Looking Back the Autumn ARW

I cannot believe that my fall term as a freshman is going to be finished! Time flies.
This term was busy because of the ICU festival, but it was so fun.

Trough this ARW class, I could improve my writing skills.
Especially, I found my weak points of my essay writing.
Considering them, in the next term, I want to be careful not to be so abstract,
and I want to find more sources than I did in this term.
Also, through Race readings, my vision was widen.
I had not reconsidered about the definition and existence of race,
so this class gave me a great experience for me. This experience will be useful in the future.

In fact, I had been afraid of this class before it started because
I had heard that Mark would give us so much homework.
However, I felt that the amount of it was not so horrible, but reasonable (but not easy).
In addition, every time we see Mark, he was so kind and friendly to us.
Therefore, though I was so nervous when I did my 20x20 presentation, I could enjoy this class pretty much.

Mark, thank you very much for your compassionate teaching through this term!

Race Without Color (Diamond)

In this article, the author says that anything can be a criterion of race
through trying to categorize humans by 4 biological factors.
Also, he advocates that animal traits are for 3 reasons
(natural selection, sexual selection, and no function).
His main opinion is that humans should not use racial classifications because it is arbitrary.
The content of the article is interesting and the example of 4 factors are persuasive, but lack of referenced sources and citations makes his opinion look subjective.

He introduced the example of warblers to explain the division of species and subspecies (race), and he says it is impossible to classify humans like them because of social context and emotions.
I believe that if scientists study humans purely for solving biological mysteries and the data will never affect social theories, humans can somewhat be grouped by one criterion.
However, it never be possible, so people should not use the concept of classifying humans into some groups.

If I have to define the word "race", I would say that race is one of cultural concepts or stereotyping  to group people caused by the difference of appearances.

My Essay Final Draft

The Direct American, the Indirect Japanese:

Why and How Intercultural Miscommunication Occurs

Fig.1 Japanese and Americans are talking in a business seminar.

 (from Japan-America Society of Indiana. 1 Nov. 2011.)

“When the differences in linguistic structure and cultural background are wide, as between the English-speaking people and the Japanese, the use of a common language is often misleading (Haneda and Shima 14).”

It is true that communicating with foreign people is difficult and it sometimes has misunderstanding even if they speak the same language because social context are very different between them.  However, since modern technologies have let the world become a much smaller place, encouraging increased interactions between peoples of different nations and cultures (McDaniel 1), intercultural communication is unavoidable. In fact, there were 5,784 students from America in Japan from 2008 to 2009, and 29,264 Japanese students were in America at the same time (Institute of International Education). Even if the number of Japanese students who go to US has decreased 50 percent in recent 14 years as Clinton said (Japan Times), the scale of student exchange between the two countries is not small. Also, all the Japanese people who live in America including non-students were 384,411 and Americans in Japan were 52,149 in 2009 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan). It means that there are many encounters of mutual culture in both countries, and almost everyone potentially has chances to meet them. However, such intercommunication sometimes creates some conflicts because of misunderstanding and less understanding of each other. For example, in 1970, Japanese prime minister Sato replied “I will take a favorable action (善処します Zensho shimasu)” to American president Nixon. It was regarded as Yes for political suggestion by America, but Sato was mentioning No by that phrase. Hence, he said he had never agreed with the policy and Nixon got angry with that (qtd. in Fengping 4; Yang and Cao 2.3; Yamada 90-91). In order to overcome such struggles and to communicate effectively, both Americans and Japanese should study more about their culture and communication style. In addition, setting communicative rules within an international organization would be useful to exchange information and opinions smoothly. 

First, Americans tend to speak directly compared with Japanese. They value clearness and simplicity greater than harmony in communication, and the sooner reply is better even when they say “No” (Haneda and Shima 7).Professor Dean C. Barnlund of the School of Humanities at San Francisco State University says the ideal of American society is that people express their ideas vividly and powerfully (113). The form of academic essay represents the characteristic. In a typical student essay, the structure is very clear and thesis statement is written in the introduction. Besides, it is repeated in conclusion. To give one more basic example, they distinguish subjects specifically in conversation. In other words, who do it (they or we?) is stated in most sentences. According to Edward C. Stewart of the Human Relations Resource Office at George Washington University, it is more remarkable in America than in other countries which use English as an official language although this is one of the linguistic characteristics of English (49). This way of communication is based on the assumption that each person is different and it is the best way to face the diversity in order to respect and unify the people (Barnlund 113). Americans consider it is important to protect the right of each person to express himself/ herself in distinctive ways (Barnlund 130). This attitude has been implanted since they are very young. Even at school and at home, children are given a lot of opportunities to debate and discussion (Barnlund 113). Therefore, Americans mainly use direct communication style.

