Last Blog

Wow, I can't believe this is already my last blog... "That was quick!"(By Megumi. K) Autumn term was very busy but at the same time very fulfilling. I had never imagined university to be like this...

I really thank all of you for being great classmates:) And thank you Ken, for being a great teacher:)
I hope to see you some of you in classes we have together!!! And I hope we can organize a date where all of us can make it to a nice end-of-ELA party!!

Busy, Busy, and Busy

Everyone has been so busy with all the work they have to do, and all we talk about is how busy we are. It's almost like we are competing to be the busiest person. Like it's the new craze or something. I don't think I was that busy during this period of time last year. I was probably still able to have those extra ten or twenty minutes in the morning where I could be cozy in bed. But now, I have to jump up to my alarm clock(my iPhone) and prepare for finals when I could still be in my dreams. I was thinking about all this before going to bed last night and than I think, wait a minute, maybe I shouldn't be comparing how busy I am right now with last year. So then I decide to compare myself with others. The other day I met some of my friends at Sophia. And after their school festival, they sent me messages asking if we could hang out some day during these few weeks. I thought they were trying to kill me or something because I just couldn't understand going out somewhere during these weeks. I already have my job, three times a week, three finals, three reports, one essay, and two presentations all in two weeks. I must admit that I was lucky to not be part of the ICU festival committee, otherwise I would have been dead by now...

I know that there are busier people than I am. And I know that I'm not supposed to be complaining about how busy I am. After all, it was me who chose to enter the super busy university... But it just kills me to think that I can't sleep for another few minutes when I wake up in the morning... If it were Christmas tomorrow, I would wish for even just some of my work to disappear! All I want for Christmas is that. But obviously there's like another month until Christmas...

Mr. Kitashiro, Mr. Takeuchi, and Dc. Daisy

Happy Halloween!!! I hope you all got enough sweets and chocolates:) I know everyone's been quite busy with practice for the festival, finals, and reports. So I'll just write a short blog about the guest speakers we've had this week.

Mr. Kitashiro. He is as kawaii as our president. Although he graduated from the university of Keio, I thought he kind of seemed like an ICU student. He explained to us how he went to talk to the president of  the whole of IBM in the States to argue how his customer was right. He would go straight all the way through if he thought what he was doing was right and ask questions when he wasn't so sure about something. I think this has a lot to with ICU's critical thinking. And that pushed him all the way up to the top of IBM Asia.
A lot of the people I meet these days tell me to read books. And so did Mr. Kitashiro. I have so many books I want to and have to read waiting for me, and yet I cannot find time for any of them. Maybe I'm not too great with handling my time... But Mr. Kitashiro made it very obvious that reading was good for you in many ways. Also, knowing about your country. To tell the truth, I know nothing about Japan. Especially its politics and history. The other day, I went to accompany one of Hitomi's foreigb friends(?). They asked us some questions while we were walking down a shrine, but we were both puzzled and quite... It was quite embarrassing and sad to come to know that you know nothing of your country. Hopefully I will not encounter any more of these awkward situations...

Mr. Takeuchi and Dc. Daisy's experiences were somewhat extraordinary and unusual. They kept repeating that they knew nothing about Micronesia, including the language, culture, and people. And the more times they repeated it, the more I came to think that they really really were new to the whole country, let alone the situation. It was very surprising to know that the school was in a vey difficult situation. But it was even more surprising when they mentioned how Dc. Daisy was called the "savior." And how they respected him as he was one of the gods.
Although what Dc. Daisy did was a great deal of risk, I think the career has changed the rest of his life. He was dealing with new staff and a risky university, when he may have been sitting back at a comfortable chair, representing one of the best schools in his own country. I think Mr. Takeuchi mentioned how the right person(Dc. Daisy) was brought in at the right time. Matters could have been worse if he had come in earlier or later. The school could have gone bankrupt completely if it wasn't Dc. Daisy. But thank god it was Dc. Daisy at the right time to save the school!

What I learnt from all the guest lectures we have had so far, is that every one of them is very different. They operated their leadership in their very own way and managed to succeed. But one thing I have found in common is that they all have a very good sense of humor. Every now and then, in between their presentation, they would say a little something that would make us grin. They obviously weren't the funniest of jokes(no offense), but it made their speeches much more entertaining and easy to remember. Although we have read through the list of tips of Shackleton's leadership, I think the most important that may be true to every leader could be to have that little bit of humor.

Junko President:)

Very interesting lecture indeed. One of the best I've had so far in Autumn term. And by far the cutest person I have ever met on campus. After her hilarious but interesting and grateful lecture, I feel very proud and glad that she is the representative of our university.

