I looked at the titles of the articles on the Yahoo page, and saw the title "The Biggest Loser of Season 10." Because I didn't have TV in my house, I didn't even know that was the title of a television show broadcast in different countries. In the show, the participants compete against each others to win the biggest loser of their weights. I thought that the show was really interesting and helpful for people especially in America to get out of the fast food-centered life style and live longer with no health problem.
I was completely against the Food Fight because the event encourage people to become fatter and unhealthy, and the Food Fight essentially leads people to shorten their lives, but some people still participate the Food Fight to get money.
How nice to get a lot of money after you lost so much weights! I hope that the TV show will become more famous, so that more people in the world will become healthier 

A Great Deal!

 
Two months ago, I found the Burger King restaurant, which has one dollar Whopper on the menu, near my house in Dallas. i thought that was a great discovery for the poor college student. After I found out, I went there almost every other day. Anytime I went there, I didn't even look at the menu and ordered two or three Whoppers without anything else for dinner.
But after a month, when I started feeling sick of eating Whopper, I looked at other things on the menu. Then, I saw that the price of Double Whopper. The price was $4.59. I was surprised different price between a Whopper for $1 and Double Whopper for $4.59. Even if you order four Whoppers, they are cheaper than a Double Whopper. Assuming that they will charge me an extra patty for one dollar, I ordered a Whopper with an extra patty and they charged me only two dollars, but that exactly same as a Double Whopper.
If you know any Burger King restaurants that have a Whopper for a dollar, you may want to try the order of "a Whopper with an extra patty."

How is the Sushi Restaurant Famous?

I used to work as a server in a Japanese restaurant owned by a Chinese in Chicago for a half year. The restaurant was one of the most famous restaurants in Chicago. I was wondering how the restaurant could become so popular if no Japanese sushi chef nor kitchen chef work in the restaurant. I assumed that the manager had received the training of how to make sushi and other Japanese dishes in Japan for long time, so that he could teach other people.
I asked the manager if he had been to japan before. Then, he said he had visited to japan twice in his entire life and both visits were only for a week. Then, i asked where he learned how to make sushi and other japanese dishes on the menu of his restaurant. He said he never learned from anyone, but he just made japanese food in his original ways.
When i tasted California role, I was so shocked that the rice did not taste anything. When Japanese make sushi, they always flavor rice with vinegar, but he didn't. I also tried Miso soup, but it was way too salty. I thought, how did the restaurant become so popular with the terrible foods?
When I was working, most customer order a lot Sake or other alcohol and little bit of sushi. Then, I realized that the customers did not really come to eat Japanese food in the restaurant but came to drink. One customer told me that "I really like the atmosphere in here." The decorations inside the restaurant was not like typical Japanese restaurants, which simply have wood made tables and chairs and sushi bar with a few other decorations of Japanese traditional ornaments. But the inside of the restaurant was more like a bar, which put glass made tables and steel made chars with playing the U.S. pop music.
The manager said, "People come to my restaurant because they like Sake and the atmosphere." When I heard that, I became sad that he didn't even talk about Japanese foods. I really wanted to say, "If you call your restaurant a Japanese restaurant, you have to think that your restaurant represents Japan and learn about how to make REAL Japanese dishes from Japanese chef!" But I was not brave enough to say that to him and sacrifice the job.

Are Video Games Really Bad?

In the last two lectures of the Literature class, we learned about video games. During the class, one student said, "I think the video games are good for children to be smart." I was agree with his opinion.
I don't know if all kinds of games help children to become smarter, but role playing games require the planning skill and calculation to complete all the chapters of the games.

In role playing games, people have to plan what to save and what to buy to survive on the battle field. In order make a plan, people have to calculate the budget you can use. If they lack either one or both, they won't be able to complete the games; therefore, role playing games train children to improve their planning skills and calculation.

I have a friend, who has played different role playing games, such as Final Fantasy and Starcraft, for his entire life. In college, he majored in Game Programming. When he entered the college, he already had enough knowledge to understand about how the games are made from his experience of playing games. After college, he was hired from Nintendo, the biggest game company in Japan. He said that "because I played every series of Final Fantasy and memorized how the games are organized in each chapter, I could impress the interviewers when they asked me about Final Fantasy."