     On the other hand, Japanese communication is famous for its indirectness, so it sometimes confuses American. At the ELP-JLP discussion class which Japanese students and non-Japanese students talked about various topics on October 14^th, one non-Japanese student said that she had been confused by the way of ambiguous communication when she came to Japan, and another student was nodding to her. For example of the indirectness, obscuring expressions such as “~かも kamo” are used frequently in daily conversation. This word originally means “maybe” in English, but Japanese add it to a sentence which expresses his/ her opinion about something. For instance, “これいいかも kore e kamo” is “I like it” plus kamo. Although the Japanese should have a clear feeling about the thing, he/ she often uses this word (Yang and Cao 2.1). This characteristic of ambiguousness also arises in business communication. Japanese often say “I will consider your request very carefully (よく考えておきます。 Yoku kangaete okimasu)” to refuse a suggestion. They do not like to say “No” straightly (Hall and Hall 61). Those phenomena tend to be difficult for people who live in direct communication cultures to understand, but of course, they are not intended for irritating others. This indirectness reflects Japanese traditional context that values hierarchy and social harmony. To avoid any discord, the vagueness spreads among Japanese people and society (McDaniel 2). As a result, Japanese became well-known as the country of an indirect communication culture.

As mentioned above, American and Japanese cultures have completely opposite theory of communication, so misinterpretations and conflicts can occur between them. What should people from the one country do when they need to exchange their opinions with people from the other country then? Needless to say, it is very important to learn about each other’s culture and manner of communication. Knowing more about them gives people expansive views and encourages accurate perception of foreigners. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan should not only focus on teaching English language, but also include more curriculums for educating manners of foreign countries. Some schools such as Setagaya-Sogo High school in Tokyo already have had intercultural understanding classes which international students teach their culture to Japanese students several times in a year (Kokusai-Rikai Shien Kyokai), but those curriculums should be applied to almost all the schools and more frequently. In addition, it is also useful for American to make school have special classes of studying current foreign ways of thinking.

Another possible way to avoid cultural conflict of communication is to set the rules among people in an intercultural organization. For example, in a business scene, it should be very efficient to create mutual format of e-mail and paper like scientific research papers. Prepared templates of meeting records and clearly stated patterns of contact in case of emergency (Hironaka) would facilitate workers to avoid serious communication mistakes. Also deciding the structure of them, receivers can read information clearly without being irritated or confused. Moreover, this way can be applied to discussion and meeting. Determining the rules of making a statement is useful to avoid occurrence of confusions during the conversation.

In conclusion, Japanese and American have struggled to understand each other, but their differences of communication style have sometimes prohibited accomplishing it. American way is based on direct expression and sharp manifestation of idea is most valued in their society. To the contrast, Japanese prefer to use indirect way of communication. This indirectness was created by the spirit of social harmony and hierarchy. The most important matter in Japanese society is to avoid conflict and hurting others in order to maintain a pleasant atmosphere. To overcome this difference and misunderstandings occur from it, there are two possible ways of solution. One is to know more about other culture. Increasing intercultural teaching at school can be a powerful way to realize it. Also, the other way is to create the domestic communication rules in a multinational organization such as templates for documents. 

The focus of this essay is the difference and difficulty of communication between Japanese and Americans, but this theme refers not only between those two countries but also among all cultures and countries. It is one of the most difficult things to solve and as the number of intercultural exchanges increase, the more often the problem will happen. However, since international communication in modern society is unavoidable whether the situation is nationwide scaled or casual, people have to overcome this issue as long as humans have various cultures around the world.

Works Cited

Barnlund, Dean C. Communicative Styles of Japanese and Americans: Images and Realities. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1989. Print.

