5/31 class record

Yesterday our discussions were mainly about politics. In response to why only 50% of Japanese citizens vote, my group talked about loss of trust in the government and lack of political advertisements directed towards different age groups. I know the whole voting process should not be about how attractive or entertaining it should be, but I definitely think election ads like the ones we saw in Sylvan's class would make it more interesting.

Our second topic was about what qualities make a person belong to a certain country. I was reminded of my Indian teacher who taught Japanese History at my school who could speak Japanese more fluently than any Japanese person. Or a young American couple I randomly sat accross in a train, who got up faster than anyone to give a seat to an elderly woman. OK, so maybe providing a seat to somebody doesn't make anyone Japanese but... there are many instances where "foreigners" are more in line with another country's culture. And yet, they are not seen as being native to that country no matter what proof they have. In the context of Japan, I thought the underlying issue here is sakoku. Because they had isolated themselves and were finally awakened to the shock of the modernized outside world when they finally opened up, maybe they still have this xenophobic perception that foreigners are just really different or even superior than they are. This reminded me of how Barna said that Japanese have this feeling that they are totally different to the world; they think that they understand others but don't feel understood. Could something that happened so long ago still have an effect on the way Japan sees the world?

5/28 class record

TGIF :)

Today as I was about to step onto the bus back to Mushashi-Sakai, I met up with Asami and Kaori. Getting off the bus, we walked past the ticket area and were heading towards our platform when I realized that there was someone really tall behind us. It was Rab! We all stepped onto the crowded train together and got off at our destinations. Nice coincidence :)

In class, we marked our own PWTs and then our first essay via sentenceworks. It was hard to give myself a grade on the PWTs because I was unsure whether or not I had accurately answered the content part of the questions. Trying to determine how many points my incompleted answer was worth was challening too. It was a good experience though and I'm sure practicing how to objectively examine writing will help with editing our own essay as well as those of other students.

Moving onto sentenceworks, I thought it was handy because it pointed out all possibe spots for more improvement and because it let me edit in a different color so I could see the changes I was making in the paper. I got a bit confused with the usage of passive voice, but learned that it is not always necessarily wrong to include it in a paper. It depends on the preference of the teacher. Luckily, Rab does not mind much about passive voice.

Uh oh... I'm half sleeping as I write this ><
Sorry for the simple entry... will try to do a better job next week.
Good Night.

5/26 class record

Today I was shocked to find out about what had happened to Rab's mother in law and his son :(
But Rab's video reassured me that things will be okay. His son is sooo cute!!!!!!! x)
I hope they get better soon!

Before class started, we had a little CB meeting about what we wanted to do for the ICU Festival. As a class, we will be selling cupcakes (Cupcake Bakers... get it?! ;] ) most likely and we decided on a place near Bakayama, I think? and for both days of the festival. Thanks to Tomoya for organizing everything! We're planning on making a class t-shirt which will most likely be designed by our artist Sayaka, but she needs ideas! So give her an idea of what you would like to see on our potential t-shirt :)

Class itself was conducted by an ELP teacher named Sylvan. Not many of us were familiar with him, but his class was really interesting. Building on our knowledge of selection, slanting, and charged language from the Birk & Birk reading, he focused today's class on American political attack advertisements and how these qualities applied to them. We watched four commercials; two of which had the intention of persuading the audience NOT to vote for John McCain and two which suggested the opposite: to NOT vote for Barack Obama. We watched the commercials and were given handouts that showed each major scene and quotes from the commercials. Then, working in pairs, we analyzed the reasons the advertisements gave audiences to not vote for the selected individual, the evidence behind these reasons, any assumptions and examples of selection, slanting, and charged language via emphasis on words, voice of the narrator, images and colors used, mood of the BGM, etc. After discussing each commercial as a class, Sylvan also introduced the backstories of these commercials. I was especially shocked after learning about how McCain "does not know how to use the computer" because he was physically tortured in North Vietnam during the war and hence, cannot use his arms very well to this day. The fact that this is widely known and yet this commercial was still O.K. to be used on television is unfair and I felt sympathetic towards John McCain :( Nevertheless, these campaign videos are really worth analyzing, especially once we learn about the stories behind the scene. I'm really interested in the ways a single word or color from some type of media can affect the way people feel, so this may be a topic I should learn more about in the future. I wonder what would happen if they had these kinds of commercials in Japan.