Before actually meeting her and listening to her lecture, I had only heard her speech at our matriculation and saw a written interview with her and another president of some school on a magazine focusing on 受験(juken). From these sources, I had thought of her as the "women version" of the traditional Japanese presidents with long meaningless speeches... (Sorry for that Junko sensei). But I seem to have been wrong. Just like most of us, she was an ordinary high school student who had doubts about the 受験 system and therefore Sophia which was, back then, different from the other common Japanese universities. To pursue her wish to further study social linguistics, she moved herself to Penn Uni, which was kind of like her turning point for the rest of her life. She met a professor(I think she might have said advisor?) who she could rely on, studied her favorite fields, and made it to apply for a job in Japan. Working at Keio led her to come to ICU which has made her what she is right now: President of ICU.

Although she may have been just lucky in some points of her life, I think there is a lot to learn from her experiences. First, I think we really need to respect and cherish the relationships we have with others. Whether it be like an ordinary family friend, or an advisor of university, we never know, they could be our fairy god mother(or father) that has the key to change our lives forever. Junko sensei first travelled to the States, Connecticut just to meet her father's friend. But what she saw experiences was much more than just that. She had the opportunity to see the women's liberation movement in New York, which has been one of her motivations throughout her life. Moreover, her intimate relationship with her professor (advisor) at Penn Uni, allowed her to apply for Keio Uni.

Secondly, she never forgot to give up. She chose to apply for Sophia University even though she had a 50% chance of failing the exam. She chose to leave her family and country to pursue her dreams of studying her favorite fields. She didn't believe that a president of a university had to be a man, and became one herself. Her life events aren't normal experiences every girl would have done(or do). But I believe she managed to go through all of this because she never forgot that she could do or become anything she dreamed of. Just like the the famous Walt Disney's words: "If you can dream it, you can do it"

Thank you, Junko sensei:)

Cha Cha Maru

Reading about Lightning up, I was thinking about what would lighten me up no matter what sutuation I would be in. I haven't been able to come up with a perfect answer yet, but what popped in my head was Chachamaru. Chachamaru is a dog(shibaken) who used to live in front of my house. He isn't our dog, but he would often run out from the windows of his home and run into our garden. He would look me in the eye with a guilty look but still ask for food. 

He doesn't live in front if our house any more but I recall him being one of the joys in my life. Even if I had had a bad day, just by looking at him would jusr lighten me up. And thinking of that made me realize how celebrating and cheering up aren't the only ways of lightening up. Just by seeing or meeting your loved ones can also be away of lightning up. If you're feeling down, or want to just cheer up, maybe you should think about seeing some one or some dog you would feel good after seeing:)

OK, that was like a really silly blog post but it's probabaly because it's a Saturday night... 

Chapter 8 Lighten Up!

Find Something To Celebrate.

I love celebrating. It's one of the most cheerful and pleasant times in life. However, sometimes I find it hard to celebrate something or be happy for someone when I'm not in that mood. It can make me feel nervous, anxious, or even angry. I definitely cannot find something to celebrate in every moment of my life. So it's quite astonishing that Shackleton and his crew members would bring up something to celebrate every so often in the grimmest situations. They didn't just celebrate the happy moments that occurred during their trip; hardship, too, was changed into a reason to celebrate. And again, what is quite interesting is that the crew members went along with this idea. Like I said, I wouldn't be able to celebrate or cheer even if the leader of my team had encouraged me to. I don't really know whether the crew members were able to do it because of Shackleton's leadership or whether they were just optimists. But either way, I think it's something we(espesially busy Japanese people) need to think about. You can see how there is hardly no joy when you are on the Chuosen or even just walking through Tokyo. Maybe we should try some of the things we saw in Megu's video that we saw the other day:) 

TED:) Not the bear LOL

Ever since Rab introduced us to the TED or TEDex presentation videos, I've been really interested in them. Some of the presenters are very serious, and other are not. Some of the topics are very useful and some others are not. Here are some of the ones I like!!!

This one is called the "Art of Misdirection." Apollo Robbins calls himself one of the most intelligent thieves. He is indeed! I won't give it away, just have a look and see what he does as a "presentation"!

I watched this one because the title looked so interesting...: "How I held my breath for 17 minutes." David Blaine just talks and talks and sometimes drinks about how himself holding his breath. I didn't really think he was one of the best presenters but he surely had something that would attract me. Have a look!

Now, here's something very interesting. This is one of the serious one with a very strong message. Elizabeth Loftus is a psychologist who studies human memory. Her experiments are truly interesting. This is something you should definitely watch if you are interested in how the human memory works.

These three are just a part of my recommendation. There are many other, but I guess I'll leave that for the next time. If you have time on your hands, check it out:) Oh, and if you have any recommendations too, please let me know!!!