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Takahiro Aoyama
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His name is Takahiro Aoyama and he is 27
years old. He studies physics in the doctoral course at Hokkaido university. His hobby is climbing.
By park Sang Kyun
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Barefoot |
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Going barefoot may be good idea but in my
opinion it strongly depends on one's
living environment. I am Japanese, so usually
we don't wear shoes in the house
but do wear them outside. In houses and clean
places, goin barefoot keeps us comfortable.
But it's dangerous for foot to be barefoot
outside, because of some bad environmental
factors, for example, the very hot asphalt
in summer. Especially, the most remarkable
uncomfortable point is snow. It's a crucial
point for my negative opinion. Of course,
this point of view strongly depends on my
living environment, which is Hokkaido in
Japan where it snows in winter. Because my
feelings about being barefoot are influenced
by the environment in which I live, I cannot
agree with it so far. I may get used
to being barefoot, however, if I live
in a more comfortable environments.
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Antarctica |
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I hope to live in Antarctica, but only for
one year, because I want to feel
some scene
for each season and try to live
there during
one year! I guess that there are many strange animals
and phenomena which we cannot
see Japan.
One year living there would satisfy
me very
much. Of course, the scene of
only snow,
ice and rocks would be stimulating
at first,
but will make me bored sooner
or later. There
must be many different sights
there in each
season, however, sometimes will
be very beautiful,
so this sight would make me very
relaxed.
On the other hand, the nature
of Antarctica
may be very hard. Only walking
very near
the base can cause death due
to some crevasses,
and the fickle weather confusing
us and we
cannot come back to the base
if we go out.
So the living environment of
Antarctica is
very dangerous. I guess that
both soft and
hard presentation of nature is
interesting
for me. But living in a
base would
be very tedious. The community
will be like
some religions if there are some
people in
a base, because of the very closed
space.
I would be able to enjoy the
life in a base,
if I am good friends with other
people. This
point woyuld be very difficult
for living
in a base exactly opposite to
the outside
activity. It may be a psychological
problem.
I guess that a very small and
narrow space
and community causes this problem.
It's the
most anxious problem for those
living there.
In this space, people may express
their direct
emotions to others. If the situation
in a
base of Antarctica does that,
in contrast
with a city life the base life
may be interesting
for me from the view point of
mental condition
because I may be able to catch
the primitive
feelings of others. I think
that one
year living in Antarctica would
make me excited
and come back to primitive life.
It would
be interesting!
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Racial Discrimination by Onsen? |
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This problem is difficult for
me because
I have not had much experience
with racial
discrimination so far. But I
will try to
write my opinion, especially
in regard to
the case of Yunohana Onsen problem.
First, I will mention about the Onsen’s
opinion and its response to foreigners,
and
will give some comments about
it. People
with bad manners in a public
bath make others
uncomfortable at first (but I
think the bad
manner is a result of their lack
of knowledge
about onsen customs in the Yunohana
Onsen
case), and usual customers get
annoyed and
then stop going to the Onsen.
As a result,
the Onsen’s business will decrease.
I think
that an owner has an authority
to choose
a customer to get good profits,
because the
most important aim of an Onsen
owner is to
earn money. In the Yunohana Onsen
case, the
owner cannot avoid refusing a
foreigner with
bad manners to escape bankruptcy.
I guess
that the motivation for rejecting
foreigners
in the Yunohana Onsen is not
racial discrimination,
but to turning away people with
poor manners.
However, after Yunohana Onsen declared that
they refuse foreigner from taking a bath,
the attitude of Yunohana Onsen was irrelevant.
They only rejected foreigners who seem to
be people of non-Japanese race, and did not
make an effort to pay attention to only foreigners
with bad manners. It is wrong to do that
and is not a solution to the problem. They
escaped dealing with the troublesome problem,
that is to improve foreigners’ behavior
in a public bath. Escaping the wearisome
dealing is caused by the lack of care for
foreigners. This careless attitude towards
foreigners is equivalent to racial discrimination.
Secondly, the reason why the Yunohana onsen’s
attitude is considered as racial discrimination
will be presented. Japan is an isolated small
country and has not paid attention to racial
problems (of course, there are some kinds
of it: e.g. Ainu and so on). The number of
Russians has been increasing in Otaru city
recently. I guess that the citizens have
not been used to contact with foreigners.
But to make society open to any kind of people
for economics and peace, we should understand
each other’s cultures. In the case of Yunohana
Onsen, due to the lack of the knowledge about
race, Yunohana did not make an effort to
pay attention to foreigners, but only reject
them. Moreover, I guess that people using
Yunohana Onsen are also lacking in such knowledge,
so nobody did not teach the bad manner foreigner
how to use a public bath and only escaped
to take bath with them. I, therefore think
that the people who should be criticized
are not only Yunohana Onsen, but also the
citizens of Otaru city. And then, they should
reconsider about how to get along with foreigners,
especially Russians.
Of course, foreigners should learn about
Japanese customs before going to Japan. But
in the Yunohana Onsen case, the way the dealt
with the foreigners with bad manners is not
suitable and their misleading attitude is
caused by deep racial discrimination. So,
in conclusion, the problem is a result of
racial discrimination, which is caused by
the lack of sensitivity towards race in Japan.
I think the plaintiffs will win in the end.
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