More English Cultures - Weekly Journal

elder couple shovel the snow but looks heppy not tired from as their grandchildren"s coming to see

                                                    Why people celebrate new year ?                                                                                                                                      21703708                                                                                       ...

title:The relationship between violent media and real world violence. main idea:Violence on media does not have an influence on people's behaviour .

     According to researchers, today's teenagers are growning up more slowly than before. This research isbased on over 40 years observation. Today's teens are not as responsible as teenagers from  the 70's , 80's and 90's. A professor said their development has slowed down. She said Today's 18- year-olds are like 15- year-olds used to be. This can be because today's teenager tend to live with their parents for being involved in online network. We teenagers must try to earn our own living and live with being separated from presents.

     A study said mothers across the world speak to their babies in the same way. "Akachan Kotoba" is called " motherese" in English. According to researchers, motherese is a world language and a special  form of communication. Motherese helps babies develop their language. A researcher said baby  talk  is more important than we thought. As the more parents speak to their babies, the more sophisticated the babies' language  skill is, parents don't have to be embarrassed to talk in that way "Motherese". I encourage them to do so and also will do so.

     Last week,  the operators of Tokyo's Tsukuba Express line apologized for one of its trains leaving 20 seconds too early. In other words, only because the high-speed train pulled out of a station 20 seconds earlier than scheduled due to staff members failing to check the departure timetable, the company felt guilty of failing to accurately perform the departure operations  even though the next train was just four minutes later. This strange event surprised many people including me. In foreign countries, it is usual that their train timetable doesn't hold good. Japanese people may believe that punctuality is a virtue which must be practiced by those who are in a social rule.

1. Kumagusu Minakata (1867~1941), biologist, naturalist, and ethnologist  Minakata studied in United States and England to expand his knowledge of various fields (such as history of science, biology, folkloristics, and anthropology). He wrote many papers, including 51monographs in the famous magazine "Nature". Even today, this number is the largest  since it started to be published. He also tried to make a place where anybody can freely study regardless of class, which way of thinking influenced Yukichi Fukuzawa. In addition, he was opposed to the plan that the government made a lot of shrines abolished. It is said that this posture made an origin of nature conservation activities. 2. Tetsu Nakamura (1946~ ), doctor  Nakamura was born in Fukuoka prefecture. After graduated from medical faculty of Kyusyu University, he went to Pakistan to help people suffering from Hansen's disease "Leprocy" recover. Moreover, he built an irrigation ch...

     New research shows that it is bad for children to watch TV, tablet or mobile phone screens before bedtime. Researchers from the University of Colorado found that "screen time" before sleeping damages children's health. The researchers looked at over 60 different studies on how screen time affects children. They said: "Of more than five dozen studies looking at children aged from 5 to 17 around the world, 90 per cent have found that more screen time is associated with delayed bedtime, fewer hours of sleep, and poorer sleep quality." Screens are becoming smaller and smaller, so children can look at them in bed. More than 75 per cent of children in the study had some kind of screen in their bedroom.  We had better encourage young people to form the habit of not using smart phone just before they sleep.

     Since my group explained the history of Gion festival, I want to give you more introduction about it.           The Gion Festival is a festival of Yasaka Shrine which has a tradition of 1000 years. In the old days, it was called “Gion Goryoe”. When the plague epidemic spread throughout Japan in 869, it is derived from the fact that 66 lances were established, the god of Gion was enshrined, furthermore a Mikoshi was sent, praying for removal of disaster . It has changed year by year, it has become sophisticated, and it has become large scale in the North and South era. After that, it became the current Gion festival in the early Edo period. This is because in that era, people's standard of living had improved and they were able to buy and wear "Nishijinori", which is very luxury clothes even today. They put it on and joined the festival, which has made it more splendid. Over 1000 years have passed since the Gion festiv...

     What kind of jobs do you want to be engaged in? Of course, we have at least 3 years to decide it, but this decision is so important and we must do so carefully.     Yesterday, I thought that to be a journalist may be one of the good choices, because I am interested in many foreign countries' history and various conflicts resulted from the difference in the way of thinking(religion, race, custom and so on). I want to get a lot of current news as soon as possible and report it to as many viewers as I can. to be a journalist, I have to study the world situation more severely.

     Do you like listening music? I like it. I usually bring my iPod with over 2000 musics to school. Music always keeps us not bored. Today, I recommend my favourite artist, namely "The Chainsmokers". They are American EDM(Electronic Dance Music) DJ duo, who won a lot of prizes, (for example American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Grammy Awards, and People's Choice awards and so on). Many EDM players make their own musics high tempo just to enjoy dance for their listeners, but The Chainsmokers is not the case. Their music have a little slower and more comfortable tempo, so they are good not only for dancing and making ourselves excited but also for making ourselves relaxed when we are feeling exhausted. Once you listen their music, you will probably be absorbed in it.

     Do you agree with the idea that English should be made an official language in Japan? I am for it. This is because if Japanese children learn to speak English, they will be able to communicate with foreigners. Today, most Japanese people, of course including me, have trouble in expressing themselves in English, so they tend to be reluctant to speak to native English speakers. If Japanese children master English, this tendency will change. Moreover, official meetings between the prime minister and the leaders of other English-speaking countries will run more smoothly, because they don't need to rely on interpreters. Therefore, the Japanese government should make English an official language as well as Japanese.

     If a doctor said you had 1 year to live, what would you do? I'd move to Italy, namely Rome because Rome has a splendid history and I want to expand my knowledge of Roman history. When I studied world history for the first time, I was surprised to learn that Roman culture was more developed than that of Japan in that era. Then in Japan, people would often eat fruits and hunt animals, but in Rome, Romans built a stadium, public facilities, and the city state. Ancient Roman culture is comparable to our culture today. Moreover, the most famous Christian church is also in Rome, which has greatly influenced people all over the world. Christian values have fascinated countless people since St.Peter and St.Paul started to spread them. I long to experience these historical tings firsthand.

     Last week, a study of new mothers confirmed that mothering self-help books can do more harm than good, which means that baby manuals are not worth reading. I agree with the idea. The baby training manuals can give many mothers stress factors. If a baby can do the thing that it should be able to do at proper weeks, he will be competent, or if he can't do so, his mother will misunderstand that her baby has developmental problem. This is a tragedy. We should encourage many mothers not to form the habit of reading mothering self-help books.

      There is a famous topic we must discuss. Do you think the death penalty should never be used? I do not think so.         The death penalty can be an effective  deterrent to serious crimes. We sometimes lose our temper, which can result in act of violence. However, most of us are very unlikely to kill or hurt other people and if someone do so, he will get some serious punishment, one of which is capital punishment. It keeps us from committing serious crimes. If we abolish it, the number of crimes will probably increase, because the harshest punishment they can receive is life in prisonment even if they murder someone. Therefore, I oppose the idea that we should do away with the death penalty.

Hello. I'm Keitaro. I am a member of a rowing team in a Japanese university. Our team are practicing everyday for the next match, which is so hard because we also have to go to school and study in an university. We practice before and after school.  So I go to bed at 10 o'clock and get up at 4 o'clock everyday This " Early to bed, early to rise" habit makes me tired, but I am happy to improve my rowing skills gradually.