What Does a Blog Mean Today?

          What is a blog? Most people would say, “It’s an online-journal.” Blogs are also the place, where people can say something that they cannot easily say in front of others. For example, Lindsay Lohan writes about her thoughts about her father in her blog that “he cheated on my mother and that really sucks.” Lohan expresses her feeling toward her father that she cannot easily say in front of audience and mass communications. The example tells that people do not need to worry about others’ reactions of what they say while writing on their blogs because a computer is the only one that is standing in front of them.  

            Then, what is the role of a blog in the today’s media? A blog is no longer just “an online-journal” but a powerful mediated tool to influence the society. Robert W. Bly tells, “I can’t deny the effectiveness of blogging for marketing and self-promotion.” Bly says, “Many writers have either gotten book deals or made their books bestsellers as a result of their blogs.” In the worlds of entertainment, business, and politics, blogs have functioned as a bridge between the media and people.

           

The Evolution of Blogs

            A blog is a mediated tool and not just a reflection of a person. Majority of viewers see that blogs are “online diaries where people share their opinions, ramblings and personal events” (“What”), but they do not even think about the intended meaning or purpose of a person, who writes a blog. According to Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache, staff writers in the website, CNET News,  “In December 1997, [Jorn Barger] created RobotWisdom.com-[the first blog in history]- to feature entirely bloggy collections of links to articles about politics, culture, books and technology that he found interesting.” Since 1997, the original purpose of a blog, which is to share something interesting with others, has been evolved by bloggers and internet users. Lance Strate, the author of the article “Studying Media As Media,” quotes “McLuhan’s (1964) famous maxim, ‘the medium is the message’” (130). A blog can become a powerful mediated tool to deliver messages to people. Some bloggers post their messages to guide viewers and the society to their desirable ways. Without knowing the intentions of bloggers, viewers can possibly be influenced by his/her thoughts and beliefs through reading their blogs. This paper presents the evolution of blogs’ roles and function in the media. -thesis

            As I researched blogs in terms of their function and roles in the media, I have found that the messages on a blog can become more influential to people than the messages through other mediated routes, such as websites and public speech, for two main reasons. 1. Blogs let viewers leave their comments about the contents on its page at their leisure, while websites and speeches do not. 2. Common understanding of a blog as a “diary” makes viewers feel privileged to read the blogger’s personal reflections and feel close to the blogger.  

            People feel more involved when they have a chance to post their comments of what they have read. The website, Daily Blog Tips, explains, “A blog is basically a type of website, like a forum or a social bookmarking site” (“What”).While websites do not let viewers leave their comments or observations of their articles, blogs let “readers have the possibility to leave comments” (“What”). Because viewers know that they can submit their thoughts and impressions about the messages on blogs in comments’ sections, they become more serious about reading the blogs’ contents to leave elaborate and immersed comments, which impress bloggers. As a result, viewers become obsessed with reading blogs and affected and influenced by the messages.       

            According to the website, Daily Blog Tips, many people tend to “think that blogs are online diaries where [they] share their opinions, ramblings and personal events” (“What”). Because most people see a blog as a personal diary, some people are more interested in reading a blogger’s reflections of his/her experience than reading public articles in a website.

Arita Yoshifu, a politician and famous journalist in Japan, is a blogger, who has evolved the functions of a blog and uses it as a mediated tool to brainwash people into believing what he says on his blog. The slogan of the National Rifle Association is, “‘Guns don’t kill people, people do.’” Arita is a good example of the meaning behind this quote; in other words, blogs don’t influence people, but he does.

A blog was originally created for people “to contact with each other in relationships where they can learn, share ideas, make friends with and even do business with people with similar interests from around the world” (Rowse). For example, a blog is a space into where they can post information or experiences about themselves that they think might be interesting to others. This space is meant to be a web coffee shop, where people communicate with their friends through sharing their personal experiences and exchanging each other’s thoughts and ideas.

However, Arita has evolved the original purposes of a blog: His purpose of blogging is not to make friends and interact with friends but to attack a certain group, the UC. Arita writes, “We, Japanese Society, have to fight against cults, Aum Shinrikyo and the Unification Church.” If viewers read the sentence without knowing what he really means, the viewers would misunderstand the statement as if Arita is trying to save the society from the cults; however, his ultimate goal of saying this is to attack the UC by categorizing them with Aum Shinrikyo, a known terrorist organization.  Instead of networking and sharing his personal experiences with others, he manipulates the blog to attack the UC.