Gao, Fengping. “Japanese: A Heavily Culture-Laden Language” Journal of Intercultural Communication 10 (2005). Web. 23 Oct. 2011.

Haneda, Saburo. and Hirosuke Shima. “Japanese Communication Behavior as

Reflected in Letter Writing” Journal of Business Communication. 9 Oct. 2007.

     Web. 6 Oct. 2011.

Hall, Edward T. and Mildred Reed Hall. Hidden Differences: Studies in International Communication Tokyo: Bungei Shunju, 1987. Print.

Hironaka, Nobuhumi. “Komyunike-shon ru-ru wo kettei suru [Decide Communication Rules].” The Project Managers. Web. 1 Nov. 2011

Institute of International Education. “Opendoors 2010 Fast Facts” 15 Nov. 2010.

 Web. 17 Oct. 2011.

Japan. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “The United States of America.” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Web. 17 Oct. 2011.

Kokusai- Rikai Shien Kyokai [International Understanding Association]. “Ibunka-Rikai Kyoiku Program [Intercultural　Understanding Education Program].” Ryugakusei ga Sensei! Kyoiku Program 2011. Web. 31 Oct. 2011

Kyodo. “Japan Student drop worries Clinton” The Japan Times. The Japan Times, 9 Oct.　2011. Web. 21 Oct. 2011

McDaniel, Edwin R. “Japanese Nonverbal Communication: A Reflection of Cultural Themes” The ELP Reader: Content Readings. International Christian University, 2011. 8-1 - 8-13. Print.

Stewart, Edward C. Amerikajin no shikōhō: bunka masatsu to komyunikēshon [American Thinking: Cultural Friction and Communication]. Osaka: Sōgensha, 1982. Print.

Yang, Xiao-Zhong. and Jun-Hong Cao. “Aimai na Nihongo wo Saininshiki: Nihongo Kyoiku no Tachiba kara [Recognizing Vague Japanese: from the view of Japanese Language Education].” Fukui University Education Region Science JournalⅠ.2005. Web. 20 Oct. 2011.

Yamada, Haru. Shaberu America-jin Kiku Nihon-jin [American Speak, Japanese Listen]. Tokyo: Seiko-Shobo, 2003. Print.

Terms of Estrangement (Shreeve)

This article is kind of anthology which includes various opinions by many scholars.
However, the author's opinion should be expressed by the last quotation by Peter Smouse.

The main issue argued in this is "Is the 'race' can be used in scientific worlds?."
Shreeve is introducing many cases and opinions to question what the race is,
and his answer to it is clear.
He indicates that the traditional criteria of race are not biological, but cultural,
so they can be changed easily and it depends on people's perception.
Therefore, the concept of race cannot be used in science, he says through Smouse's words.
I partially agree with that. Actually, the traditional "race" which divides people by appearance can not be an useful grouping for science and at the same time, it has created historical tragedies and discrimination.
However, I feel that humans can not stop separating each other. Scientific data cannot be obtained without grouping or generalizing the research object at first place.
So, the word "race" should not be used in science because it sounds racist often and the criteria are not established, but scientists can create the one-time group whose criteria are convenient for their research. For example, divide people into high-body-temperature group and lower group to study something about health. But those grouping can never be used for social activities. It is the most difficult point.

The Geometer of Race (Gould)

This article is about subjectivity of dividing humans into races.
The main opinion of the author Gould was that scholars should be aware of the unconscious bias and stereotyping of creating a race.
In other words, he says that people can never be objective when they think about race, and they have to realize this fate. 

In this article, he is referring to the story of Johann F. Blumenbach
who was the German anatomist and naturalist (9-1, L20-21).
Blumenbach was not a racist but he created the hierarchical form of race
based on the beauty of appearances, and it encouraged racism in his future ages.
The author expresses that the criteria of race were created by someone's own subjective view and biases even though he/she thought that those were objective and logical.
I agree with this Gould's opinion because I have learned that
the human's perception is always experiential and subjective from Fisher's article.
In addition, not only the individual opinion but also the generational view can be affected
by various social and historical factors, so humans can never decide the perfect criteria of race.

