First class of the spring semester

Welcome to my seminar! 私が担当する演習II・IIIにようこそ！

Here is what I would like to do today. 今日は次のことをしたいと思います。

1. Divide into small groups of 5 or 6 people. 5、6人の少人数のグループに分かれる。
1. Introduce yourselves to each other. 自己紹介など。
2. Choose someone to be secretary and make a list of topics people in your group are interested in. Talking about the following questions may help you come up with topics. 書記をする人を決め、グループに入った人たちが興味を持っているテーマのリストを作ること。次の質問について話し合ってみると、リストが作りやすくなるかも知れません。
• Are there any cultural differences that you have noticed or are interested in talking about? 今までに感じた文化的な違いや興味を持っている文化的な違いなどはありますか？
• Is there the something about Japanese society or culture that puzzles you or that you would like to understand better? 外国の文化や社会について疑問に思ったこと、あるいはもっと理解できるようになりたいと思ったことはありますか？あるなら、どのようなことでしたか？
• Is there anything that has been in the news recently that interests or concerns you? 最近のニュースに興味を持っているような話題、あるいは気になるような話題はありますか？
3. Take pictures. 写真を撮る。I do this so that I can learn the names of the participants and so that you can learn each other's names. お互いに名前が覚えられるように写真を撮るのです。
4. After you have made a list of topics, split your group into two groups of two or three people each. There should be at least one Japanese person and at least one non-Japanese person in each pair or group of three people. Find out a little about each other. Later today, write a little about who you talked to on your blog. リスト作りが終わったら、グループを2、3人ずつの更に小さいグループに分かれてください。少なくとも外国人一人、日本人一人が入るようにしてください。相手をインタビューして、その人についてわかったことを後でブログに書いてもらいます。
2. Pick a weekend for a class trip. ゼミ旅行の週末を決めること。5/29, 6/5, 6/19, 6/26, 7/3 and 7/10 are possibilities.
3. Make blogs and start writing in them. We will do this in Room 121. Introduce yourself and write about the other person or persons in you 2 or 3 person group. Please do not refer to other people by their full names. Also, send me an e-mail with your name and blog address in it. I'll write my address on the white board. 121教室でブログを作って、書き始めること。自己紹介を書いてから、2、3人のグループの他のメンバーについてわかったことを書いてください。下の名前まではいいと思いますが、フルネームの使用を避けてください。なお、ブログのアドレスと自分の名前が入っているメールを私に送ってください。私のメールアドレスをホワイトボードに書きます。
   

Welcoming Party (歓迎会)

I have heard that there will be a welcoming party for the new exchange students on Saturday, April 10. 4月10日に新しく来た留学生のための歓迎会が開かれると聞いています。

Time: 12:30
Place: Dormitory for international students （大学の近くにある「国際交流会館」）


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Fee: 500 yen (food will be served; 食べ物は出る)

I hope many of you can attend. 多くのゼミ生が出席できるといいですね。

Downloading videos

Topics

Last week, I asked people to vote for the two topics that interested them most. Here are the results:

Food: 16
Suicide: 11
Hospitality: 10
Nudity: 7
Nuclear issues: 1

It may be difficult to do a formal debate on these topics at this stage but we can certainly discuss them.

We appeared on TV

Self-fulfilling prophecy

I am very worried by the easy dismissal of the possibility of eliminating nuclear weapons. I don't see this as realism but as defeatism.

I think that members of the class underestimate the potential power of the international community if and when it can become unified behind the goal of eliminating weapons. I also believe that the extent to which the U.S. as been an obstacle to positive change and, accordingly, the importance of the change in the U.S. position is being underestimated in this class.

If the global community cannot come together on issues such as the elimination of nuclear weapons and confronting global warming, we are, frankly, doomed. Are you really willing to accept this fate? Don't you think that accepting it as inevitable makes it more likely to come to be?

Notes on a podcast

I listened to the following podcast:

Can we eliminate nuclear weapons?


Speaker: Ambassador Richard Burt, Kate Hudson, Professor Mary Kaldor, HM Queen Noor


This event was recorded on 20 November 2009 in Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall is the time finally right to achieve the elimination of nuclear weapons? Leading proponents of nuclear disarmament discuss why achieving Global Zero – a world without nuclear weapons – is both necessary and realistic.

Notes:

• We are no longer in the Cold War:
• Now conservatives as well as liberals are supporting the elimination of nuclear weapons.
• U.S. and Russia have agreed for the first time that the total elimination of nuclear weapons is a constructive goal. Both have about 10,000 weapons a piece (90 to 95 percent of the worlds stockpile)
• President Hu of has called for the elimination of nuclear weapons. China is calling for the U.S. and Russia to make deep cuts. This could lead to a sort of reverse domino effect. (U.S. and Russia --> China --> India and Pakistan, etc.)
• U.S. does not need nuclear weapons because it can depend on conventional weapons. This is different from the Cold War.
• The possibility of failed states present a greater threat than we had in the cold war. What if Pakistan, for example, were to be taken over by the Taliban?
• We cannot stay where we are. Either the countries that have nuclear weapons eliminate them or more countries will acquire them. Moreover, it may still be possible to move toward elimination now, but it is likely to be more and more difficult as the number of nuclear powers increase.
• It may be possible to hide nuclear weapons that have already been make but it is probably impossible to develop a nuclear program today without detection.