Are the traditional ways best?

I think the person who want to go dating should ask for a date and the person who asked for a date should pay and we should not care about men or women. It is because not only men but women want to go dating with her boyfriend. I think we shoud not have any roles about whether men or women shoud ask and pay.
However, I'm sure that if the men ask for a adate and pay, lots od women think that he is cool.
So, if there are no rules, we may make some rules between men an women.

Discussion 2 : Alternative Education

7. Whould you like to be a student at Hertford House?

No, I don't want to be a student at this school because I thought this school looks like a university. I know taht we can't do all the same things even though at a university.  If we become a student at the school, I think we can get the skill of management or taking responsibilities and so on. However, at the university, we can brush up the skill what we may be able to get at that school if we really want to. These skills are necessary for all of us after we enter the society but at the same time, we need to hanve patience. I think that at high school, we can brush up this skill with obeying lots of rules.
If we had no chance to learn it, we may get some trouble at the office or home or communitee. That's why, I don't want to enter Hertford House.

Discussion 1: Education & Studying Abroad

6.Studying abroad is not really "serious." It's just a vacation. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

I desagree. It's because my experience was serious although it was just 3 months. I think it depends on the person who go to study abroad. It may become just a vacation if you go another country and not so active to study the langage or the culture. However, it is possible to make the studying abroad serious with a tuff mental and lots of energy even if it's just a short period. And also, I think only the people who think studying abroad is a serious thing should go to study abroad.
That's why I think studying abroad is really serious.