Gould's thesis which claims the subjectivity of race is reasonable. I also think that Humans (especially scholars) should not forget their incompleteness. If people assume that they can always decide or create something perfectly, there would be a big problem like the way Blumenbach's theory occurred discrimination. Also, Blumenbach's story was interesting as one historical nonfiction.  
However, I think that the author should refer some more scholars or another story about racial history to support his opinion. This article was somewhat like a bibliography of Blumenbach.
Also, I wonder why this article has no works cited list at the end.

20x20 Presentation Review

I did my presentation on Wed.

I could speak almost everything I had wanted to,
but it was difficult to compose clear sentences in order to
make the audience understand the content.
Also, I was seeing on the screen too often even though I tried not to.
It was hard to keep balance of checking time of slides and eye contacts.
But one of the most difficult thing was to answer the question after the presentation.

I felt it is really important to practice and to remember the scripts well !! 
My practice time was far from satisfactory...

Rough Draft of My Essay

 Such a comment as “a Japanese ‘Yes’ means ‘No’ and vice versa (opposite)” is too exaggerated or contains but half-truth. (Haneda, Shima)
It is true that Japanese expressions are often confusing to Americans because communication style and social context are very different between them.  However, since modern technological advances have made the world a much smaller place, promoting increased interactions between peoples of different nations and cultures (McDaniel), the intercultural communication is unavoidable. In fact, there were 5,784 students from America in Japan from 2008 to 2009, and 29,264 Japanese students were in America at the same time (Opendoors). Even the number of Japanese students who go to US has decreased 50 percent in recent 14 years as Clinton said (Japan Times), the scale of student exchange between the two countries is not small. Also, all the Japanese live in America including non-students was 384,411 and American in Japan was 52,149 in 2009 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan). It means that there are many encounters of mutual culture in both countries, and almost everyone has chances to meet them. However, such intercommunication sometimes creates small conflicts because of misunderstanding and less understanding of each other. In order to overcome such struggle and to communicate effectively, both American and Japanese should study about their culture and it is better to set rules among people.  

 First, Americans tend to speak directly. They value clearness and simplicity greater than harmony in communication, and the sooner reply is better even when they say “No” (Haneda, Shima 7). Even the ideal of American society is that people express their ideas vividly and powerfully. This characteristic of way of communication is based on the assumption that each person is different and to respect and unify the people, it is the best way to face the diversity (Barnlund 113). Americans considers it is important to protect the right of each person to express himself/ herself in distinctive ways (Barnlund 130). This attitude has been implanted since they are very young. Even at school and at home, children are given a lot of opportunities to debate and discussion (Barnlund 113).
  On the other hand, Japanese communication is famous for its indirectness. It sometimes irritates American. At the ELP-JLP discussion on October 14^th, one JLP student said that she had been confused by the way of ambiguous communication when she came to Japan, and another student was nodding to her. Obscuring expressions such as “~かも kamo” are used frequently in daily conversation. This word originally means “maybe” in English, but Japanese add it to a sentence which expresses his/ her opinion about something. For example, “これいいかも kore e kamo” is “I like it” plus kamo. Although the Japanese should have a clear feeling about the thing, he/ she often use this word (Yang, Cao 2.1). This characteristic of ambiguous also arises in business communication. Japanese often say “I will consider your request very carefully (よく考えておきます。 Yoku kangaete okimasu).” to refuse a suggestion. They do not like to say “No” (Halls 61).

Those phenomena should be difficult for people who live in direct communication culture to understand, but of course, they are not for irritating others. This indirectness is the product of spirit that tries hard to avoid conflict and hurting others, and reflects Japanese traditional context that values social harmony.

 As above mentioned, American and Japanese culture have completely opposite theory of communication, so there must be misinterpretations and conflicts. What should people from the one country do when they need to exchange their opinions with people from the other country then? Needless to say, it is very important to learn about culture and manner of communication each other. Knowing more about them gives people broad views and encourages accurate perception of foreigners. The MEXT of Japan should not only focus on teaching English language, but also include more curriculums for educating manners of foreign countries. In addition, it is better for American school to have special classes of studying current foreign ways of thinking.