            Arita manipulates the blog to make people believe what he says. Arita uses his position as a politician and well-known figure in the media to emphasize that “we, Japanese society” must unite and defend ourselves against cults, as if saying that he is a representation of the entire Japanese population. Assuming that people think he is an honest, trustworthy man, he can write negative things about UC that includes false information with no worry for persecution. Not like websites, which require proof about whatever authors write, a blog has no restrictions or rules. Bloggers, therefore, can make their blogs “whatever [they] want it to be” (“What’s”). Arita uses the blogger’s privilege and writes whatever he wants to mention with no need to worry about being oppressed by the government and society. Another technique Arita uses to coerce people into believing what he says on his blog is that to post readers’ supportive comments of the posts.

            A blog can be a powerful tool to change people’s thoughts. Blogging is more effective way to influence people than speaking in public because the blog is something that a viewer can read whenever or wherever they want to without any interruption. Listening to someone and speaking in front of a crowd cannot easily inspire and influence audience unless he/she is a great speaker like Martin Luther King Jr. or Benjamin Franklin. But people feel personally connected to authors of blogs when they read the blogs in their own room without any interruption of others.

            Arita manipulates the “personal diary,” where people listen to him as a “friend,” invades into their hearts, and brainwashes them into believing that he is the messenger from heaven to save the world. Christine OKelly in the website, Self Made Chick, suggests to “stay true to yourself because you need to be your own biggest fan before anyone else can be.” The sentence tells Arita to stop lying about the UC and be true self. If Arita is his own biggest fan after writing all the false contents on his blog, he is the true evil.

The Fake

            A Blog is a powerful mediated tool, which influences society. Jeung-tai E. Tang and Chi-hui Chiang, National YunLin University of Science and Technology, mention, “In recent years, weblogs (blogs) have become popular forums on the Internet and have changed the nature of human social interaction by allowing people to connect with many other individuals worldwide.” Also, many politicians, journalists, business people, and other professionals take full advantage of blogs to remain competitive in today’s fast-paced society. The blog has narrative elements that influence society. Because owners of blogs are given rights to post about whatever they want to write and accept only the comments of viewers that the owners wish to show on their blogs, people can create a dominant or ideal world that is centered upon their personal desires. Arita Yoshifu, a politician, journalist, and self-proclaimed anti-religious person also uses a blog as a tool for his own benefit, but also to attack particular groups, with which he disagrees, or are obstacles to his goals. The Unification Church, UC, has been his biggest target, about which he has mentioned since the beginning of his blog. In the narrative of the blog, Arita develops himself as a hero by giving his viewers positive images of himself and through his outstanding writing techniques. However, he essentially brainwashes viewers into believing that whatever he writes about the UC in his blog is true.

            As a politician and well-known figure in the media, Arita fulfills the first step of creating a positive image by framing himself as the hero of Japan. According to Jamy Li and Mark Chingnell in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, readers “have prior impressions of a blogger’s personality based on offline acquaintance, previously read posts, other online content (e.g., profile information) or the credibility of a referring site.” In other words, the impression of bloggers, which readers have before looking at their actual blogs, is significant because it leads readers to determine whether or not the bloggers’ comments are accurate and believable.

            Arita is well-known as a smart, polite person, who has never raised his voice in TV shows in the Japanese society. Anytime Arita appears on Japanese TV, he is introduced as a graduate of Ritsumeikan University, which is known as one of the top universities in Japan. His academic accomplishment in the top University in Japan gives people an image of a smart and credible man. Also, proper language, straight posture, and a deep, quiet voice lead many TV viewers to have an impression of him as polite, gentle man. He arrives himself like a hero, on whose actions and comments people can rely.  

