About discussion

On December 17th, we discussed “discussion”.
The panels were Azusa, Jeff, Shiori, and Kazue.
Satoko is English department student. Malcolm studied literature in NY. Jun is a English department student. Masako is a strict teacher.
Moderator said that there were 2points for good discussion. So, we discussed those 2points. The one is “Achievement to consensus”. Masako and Satoko were for to reach consensus without insisting our opinion. Masako said that they learned how to reach the consensus and it was the most important thing. On the other hand, Jun and Malcolm were against the opinion. Malcolm said that some people had strong opinions, but other people did not have. He expected all the people had idea equally, so gathering all people’s ideas were important.
Good opinions have logic and reasons from someone. Discussion is to come up to the best answer. So, good opinion is important for discussion. To the answer, I think it is true. If we discuss and there are no good answers, we can not find consensus and can not end the discussion. So, I think that this idea is very basically thing.
Next, we talked about audience’s opinion. Malcolm said that not all audiences have to say their opinions, because there are many people who have no confidence.
On the other hand, Jun said all audiences should say their opinion.
I think there are many people who are not good at telling their opinions easily. In fact, I am not good at speaking. So, I suggested the idea in this discussion. Malcolm said trying is important. When I heard these words, I thought it was true. So, I think every audience should try to voice in the discussion.

Moral dilemma

On December 10th, we discussed ‘Moral dilemma’. Members were Ayumi, Mami, Fumika, Hiroya, and I.
In this discussion, we thought the position of a father. My son and wife and I stayed our holiday in Bali, and we were in the airport. My son had marijuana in his bag and it was found by sniffer dog. Police officer asked me “whose bag is this?” I realized I had to answer, but the answer won’t be easy. I saw my wife in the corner of my eye, and she was about to step forward and claim it as her own. So, we discussed what we said. First, I thought that I would wait for my son’s answering, because he was 18 years old, and he knew what was good and what is wrong. Other people said that It was my son’s marijuana. The reason why they would say was lie was not good for my son, and if I protect for my son, he would feel guilty. However, Ayumi said that my idea was good. In this story, the person who has marijuana would killed or be jailed for life. So, we discussed the way no one would die. So, we decided that we would say “I don’t know”. However, the idea was refused by Jeff. So, we found another way. In this discussion, my wife was about to step forward. So, we decided to say “We all smoked marijuana”. If we said this phrase, police officer would confuse and doubt of all of us. My wife and I want to protect our son, but I want my son not lie. So, in this way, my son not only my wife and I have to in jail for our life or executed. We think this way is the best answer to the question that what we say.

#11Birth rate

On December 3rd, we discussed birth rate in Japan. (How to support the family with children) The panels were Masami, Mai, Kasumi, and Kota. Ayumi was moderator. They were indifferent positions. Ms. Nobi divorced 5 years ago. She has a 7 year old daughter. So, she is single mother. Ms. Minamoto got married last month. She does not have children. She wanted to have her child, but there were some problems. So, she hoped those problems would be solved in the discussion. Honekawa studied in France until recently. Mr. Goda has one san. His wife passed away 2 years ago. His san is a elementary school student.
Ms. Minamoto said that it would be difficult to keep working if she had a child, because she can take child-care leave for only 1 year. So, if she had a child, she had to quit her job.
Ms. Honekawa introduced about the system in France. In France, birth rate is high. French people can take child-car leave longer than Japanese. Also, they can reduce working time. And there is one of the reason why birth rate in France is high is that more than half babies are outside babies. French women who are over 40 give birth to their children.
Ms. Minamoto agreed with Honekawa’s idea and said that they should introduce the system in Japan.
Nobi had 2 problems. She does part time job, now and the salary is not expensive. Nobi gets allowance from government, but it is not expensive.
Mr. Goda can not get allowance because he is father.
In this discussion, theme turned and change. So, it is difficult to write. Also, I can not understand what they said. So, I want to hear again about the discussion.

