June 17th

It was our last day of ELA:'(
I appreciate the people in Stream 1 for being so nice and making my first semester in ICU so fantastic! Also special thanks to Rab for teaching us many many things. All the classes and words he gave stimulated me in various ways. It required hard working but I really really enjoyed being in this class.

I will miss this atmosphere and ELA and the people. 

See you guys until June or August when we will all go to Rab's house!

June 7th/10th/11th

June 7th's
This class was done by Paul Wadden on the novel the Old Man and the Sea. The class started out with the words, "put away your computers!" which was very shocking! haha! I'm personally not a big fan of literature and I didn't find the novel very interesting. However, the lecture opened up my view on literature. I was able to look at it from a different angle and appreciate many things. Adding to it, how he gave critical perspectives on the novel was very mind-opening, and I was happy to know that Paul was just not a crazy fan of Hemingway but also examined the book from a critical point of view. However, I don't think that I'm ever going to read that book again...

June 10th
The first presentations this day! And I absolutely had the feeling of going first for this class. Although we ran out of time for the questions and answers, our group overall went well :) However, I thought that with a little more time I could have done better. But that's my fault and I have the responsibility. As for the other presentations, the music group also did a good job! Their delivery of the content was something that I should learn from them.
It was kind of hard to do my presentations in ILC because the controller of the slides was so far away and the projector didn't work out very smoothly. Probably presentations will go much more efficiently with the close access to the controller and a better functioning equipment.

June 11th
Second day for presentations! Such a relief that I'm over with it. Because I've already finished presenting, I was able to listen to other people's presentations without nervousness and fear :) The two groups have done a really good job in their presentations and I especially loved Hitomi's super British accent! The contrast between Megumi's southern accent and Hitomi's British accent was kind of interesting. As for the content, both groups had concrete arguments and rigid facts that would support they point of view.
The rooms were much better than the Mac room in ILC. The presenters were able to carry their presentations according to their own pace, and the equipment was far more better. But the only thing that bugged me was the fact that the distance between the speaker and the audience became a little further. However, overall I think that presentations should be done in the Honkan.

June 4th

Today's LLA lecture was about the future of technology which was done separately from the Stream 2 students.The future vision he gave on technology was quite interesting. The four keywords presented were the following;
Genetic engineering
Robotics
Intelligence
Nanotechnology
Along with these keywords, three people who vision the future from different standpoints was introduced.

I don't think that our techno future will be neither hell nor heaven. From my opinion, people will be able to cope with innovation efficiently throughout time. So iRobots dominating humans in movies is most likely not happening.

Listening to this lecture really made me wonder what Rab would think about future technologies. Rab uses so much technology in education which I believe is a good thing. My work efficiency was surely brought up after learning from Rab. However, it kind of makes me wonder why his personal lifestyle is so far from technology. He lives in a log house with a non-flushing toilet surrounded with goats and other animals instead of robots. His career life looks pretty much pro-tech. On the other hand, his personal life seems to be based on con-tech ideas. Is Rab a techno-optimist or a techno-pessimist? It really made me wonder.

The Corporation 1-3

Chapter one covered how corporation and its shareholders gradually gained their current authority throughout history. The following chapters explained how pursuit of profit is all that matters for corporations and the interference of externalization affecting them. 

One thing he mentioned is that corporations employ mascots and images that would make corporations attractive despite their dark side being profit-centered monsters. Indeed, these mascots do actually help to pose an human face of corporations. Let's see some few examples.

