Hahaha... Sorry, it's been more than a month since I published my script about Japan last time! March and April are HECTOC months, right? Anyway, finally, this part is the last part of my presentation at Purdue!!
From now on, I will talk about Japanese political & social issues. This is the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe. Before he became the prime minister, the Japanese leader was he. Junichiro Koizumi. Mr. Koizumi was really unique, impressive. Mr. Abe didn’t make much of an impression all over the world. However, he followed most of Mr. Koizumi’s policies. I picked three controversial issues the prime minister Abe is facing.
First, the military. Basically, Japan does’nt have a military. But we have the Self-Defense Forces. After the defeat of the World WarⅡ, we enacted the constitution which prohibited having any military establishment under the occupation of the U.S. Therefore, when America needed the Japanese Self-Defense Forces to go to Iraq, they helped to build water supplies or schools. They weren’t in combat. However, Shinzo Abe wants to change the constitution, and have “military” force in Japan. Of course, many people have been afraid that Japan can be involved with wars.
Second, the problem of the aging society and declining birthrate. Japan has the No. 1 life expectancy in the world. That is 82 years old. Just for the record, the United States has 77 years. Because of healthy food and advanced medical care, the life expectancy has been getting longer. However, the Japanese birthrate has been decreasing. It is said if the birthrate is 2.0, the population wouldn’t change. The 2.0 birthrate means the average number of delivering children among women who are from 15-49 years old. America’s birthrate is 2.0. Very good balance. On the other hand, the Japanese birthrate is 1.2. Very low. I am one who hasn’t delivered a child yet…So, it’s a very awkward topic to me…However, it is said the reasons of the declining birthrate are the high cost of raising children and the shortage of nurseries. Nowadays, prime minister Shinzo Abe has been trying to solve this problem.
Third, the reformation of education. Shinzo Abe has been most focused on. He said, to make Japan better, we need to give good education to young people. Especially, he wants to teach patriotism to children more and more. However…think about a movie, Letters from Iwo Jima. In that movie, Japanese soldiers committed suicide before they were defeated by the Americans, saying, “Hooray for the Great Japanese Empire!” or “Hooray for the great Japanese Emperor!” I was wondering if people all over the world might think “Wow! The Japanese people are crazy!” while I was watching the movie. However, it was a true story. They were told to do it by nationalism during the war. They believed it was morally right. Mr. Abe is the first Japanese prime minister who was born after World WarⅡ. Therefore, his patriotism might be different from the nationalism during the World War. However, his insistence on teaching patriotism and changing the “no-war” constitution has reminded many Japanese of the terrble war experience.
Last December, I visited one of my American friend’s house in Milwaukee. I met her father-in-law. He was 80 years old. I introduced myself, “Hello. I am Keiko, I am from Japan.” He said, “Oh, Japan! I went there in 1941!” Then, I remembered… It was December 7th, exactly the day of the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor! I was embarrassed, but…now I am thinking about it. We had a sad history in the war, but now I am here in class with all of you in the United States, and you are going to learn about Japan. In the movie, Letters from Iwo Jima, when Japanese soldiers read one American soldier’s mother’s letter, they knew the same feelings we had. I believe this “Global Awareness” class helps to broaden your global views a lot. Also, if some of you get interested in any part of my presentation, like Manga, fashion, or Geisya, anything! and if some of you think “ I want to visit Japan!” I am really happy. Thank you for your attention.
...This is the end of my second big presentation. Now, do you remember my objetcives of the lecture? I wrote them in the "Discover Japan" article. Have I fulfilled my objectives? Did I make them excited? Did I make them feel "Wow! I want to go to Japan!!" The answer is... actually, I was not sure. As a presentation, I think it was good. The professor said, "It was perfect. I don't want to change anything of what you did." I appreciated he said so! However, the students' reactions were like "monotone." They did not seem to be so enthusiastic about learing Japan... Maybe it made sense because they didn't take the class to listen to about "Japan." It was just a part of the class. Sometimes I felt they might have been bored, so I cut some parts, for example some parts of the Karaoke and baseball. I prepared the Japanese introductory presentation as MY level, so I introdued many secular or worldly things, but some studensts asked me very SERIOUS questions like economics or education. I thought it is better to prepare more topics that I can talk, and if I feel they may be bored, I can show them what kinds of topics I prepared, and let them pick some of them which THEY are interested in. It sounds VERY advanced, but I will try it if I have one more chance.
Anyway, some students came to me after the class, and they said my lecture was very interesting, so it was OK! Oh, one girl asked me "Where did you get your boots? I have never seen such a cute pair!!" I am sure she thought "Wow! I want to go to Japan!"because my answer was, " Of course, in JAPAN!!!"
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