Four (U.S.) marines investigated for rape

In the response of Manuel Sandoval, he is trying to say that the investigation about this suspicion of rape is unfair and too quick. The reason is the woman was working at a bar and she could have expected what would happen to her if she got out with four marine guys. According to his logic, women who work at bars can be raped and if a woman get out of bar with some men, that means she expects some sexual things with them.

It is obvious that no men have permission to rape a woman even if she works at a bar or she joins the bunch of men. So what he is trying to say is just his own point of view about women, and should not be accepted.

He is also trying to defend this rape by marines in another way. He says the U.S. military is protecting Japan from the aggression of China or North Korea, and taking a very important part, but Japanese people forget it and do not appreciate it much these days. He does not say it in an obvious way, but what he wants to say is that if U.S. armies make some mistakes or commit a crime, they should be treated leniently because they protect Japan and very important for Japanese.

Also here, the way he tries to make his point is just expressing his own view. As Kevin Egan says in his response, having many bases around the world does not mean soldiers who work abroad are allowed to do whatever they want to do. So also in this case, those four marines should be treated fairly.

Why am I still in IES!?

So...today’s topic is why I am in IES. Actually, I didn’t decide to get into IES when we were asked at TOEFL test. I thought we would have the last questionnaire about whether I really wanted to take an IES course or not, but it was the last one and that is why I am here now. At first I was like “Oh my god! I can’t do part time job and little free time!” because at the previous university, I had to study pretty hard and I hated it, so I thought I made the same mistake again. However, now I think I have much free time (that’s not enough, though) and got some good friends here and outside the class, so I am happy to be here in IES a and this university.

I don’t know any other particular reasons why I am still here. Maybe I just don’t want to quit something again...you know if I keep giving up everything I hate, I am going to be a miserable loser, not a fabulous loser. It seems to be funny in a sense, but I don’t want to be like that yet!

Another reason is probably I liked ALT’s classes as a high school student (95% of the reason is he was cute). And at my high school, our English teachers spoke in English almost all the time, but it seemed a little strange to me...like why Japanese teachers are speaking to us in English? So it attracted me that Native English speakers speak English at IES classes, not Japanese teachers.

Anyway, the biggest reason why I am still here is friends!! yay.

←with one of my best buddies!! ↓

my favorite movie from youtube　↓↓

School Festival

School festival of our university is almost coming. I do not know what it is like, but maybe fun. I heard some of my classmates will sell Frankfurt there. Oh and we can not have any alcoholic drinks at festival...why? That is all I know about the festival so far. I prefer drive somewhere and watch birds with beer...whatever. Anyway, let's have fun!!

You can watch the performance of the cheer leading club of Kansai Gaidai. Maybe they did it at last year's school festival.

Happy Halloween!!!

Today, I do not have anything exciting to write here, so I want to write about Halloween!! I do not know much about it, but I want to have a party, actually my friends will have some parties...so I have to think about the costume I will wear. Have you ever worn any costumes for Halloween? Hmmm...maybe to be a bunny girl is a good idea I think.

←I found this cute picture on Yahoo!

Or I think Universal Studio Japan has some events on that day, so if you have someone special to go with, just go!!

You can get some information about it on USJ Halloween homepage

Using Gairaigo

I think that using or importing more gairaigo is not good. Originally, the aim of using gairaigo is to express the concepts or ideas from other countries, mainly from western countries, but many Japanese people can not understand the meaning of many gairaigo, even foreigners from English speaking countries find it hard to comprehend. In this situation, I wonder if there is any reason to keep using more gairaigo. As Tomoko Otake says, Japanese people in meiji era could understand the meanings of those new words written in kanji, then why do not we try to express recent gairaigo in kanji? I think we are using those words not because it is easier to express the meanings, but because we can feel like we are getting closer to the West. As Yuichiro Yamada says, I think Japanese people tend to admire almost anything western, and look down upon Asian cultures. I really do not know why Japanese people think western cultures are better than those of Asia. Of course, there are many good things in west countries, but Asian countries have as well. We can not say which culture is better than the other. This worship for the west is making the situation of using more gairaigo which causes more communication problems. I think the most important thing is to change it. This worship for the west is making recent situation. The more we become proud of our own culture, the more we will try to make use of it.