☆Let’s Think
1.
What
are the main issues of our time?
Note: Climate crisis, nuclear crisis,
pandemics, pollutions, wealth gap, white-supremacy and other discriminations,
capitalism and neoliberalism, lack of diversity, lack of ethics of technology
are some of the main issues of our time.
2.
Which
issue you named as answers to Question 2 most concerns you? Why?
☆Hints
for Points
1. Political Reform: The ruling party, Liberal
Democratic Party, has been in power technically continuously since the end of
WWII except for a couple of years around 2011 under the Democratic party. This
is rare worldwide and problematic as a static political situation leads to
corruption. Now the government is in its terminal condition with cronyism and
plutocracy, rewarding only the billionaires while exploiting the rest.
2. Food and Water Security: Pursuing the
short-time profits and bound by unfair treaties like Japan-US FTA, Japan has
been punishing the domestic agriculture. Although the self-sufficiency is
generally said to be 40%, Professor Suzuki at the University of Tokyo estimates
that it is actually 10% if the import of fertilizer, 99% of which is from
China, is taken into account.
3. War: Similarities between the prewar period of
Imperial Japan and the current Japanese government and society has been pointed
out. It is clear that Japan learned nothing from its past mistakes and sins and
is to repeat them in the near future.
4. Climate Change: Global warming impacts not only
ecosystems but also politics. It is the urgent issue that could threaten the
survival of humanity and the effect is already evident in our country.
5. Aging Society: Tax increase on the working
class and increase of non-regular employment have discouraged people from getting
married and having children, causing low birthrates. Moreover, the number of
immigrants is expected to decrease in the near future because of the
depreciation of yen as the Japanese economy and industry deteriorate.
6. Diversity: Hate speech is increasingly
pervasive these days. Discrimination against minorities such as foreigners
except for white people, LGBTQ, disabled people, and women is stronger than
ever. So much so that a political party whose slogan was “Japanese First” won
stunningly many sheets in the last election. Kurdish people have been persecuted
due to political incitement affected by the Turkish government. Chinese tourists
are targeted by envious nationalists who cannot face the reality of Japan has
lost economic competition to China, which is now the second largest economy of
the world.
☆Sample Responses
I
would like my country to build a new institution for peace studies. We are in
dire need of a university devoted to peaceful coexistence of all kinds of
people. As of 2023, we have yet to overcome as humankind our bigotry and discrimination.
Hate suffers minorities and dehumanizes all involved. Today’s world is full of
crimes, conflicts, and wars, torturing and killing countless number of people,
while nobles oblige is lost among those who are less unfortunate. This
deterioration of humanity is threatening its continuation as we can see in the
recent pandemic and threat of nuclear war. Not only do the perverted activities
of haters cause these problems but also they hamper their solutions. Therefore,
hate-related phenomena must be studied in an interdisciplinary approach for the
whole picture of this issue to stop the predicament of the disadvantaged and
prevent any more distress of any human in the future. (151 words)
Write
your draft on this topic. Show it to each other. Write down questions or
suggestions to each other’s draft.
DRAFT
