第204回 WORKSHOP報告(9月21日) /参加者29名

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《 今回のworkshop 》
○workshop参加人数:29名(うち新人の方:5名)
○【前半】:Buy a House or a Condominium?
○【後半】:Japan’s first biracial Miss universe and some of the criticism she has received for not being “Japanese” enough
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≪FIRST HALF≫
Title:
Buy a House or a Condominium?

We bought a house and now it is under construction.
Buying a house was my wife’s dream for long time and it was right timing to buy because we are both 35 years old and our children are 4 and 0 years old.

We checked a lot of houses and condominiums, and finally decided to buy a house in Nara.
Because;
1.House was my wife’s dream.
2.Though the land is not wide, it is enough size for a house of 2 stories with very small yard.
(In Osaka, every house we checked are houses of 3 stories.)
3.Good access to our working place in Osaka (21 minutes by train without transfer)
4.Price is acceptable.
5.Good environment for children.

On the other hand, honestly I also thought I wanted to live in a city area for its convenience, so condominium was one of my options…

Some E’s club members may already have a house or a condominium or will consider buying one in future.
Today I would like you to discuss which ones to buy, a house or a condominium.

I would like 3 tables to present your ideas of question No.5 at the end of first half.

Questions:

1.Which do you prefer, a house or a condominium?

2.Where do you want to live in Kansai area?

3.Please share the pros and cons of buying a house.

4.Please share the pros and cons of buying a condominium.

5.If your partner or a member of your family have an opposite opinion (a house or a condominium) to you when you are going to buy one, how will you settle the discussion?
How will you convince them or compromise with them?

≪LATTER HALF≫
<Agenda>
Japan’s first biracial Miss universe and some of the criticism she has received for not being “Japanese” enough

<Discussion Questions>
1. What did you think of this article?
Were the negative comments about the first Japanese biracial Miss Universe surprising? Do you think many people in Japan feel this way?
Do you think Ariana Miyamoto is a good representative of Japan for this contest? Is this news important?

2. How do you think biracial or multiracial Japanese people are viewed and treated in Japan?
Do you know any biracial or multiethnic Japanese people? What do you think of the expression “hafu”? Do you think this is a good name for a biracial person?
Do you think they are often bullied in school? How can we stop bullying?
Do you think people’s opinions of biracial people in Japan have changed much through the years? Do you think people’s opinions of foreign people living in Japan have changed much?

3. What are some advantages and disadvantages to being biracial or multiracial?
What kinds of problems do you think a biracial person might experience? Do you feel that an increase in biracial or people is a good thing?
Do you envy biracial or multiracial people? What do you think of biracial or multiracial Japanese people on Japanese television?

4. What do you think of racism in Japan?
Is racial discrimination very common in Japan? Have you ever been discriminated against due to your ethnicity?
How do you think Japanese people are perceived in other countries?

<Article>
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3007430/First-mixed-race-Miss-Japan-forced-defend-abused-not-Japanese-father-African-American.html
First ever mixed race Miss Japan forced to defend herself after being abused for ‘not being Japanese enough’ because father is African-American
・Ariana Miyamoto was born and raised in Nagasaki, and is fluent Japanese
・Mixed race beauty queen born to American father and Japanese mother
・She has been selected to represent Japan in the Miss Universe pageant
・But her selection has prompted a storm of criticism in Japanese media
・20-year-old has been forced to insist that she is ‘Japanese on the inside’
By AMANDA WILLIAMS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 11:15 GMT, 23 March 2015 | UPDATED: 13:12 GMT, 23 March 2015

The first ever mixed race Miss Japan has been forced to defend herself against accusations that she ‘isn’t Japanese enough’ because her father is African-American.

Ariana Miyamoto was born and raised in Nagasaki, speaks fluent Japanese, and has been chosen to represent Japan in the Miss Universe pageant.

But the 20-year-old beauty queen used her first television appearance after her selection to apologetically explain to reporters that while she doesn’t ‘look Japanese’ on the outside, on the inside, there are ‘many Japanese things about her’.

She has faced a storm of criticism that she is ‘not Japanese enough’ to represent the country because although her mother is Japanese, her father is American.

In Japan, Miyamoto is called a ‘hafu’, a Japanese term used to refer to someone who is biracial.

There is a feeling in the country, one of the least ethnically diverse in the world, that mixed-race people are not fully Japanese.

Website Byokan Sunday and Naver Matome report that Twitter users have posted comments such as: ‘Is it okay to select a hafu to represent Japan?’ and ‘Because this is Miss Universe Japan, don’t you think hafu are a no-no?’

Others commented that she didn’t ‘look Japanese’, her face was ‘too gaijin’, meaning literally ‘outside person’, or that the country deserved a ‘pure-blooded Japanese’ beauty.

Elsewhere online, one person commented, ‘It makes me uncomfortable to say she’s representing Japan.’

Miyamoto, grew up in Japan in Sasebo, Nagasaki, close to a major American naval base, but later moved to the United States for high school,

When she returned home to Japan, after a part-time bartending job, she decided to become a model and try her hand at pageantry – not expecting to get far due to her ‘foreigner look’.

Her selection as the first-ever biracial Miss Universe Japan comes at a time when Japanese attitudes about race are beginning to change, NBC reports.

The vast majority of Japan is made up of homogeneous people.

It is one of the least ethnically diverse countries on earth, proudly counting more than 98 percent of the population as Japanese nationals.

Megumi Nishikura, whose film, Hafu: The Mixed-Race Experience in Japan, looks at the lives of multiracial Japanese citizens, highlights the fact that 20,000 half-Japanese people, including both multiethnic and multiracial people, are born in Japan each year.

Nishikura told NBC that Miyamoto’s selection as Miss Universe Japan ‘is a huge step forward in expanding the definition of what it means to be Japanese. The controversy that has erupted over her selection is a great opportunity for us Japanese to examine how far we have come from our self-perpetuated myth of homogeneity while at the same time it shows us how much further we have to go’.

Miyamoto is aware of the struggles she faces as a ‘hafu’ beauty queen representing Japan.

In interviews she has called Mariah Carey a major inspiration because of ther multiracial background, according to RocketNews24.

‘She went through a lot of difficulties before becoming a popular singing sensation,’ Miyamoto said.

‘She faced some racial hurdles, similar to myself, but she overcame them and became a top star, so she’s been a big influence on me.’

Here is also an article in Japanese.
http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2142620018230216801