2021/6/26(土) SMC

Hi everyone!

Here are the minutes of the meeting held on June 26 at Oyama Community Center. SM Yo. Narisawa and SM Yamazaki served as the Coordinator and the Lecture respectively.

As the Presidential Remarks, SM K. Narisawa referred to the meaningful phrase of “cross the bridge”. And he also added the proverb of “Rolling stone gathers no moss” that is regarded differently by British and Americans, with Americans taking it positively, which reflects Americans' happy-go-lucky mentality. SM Yamazaki raised another phrase “cross the line” that is totally different in meaning from the phrase.

“cross that bridge when you come to it” used to say that you will not think or worry about something until it actually happen "What if they refuse?" "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." (From Longman)

The Coordinator, SM Yo. Narisawa talked about her favorite TV program a quiz show in which an-catching name of Fubogatake (父母が岳) was selected as the top 10 places to go in Japan.

Lecture

“Digital authoritarianism spreading worldwide”

The lecturer quoted a story in the Japan News. According to the article, in contrast to the proliferation of IT technologies worldwide, the number of countries by freedom status has been declining. The technologies are increasingly abused by authorities and the trends are shown in the chart.

Table Topics Speech

<Who do you think is worth waiting for?>_ SM Noro

The speaker talked about his annual event of the purchase of the Year-End lottery tickets. He said that the purchase of the tickets has become customary since long time ago, but the process up to the very end is worthwhile for him regardless of whether the tickets are winners or not. The attendees exchanged their experiences of buying tickets.

<What has life taught you recently?>_ SM Kaneko

The speaker touched on the Tokyo Olympics that have been more and more controversial as to how or whether the events are hosted in Japan. The heated discussions taught him a lot of things, he said. In response, SM Yamazaki said that the event has become politicalized rather than a focus on the beauty of sportsmanship, which has made him sad. And he said that both sides, having pros and cons for the events, seem to abuse the event for their favor. He insisted on the significance of grasping the whole picture rather than just part of the news screened by the media from his specific experiences. With regard to the various kinds of news, SM K. Narisawa referred to the world situation surrounding Japan with the feeling of anger.

<What is the meaning of “peace” to you >_ SM K. Narisawa

The speaker said that he is likely to be stressed out after arguing with students at his workplace a couple days a week. On the other hand, having nothing to do puts a lot of pressure to him, he said. With regard to the issue, SM Takahata said that by just looking at the baby boy, her third grandchild, gives her a peace of mind.

<What book had the greatest impact on my life?>_ SM Takahata

As the speaker recently touched on her experience of watching the musical of Les Miserables that is being staged, she raised its original book. She clearly remembered crying a lot while reading the book, she recalled. And she added the interactions with her grandchildren with respect to books gifted by her. The grandchildren appear to be less interested in reading books than she was expecting and instead they are more eager to reading animation books such an KimetsuNoYaiba. SM K. Narisawa added an episode that his brother’s son was not a great reader during his childhood, but he is a major newspaper reporter. SM Kaneko raised a book depicting spiritual world.

<How do you define success?>_ SM Yu. Narisawa

The speaker said that the feeling of success varies from person to person, explaining that satisfaction of oneself is crucial. He insisted that it is a subjective matter rather than an objective one. In response, SM Yamazaki said that with his experiences of challenging himself to pass the United Nations Associations Test of English every year, getting better scores make him feel successful.

<What was the last time you lied? What did you lie about? >_ SM Yamazaki

Struggling to remember specific experiences of telling a lie, the speaker talked about typical daily conversations with his wife who is somewhat nervous about getting infections of the new coronavirus. From this, the attendees seemed to realize that he sometimes tells a white lie to his wife to avoid trouble.

Prepared Speech

<Being child-free>_ SM Noro

The speaker talked about study report by Michigan State University psychologists. They examined the characteristics and satisfaction of adults who don’t want children. Amazingly, the report said that a quarter of adults don’t want children — and they’re still happy. He quoted the comments of the researcher of the issue at the university, saying that “We were most surprised by how many child-free people there are,” In connection with the issue, SM K. Narisawa referred to the words of “farther” and “mother” with the usage as verb. In contrast with “mother”, “father” has just a meaning of becoming the father of a child by making a woman pregnant. The Coordinator expanded the topics to a surrogate mother.

<Reality>_ SM Kaneko

The speaker talked about specific reality with the selection from among options in his life. For him, selection of languages results in specific reality. He said that overall he is satisfied with reality.

<Miscellaneous>_ SM Yu. Narisawa

The speaker talked about his experience of meeting with his homeroom students for the first time 13 to 14 years ago, which made him very happy. Despite absence for such a long time, he easily recognized them, he said. Additionally, he added his recent experiences of vaccination twice, saying that there were no significant side effects.

<Emotional movie>_ SM K. Narisawa

The speaker enthusiastically talked about his interests of movie reaction videos, explaining that the reason why KimetsuNoYaiba is tremendously popular across the world. He said that there are funny parts and sad parts scattered in the movie. He also went on to say that the movie contains love, especially love for his family. It also contains life lessons as to how people should be brave so as to protect their beloved ones. Regarding Kiminonawa, it is about a romantic relations beyond time and location. Unlike manga and anime in other countries, Japanese manga and anime depict not only the main characters but also supporting characters, so that the audience can find it easier to identify themselves with the main characters or supporting roles, he said.

<Season for making umeboshi>_ SM Takahata

The speaker talked about the details about how to make umeboshi. From this, the attendees realized how it takes a lot of work to make umeboshi.

Next meeting:

June 28 (Mon.) 7:30-9.00 pm

Coordinator: SM Koizumi

Reported by YAMAZAKI