Well that's about it for today.
:)

5/25 class record

hmm... today's assignment to write "why you are the best student in class" is a toughie.
well... here goes. lol

I feel that I have many flaws. Among them, there are two that I am constantly aware of but cannot do anything about: first, I am way too sensitive and second, I fail when it comes to multi-tasking. Usually, these two flaws get the better of me when I feel hurt by the most trivial things or when I panic when there are too many things on my plate. However, I benefit from these flaws in class. I can focus on the assignment at hand, whether it is listening to Rab and my peers explain something, trying to come up with my own opinion, or reading an assigned work at home. When it comes to sensitivity, I think I do a pretty good job of noticing if one of my friends looks hesitant to say something, if they look sad, and try to comfort/support them in discussions by asking for their opinions or trying to relate to what they have said. In conclusion, taking advantage of my flaws, I put a lot of effort into assignments while participating actively in discussions with careful attention to my classmates' needs, which makes me... the best student.

lol

edit/

There was something that went through my mind today during class.

We talked about how we are already biased the moment we take a position on any matter. And to pursuade the audience about that position, we should reasonably follow that bias in our writing. I thought it was really ironic how the act of pursuading someone that writing is biased is itself biased. Wait... did I just state something that's normal? I thought it was ironic somehow. Wait, I'm confusing myself now lol Does anyone kinda sorta see what I'm drawing at? lol

5/24 class record

Rainy Mondays make me feel blue :S
But tomorrow's supposed to be sunny again, yay!

Today we discussed our essay topics and practiced doing P&D. My group - Ayaka, Tomoaki, Saori, Yuji, and I - talked about how it was difficult to make an argument on topics such as culture. Often they came out sounding like obvious statements or thesis statements for explanatory essays, as did mine. But after discussing, doing a mini presentation, and receving feedback and constructive questions, I was able to find a direction for my essay and points to consider. Talking to Rab afterwards in Tutorial helped me even more. Thank you everyone :) To the people who were in the other group, my topic is probably going to be about racisim in Disney movies. There seems to be a lot more sources on this topic than I'd imagined so I need to get started on reading and stuff... I feel so busy lately!

And darn... I just remembered that I left my schedule book in the NP room -_- I hope it's still there. If anyone sees a light blue schedule book that says 2010 on the front with lots of animals around it, please tell me! Thanks.

I was going to say something else, but I forgot while writing about my schedule book. !!!
OH yeah, I was really surprised to hear about how the show "24" had been made as a sort of tool to support the U.S. government's actions. I used to watch it all the time while I was in the states, but gradually lost interest in it as I stopped watching it in Japan. I'm pretty sure I saw Kiefer Sutherland saying, "nuclear" like "nuclar"! That really rang a bell when Rab mentioned it during class. The gory scenes were really... gory. It scares me to think what other shows I may have watched/am still watching that are unconsciously pursuading me to agree with/disagree with various things in life. :O

5/21 class record

Hey everybody, PWT otsukaresamaa! :)
Thanks to Yuji for his awesome idea to share our ideas on google docs!
How did you guys do? Unfortunately i didn't finish my 3rd question because i totally lost track of the time even though I had a watch. :/ Drr. But I'm glad that I actually got there on time.

