Your city has decided to build a statue or
monument to honor a famous person in your country. Who would you choose? Use reasons and specific examples to support
your choice.
☆Let’s Think
1.
What
kind of person is commemorated with a statue?
--- The person is
special and/or famous. Washington was the first President of the United States.
Lincoln helped end the slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. peacefully fought
against discrimination and sacrificed his life for the purpose. We think these
people were so important that we want their statues, the most effective way to remember
them. Also, even if not famous, if a person has done something extraordinary,
he or she should be worth remembering.
2.
Who
were/are such people in your country? Who were/are famous and special? How did
they contribute to your society?
Notes:
1) Since the topic gives no
definition about how famous the person should be, as long as a number of people
know the person, and even if the person is not world-famous, you can say the
person you chose is famous.
2) If you do not remember the name of
the person, you could put it this way: I would choose the person who invented
blue, green, and white LED (Light-Emitting Diode).
☆Ideas and
Expressions
Famous
but unsung heroes
- Yamamoto
Isoroku, a military man who was opposed to Japan joining WWII.
- Sasaki
Sadako, an atomic bomb victim
- The
person who thought of using fire engines to stop Fukushima nuclear crisis.
- Miwa
Sado, a journalist who is one of the victims of karoshi, overwork death
-
Muraki Atsuko, a former administrative vice minister of the
Welfare Ministry who faced a false accusation, won the law suit, and now working
for young women suffering at the bottom of the Japanese society motivated by
her experience in jail.
- A
mother who accused the government of not providing enough daycare centers on
Twitter.
- The
person who invented karaoke
Businessmen
Son Masayoshi: A
businessman and the founder and chief executive officer of SoftBank, one of the
largest communications in Japan. He is also a philanthropist. He donated 10
billion yen to the victims of the East Japan Great Earthquake and has promised
to donate to them all of his income every year. In addition, he has taken
initiatives of Japan’s shift to a society based on safe and sustainable energy
sources.
Ando Momofuku: He is
the inventor of instant noodles and cup noodles. He invented instant noodles to
help people struggling to get food in the aftermath of WWII. He kept donating
cup noodles and money to the people in poor countries and disaster-stricken
areas. (Wikipedia)
Other names:
Shibusawa Eiichi, Matsushita Konosuke, Toyota Kiichiro, Honda Sōichirō
Historical
Figures
Fukuzawa Yukichi :
An author, writer, teacher, translator, entrepreneur and political theorist who
founded Keio University. His ideas about government and social institutions
made a lasting impression on a rapidly changing Japan during the Meiji Era. He
is regarded as one of the founders of modern Japan. (Wikipedia)
Sakamoto Ryōma: A
leader of the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate during the Bakumatsu
period in Japan. (Wikipedia)
Cultural
Figures
Miyazaki Hayao: A
Japanese manga artist and prominent film director. He has made many popular
anime films. He often takes up themes like humanity's relationship to nature
and technology and the importance of peace. Miyazaki criticizes capitalism and
globalization. (Wikipedia)
Dr. Shinya
Yamanaka: He is a Japanese medical researcher at Kyoto University who
discovered iPS cells and won the Nobel Prize in medicine. His discovery opened
a new way of treatment which enabled us to get stem cells without ethical
problems and with fewer side effects. Thanks to his work, human-to-human organ
transplrtation might be unnecessary in the future.
Athletes
Nomo Hideo: He is
the first Japanese baseball player who successfully challenged the American
Major League. He became famous for his unique “tornado” pitching style, which
led to a headline, “No more Nomo” and left many records. Nomo opened a way for
young Japanese baseball players to play in the United States. After retiring,
he has helped promoting baseball among the young.
Uemura Naomi: A Japanese
adventurer. He was particularly well known for doing alone what had previously
been achieved only with large teams. For example, he was the first person ever
to reach the North Pole solo, the first ever to raft the Amazon solo, and the
first ever to climb Mount McKinley solo.
(Wikipedia)
Other names: Naomi
Osaka, Shimizu Hiroyasu, Arakawa Shizuka, Miura Kazu, Suzuki Ichiro
☆Sample Short Essay
【Introduction】I
would like to choose Ryunosuke Akutagawa, a Japanese
author, for the commemoration if my city has decided to build a
statue of a famous person of my country.
【Point 1】A well-bred genius who grew up among plain
people in Tokyo at the end of the Meiji era that still maintained the traditional
communities and cultures of the Edo era, Ryunosuke was a sensitive but worldly
man who was very kind and pure-minded. He committed suicide and died young
saying that it was the first and last selfish act that he asked for pardon
about. e.g. family, marriage, and the
Japanese literary society.
【Point 2】Rynosuke left many good short stories, which are so
popular that many people do not realize that they are written by him. e.g. Kumo-no-ito and Toshishun
【Point 3】Living about a century ago, Rynosuke
depicted the same anxiety of life that individuals living today have and pointed
out the hypocrisy of the developed society. e.g. Torokko and Kappa
【Conclusion】Although he did not make a mature
author who left a great novel due to his premature death, he helped build the
Japanese roman, which conveyed the rich tradition of sensitive and gentle
Japanese mentality, by passing down his sense of art to the generations that
followed.
Your Sample Short Essay
【Introduction】
【Point 1】
【Point 2】
【Point 3】
【Conclusion】
Comments and Questions from your partner or
group member
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