Welcome! It was wonderful to meet you all on Thursday.
I was interested to see that many of you already follow the news. Here are the main news sources you already use:
Newspapers: Asahi Shimbun, Nikkei Shimbun
TV: TBS、日テレ
Internet: Yahoo! News, BBC One Minute, Asahi, CNN Student News, TED Talks
Magazines: Newsweek
Please comment: Are there other sources you like?
Here are news stories that you find most important right now:
Issues regarding the presidential election in the United States interests three of you.
Syria, environmental issues, and nuclear issues [North Korea's nuclear testing,
Myanmar's ratification of Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)] interested two students each.
However, one of you is also interested in the refugee problems in Europe (related to Syria) and ongoing nuclear power plant issues in Japan (related to nuclear issues).
Other important stories of interest include important domestic issues in Japan:
Territorial issues
US military bases in Okinawa
Typhoon damage this summer
The move of Tsukiji Fish Market
Women and work / politics
The opposition movement to the Security Laws in Japan
Please comment: Which of these you think is the most interesting and why.
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Student Presentations: Yuri
I made a presentation about the November 8th election in Myanmar. First, I talked about Myanmar's history, and then explain the election with greater details.
Since a coup occured in 1962, Myanmar's politics had been controled by military power. When socialistic government ended by a demonstration for democracy in 1988, SLORC started to control political power. in 1990,
free election was held and NLD won but the government didn't transfer
political power to NLD. Since this election, the government and Aung San
Suu Kyi were in opposition and she got under house arrest until she was
released in 2010. next year, Thein Sein was elected as a new president
and SPDC transferred political power.
On the November 8th election,
NLD got over 80% of seats. This is one point of the election because
Aung San Suu Kyi can be a president. Now she cant be a president because
of the constitution, so she can change it and become a president.
And the November 8th election gave effects on other neighbering countries. According to Nikkei asian review, Myanmar is one of the influence countries. the voting process was so
smooth and free that everyone couldnt expect.
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Student Presentations: Piljun
I made the presentation on December 8th about the economic
situation in Syria and refugees. I chose these topics because our
class discussed a lot about the political situation in Syria and
refugees, however, if we know both political and economic situations,
we could understand more clearly.
First, I introduced the economy of Middle East. Early December, The
famous French economist, Thomas Piketty, said Middle East is ‘the
most unequal on the planet.’ Because oil monarchies such as Saudi
Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirate controlled the wealth in
Middle East, and it caused widening gap in the income inequality.
According to his research, these countries own over 60 percent of
wealth in Middle East. Moreover, youth unemployment rates is
extremely high.
Second, I showed the economy of Syria. Syria’s two main sources of
income are oil industries and agriculture businesses. However, the
both of industries are damaged past a decades. Oil industries held
nearly 30 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Syria, but the
total oil production keep declined since 1996. In 2011, it dropped in
half than at peak times. In addition, Agriculture is also damaged
because of the extreme drought in 2006 to 2010. According to the
data, 80,000 farmers lose their job at that moments, and over a
million people fled to rural areas for finding jobs. Now, Syria’s
oil export decreased tremendously, hence GDP is decreasing and the
unemployment rate is increasing which means the economy of Syria is
doomed.
Finally, I talked about economic boons and burdens of accepting
refugees. The countries have to pay lots of money for accepting these
people. Many economists predicts Germany will spend 21 billion euros
in this year. On the other hands, accepting refugees has the economic
benefits. The European countries are aging society. These refugees
would replace the old labor force in Europe. More population means
more consumption and more taxes; therefore, it will be advantages in
long-term.
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