            After successfully presenting his positive images to the Japanese society, Arita uses his writing techniques, which have been cultivated through his years as a journalist, to make viewers believe that whatever he writes in his blog is correct and credible. So when Arita writes in his blog that “the Unification Church and Aum Shinrikyo are the social issue that I always have to remind people through my blog,” he is telling readers that the UC, which is considered as a cult in Japan, is the same as Aum Shinrikyo. However, Aum Shinrikyo is formally recognized as  a terrorist group worldwide after the Sarin gas attack. Arita uses his heroic persona to lie to the Japanese society. Arita also calls the UC an “anti-social religious group” many times in his blog without explaining why the group is anti-social. His constant stress of the UC as “anti-social” with no explanation or any reason shows that he is confident that most viewers believe that he is a champion of justice and the UC is evil; the only thing he has to do is to remind viewers that the UC is not favorable in the society.

            Arita’s comments in his blog and other mediums like TV interviews and the articles he wrote, which speak negatively of the UC, such as by categorizing them and Aum Shinrikyo in the same group, threaten the families of the UC members and lead their families to hire deprogrammers to kidnap them. According to Douglas Burton on the website (Unification Church News) around 4000 Unificationists “have been abducted and subjected to coercive psychological torture intended to break their faith during the last 30 years.”  Dan Fefferman and Ray Mas, authors of the website (International Coalition for Religious Freedom) says, a UC member “was raped on numerous occasions by her “deprogrammer.”” In worst cases, these extremely violent attacks carried out by deprogrammers “have resulted in suicide”(Fefferman). Arita has never mentioned what really happened to those victims of the kidnapping cases in his blog; however, Arita mentions in his blog, “It was right choice for the families of UC members to rescue them from the anti-social group like Unification Church.” He even criticizes UC that “Unification Church is very wrong that they call the family’s attempts to rescue their family members kidnappings.” Arita is not a real hero, who tries to save the Japanese society from the UC, but he is an evil that indirectly leads deprogrammers to destroy the UC through the media. 

As I mentioned in the culture jamming section, Arita never posted any comments opposing and pointing out the contradictions in his blog.  Even though the things he writes in his blog, such as the kidnapping cases of the UC members, often contradict with the truth, Arita can still exalt his opinions by keeping only supportive comments of his words. By posting only supportive comments about what he writes on his blog, he portrays himself as a hero, whom everyone admires and respects.    

Arita develops himself as a tragic hero, which is under the threat of the UC, in his blog. Before Arita was elected to the House of Councilors, he posted comments on his blog, “The UC members are distributing fliers, slandering and speaking ill of myself, throughout Japan.” He explained that the main purpose for the UC members to distribute the fliers is to prevent him from being elected to the House of Councilors. The UC demonstrated against the thousands of abductions and physical assaults to the UC members carried out by deprogrammers. The members distributed the fliers, saying that “Arita has played the key role to make the tragedy of kidnappings happen by spreading negative and false information about the UC through TV, magazines, internet, and his own books.” The UC members had a fear that if Arita gains more power in the society, such as becoming a politician, what he says about the UC through the media would become more influential, and the persecution toward the members would be escalated; therefore, the members opposed “the axis of evil” to be elected to the House of Councilors. Arita, however, wrote that the UC members distributed “fliers, slandering and speaking ill of myself” without mentioning the member’s feeling of fear toward him. By knowing that Arita became a hero in his blog, he twisted the truth and framed the sentence, as if the UC members were tring to attack the hero with the spread of libelous material.

Arita argues that the UC members’ conduct of distributing the fliers written the opposition for him to run for the election “stifles the freedom of speech.” For more than fifteen years since Arita first appeared in the media, he has created and spread negative images and deceitful information of the UC. Because his work of creating a false image of the UC as an anti-social or terrorist like group, most UC members cannot even say that they are Unificationists to their friends or even to their own family members. Through the media, Arita has oppressed the UC members’ ability to introduce themselves as Unificationists in Japanese society and share their beliefs to others. In spite of the past records of his conduct, Arita can brainwash people into believing that the UC is no more than an anti-social cult, while keeping himself as the tragic hero, whose is freedom of speech is stifled by the UC, in his blog.

Arita uses his blog as a powerful mediated tool. Shih-Ming Pi, Hsiu-Li Liao, and the other two authors in the website, EBSCOhost, report, “According to a report in April 2007 (Sifry, 2007), there are more than 70 million blogs on the world wide web and approximately 120,000 new blogs are posted each day.” We have seen how effective Arita’s blog is, and it’s only one of 70 million blogs. The power of the blog is made evidence through the changes of the UC members’ lives by one alleged hero.

