| Newsletter
No.56 |
|
November
2003
|
6th Debating Competition: ICU the champions once more!
Once again this year, on October 12-13, ESUJ's annual autumn
university debating competition was held at the National
Olympics Memorial Youth Center, with a debate squad from
England coming to Japan. Including first-time participants
Kyoto University and Sanno University, 30 teams from 22
universities participated, debating the following motions
in four preliminary rounds:
1. This House believes that Japanese baseball players
should play abroad.
2. This House would ban TV commercials of consumer credit
companies.
3. This House would allow surrogacy for profit.
4. This house believes that the United Kingdom should adopt
the Euro.
Based on the number of wins and points in these four founds,
the following eight teams advanced to the final rounds the
following day: ICU 1&2, Seikei 1, Yokohama National University
1, Osaka Prefecture University 1, Tokyo Women's University
1, Tokyo Institute of Technology 1, Keio University 1. After
this, tournament procedure was followed.
Quarterfinals motion:
This House would place the public security ahead of individual
human rights.
Semifinals motion:
This House believes that the United Nations has failed.
This year, the two teams mounting the stage for the grand
final debate were International Christian University 2 and
Yokohama National University 1. Before a total of 13 judges
and a full house, they debated the motion "This House believes
that the Japanese Prime Minister should be directly chosen
by the electorate." Yokohama National University undertook
to propose the motion and ICU to oppose, in what was to
be an impressive final both for English level and content.
The result was a fine ICU victory, 10-3! ESUJ Vice Chairman
Yasushi Akashi presented the winners' cup and round trip
tickets to England to the champions. Congratulations!
Winners:
International Christian University 2 (Mihoko Saito, Chika
Otsu)
Runners Up:
Yokohama National University (Alykulov Mirhat, Takeshi Sasaki)
Third Place:
Keio University 1(Masanori Muto, Mari Murakami)
Seikei University 1 (Atsushi Mimura, Junichiro Ito)
At this year's competition every round seemed more substantial,
and the atmosphere throughout was composed and collected.
Participating debaters and student staffers, judges and
adult staffers all performed their roles enthusiastically.
It was wonderful to feel that everyone was enjoying themselves.
We very much appreciate the hard work of Keiko Tsuji (ICU),
Tournament Director, Heishiro Abe (Yokohama National University)
and Maiko Yabe (ICU), Assistant Tournament Directors. Our
heartfelt thanks also to Mr. Anthony Millington for his
role in enlivening the proceedings during his two days as
MC.
The visiting UK squad encountered a tough schedule, but
in both the workshops and the model debate (Motion: This
House believes that a strong dictatorship is better than
a weak democracy) they performed their mission perfectly.
We hope the Kyoto sightseeing excursion with Japanese students,
karaoke singing and Japanese-style bar visit left them with
memories of their week's stay in Japan that they will never
forget. Debbie, Fiona, Rachel, Alex and big Alex, thank
you!
ESUJ Lecture: Aiming at Sustainable Society
Former Vice Rector of the United Nations University Professor
Motoyuki Suzuki spoke about environmental problems on Wednesday,
October 22 to an audience of 40 persons at the Japan National
Press Club. By the year 2050, the world population is expected
to have ballooned to around 9 billion people, making it
difficult to avoid some sort of crisis in natural resources.
According to Prof. Suzuki, a paradigm shift is necessary.
In other words, we must recognize that the world's resources
are finite and find a balance between production and resources
to ensure a "soft landing" from the crisis. From the concept
of resources equaling products plus waste, we must shift
to the complete use of resources without waste. As a concrete
example, he described a cycle in the Fiji Islands whereby
dregs left over from beer production are used to grow mushrooms
and eventually even pig fodder is produced. In future, we
will no doubt usher in an era in which customers purchase
only the service of a product without regard for the intrinsic
value of the product. Before that we may have to endure
numerous catastrophes. Rather than recycling we must figure
out how to stopper the flow of waste. Prof. Suzuki's excellent
lecture enlightened the audience on what needs to be done
for the members of the next generation.
October English Club
Mr. Masumi Muramatsu's English
Club was held on Tuesday October 21 at the Doyu Club.
The theme was "Accent". English spoken with a foreign accent
is often appealing, or "cute". MM demonstrated this by playing
tapes of English spoken by people with different accents.
Nikkei Weekly editorial office members Shigehisa Murayama
and Kaoru Morishita spoke about the current trend toward
tabloid-size papers. The next meeting will be on Tuesday
November 18, 18:30-20:30, at the Doyu Club.
Enjoy Edo Life through Masterpieces by Edo Artists
Saturday, November 22 (details on separate sheet)
Visit to the Seikado Bunko Museum (Setagaya-ku, Okamoto)
for the exhibition "Paintings of the Edo Period" with English
translation. To attend, please apply to the ESUJ office.
(limited to 30 persons)
ESUJ Christmas Party
Ring out the old year at our Hearty Christmas Party!
Wednesday, December 17, 6:30-8:30pm
Place: Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, Media Room
Cost: \6,000 (for both members and guests)
Bagpipers will provide a festive Scottish Christmas atmosphere.
Please apply to the ESUJ office (applications accepted from
now)
