Timed Essay (Journal # 28)

Maiko Harada
11/26/07
A timed essay

Victims of prejudice

There are many Chinese or Korean people living in Japan. When I was an elementary school student, many of them were bullied by Japanese just because they were not Japanese. Their parents were taken to Japan forcibly as slaves during the war, so there was no reason to be bullied. They did not do any bad things. Japanese did. They had a prejudice that they were bad. When I learned Japanese history and knew about that, I was so sorry for them because I did not help them even though my friends bullied. To exclude such a prejudice, we have to imagine if we were them and change our consciousness.
There are many prejudices not only about foreigners in a country, but also about sex, ancestry, disabled. We have to do imagine if we were them. We might know that they did nothing bad and there is no reason for a prejudice, and also we know it is such a sad thing to be a victim of prejudice. We should think what they feel.
After realizing these things, we have to change our senses of prejudice. Unless all we knew about this problem, we cannot clear this. If only I changed my thinking. If you changed your notion, your friends also will change. If your friends changed their notions, friends of friends will change their consciousness. There is no impossible.
If all we could imagine the feeling of victims of prejudice and change our senses of prejudice, there were no victims in the world. We all have same human rights and it should not be violated by anybody.

Happy Thanksgiving (Journal #27)

Things that I am most thankful are all about study abroad. First, I thank to my parents because I am 3rd grade in university in Japan now, so it is not good to go abroad to study at this time because I have to do job hunting from around October to May. Actually most of my friends already started to do that. My parents must worry about that, but they agreed to me when I decided to come here even though it is not good timing. My parents always support me and say “Do whatever you want, but be responsible to all things you did.” I am really thankful to my parents. Second, I am grateful to my grandparents. They assist me with money, I spent my money to go to New Zealand to study two years ago, so they suggest they support me. They always give me advice, admonition, and help. I appreciate them very much. Final, I am thankful to my host family in here. They are so nice people. They always try to talk to me and listen to me gently. If I had nothing to do on weekend, they took me everywhere for fun. One time I talked with my friend on the phone and I said I miss Japanese food, so they took me Japanese restaurant next weekend. How nice people they are! I am so happy to meet them as my host family. To thank about something is very important to know what I should do.

thanksgiving day in NY

Japanese Meat and Potato Korokke (Journal #26)

Japanese Meat and Potato Korokke
http://www.recipezaar.com/164690

Korokke is Japanese fried mashed potato with vegetables and meat. My mom made these all the time when I was a kid. Its is a great portable snack that reheats well.

Ingredients (4 servings)
1 lb potatoes
1/4 lb ground beef
2 tablespoons green onions, chopped
1/2 onion
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper (to season)
flour
panko (breadcrumb)
vegetable oil (for frying)

How to make
1.Peel and cut potatoes into medium chunks. Boil potatoes until soften. Mash potatoes and set aside.
2.Mince onion and saute in a fryin pan. Add ground beef in the pan and saute. Mix mashed potato and onion and beef in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper and mix well.
3.Make flat and oval-shaped pieces about 3" in diameter and 3/4" thick (a little bigger that a cookie). Coat each piece with flour. Dip in beaten egg. Coat with panko. Fry in 350 F oil until brown.

Boo (Journal # 24)

This is a real story in Japan. As one man got to the elevator hall in his mansion, he met a guy who covered his mouth with a mask and wore sunglasses. He was very hurry, so the guy hit his shoulder hard with him. He said “Oh, excuse me.” But he was so hurry, so he did not say anything. After he went back his room, he found that his shoulder on T-shirt was red. It was blood. He thought he had hurt because of crush with the strange guy but he realized that it was not his blood when he put off his cloth. He thought the guy he met at the elevator hall was injured. The next morning, someone came to his house, he went to the door and answered. “Who are you?” and looked trough the spy hole. There were a policeman, and he said “Last night, there was a murder in this mansion, do you know something?” He thought that the guy he met the elevator hall was murder but he was so sleepy and had a head ache because of too much drank. So that he said he did not know anything. The next morning, he saw the news, it said that the murderer was arrested. It showed the picture of the criminal. The picture gave me gooseflesh. It was the policeman who came to him last night. He tried to find the man he crushed and to kill him!!

Lost in Translation (Journal #23)

Japanese regard humility as virtue. I think this culture sometimes make misunderstanding to people from different countries. We make much of sense of cooperation and do not like to be outstanding very much. One time, a teacher in my university in Japan, is American, said he thought that students took a defiant attitude at a first class in his experience in Japan. He said “Hi everyone, nice to meet you. How are you?” but nobody answered. You must think it is strange and rude, but it is a not unusual thing in Japan. Basically Japanese are quiet and modest in public. I do not like this so much because I like people in here. They can tell things what they think to everyone without hesitations. It is difficult for me to change my habit to American style because the Japanese culture and American one is exact opposite. However I will try to do it because I am in America now!

California fires (Journal #22)

I have never seen the fire for real, so I do not know a fear of it. However the news of California fire made me scared. I feel a nutural threat. Human can not conquer the power of nature, so I afraid natural disasters more than crimes of human. Disaster strikes when it is least expected. The california fire made me sick. I could not breath well and I had a slight headache. I did not like the sandy wind because of it. I saw some sands on my hair, cloths, and face. It was very uncomfortable. My damage because of the fire is tiny thing though. I wish that the damage to everybody in San Diego or the place near the fire will not go worse any more.

Time Management (Journal #21)

Time management is very difficult thing especially for students because we have many fun things. If we have a party on Saturday, can you do your homework on that day? I cannot do it. Here is three steps to manage time well. First, we have to think the order of priority. It is the most important thing. When we have many things to do at same time, it is easy to be confused and give up some of them. However if we knew the priority sequence, we can do the thing which we need to do at just that time. For example, when I clean up my room, I am often diverted by another things like pictures, comics. As a result, I give up to clean up my room and put off it. If I knew that cleaning is the thing which I need more than reading comics or watching pictures, I could finish it. To think priority is very important. Second, we can write down things to do as a list on the paper. It can help to manage time well. We can know what we need easily from it and do things quickly to manage next things in the list. Writing down something is effectively for this. Finally, we have to wake up early even if it is holiday. As the proverb goes, “The early bird catches the worm.” We cannot do things efficiently without waking up early. If you remember these three techniques, you will manage time well.