Appropriate Terms For Guys

When you see this image, what impression of the puppy comes first? Yes, "cute."
When I went to my friend's house in Chicago in 2007, I saw a puppy. I said, "The dog is so cute."
My friend said, "Koei, you are weird." I wasn't sure why I was weird to her, so I asked her. Then, she said, "it sounds gay for guys to say cute.'"
Because I was still learning English as an ESL student, I didn't know that the word "cute" was feminine term. But now, I have a concept that "cute" is a feminine term, and guys, who use the term are very feminine or possibly gays. Actually, i often hear that guys say "cute" to people or animals. Do they say the word because they are feminine? If I see a puppy that gives me a "cute" impression, should I say the puppy is "what's up" instead of saying "cute?" Since the "cute" experience in 2007, I have never used the term "cute" even to a baby.
So, am I not supposed to say "cute" in any occasions not to be labeled as a feminine guy?

What Do I Look Like to You?

I posted this image on my Facebook page as my profile picture the last Sunday. The image is the main logo of a Japanese popular brand, APE. I posted the image because I liked the shirts of the brand.

After posting the image, I received an interesting reaction from my friend in their comments. A Christian friend, who knew that I also had a faith in God, simply asked me, "Why?" 

At first, I wasn't sure what he meant, so I asked, "What to you mean why?" 

Then, he replied, "Why did you post this? Did you become an atheist?" 

Oh, I got it! He thought that I showed my belief in evolution through posting this image on my profile picture. I explained that it's a logo of a very famous fashion brand in Japan. I said I never believed that whatever Darwin said was totally untrue. 

The brand is not famous and in America, so many other friends, who believe that humans are all creations of God, would probably be offended with this image. 

The friend's reaction was a good reminder that how I was obsessed by the "brand." I have a few of the shirts with the APE's logo and have worn them when I go outside without worrying about other people's eyes. But after realizing how weird the shirts look like and possibly offended to some people, I stopped wearing the shirts in public. I may wear the shirts only when I am in my house. 

I don't mean that I should always wear a shirt, on which is printed Jesus' face, but I should know that what I wear can cause people to misunderstand me. 

Same-Sex Marriages

Marriages for same-sex couples are legally accepted in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusette, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. In today's society in the U.S., same-sex marriage and abortion are the biggest and most sensitive issues. My church, unification Church, believes that original purpose of humans is to marry to opposite sex, give birth to children, and have a happy family, in where God can dwell. God created man and woman to become together but not man and man and woman and woman. If I just point a finger at gay people and say "you are wrong," I will be the one should be accused.

I have a friend, who exposed that he was a gay on facebook in the last summer. Because I strongly believe in my church's teaching about the unification of a man and woman, I felt so sorry to hear that he was a gay. I asked the friend, "How did you become a gay?" He said when he entered middle school, he became interested in same sex.

I asked my pastor about why some people became gay. He explained that the homosexuality has a long history. In Japan, many monks became gays after they started living in a temple on the top of the mountain with other male monks. Because the monks are also humans, who have sexual desires, but there are only males in the temple, they had sexual relationships with other male monks to satisfy their own desire.

I thought the homosexuality is the result of the today's immoral society, but the issue has a long history. Some researchers say that environment has strongly affects people to become gay. For example, if someone was sexually abused by his same-sex parent, he remembers the experience and desires to have sex only with same-sex. Other researcher says that it is a biological issue: Some people are born to be gay. I still have lack of knowledge about the homosexuality, so I will need more research on the issue.

It's very sad to see that many places in the U.S. accept the gay marriages. If what the researchers say about "the environment cause people to become gay" is true, then the U.S. has to try to make a better society, which encourages to have a healthy, moral family with no violence or abuse. Children need father and mother to receive love from both sides, but children cannot grow properly if the love from either father or mother is absent; therefore, the same-sex marriage should be discouraged in order to raise children in the right way and make moral and peaceful society.