I tried reaaaaaaaaally hard to see the hidden images in the stereograms today but I just couldn't see a thing! It's so frustrating. I really wanted to see what everybody else was marvelling at. Thank you everybody who tried to help me! I'm sorry I wasted your efforts :( Maybe I'll stare at a random stereogram when I'm half sleeping and my eyes are half open lol

Today something really funny happened. I went to the special C-Week class on love and relationships along with some other CB mates. The presenter and presentation were both really interesting and we were getting some good laughs. Then towards the middle of the presentation, this sun-tanned super macho guy with sun-bleached blonde hair in a black tank top walks in through the front door. He reminded me of Hulk Hogan. We were like, whoa!!! LOL
Sorry I sound biased, I know... but it was just really funny how someone who looked as tough as he did would come listen to stories about looove and why we fall in love and stuff like that. But of course, love is not based on appearance and is much much deeper than that, as we learned today ;)

Have a good weekend :) Oh and I'm really excited for our hiking/jumping-in-river/BBQ-ing day at Rab's house! :) :)

5/19 class record

Yesterday we practiced our presentation skills. I realized that I was unconsciously checking the board as a spoke! Woops, that's a no-no. I thought I wouldn't get nervous in front of a small group, especially since I'm friends with everybody in the group... but alas, I did. I need to remember that the presentation starts when my name gets called. When the number 10's were asked to go first on our second try, I didn't see it coming and so I was like, "What? Me? Oh no," all the way from my chair to the front lol NOT a good example. It was fun seeing everybody's presentations - some people are really good at putting humor into their presentations! I wish I could do that too. Hope I'll do a better job today.

5/18 class record

Today I had lots of !!!!!!! exclamation marks popping up in my head when Rab "got mad" at us. Somehow I totally missed all of his winking signals...! I loved how Miki thought he just had something in his eye, hahaha.

I also like how we seem to learn things through experience in class. Instead of receiving an explanation first and then going through examples, many a time we're put on the spot, having to think on our feet, and then after some panic or confusion, we receive an explanation... and it sinks in. Even though I felt alarmed when Rab seemed to be angry today, his point about perceptions and the mind switching off its attention span as soon as it senses a certain direction in someone's story came across very clearly.

... and I need to be careful about getting to class on time and not procrastinating.

Talking about miscommunications/ misunderstandings between people of different cultures was very interesting too. Did you know a kind of snapping/waving fingers gesture is seen as a nonverbal way of suggesting, "What the f***?!" in Venezuela? (Yumi) Or that it's rude to sleep in a car in New Zealand? (Asami) Those were just two of the things I learned from my group discussion. I'd better go read the rest now and get enough sleep today!

Good Night!

edit/
I forgot to mention our second personality test. I thought today's test was less accurate than yesterday's in the sense that depending on our culture, we may have stronger/weaker connotations of one symbol representing something. The water signifying one's father, for example, may be a more familiar image in areas where people often go outside with their father to do outdoor activities. Oh and maybe depending on that person's mood, the drawings may turn out to be very different as well.

However, I've heard that a depiction of a tree is very accurate when trying to figure out a person's personality. When I entered my junior high in Osaka, my school counselor had asked us all to draw a single tree. Though I never learned about what my tree showed about me, today's lesson reminded me of that experience... Despite it seeming less accurate, drawing may actually be a very reliable source since counselors seem to use it too.

5/17 class record

Sorry I'm posting this a day late... yesterday I had dinner with the froshies in basketball after practice and got home at 1 am lol I'm probably going to be dead today during class...

Yesterday I had a lot of fun with the personality test. I'm really gullible when it comes to these kind of things and had no idea it was a personality test until the very end. I thought everybody's results were hilarious and thought mine were very true as well. I was left wondering why one's favorite color would be describing the qualities one wants to become... Yesterday I realized that I was wearing a lot of orange, which is my favorite color, and maybe that goes to show that I'm smothering myself in an energetic color because I want to be cheerful. Maybe that's why I feel worse on crappy days when I'm wearing clothes that I like and somehow feel that I'm not living up to the expectations? of the colors... I don't know how to explain this very well. I'll edit this entry when I think of a better way to say this and when my head's a bit more clearer! Right now my mind is foggy... and sleepy....

Chapter 8: And If the Nature of Thought is Not Everywhere the Same?