#10 Grade skipping

On November 26th, we discussed the theme "To introduce grade skipping in elementary school and Junior high school in Japan". The panels were Airi, Fumika, Misaki, Chika and Hiroya. They were in four positions. Taro is 5th elementary school student. He can solve Mathematics easily in elementary school. He always feels bored. So he agree with introducing grade skipping. Ms.Hayashi is elementary school teacher. She works for 20 years. She is neutral. If Japan introduces the system, school expense would decrease. However, because of it, students would lack communication. Ms.koizumi is the Minister of Education. She disagrees with the system because Japan has compulsory education system. Also, she said that we should treat students equally, and to introduce grade skipping system is difficult. Lee is Chinese and he skipped some grades and left out of the group before. However, he agrees with to introduce the system.
Ms. Koizumi said that to introduce grade skipping system in Japan, we would have communication problems. It is difficult to communicate with the people who are not same age. Mr. Lee does not have special friend and he spent his time studying. Because of it he gets some awards. Ms. Hayashi suggested communication test for the students. She said that she did the test like terminal test. However, it is waste of time that all students take the test. So, Mr. Lee made suggestion that the only students who want to skip their grade take the test.
According to the discussion, I thought that grade skipping is not necessary in Japan. My friends taught me that there are a few people who skip their grade. So, if Japan introduce the system, probably a few people use the system. Also, because of grade skipping system, all school has to change their school system. So, I think that grade skipping is not necessary.

#7 daylight saving system

On November 18th, we discussed the theme “To introduce daylight saving system in Japan”. The panels were Saori, Sakiko, Ryoji, Sachi and I. This discussion was done by four position people. Moderator was Ryoji. Igarashi (Sakiko) works at government. Kawasaki (Saori) is a mother. Nikaido (Sachi) is a manager at a company. Amasawa (me) is an elementary school teacher.
At first, moderator told about daylight saving system. It is done by Europe and American countries. The countries which introduce the system now is America, Canada and so on. This system is done from spring to fall to use our free time effectively. Ms. Igarashi and Ms. Amasawa agreed with to introduce daylight saving system, but Ms. Kamazuka did not agree. Nikaido was in neutrality position.
Mr. Nikaido said that to introduce daylight saving system would cut their company’s cost, and it is good for company. Daylight saving system was done in Hokkaido for 3 years as a experiment. Ms. Igarashi said the data about the result of Hokkaido. According to the data, because of the system, the number of traffic accidents was decreased. Ms. Kamazuka said that it is bad for children health. If we introduce4 the system, many children would confuse. However, Ms. Amasawa said the advantages of the system. She said that by introducing the system, students can go home before dark. Also, the students who do club activities can do their activities without worrying about the length of the day. There were some advantages and disadvantages; the worst point is the cost to introduce the system. If we introduce the system, it cost about 100 billion yen.
So, I think that daylight saving system is not necessary in Japan.

#6 medical expense for free

On November 12th, we discussed the theme "Making medical expense for free". The panels were Nanase, Chinatsu, Mikako, Aya, and Mami.There were four different positions people in this discussion. First is Yone. She is an old woman. She has chronic illness and goes to the hospital 2times a week. She lives with her husband. She is for the system. Second is Tomozo. He runs cigarette store and he is in neutral position. Third is Kyoko. Her husband works at a famous company, so she is a rich wife. She agrees with the system. She thinks that it is good for poor people. Last is Miyu. She has 2 children and they go to school. Her husband works at a normal company.She thinks that the system is not good for her family because they rarely go to hospital.They suggested raising cigarette tax, alcohol tax, and consumption tax. Tomozo said that it is not fair. If the system were introduced, some people would stop buying cigarette and alcohol. So, it gives big damage for Tomozo. So he suggested that to raise only consumption tax. But, Yone and Kyoko thought it is not enough.Miyu disagree with the idea and suggested to raise income tax. However, now, Kyoko's husband pay his 40 percent of income as income tax.And then, we discussed what tax we raise.First, we said that medical expense was not necessary. Small children and elderly people often go to hospital, but other people rarely go there, so there are no sense.However,if the system introduced, I think income tax is the best.

#5 reduce electricity cost

On November 5th, we discussed the topic that we must reduce the electricity cost in PUK. The panels were Shiori, Miyo, Kazue, Azusa, and Jeff.
The electricity cost in this university is increasing year by year. Keiko Kiyota, who works in PUK showed the graph about the amount of electricity consumption in PUK. Keiko said that the cost was very expensive and we had to reduce the cost. So, she offered that we set the temperature 28℃ in summer, and set 18℃ in winter. Then, Ryoichi Shinohara who is a professor in PUK said that 28℃ in summer and 18℃ in winter is not good, and we had to find alternative system. Mariko Uemura who is a student this university said that cutting cost is important, but we paid enough money for this university.
After that, Takashi Sakaguchi offered to set the air condition’s temperature 26℃ in summer and 20℃ in winter. However, Keiko said we needed another way to reduce electricity consumption. And then, Mr. Shinohara offered solar panel.
We discussed the way to reduce electricity cost. I think solar panel is too expensive. So, we have to find another way. In this discussion, Kiyota suggest to raise school expense. But, I disagree with it. We pay money for this university every year and the cost is not cheap. As a result, Ayumi (Sachi?) suggest that to set electric fan in our classroom ceiling. I think that this is one of the ways to reduce the cost. I have an opinion about the way to reduce the cost. In this university, there are many dim bulbs in classrooms. So, if we reduce the number of them, we can reduce the cost.