Misusing of Facebook

When you open the wall on your facebook, you see a blank that says, "What's on your mind?" I write something on my wall only when I think that's good news or meaningful for my friends to read. For example, I posted two weeks ago, "Hey, I got three tickets for Marvericks' game on Friday for free from school. Does anybody wanna come with me?" Facebook is very convenient for me to ask or tell something important to my friends instead of calling them one by one. I understand that you can write anything comes in my mind if I know that my message will not hurt anybody's heart. Some people, however, intend to write something that hurt others' hearts. In other words, they use the facebook opportunity to attack somebody.

Spreading out a friend's untrue story on facebook caused the friend a huge trouble. One high shcool student in Japan wrote something about his friend on his facebook wall, "He brought a cheat sheet for the last history test." He wrote this after he fought with the friend. A day after the student posted the message on the wall, his high school teacher, who had a facebook account and was a friend of the student, who wrote the message, read this message and called the friend, who was suspected to bringing a cheat sheet for the history test, to the dean's office. The friend finally could convince both the dean and teacher that he never brought the cheat sheet, but since the guy posted false information, the friend have been called a "cheater" from his class mates. The friend, who was labeled "cheater," stopped going to school and started home schooling.

Only one short sentence caused the friend an incredible pain in his heart. The student, who wrote the message, will have to apologize to the friend until the friend says, "I forgive you."

Facebook is very useful to communicate with others, but it can also become dangerous weapon to attack others. I think facebook should become close some people's accounts, who try to attack others. And, facebook shouldn't put the message, "What's on your mind," in the blank on the wall because the message can imply to some immature people that they can write whatever they want to.
     

Christmas in Japan?

What's coming up after Thanksgiving? Christmas! The song, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," keeps playing in my head during Christmas season. Christmas has been my most favorite time every year. Santa Claus had been the biggest reason why I liked Christmas the best until when I was twelve. After finding out that my father was the Santa Claus, I was at first disappointed, but I celebrated the Jesus' birthday with offering a prayer of great appreciation to God and Jesus.

Other than the New Year, Christmas is the biggest day that is celebrated in Japan. Christmas decorations, music, and commercials, public places, stores, houses, and all the TV channels in Japan create the spirit of Christmas. Also, every Japanese family eats a roast chicken in Christmas.  I always enjoyed seeing the huge Christmas tree placed in front of the station in my hometown in Japan and listening to Christmas music in everywhere I went. But in a few years ago, I came up with questions, "Why do Japanese people celebrate Christmas? Aren't they either Buddhists or non-religious people?" I am one of a very few Japanese Christians, who celebrate the Jesus birthday. But how about other non-Christians? What do they celebrate for if they don't believe or know about Jesus?

I asked my friend from high school, whose father was a Buddhist, in Japan, "Why do you celebrate Christmas?"

"Well, I guess it's because my girlfriend always expects me to buy her a gift and do something special like going to the expensive restaurant on Christmas day." He said. I asked if he knew why we had Christmas on every December 25th, but he didn't know anything about the meaning of Christmas. He didn’t even know who Jesus was.

Japanese people, especially young people, become excited toward the end of the year because of the biggest events, Christmas and the New Year, happen during that time. Japanese people enjoy seeing westernized decorations, eating delicious food, and listening to Christmas music in English without knowing the significance of the December 25th.

I feel contradictory that these non-Christians celebrate Christmas for their happiness but not for Jesus. At the same time, I am so impressed that Jesus embraces everyone and makes them happy even those, who don’t even know him.

Why Turkey on Thanksgiving?

Yesterday, I had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner with other people from my church. Even though I don't like turkey because it  smells something, and live ones look quite awful, I enjoyed having the dinner with my church friends. During the dinner, I asked one of the friends, "Why do you guys eat turkey on Thanksgiving? Why not Sushi, beef steak, or other delicious foods instead of this smelly, ugly meat?"

"What? How dare you hate turkey!? This is delicious!" She raises her voice.

I, at first, said "sorry" to call her favorite turkey "smelly meat." But then, I asked her again, "Why do you guys always eat turkey on Thanksgiving? Are there any particular reasons?"

"I don't know. I don't care what the heck Thanksgiving means. I like Thanksgiving because I can eat delicious turkey." She said.