Until I got to the very end of the chapter where Nisbett talks about the advantages of people from integrated cultures in problem solving, many of his statements sounded very biased to me. I don't mean to ignore all the evidences that he has introduced in these past chapters to support his claims. However, in this chapter, his statements keep on going back and forth between which culture is better at what. Like Barna, he bases his arguments about how peer review and criticism never happen in Japan on only one Japanese scientist's statement (195) and makes straightforward statements like, "Their [U.S.-based Japanese businessmen]inability to perform causal analysis... leads to the belief that they are cognitively impaired" (210), "deficient" (I'm sure he used this word but I can't find the actual quote... sorry!), "... it is the Americans who are wrong and the Asians who are right in these cases" (207). Maybe it has to do with the fact that my own race is being mentioned, but even so, I don't like how he makes it sound like one culture is superior to another in each categorized topic. It's as if he's made Easterners vs. Westerners fight in a bunch of boxing games and he's finding a winner for each round...

But that's when I realized that he's an "either/or" thinker and I'm a "both/and" thinker. Though he begins with "The Syllogism AND the Tao", his later titles and subjects include: "Is the World Made Up of Nouns OR Verbs" "'The Bad Seed' OR 'The Other Boys Made Him Do It'" "Living Together VS. Going It All Alone" "'Ce N'est Pas Logique' OR 'You've Got a Point There'? " which supports how in the end, he is trying to get to the truth by a linear line instead of "welcoming onboard every conceivably relevant factor" and finding the Middle Way as I do (209). I found myself thinking, "Both these ideas sound reasonable. He shouldn't just say ONE is..." whenever he tries to find the more advantageous way of thinking for a particular theme.

In addition, his idea of cooperation between integrated people sprouts from the basis that different people hold different qualities. I can accept this but I also think that there are no qualities which some people may have/not have at all; instead, the difference between people occurs due to the strength of each quality in that person. Here again though, I realize that I am supporting his idea of the Law of Identity and the "both/and" thought.

Hmm... maybe my diasgreeing (and how I'm disagreeing) with his thinking is, ironically, living proof that his arguments on the differences between Easterners and Westerners is true.

Chapter 7: "Ce N'est Pas Logique" or "You've Got a Point There" ?

I agree with Nisbett that Asians take a "both/and" stance rather than an "either/or". When reading that part, I was reminded of the way Japanese culture seems to absorb many religions. I myself don't have one single religion that I follow, but I realized that there are bits and pieces of different religions weaved in my daily life. For example, I visit both shrines and temples during New Year's (Shinto & Buddhism), I attend a memorial service done by a monk (houji, right?) for my grandpa (Buddism), I celebrate Christmas, and will learn about Christianity at my university. I guess none of this makes me an actual follower of those religions, and that there are of course exceptions where some Asians solely believe ONE religion or Westerners who act in a similar way as me. However, I personally feel that the wall that seperates each religion is set at a low place in Japan, making it easier for people to be a part of more than one religion.

Another example is blood types and personalities. This might sound unconvincing since blood types and their connections with personalities are most likely to be complete bogus, nevertheless, there was this personality test on a Japanese fashion magazine which reminded me of contradictions coexisting together. The test was about finding one's "inner" blood-type. The catch was that the result would not necessarily match the actual blood-type one was born with, giving interesting insight into one's personality. Thus, the results would show how the sterotypical characteristics of each blood type would contradict with each other within one person. This shows how the "law of identity" which Nisbett says is strong in Westerners and thus makes them committed to their identities, takes on a more "both/and" position among many Japanese people... or maybe specifically, Japanese young women, in this case.

Sorry, I think I just wrote like a zillion assumptions lol
Gotta read the next chapter nowwwwww.
Otsukare-sama to everybody :) Hope everybody's getting some good rest today!

