Writing Topic
Imagine
a university is planning to build a new research center in your country, but it
has not been decided whether to create a center for business research or
agricultural (faeming) research. Which of the two sorts of research centers
would you prefer to be built in your country?
☆Let’s Think
1. How would a business
research center benefit the country? What about an agricultural research center?
2. In which area does
Japan need to research more? Why?
☆Ideas and Expressions
Business
1. Japan has been one of the biggest economies in the world for a long
time, but now many manufacturers of other countries outshine ours. We are not good
at marketing very much. Market research on specific demands of each country,
for instance, will help diversify our exports and stabilize export earnings.
2. With enough wealth and technology to help reduce the damage of
global warming and environmental destruction, developed countries are expected
to shift to a sustainable economy, or environmentally friendly economy. We need
to do more research on related areas such as eco-friendly technology
businesses.
3. The low food self-sufficiency (40%) is not necessarily dangerous in
the global economy, where manufacturers import food from food producers. Also,
Japan has already been heavily industrialized and adding just another
agricultural research center cannot change its economic structure. Moreover,
the level of our agricultural research is very high. People come from all over
the world to learn from our agriculture and we send experts to countries
suffering from food shortage to help develop their farming.
Agriculture
1. Japanese agriculture
is at crises in general. The age-old problems of Japanese agriculture are very
little farmland (90% of the land is mountains and forests), decreasing numbers
of farmers and farmhouses, aging, and weakening functions of farming societies
caused by industrialization especially after WWII. In addition, traditional
sustainable agriculture has been destroyed by the introduction of factory style
farming, or single crop farming. This trend will accelerate because
restrictions on agribusiness have been lifted and Trans Pacific Partnership
(TPP) will slash or abolish tariffs on agricultural imports. It is necessary to
transform our agriculture into one which prioritizes production of export crops,
crops that have enough demands in the global market. Research and development
on Japanese crops and potential markets for them should be put forth right now.
2. Research on our low
self-sufficiency (40 %) is necessary. The self-sufficiency of our staple food,
rice, is 100% while most of the feed grains for meat production such as wheat
and corn are imported. Since these crops will be in great demand for bio-fuel,
research on more self-sufficient protein production is necessary. In addition, the decreasing number of farmhouses is causing concern about food
shortage in case of emergency. It is true that the problem of low self-sufficiency
is the problem of business and politics because deflation is making people give
up farming and the government is prioritizing business and globalization over
agriculture. However, approaches to improve the situation by those who are directly
involved in farming would be effective and innovative.
3. We have not eliminated
deaths from starvation in poor countries. Also, population increase, global
warming, and pollution can cause food crises in the near future. Developed
countries are required to make more contribution to research on food security
such as irrigation, plants more resistant to climate change, or genetically
modified crops. Japan can live up to this expectation by continuing to offer
our high-level agricultural techniques and technologies. For example, plant factory, which was invented and developed in
Japan, can produce edible plants without soil all through the year. We can not
only sell their produce but also export the technology. Also, biomass-energy, an
alternative energy resource receiving particular attention, is our specialty.
☆Essay for ideas and expressions
Just
a few years ago, the terms green or fair trade meant nothing more than opportunities
for corporate image improvement to most huge corporations and never meant calls
for total restructuring of the economic system, or more precisely so they
pretended to interpret them. They had succeeded in propaganda to make people
believe that things were going all right. However, climate change has started
biting and corruption in business has become blatant, even the people in developed
countries are now having difficulty in making ends meet, and the mass protests
across the globe do not go unnoticed anymore. Studies for new economic systems are
essential to tackle fundamental problems of our times. Therefore, I would
prefer a business research center to be built if a university is planning to
build a new research center in my country, Japan.
Research
on alternative economic systems is crucial. It is now clear that capitalism or
free market system is harmful to everyone including those who have enjoyed its
benefits. It has exploited the resources and people in developing countries. It
has widened the gap between the rich and the poor. It has also destroyed the
environment, whose deterioration now threatens life on earth. Ideas for more
natural and humane economic activities, which ordinary people as well as
conscientious intellectuals have conceived probably since the onset of
industrialization, should be crystallized. One of the examples of such effort
is a system called employee ownership or democratization of corporations. Democratized
companies will reflect public consensus and make more sensible decisions. They will
encourage governments to promote real fair trade: fair transactions not just
between companies but between countries. They would certainly stop exporting
too many businesses. Also, they will support sustainable economy, since public
awareness on the environmental issues is high. For instance, 70% of US citizens
support green energy.
In
the torrent of globalization, Japan is at the crossroads. Joining Trans Pacific
Partnership (TPP) will lead it to totally American type economy, which has just
proved to be a failure in terms of the welfare of all people. Obviously the
disadvantaged, who are already suffering, will suffer more. Also, even if Japan
survives, taking advantage of its position as a developed country, the problem
of morality will remain, for free trade works at the expense of the weaker. It
is inevitable for those in developed countries to put more pressure on those in
developing countries. Moreover, it has become clear that the corruption of the
domestic economic system has already passed the point of meltdown. The
misconduct in relation to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant symbolizes
that Japan has not been so much a protective economy as it has been believed. Japanese
people were made to accept nuclear power plants through sophisticated
advertisements of Japanese mass media backed up by the US energy industry and US
and Japanese governments. The industry neglected design upgrade of the reactor
despite repeated warnings. After the disaster, the electric company and the
government did not disclose crucial information, and the government did not
take enough measures to protect the residents in the area, as well as everyone in
the eastern part of Japan. The irresponsible economic leaders teaming up with
political leaders could make the last 50 years of Japanese prosperity, where most
people, rich or poor, enjoyed fundamental human rights and basic happiness of
life, just a transient good moment of its history.
It
might be true that competition promotes evolution of technology and systems,
but the current system does not have a safety net strong enough to protect
those who have lost in competition and those who are disadvantaged. Governments
are manipulated by lobbyists from large corporations, so that channeling money
to rescue the weak becomes increasingly harder. Also, the stock market, a
world-scale casino for the rich, does not have a structure to give it decency
to clean up its own mess. When crises occur, public money is used to make up
for the loss and the return is not sufficient when those rescued start gaining
profits again. Unemployment rates did not go down much for a long time despite
record profits of the companies bailed out in the last financial meltdown. This
system keeps siphoning a large amount of money from the poor to the rich.
Universities should suggest plans for rapid
and less painful shift to the new economic system to build a society that protects
life and the environment. For the purpose, I would like a new business research
center to be built by a university.