I thought if turkey is my favorite food, then, I wouldn't even care why people eat turkey on Thanksgiving. But because I hate turkey, I wanted to find the clear reason that could convince me why turkey became the Thanksgiving main dish but not beef steak. I don't like how other friend told me, "I don't care what Thanksgiving means. All I care is to have day off and have fun with friends." 

Thanksgiving is the day that Pilgrim Fathers "declared a three-day feast, starting on December 13, 1621, to thank God and to celebrate with their Indian friends" (ChristianAnswers). As Americans, I think it is very important to know this history. I, however, could not find the absolute reason people in America eat turkey on Thanksgiving. Does anybody know why?

Why is MLB's final called "World Series"?

In 2010, Texas Rangers became the champion of the American League for the first time ever in the history. Colby Lewis' outstanding pitch, which allowed only three hits and one score from NY Yankees, in the sixth game was the best part in the league championship. Many Japanese baseball fans also watched the sixth game to watch how well Lewis would do against NY. Lewis became very famous in Japan after he had played in one of the Japanese Professional Baseball, JPB, teams, Hiroshima Toyo Carp, in 2008 and 2009th seasons. Then, in 2010, he came back to Texas, which selected him as 38th overall player in 1999 MLB Draft, and played an active role in this season, especially, in the postseason.

After seeing Lewis' pitch in the sixth game, many Japanese news papers put the articles about his pitch. "Our Lewis represented Japan!" Since he is not a Japanese, the title was really not correct, but what the news paper tries to say is that "the level of JPB has grown so much." Since the  beginning of 2009, naming the championship of MLP "World Series" has been a debate in Japan since 2006, when Japan got the champion in World Baseball Classic, WBC while the U.S. lost before advancing to the final tournament. JPB side has argued that MLB's champion and JBP's champion should go against each other in World Series to decide the real "World Champion."

I disagree with the JPB because it's obvious that the level of MLB is much higher than JPB's. Then, why did the U.S. fail to advance to the final tournament in 2006 and got the fourth place on 2009 while Japan got the championships in the both WBCs? There are many reasons that both Japanese and American journalists mention why the U.S. didn't do well in WBC: Because the U.S. teams didn't prepare enough for the games and many American MLB's star players refused to participate WBC. To me, these reasons almost sound excuse, but I have a clear reason why MLB's level is much higher than JPB's. It's because MLB does not limit the number of non American baseball players while JPB allows each teams to have only four non Japanese players. More than half of players in MLB are non Americans and many of them have become successful and star players, such as Pedro Martinez, a Dominican and Albert Pujols, a Dominican.

Today, many top players from Japan and other countries, such as Korea, Ruperto Rico, Cuba, and Dominican Republic, have joined in the MLB teams and worked hard to become successful in the highest baseball league MLB. Getting the championship in MLB means to become the champion among these top players in the world. Therefore, MLB's World Series  are meant to decide the real "World Champion." If Japan still wants to argue about the topic of World Series', JPB, at first, should welcome unlimited number of foreign players to play in Japan. 

Dream Worlds

       What is an important tool to make music videos popular? Popular music videos include sexual contents, which stimulate viewers’ sexual desires. In Dreamworld 3, a film, Kenneth Burke introduces that women’s bodies are the product for selling music videos; music videos use women’s bodies to stimulate male viewers’ sexual desires. Especially, music videos of rap musicians often contain the images of women with bikini, under wear, or other tight close that fascinate male viewers to watch. These females dance, sing, or have a sexual relationship with males. By knowing that males’ desires are to see women’s naked bodies, music videos contain the scenes that women expose their bodies to encourage males viewers to repeatedly watch music videos. Burke points out that music videos include incongruous contents, which lead viewers to moral destruction. The film presents the strategies of construction of femininity, pornographic imagination, and masculinity and control in music videos.       

            In constructing femininity, Burke presents that the most important aspect of women is sexuality Dreamworlds. Women in the videos represent the creatures that always desire to have sex; therefore, they always need men as partners of having sex. If men are absent, these sexual maniac women need to have substitutions of men to satisfy their sexual desires. Once women are stimulated their sexual desires, they expose their bodies and approach to men even in public places, such as a public bathroom, parking lot, and office; they become careless about what appropriate places to expose their bodies once they are aroused their sexual desires. Women are representations of sexuality in music videos.

