Ayumi Yajima
Ayumi is a high-level student who was lucky enough to study in Canada. There are two of her essays here so far. In addition, there are two versions of each essay: the first is her original version; the second is an edited version.
1) Random crime - attacks on innocent people
2) Nobel Prize Rush 2008
Random crime - attacks on innocent people (original)
According to the article in Nikkei, a juvenile delinquency is decreasing for the long term in Japan. Also, the number of murder incidents in 2007 recorded the least level since the post-war period. Nevertheless, sensational random crimes are reported by the mass media every day, as if it were giving stimulus to the next crimes. The article said that the serious problem is not the number of crime, but the cause of induction. Most of those cases have some communities, such as uneasiness about the future, or the unacceptable gap from real life. Those offenders' stresses occur from their private communities, such as family, classroom or website. Their lack of self-esteem or identity within a small community made them to a standstill. However, the anger flew into a rage to the society, not to their communities, and that resulted in random attacks on innocent people by any means.
It is partly said that increasing number of nuclear family made their unite close, and heartlessness to others on the other hand. Also extreme heat up of the entrance examination war prevents them from having mature way of thinking. Before consist their identity, they crammed for the exam. People tend to rely on the result 'right' or 'wrong', and 'pass' or 'failure'. They have not much chance to know and accept various way of thinking, living or value judgment. It easily become to consider people divides into two groups: SUCCESS or NOT. Some research showed 1 out of 8 people in Japan have a symptom of depression. they struggle to accept the difference, find own way, and recognize their selves and have independent way of thinking.
Copyright: Ayumi Yajima, 2008
Random crime - attacks on innocent people (edited)
According to an article in Nikkei, juvenile delinquency is decreasing in the long term in Japan. Also, the number of murder incidents in 2007 recorded the lowest level since the post-war period. Nevertheless, sensational random crimes are reported by the mass media every day, as if it were giving stimulus to the next crime. The article said that the serious problem is not the number of crimes, but their cause. Most of those cases have some aspects in common, such as uneasiness about the future, or the unacceptable gap from real life. Those offenders' stresses occur from their private communities, such as family, classroom, or website. Their lack of self-esteem or identity within a small community brought them to a standstill. However, the anger flew into a rage against society, not to their communities, and that resulted in random attacks on innocent people by any means.
It is sometimes said that an increasing number of nuclear families unite closely, but on the other hand, act heartlessly to others. Also, the extreme pressure of the entrance examination war prevents them from having a mature way of thinking. Before developing their identity, they cram for the exams. People tend to rely on the result 'right' or 'wrong', or 'pass' or 'fail'. They have not much chance to know and accept various ways of thinking, living, or value judgments. It becomes easy to consider people divided into two groups: SUCCESS or NOT. Some research showed 1 in 8 people in Japan have symptoms of depression. They struggle to accept their differences, find their own way, recognize themselves and have an independent way of thinking.
Copyright: Ayumi Yajima, 2008
Nobel Prize Rush 2008 (original)
The first week of October, Japan bubbled over with an excitement when the Nobel announcements 2008 was released in Stockholm. Three Japanese physicists, Y.Nambu, M.Kobayashi and T.Masukawa were honored with Nobel Prize in Physics. Y.Nambu was evaluated for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics. M.Kobayashi and T.Masukawa were evaluated for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature. The following day, O.Shimomura also won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP. Needless to say, this was the most glorious achievement Japan ever had. Unexpected news proved strength of Japanese steady diligence, and that gave hope and confidence to the young generations, whereas left some problems to be solved.
Each scholar mentioned in their interview that unrestrained environment was indispensable to pursue their interest. Pure curiosity is always a clue to the mystery of the universe. However, current education system in Japan tends to demand only the result, not to attach importance to the process of device. T.Masukawa is the one who has apprehensive about the marking examination system which is adapted to grade the score clearly and efficiently. To gain a high score with this system, students are advised to skip or guess answers even if they couldn't come up with the correct answer, and that prevents children from having deep understandings. Another situation can be said to Y. Nambu and O.Shimomura. They decided to move their base to United States in their youth to seek for comfortable surroundings to pursue their research. Global recognition for their prize belongs to United States, not to their homeland. Japan set a target of taking 30 Nobel prizes in 50 years. To achieve this goal. Educational Institution of Japan should consider these gaps seriously. They need to find the way to expand children's ability, and offer attractive field for scholars to venture into the unknown world.
Copyright: Ayumi Yajima, 2008
Nobel Prize Rush 2008 (edited)
In the first week of October, Japan bubbled over with excitement when the Nobel announcements 2008 were released in Stockholm. Three Japanese physicists, Y. Nambu, M. Kobayashi and T. Masukawa were honored with the Nobel Prize in Physics. Nambu was rewarded for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics. Kobayashi and Masukawa discovered of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature. The following day, O. Shimomura also won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP. Needless to say, this was the most glorious achievement Japan ever had. This unexpected news proved the strength of steady Japanese diligence, and gave hope and confidence to the young generations, but left some problems to be solved.
Each scholar mentioned in his interview that an unrestrained environment was indispensable to pursue their interests. Pure curiosity always finds clues to the mystery of the universe. However, the current education system in Japan tends to demand only the result, not to attach importance to the process. Masukawa is one who is apprehensive about the examination marking system which is adapted to grade scores clearly and efficiently. To gain a high score with this system, students are advised to skip questions or guess answers if they can't come up with the correct solution, and this prevents children from having deep understanding.
An important point can be raised about Nambu and Shimomura. They both had to move their base to the United States in their youth to seek conducive surroundings in which to pursue their research. Global recognition for their prize belongs to United States, not to their homeland. In addition, Japan set a target of taking 30 Nobel prizes in 50 years. To achieve this goal. The Educational Institution of Japan should consider these deficiencies seriously. They need to find a way to expand children's abilities, and offer attractive conditions for scholars to venture into the unknown world.
Copyright: Ayumi Yajima, 2008