What is the GOGATSUBYO?

Japan has many national holidays and especially from the last week of April, we have eight holidays(including Sat and Sunday) during two weeks. This "mini" vacation is called "Golden Week" in Japan. After Golden Week, many of people in Japan contract kind of a disease. This is really horrible disease because once we caught it, it is hard to recover.  The name of it, is "GOGATSUBYO", which means "May disease" in English. The main symptoms is that you do not want to work at all and do just nothing.
Then, how to overcome this scared disease?  All we can do is to wait summer vacation! Summer will come soon so don't be discouraged too much. It might be difficult, but if every day became a holiday, it is no longer a holiday. So I believe we are working weekdays in order to have a great time in holidays.

China's Massive Pollution Problem

I guess most of the pepole have seen  a photo or movie of serious pollution in China through massmedia. Especially, it is said that you can't see even the very front of you in Beijing. Given the fact that polluted air is bad for not only the environment but also humans' health, this situation must be impoved with help from other countries as soon as possible.

The one of the major reasons of this problem is exhaust gas from factories which do not have enough facilities. They emit a lot of chemical substances into air. Of course this may be a fault of China(government should control those factories by law), but I think some of the factolies in China are not Chinese company's one but other developed country's one like U.S and Japan. Dr.Davis in California university also points out that Western countries have responsibility for part of the pollution in China. I believe Japanese pepole should not think it is only China's duty to improve this issue and think more carefully about the environment.

Human beings are the only intelligent life in the universe?

We, human being had believed for a long time that we are the only organism can think, speak, write and communicate in the world or even space. However, these days many studies suggest the possibility that some of other animals are also really intelligent like apes, crows and cetaceans. Personally, I have read the report about intelligence of dolphins and I found they have many similarities with human beings.
First of all, they can communicate each other with supersonic waves. They are helping each other by using this ability. The report also said there were many cases that dolphins had saved humans. One of the cases, is that dolphins reascued a boy who was attacked by a shark.
To my surprise, human beings and dolphins are also alike in bad ways. Dolphins are so sentive just like us, and it often happens a dolphin commit suicide due to the stress. For example, in Janurary, newspaper publicized the case that a mother dolphin killed herself after she was separated from her baby in Wakayama.
For the reasons I menioned above, I cannnot belive that human beings are the only intelligent life in the universe and I want studies in these field to advance more and more.

My impression of lecture from Dr. Paul Wadden

It was so interesting for me, a person who actually wanted to go to the American university, to learn the difference between universities in U.S. and Japan.  I was inspired a lot and also felt that I am lucky to be a ICU student.
Honestly speaking, when I was a high school student, I really hated to go to a university in Japan because I have a strong image that most of Japanese university students do not study in a university even though they really study hard to pass the entrance exam.  I couldn't understand those people's feeling and always wondered why it is so.
Dr. Paul said that American high school students are busy in personal explosion while Japanese students study hard, and when students in American university are studying a lot to graduate, Japanese students are absorbed in personal explosion. Also he suggested, "Qualities stressed in high school tend to be the most important in a society, for almost everyone goes to high school. For further development, however, other parts of character need to be cultivated." Those proposal was quite understandable for me.
I think I should appreciate the circumstance of ICU and want to spend great time for four years with making a good use of  the advantages like he mentioned.

Proverb

I have a motto for my life, and that is a proverb, "Every cloud has silver lining. "
This proverb means that if you never give up, you will make it come true someday, so I think this proverb has a kind of cheerful meaning. Since my teacher who I respected a lot taught me the meaning of it in high school, every time I meet something difficult and worry, I just try to tell myself that "Every cloud has a silver lining".
Similarly, in Japanese, there is a word "Akenai yoruwa nai" means  every night comes to an end in English. I believe even the living country or speaking language is different, Japanese and Western pepole are similar in terms of being cheered up by proverbs.

What is the perfect teacher?

・First of all, He loves his students. Thus he is willing to spend much time for students, like preparing for classes. He is always seeking for the class all students can join interestingly.
・She knows her jod well, so she is always "supporting" students. For example, if a trouble comes out in a class, she won't just solve it, but encourages students to think how to manage it.
・He understands every student's character and knows how to get along with each of them. He loves the time he can be with his students.
・She is basically kind to all students and get their humor, but sometimes turn to be strict to punish them because She wants them to be well disciplined students.