            Second, Burke explains that pornographic imaginations of women play major roles in Dreamworlds, especially in rap and hip hop. In the music videos, women face their hips to the camera and shake the hips in front of men’s faces. Men look and spank their hips. The images define men’s pornographic imaginations, thinking about women only as tools to satisfy men’s sexual desires. In a scene in music videos, a woman’s hips are used to swipe a credit card. The scene signifies that women allow having sex with men for money. Throwing money at lower half of women’s bodies describes the world of prostitution and strip. Men black males appear in the pornographic scenes and touch women’s bodies. The scenes create the wrong image that these black men are the representations of typical African American men in the real world. Pornographic imaginations are used in many rap and hip hop music videos and influence viewers’ senses of morality.

            Finally, Burke tells masculinity and control are a major title in Dreamworlds. In a music video, Justin Timberlake follows Britney Spears, breaks into her house, and watches the young woman takes a shower. The scene defines the stalking and domestic abuse in real world that men cannot accept women’s rejections and controls women to satisfy men’s desire. Carrying women like children, pushing them to the side, slamming them against the wall, holding them on the floor, spanking and slapping them, and pouring water and alcohol on their bodies, men in Dreamworlds approach women with their physical strengths. In Dreamworlds, women never say no to men’s sexual demand and welcome masculine aggression.        

            Women’s bodies are products to make music videos popular. Incongruous contents in music videos influence actual world. During Puerto Rican parade in NYC, Many women were sexually assaulted by the men in the parade. The men stripped the women’s clothes, touched their bodies, and poured water over their bodies. The scenes in the parade look familiar from music videos. The music videos let men think that all the women always desire to have sex and obey to men’s sexual demands; however, women in the real world are different. The women receive mental damage by being sexually abused. Music videos become the great source of the moral collapse in society.

Women Power

Mamoru Oshii, the director of The Ghost in the Shell, describes the positions, abilities, and limitations of women in today’s world. The film mainly presents the battles of the Japanese National Public Commission known as Section 9 against criminals and illegal associations. Section 9 selects elite, skillful men in the fields of technology and battle to overcome them, who threaten the Japanese government and society. In the beginning, Motoko Kusanagi, a female cyborg, is built in a laboratory. Kusanagi has superhuman power, and her extreme physical strength helps Section 9 to capture and execute criminals. Kusanagi’s role represents women’s roles in today’s society, and the film as a whole shows a male-dominated world that does not allow women to go to the front line except as cyborgs.

Kusanagi leads the Section 9, together with Daisuke Aramaki, a head of the department. Through her performance dealing with numerous criminal cases and overcoming powerful enemies, the female cyborg gains trust from its members. Kusanagi’s role and performance represent women’s rights and powers in today’s society.

In the Samurai era, women were not allowed to speak in public. If women spoke out, they would be executed by the Japanese government. In today’s world, women have gained more rights and powers. In academics, politics, and business, women are equally measured with men based on their capabilities. My mother used to say, “While men can focus only on one thing, women can do several things at the same time.” For example, women’s ability to manage multiple things is applied in the role of secretary. Condoleezza Rice is one of the most outstanding United States Secretaries of State in the US history.

Making Kusanagi a cyborg denies that women can perform as much as men do on the battleground, which requires physical strength. The film implies that the only way for females to become stronger than any male is to become a cyborg. In the story, only male characters and cyborgs are involved. The film examines the women’s roles and abilities in the military.

Who are the majority in the US army, males or females? Even though females are allowed to join the army, few of them are in the army compared to males. Throughout history, military has been considered as a man’s mission. Males are more adaptable to military training and go to the battlefield because it requires physical strength that females do not have. With thinner bones, narrower shoulders, and smaller muscles, females naturally possess less physical strength than males. Some women are masculine in terms of their actions, ways of talking, and personalities; however, their bodies are constructed to gain less muscle than males. Some men who talk and act femininely are still physically stronger than women.

Oshii presents women’s positions in actual society through The Ghost in the Shell. Kusanagi’s position in Section 9 represents the roles of women in society, and the female cyborg symbolizes the reality of what women can do on battlefields. If Kusanagi appears as a human like Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider, how many of you think that would be possible?