  Another possible way to avoid cultural conflict of communication is to set the rules among people. For example, in a business scene, it should be very efficient to create mutual format of e-mail and paper like scientific research papers. Deciding the structure of them, receivers can read information clearly without irritating or confusing. Also this way can be applied to discussion and meeting. Determining the rules of making a statement is useful to avoid occurrence of confusions during the conversation.

  Japanese and American have struggled to understand each other. However, their differences of communication style have prohibited accomplishing it. American way is generally based on direct expression. In American society, sharp manifestation of idea is most valued and quick response is welcomed. To the contrast, Japanese prefer to use indirect way of communication. This indirectness was created by the spirit of social harmony. Their most important matter is to avoid conflict and hurting others in order to maintain a good atmosphere. To overcome this difference and misunderstandings occur from it, there are two possible ways of solution. One is to know more about other culture. The other way is to create the domestic communication rules among people. 

This intercultural problem does not only happen between Japanese and Americans, and it is one of the most difficult things to solve. As the number of intercultural exchange increase, the more often the problem happens. However, since international communication in modern society is unavoidable whether the situation is nationwide scaled or casual, people have to overcome this subject as long as human being has various cultures around the world.

Outline for Essay

Research Question: How different between Japanese and American communication styles?
                                   What is a solution for communication problem caused by the difference?

Thesis statement: Japanese tend to communicate indirectly while American prefer direct communication. This big difference sometimes leads misunderstanding and conflict, but that can be avoided by

Introduction:
1. Hook: “Japanese ‘Yes’ means ‘No’ and opposite” by Haneda&Shima
2. Background: Increasing international/ intercultural communication
3. Thesis

Body1: American communication style
1. Directness (example)
2. Why direct is preferred (context)

Body2: Japanese communication style
1. Indirectness (example)
2. Why indirect is preferred (context)

Body3: Solution
1. Know about each culture
2. Set the rules

Conclusion:
1.Restate of difference (direct / indirect)
2. Solution to it
3. Concluding sentence

Essay Outline

Research Question: How different between Japanese and American communication styles?
                                   What is a solution for communication problem caused by the difference?

Thesis statement: Japanese tend to communicate indirectly while American prefer direct communication. This big difference sometimes leads misunderstanding and conflict, but that can be avoided by

Introduction:
1. Hook: “Japanese ‘Yes’ means ‘No’ and opposite” by Haneda&Shima
2. Background: Increasing international/ intercultural communication
3. Thesis

Body1: American communication style
1. Directness (example)
2. Why direct is preferred (context)

Body2: Japanese communication style
1. Indirectness (example)
2. Why indirect is preferred (context)

Body3: Solution




Conclusion:
1.Restate of difference (direct / indirect)
2. Solution to it
3.

Autumn Essay Topic

1. My possible topic for the essay is "Intercultural Misunderstanding of Yes and No"

2. In many intercultural communications, misunderstanding of agreement and disagreement occur often. It is caused by difference of language, especially difference of grammar and context,
and various ways of perceiving gestures and facial expressions.
For example, Japanese students tend to answer "Yes" to the question "Do you mind if I use it?" trying to allow the person to use it.

3. Originally, I am interested in language, so I was thinking possible problems of language.
Then I found this topic familiar and decided it.

4. Each styles for answer (grammar,...), Misunderstand-able Gestures and Facial Expressions,
Situation where it happens, solution, how to master differences of answering custom

5. "Proper English" by Malden, Mass 1999
   "Academic Discourse" by Stanford, Calif 1994
   "Acquiring a Non-native Phonology" by London, Continuum 2006
    When "Yes" means "No" or "Maybe" by Linda McGovern 1998
   When Yes is not a Yes by Svent Haakon Kristensen

Perception Of Self (Fisher)

Through this article, I could recognize how subjective and inaccurate what we see is.
At the same time, I admire the system of perception
which tells important information from other background information. 

The most interesting part was "Perception is Evaluative".
I had not been aware of that, but in fact I remember my close friends well
but I cannot remember other classmates in junior high school
like Fisher said in that chapter.
Also, when I remember something, I always rediscover the feeling I felt in that time,
so I try to recall funny memory when I am tired.
Therefore what the person remember and perceive reflects his/her personality.
We see and remember things unconsciously, but it creates our mind
and our mind creates our view. This is interesting and scary.
The evaluation through perception encourages art activities and originality
but at the same time, it means that none of us can think objectively,
so we should never have a complete peace and equality.