This Peko-chan's(Fujiya's mascot) innocent smile on her face makes us forget about the fact how the corporation intentionally used overdue milk for some products in order to save money.

photo by rumpleteaser

"Yo dude, I sold horse meat calling it beef but who cares! I'm still rich baby!"

photo by Mark Lincoln

He also described how corporations do all sorts of good things in order to hide their inhumaneness. Of course, all those community services are a part of their strategies to bring up the corporation's reputation and profit. However, as I said in my former blog post, corporations contributing for the society itself is not a negative aspect. For example, UNIQLO collects used clothes and give them out to the countries that need them such as Kenya, China, Zambia, Nepal, Georgia and so on. And NTT Docomo has built 10 schools in Thailand. I totally understand that corporations are just compensating their negative image of being profit monsters, and that these philanthropic acts don't spring out from pure hearts which simply hope for world peace. Nevertheless, if you look at the standpoint from people who are being contributed, the outcome of this corporation's reputation manipulation is positive. UNIQLO provided them with warm clothes, and NTT Docomo generated new educational opportunities. Therefore, I'm still pretty convinced that corporations not always do harm to the society but can actually do good.

June 3rd

We had two classes today! It was like a deja vu seeing everyone in the same clothes at the same room twice in one day :)

About using technology in class. I think that ICU is tolerant in using our phones and computers during classes compared to other Japanese universities. Some friends from Sophia University told me that teachers don't allow students to take out anything but their notebooks and pens during lectures. On the other hand, I see a lot of ICU students using evernote to take notes and searching through the internet for whatever further information they want. However, there are some old-fashioned stubborn professors who like to stick on to custom in ICU. For example, one teacher that currently teaches us right now prohibits students from drinking, eating, and using computers during class. She says that it "distracts" other students. Really? I think that its not that distracting, and that suffering from thirst and hunger, and suspending the access of new information is a bigger distraction for our learning.

Watching videos of people doing risky activities really shortened my life. I will never do such things. I'm a super scared person who can't even go on roller coasters. The furthest that I can get is the Splash Mountain in Disneyland(I will never go on the Tower of Terror. Neeevveeerrrr), so crossing half-damaged roads and climbing a cliff without any lifesavers is never happening to me.

The Young Turks was really good! I'm definitely subscribing that youtube channel.

Don't drink Starbucks at Hong Kong Rab! Watch THIS.

May 31st

In the beginning of class, Rab gave us some feedback on our blogs. When he told us how some students don't know how to write e-mails to professors, it made me kind of scared because I've already done those things to them. For example, starting with the subject "hi".

The Meatrix video really heart moving. Although I thought that the video can do a little better in depicting the cruelty of producing animal meat. As far as I know, the hidden part of meat production is much more darker. Animal meat is made in great mass on assembly line. They are just treated like objects, and not as living organisms. Other than meat, chickens are stuffed into half a size of tissue boxes for their whole lives for them to lay eggs.

I believe that the Meatrix and the upside down mouth video was more successful because the things that they demanded to the readers were a lot more easier. Yes, posting photos and checking websites are things we can do. But writing a letter to the congress... nahhhh too much work.

May 29th

Gosh that room was so hot and smelly :S I don't like that room.

Today we listened to Rab's talks on how we live in such a profit-centered world. He mentioned that no such thing as "good" corporation exists. However, I'm still uncertain about it. It is true how the money making emphasis of corporations do apply for most of them. Thus, those policies have drawn down serious consequences such as the accidents caused by inefficient cars. Nevertheless, I believe that some corporations can do good. I solely believe in this because I myself take part in some volunteer activities under Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LLC for the corporation's CSR activities. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has been placing effort in doing some community service to support the damage of the Great East Japan Earthquake ever since that catastrophe occurred. Last year, they needed some students who would support doing their reconstruction support so two friends and I organized a group and have been doing community service for the Tohhoku district since then. This corporations has done so many positive things. They helped in establishing the Ofunato Tsunami Museum, organizing a market place to sell food from Tohhoku, holding a message event for the victims and so on. Therefore, my conclusion is that not all corporations are evil. However, it is true how what I'm seeing is just the single side of this corporation, so the internal system of it may be corrupt. Still, my experiences show how some corporations actually have a bright side.

The messages and money that we collected for the victims of the tsunami.