5/12 class record

After talking about crazy bikers in Japan, we split into groups to discuss the article "Deletion of English from Entrance Exams Urged" and the Barna reading. Once again, I fell into the trap of the article; not noticing that the article was trying to avoid larger issues such as the necessity of uni entrance exams by only focusing on the purpose of English education in schools. But getting back to the actual argument presented in the paper... though I really don't like the mechanical style of university exam English that must be learned via robotic memorization, I also feel that this process creates a motive for people to actually study English. It may not always be the case but, sometimes this forced study of English may gradually turn into studying done on one's initiative. My claim is just as weak or probably even weaker than the journalist's, but that being said, I don't think the journalist can just automatically assert that students hate English and that it never comes in handy in daily life just with the limited evidence that s/he has.

And darn... I need to get into the habit of doing the 3B's! It didn't occur to me that I should do a 3B's check on the sources I've been using for my essay. I'd just found the evidences that made me go "Bingo!" and weaved them in my essay. And with Barna, I didn't even know that Barna is a woman until today, lol. I'd better check out what kind of person she is.

Oh and to those lucky ducks who are going to eat some yakiniku today, have fun!
Really wanted to go :( Please invite me to another outing :)

5/11 class record

Discussing the worksheet "What Went Wrong?" was a major eye-opener! We had a good laugh out of some of the examples like calling an airplane Emu or the ladies' electric shaver not selling well in Italy, lol! Among these examples though, the one about the Saudi Arabian women and the attractive hostess really made me go "Ohhhhhhhhhhh" after learning about the historical background which support the do's and don't's of Islamic culture. I had mixed feelings when we talked about beliefs which no longer have valid reasons but are kept alive by their tradition... especially when they concern one's personal health. It's easy to point out what seems to be invalid in another culture, but not as easy to go against it; to have a say in a culture that one is not native to and thus is not an expert on.

5/10 class record

Today I could not concentrate well because my allergies were giving me a hard time - Sorry Yuji and Sayako who had to sit next to me and endure my blowing my nose every 5 minutes >< lol

When asked to find the assumption in the argument about how if the U.S. attack North Korea more than a million Koreans would die, I kept on missing the big picture and instead, focused on the secondary details. This goes to show just how easily I accept large assumptions and get swayed by emotions.

We talked about the readings that Rab assigned us. They were pretty hard but I found this one part to be so unbelieveable that it was funny. I'm talking about the newscaster Charlie Rose who actually ignored a guest speaker for the whole show when he failed to give him the response he had been anticipating. I can't believe things like that just happen and nobody talks about them afterwards. I wonder if these newscasters realize what they're doing? Is it in their intentions to say these things, like, do they actually hire people like this OR are they forced to report/act this way like the FOX news casters who had to give false information about milk?

Chapter 6: Is the World Made Up of Nouns or Verbs?

Sooo... reading the section about categorizing objects, I was reminded of tests I had taken when I was around elementary school age and still living in the U.K. There was almost always a section on these tests that asked me to circle the odd one out, whether it was from a group of words or pictures like the cow, grass, and chicken illustration on page 141. But I have no memory of having taken such tests at my Japanese weekend school, so I guess Nisbett's suggestion that Westerners place a stronger emphasis on categorization is true. However, I also see this as contradictory of Western characteristics when I think back to the saying, "the peg that stands out is pounded down." Wouldn't it be easier for Asians to categorize objects since they are more sensitive to those that break the harmony and stick out as individuals?

I thought it was interesting how depending on the culture, speakers will exclude a different word from the same sentence, based on what they think is obvious. In Nisbett's example of drinking more tea, he described how Chinese speakers will take out "tea" while English speakers will take out "drink" when they ask somebody if they would like more tea to drink. But to me, "Would you like to drink more?" sounds all right in English too. Does that sound weird? Or maybe that's an example of fused thinking that Nisbett talks about towards the end.

Chapter 5: "The Bad Seed" or "The Other Boys Made Me Do It?"

NOOOOOOOOOO
I JUST POSTED MY JOURNAL... AND THEN AN ERROR OCCURRED :'''''''''''''''''(
AND NOW IT'S GONE........... :''''''''''''''''''''(
GRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trying to remember........

