Keep a Diary

As I keep writing here constantly, I remember how well I could sort out my mind and could even encourage myself day after day by writing a diary when I was a high school student. That was in the era before we started using social networking services and I had my own blog. Now I’m writing here like then, being a little bit away from Facebook and Twitter.

I’m not saying that SNSs are not good. Rather I’d like to say, Facebook and Twitter are still great and they can play important roles in our society, especially to let people share their knowledge and learn from each other.
But we sometimes have a moment that we don’t particularly need to share the thoughts with other people but want to write them down to try not to forget them. In recent years I’ve been quite afraid that I’m getting so forgetful. Probably because of my age? lol I can’t remember well even about my favorite music or movie if I am not really in to it right now. I feel so sad when I do remember that I liked something but can’t come up with what they were. 😥
That’s why I tried to use Facebook more than before, but I don’t feel comfortable every time because I somehow need to care about people’s reaction to my statement and what I’m going to post there doesn’t seem to be my “real” feeling.  If I just want not to forget my feelings, having them real is more important than writing them acceptably.

But I still prefer writing them on blog to on my notebooks because I can search for my old memories wherever I am and also I can force myself to try to write them in “linguistically” correctly as much as I can, which means to write in correct English for now. 😉

Speak Because It is Right

Speak not because it is safe, but because it is right.

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 11, 2017

If you want to know more about him ↓
https://youtu.be/QlSAiI3xMh4

#Snowden #MassSurveillance

CONSENT, it’s simple as tea (日本語ver.)

This video, created in 2015 by Thames Valley Police UK, has been subtitled in Japanese and over 100,000 retweeted in Japanese Twitter community.

A journalist, one of the closest to the PM of Japan, has been accused of rape which happened two years ago. And apparently he wasn’t arrested for some reason even though he was almost about to be arrested.  This news has got highly focused on internet in Japan since last week.

“High-profile journalist with close Abe ties accused of rape” ［The Japan Times / May 30, 2017］

“レイプ告白「あの夜、なにがあったのか」詩織さんと山口氏 それぞれに聞いた” ［Buzz Feed News / Jun 1, 2017］（おそらく現状日本語で最も詳しい記事です）

It’s so awful that this affair would’ve been forgotten in the society unless this woman, the victim, had courageously appeared in front of cameras and accused him with her own voice.

Watching people’s reactions to this accusation, one Twitter user @__for_good__ translated this video in Japanese and released it on her/his own account.

耳を疑うようなセックスの同意の解釈が飛び交っているので、イギリスの警察署が2015年に公開した 性行為においての同意を紅茶に例えた動画 (にふわっと訳をつけたもの)を置いておきます☕️

人と人の関係において性行為以外のあらゆるものに通じるのかなと。小学校高学年でも見れるね pic.twitter.com/wXl29S7uIO

— 🕊 (@forgood_movie) May 30, 2017

While I’ve been disgusted with too many things happening unfairly under the current administration,  I’m happy that this kind of “illuminating” and “educational” video has got to be widely spread among people in Japan.

I would say, as a heavy Twitter user in Japanese language, getting 100,000 retweets is not easy for a Tweet which mention something about politics or education. Usually such tweets are shared just among a small part of people, who regularly discuss this kind of topics on internet.

However, as the result shows, what this video tells us hasn’t be regarded as something should be discussed among few academic people, but something generally important and understandable.

The tricks contained in this video mean a lot.  It doesn’t look like a typical “illuminating” stuff, it is so simple as only a figure of stick man appears, it never mention which person is man or woman…

All of these factors would have worked really well to many people.  Finally this video easily brings us to think about rape which happens in a case that a victim is unconscious because of alcohol, sick or drug.

And actually I do want to praise the person who created this Japanese subtitled version.  Simply I think, he/she did brilliant translation.