Stumbling Blocks in Intercultural Communication (Barna)

Barna's text was interesting with many examples of international students.
It was easy for collage students to imagine how would 6 stumbling blocks be problem.
However, I thought each one is little similar to others, so I sometimes got confused
not to be able to distinguish each content.

The most useful part of this article for me was explanation of high anxiety.
I did not come up with the idea that emotional conditions were
so much important factor which made intercultural communication difficult.
I had never considered culture shock as a stumbling block.

In today's class (Sep. 16th), my group discussed about Stereotypes,
and the example which Kuririn said was interesting.
It was "Employers think that all ICU graduates are good at English".
I really agreed with that because almost every time I say that I go to ICU,
people say "What's that?" or "Oh, so you can speak English fluently!".
However I know I also assume and stereotype many things often.
Therefor forgiving those attitudes each other can be one of the solutions
for intercultural communication problem.

Summer Reading Reaction

I have read The Giver by Lois Lowry for summer reading.

I chose this book because I had been interested in it
since I saw my friends were reading it for ELP-like class at ICU high school.
Since those friends were at higher leveled class than mine,
I had thought that it must be too difficult for me to read.
However this time, The Giver was on the list of recommended books,
so I decided to read it .


The main character of this story is twenty year-old boy whose name is Jonas.
He had lived in the world called community where everything was completely controlled.
There were no hunger, conflict, and pain but at the same time,
people did not know pleasure, love, color, and music
because the community had decided to eliminate those emotional things
to make world peace long time ago.
Since then, people had been taking pills to kill desire.
Also, there had been the system called "release" which made
fully-lived old persons and people who could not fit into the community go out.

One day, Jonas was chosen to be the Receiver of memory
who should have all the memories of  human history including emotions
alone in the whole community.
He started to take training to be the Receiver
by the old man with those memories named the Giver.
Jonas received memories and studied both happiness and pain little by little.
The more emotions he learned, the stronger he believed that people must share them.
He thought that the world with love and other feelings was better than his world now
even he knew that feelings are sometimes painful and cause tragedy.
Therefore he decided to go out of the community to change there
by spreading memories among people, but it meant that he could never come back.
He carried out the plan, and traveled long distances out of the community
through harsh environment searching for the new place where he could live with love.


I was impressed by two parts of this story.
One is the scene about "release".
The world had had the system to "release" the people who were unsuitable for the society
from there, but Jonas found that the government had killed them in fact.
It is terrifying that government controls who will die
even most people can live perfectly healthy.
Moreover, the fact that people did not know what "release" really was and accepted it
is scary too.
I am afraid that it might be realized in our world if science keeps developing rapidly.
Controlling life by science can occur the things like that.

The other of my favorite part is the ending.
I thought that we can read that part in two ways.
The author wrote that Jonas found the new place with hope at the end of his long journey,
but it is not explained certainly whether he really did it or not.
The sentences at that part can be read as that he just saw the happy illusion
before he died of the exhaustion and coldness.
It is very interesting. 


This book is not only exciting as SF, but also make us think about
what the peace is and what the feeling is for human.
I recommend you to read it at least once if you have never read it yet. 

1st posting!

I'm excited to have created my blog for the first time!

My summer was good and I was really relaxed.
Though I was busy with my part-time job in July,
I could be relaxed in August.
For example, I went to Mishima city in Shizuoka to meet my friend
and we enjoyed talking all day long.
Also, I went to Hakone for my family trip.
We visited many art museums there.

In fall term, I want to improve my writing speed
and want to know how to organize a long essay.
Since I consider too much about grammar and content
while I am writing, I can't finish writing in short time.
Therefore I want to be able to write faster to write more and sleep more.
In addition, I want to get a skill to compose long essays
because we have learned about only short essays
as the introduction to the ELP in the Spring term.


I don't know what I'm interested in and what kind of job I would do now.
My goal in ICU life is to find it and to prepare English skills for future me.
And of course, I want to enjoy events and free times with my friends here!