I thought this chapter was really interesting and easier to follow than other chapters. I could see Nisbett's point about the attributional differences between Easterners and Westerners stated clearly and coherently throughout the chapter, with interesting evidences to back up his ideas such as the murder cases and the hypothetical questions asked towards the Korean and American students. Reading how Asians tend to view the contents of the world in complex relations with each other, I was reminded of Nisbett's comment on the way Asian mothers nurture the children. He mentioned how mothers personify objects, for example, saying, "The table says 'ow!'" if a child hits the table. Focusing on surrounding objects from a young age may encourage this way of thinking.

I was surprised in a good way when Nisbett mentioned his study on the Hong Kong citizens. It did not surprise me that they were likely to think in either Western or Eastern cultural ways when encouraged, but including Hong Kong reassured me that Nisbett has these exceptional cultures in mind as well.

I personally think that I view matters mainly based on their context rather than the personality of the subject. But when I'm analyzing myself, I almost always do the opposite: I blame my personality first, and then take into other possible external factors into consideration. Is it possible that I judge myself in a Western manner and others in an Eastern manner? Or when it comes to oneself, is it a whole different matter, possible involving gender differences too?

5/7 class record

Today we did our practice PWTs, dun dun dun... Writing my responses, I felt that I could have provided more evidence on the question that asked for specific reasonS to back up my answer. I need to read over Morgan too... So much to do!

The documentary video we watched today really shocked me. To be honest, I was feeling a tad sleepy after writing my responses, but as soon as I saw the police officer - who had been smiling just moments before - threatening innocent civilians with rifles and hazardous gas, my eyes literally flew open. I mean, of all countries, I couldn't believe that sort of action would be taken against expressing a free opinion in the United States. It was especially painful to watch young people and children getting victimized by the police's harsh treatment and discovering how this CS gas (was that the name?) could cause miscarriages, heart failure, and other negative influences.

I also couldn't believe that these people did not even show an ounce of hesitation to take such audacious measures. It made me feel a bit ashamed that I don't even have a belief that comes any closer in strength. I am a very indecisive person to begin with, but somehow I seem to take refuge in not having to make decisions. I know this makes me sound like a very naive person who is not critically thinking at all, but that is how I've felt quite often until I entered high school. From reading Meiland and watching those determined people today, it made me realize that taking a side is not being ignorant to the other side as long as I have good reasons. I'm not trying to start a strike or anything just for the heck of it lol but today's class made me see how uninvolved I am with issues around me... and how that seems to pass... and how that's really wrong :(

Chapter 4: "Eyes in Back of Your Head" or "Keep Your Eye On the Ball" ?

There were some concepts that caught my attention in this chapter:

1.) Nisbett mentions the method of "back-translation" on page 88. This makes Nisbett's arguments stronger as it shows that he is being careful of translating not only the words from another language, but the nuances and connotations behind them as well.

2.) The illustrations and graphs inbetween pages made it easier for me to comprehend the experiments. It put me in the shoes of those who took the experiments and made me wonder if I would fall under the common characteristics of the East Asians or Westerners. I was able to relate with both the Chinese and the Americans on how they viewed the positively accelerated growth trends. Nisbett concludes that the Chinese usually predict that a positively accelerated growth trend will probably fall at some point rather than it continuing to rise. In regard to this view, I don't know why but whenever something is going really good, I feel a bit apprehensive that it's going to end soon. Maybe it's because sometime when I was young, someone in my family - maybe my grandma or dad or somebody - told me that everybody has the same amount of luck in life. On the other hand, taking the American view into consideration, I also believe that whether you're content or not depends on how you look at things (which is something I learned through reading The Series of Unfortunate Events lol) Therefore, no matter the situation, if one thinks everything is all right, the trend might still show that it's rising. Maybe I have a layer of Western ideas covering the layer of Asian ideas within my mind. Or maybe it's all mixed up. Hmm.

Oh by the way, essay otsukaresama! :) (how do you translate "otsukaresama"? I've always tried to translate it but I end up mixing a bunch of phrases together... I need to try Nisbett's "back-translation" lol)