#3 Making fee for ambulance

Today, we discussed the topic” Making a fee for ambulance”. The panels were Ryoji, Sori, Sachi, Sakiko, and me.
We were in different situations. I was a local government, Ms.Kashiwagi. Ryoji was a doctor, Mr.Shindo. Saori was a old woman who uses ambulances many times a year, her name was Yone. Sakiko was a woman who lives countryside with low income, her name was Shizuko. Sachi was a moderator.
Today, the number of ambulance is in short, but the frequency of mobilization is increasing year by year. And it costs about 50,000 yen to send an ambulance, to maintenance, and to buy tools which we use for treatment in an ambulance. This cost is paid by local government. However, there are some people who call ambulance for cantrip and because of minor injury as taxi. So, many hospitals are in trouble. Also, the cost is increasing, so local government is in trouble, too.
Then, local government demand 10,000yen to the people who used ambulance. It is the 20 percent of the cost to send an ambulance. However, because Shizuko’s income was low, she said that she could not pay. She said that she could pay 5,000 yen. But, Yone who uses ambulances about 10 times a year, so she would pay 50,000yen a year. And so, Ms.Kashiwagi made made offer the exception. She said that she would support such people who use ambulance more than 5times a year and who has chronic illness.
However, there were some problems. It seems penalty if the people who really need ambulances. And 5,000 yen is little expensive. I think that 5,000yen is not too expensive. But for homeless it is expensive and they can not pay.
And so, one audience made offer that we should charge 5,000 yen from only bad users and minor injury people.
I think it is good idea.

#2 No my own car day

On October 15th, we discussed the topic "No my own car day". The panels were Kasumi, Ayumi, Mai, Masami and Kota.
This discussion was discussed by four different position people. Ms.Hirota is office worker, and she goes to her office by car. It is difficult for her without her own car, because she lives countryside and if she uses public transportation, it will take for 2 hours. Ms.Sato works at city office. She uses public transportation to commute. Ms.Yamada is maybe travel operator...I could not understand her position well. And then, Mr. Shiraki is track driver.
In this panel discussion, they made offer that we make days which we can't drive our own cars and use public transportation twice a month. They said that they would introduce the system from city center. And the people who use cars as their work should apply to the city office.
However, I think this system has some problems. In this discussion, panels decided to introduce the system from the city center. In Kumamoto, the adoption rate of public transportation like buses and trains are not enough. So, if we use them in the same time, we will unable to take them according to schedule. As a result, we can not get our office in time. There would be too many people in bus stops and stations. To avoid this confusion, we have to piece out public transportation. Also, they would introduce to countryside in the future. So, we have to expand the traffic network. It costs too much money and it is very troublesome. It is too difficult for the people who live in countryside not to use their cars twice a month.
And so, Sachi made offer that we introduce the system not in city center but in each companies. If we do that, we will not have to cost too much money for the system.
Trough the discussion, I think that “No my own car day” is not necessary.

#1 Paying salary to house keepers

On October 8th, we discussed the topic “Should we pay salary to house keepers?" The panels were Mikako, Chinatsu, Mami, Nanase, and Aya.
This discussion was discussed by four position people. If the system is introduced, all time house keepers will be able to get 100,000yen in a month. Also, the women who work out of their house in the day and do housework in their house can get 70,000yen in a month.
However, there were some problems to introduce the system. First, the definition of house keeper is difficult. The panels said that house keeper is to do housework, and not single. Second, they discussed the definition of all time house keepers. The audience, Ayumi talked about her family. In her house, her grand mother does almost the housework. Her mother works in the day. However, after her work, she does housework with Ayumi’s grand mother. So, if the system is introduced, Ayumi’s mother will be able to her work’s salary and house keeper salary, 70,000 yen. Just maybe, this system might increase the number of white hands. 100,000 yen is not expensive but nit cheap. 70,000 yen is, too. Before house keepers get their salary, we should decide where the salary comes from. Some panels said that we should pay the house keepers’ salary as tax from our salary. However, if the workers who get less than 100,000 yen salary in a month, this tax is big charge. So, we they discussed the definition about the tax, there was no good idea.
As a result, we left some problems, and could not get together.