My favorite part is,「紅茶は要らない　ただそれだけのことです」translated from, “They just don’t want tea. Okay? ”

What she/he’s done means a lot to many people, including me.  ：）

《References》
・刑法の一部を改正する法律案（the bill which amends the part of the criminal law）

・旧刑法176条ほか（the former version of the criminal law in Japan）

・性犯罪、刑法改正でも抜け穴「強い暴行・脅迫がない性被害は野放し状態」（弁護士ドットコムNEWS）

#SexEducation #Consent #Rape #Japan #性教育 #セックスの同意 #メディア

投票先が決まる時 / When you finally decide who to vote for

（日本語 / English ←Click to jump!）

すでに期日前投票に行かれた方も結構いるのかなと思いますが、参議院選、ついに明日となりました。

保革の拮抗する選挙や国民投票のニュースが世界から飛び込んでくる中、この間（かん）、身近な人たちがどんなふうに政治や選挙というものと向き合っているのか、私も気になってきました。
Twitterを見てると、選挙権引き下げの影響もあってか、選挙や投票行動そのものの意義に関する記事などもたくさん書かれ、話題になっているなという印象を受けました。

政治的な対立が拮抗している時、そのどちらかを選ぶというのは、とてもしんどい作業です。

ある争点について、50％の人が賛成し、50％の人が反対している状況の中で、自分がどちら側に着くのか決めるのは、なかなか怖いこと。どちらを選んでも、多くの人と違う意見を選ぶことになるから。どちらを選んでも、マジョリティにはなれない。

とある記事で、学生が「（今の社会は）中立であることが正義であるみたいな感じで」と述べていた。
ここでの「中立」というのは、言ってしまえばつまり、”どの政党や候補者も特に支持しない”ということになりえる「中立」なのだと思う。
たとえば、A党が「憲法第12条を変えるべきだ」と言っていて、B党は「元の条文のままで良い」と言っている時に、「中立」の立場を取るということは、
「A党・B党、確かにどっちも一理あるかもしれせんね。だからどっちがいいかは私には決められません」と考えてしまう..ということになるのだろう。

でもきっと、この「しんどさ」から逃れてはいけない。

インターネットの情報があまりにも混沌としているということは承知です。政治家や政党の名前を検索にかければ、1ページ目にすら意地汚い中傷やデマがたくさん出てきます。とても残念です。

でも、私たちはこの情報の嵐の中、生き抜いていかなければなりません。真逆の主張の板挟みになって翻弄されて、しんどい気持ちになっても、諦めてはいけません。

もちろん、各政党や候補者の意見を折衷したりして、自分なりの考えを探せるのなら、それはとても良いこと。それなら、その自分の意見に一番近い政党・候補者に投票すればいい。あるいは、自分が賛同できない政党・候補者がいるなら、それ以外に投票すればいい。
何にせよ、「自分の投票先が決まる」瞬間というのは、一通り自分で考え抜いた証となる瞬間なのでしょう。
逆に、まだそれに至っていないのであれば、”まだ何か論点を見逃しているのではないか”、”自分の考えはおかしいのではないか”、と不安のある状態なのかもしれません。

翻弄されてしんどいとき、分からなくて混乱しているときは、身近な周りの人に聞いてみても良いと思います。
話をすることを、躊躇わないでください。
「人に影響されるかもしれない」「人に影響を与えてしまうかもしれない」…そんなふうに心配するのは、ナンセンスです。

どんな政党・候補者であっても、それが政権を獲得すれば、その政党の考える政策、その政党の思想に基づいた政策に向けて、動いていきます。
それが基本です。
経済も、安全保障も、教育も、憲法も、社会保障も。

あなたが、誰を支持し、誰を支持しないのか。
それは《あなた自身》が、どんな社会を望み、どんな社会を望まないのか、ということにかかっています。

***
Tomorrow, people are going to have a really important election in Japan, which is for electing the members of the House of Councillors (“Sangiin” in Japanese).

Not everybody living in Japan, since having Japanese nationality is necessary for voting, but many people over 18 years old would go voting tomorrow, July 10th. The early voting had already started though.

I guess many people have been seriously concerned about politics and realized the importance of voting because of the recent political situation, both domestic and international.  Brexit was a really shocking news for many people in Japan as well as in other countries.

But at the same time a lot of people may have been confused about politics and discouraged to vote, because of the severe conflict between the conservative and the progressive ideologies around the world.

I do know that information on internet is too much complicated. There are so many shabby false rumors and slanders which just offend politicians and make people confused.

But just don’t forget, what kind of society YOU want to have.
I’m sure that it is nice to talk with somebody around you about voting or ask somebody about politics if you’ve been too much confused and tired to think about it.

You don’t have to be forced to discuss with others, but you don’t have to stay alone to think about it as well.
Don’t hesitate to express your mind, and please don’t give up to think about politics.

 

#GoVote　#選挙