November 12th

  Last day of RW as well as the last class we would have as a stream 1A section!! I must say, this term has gone by super fast and it feels even absurd that we have already finished this course. This term was  filled with introduction to new things, especially lessons on leadership , and new challenges.
  The highlight of the course for me, were the lectures given by the big figures that have proven immense  leadership skills. There was a lot to learn and draw from , not only through their  message about leadership from their personal stories they shared but also through their composition during their presentation. I know there aren`t many chances for us students to get a chance to ask questions or talk to them, so these experiences were truly special and inspirational.
 The amount of writing, blogging responses to the class and the book, writing the final 2000 word essay, really contributed I think, to improving my writing skills. Maybe I won`t exactly say improved, I can`t judge on my own, but this class  has given me far more opportunities to write than I have ever had in my whole life. The process of reflecting upon experience as well as evaluating them, linking them with concepts that have been learnt before, helped me think more in depth about what various things meant to me and what  I had to say about them. It allowed me to have a deeper understanding about my surrounding and it was a great, effective way of making external information my own.
  Through out this course, I also realised how much more improvement I need in my english skills. The comprehending, writing and speaking needs much more training and I really wish I had more classes to pursue them. I guess I would be having less exposure to learning in English from now, but I wish to maintain and  improve as much as possible by taking various other English classes and actively reading, writing on my own.
  It has been an amazing term with Ken and all the rest of the stream 1A students. I have learnt so much from you all. I hope that we can always remain section 1A, sharing many more moments together and continuing to inspire each other. Thank you so much everyone!!!

October 30th

  Throughout the past few classes a few guests have come in to our class to speak about  leadership, and it really has been wonderful lessons in the sense that it has made what we had been  learning very real. There was a lot to draw out of these huge figure`s talk about their personal life stories and the way they have taken on leadership. It has been really inspiring to hear about the strategies and attitudes they had taken that has contributed to their success, and  it has been really helpful in connecting what we have been studying in class.

  I was especially impressed by the speakers that came today, despite their background being something  less familiar to us compared to the  past few guests. Perhaps it was the way they talked, with the right kind of enthusiasm, and vigour-not too much that it was overpowering but not too little that could have made us bored. I thought the partnering between the two speakers were great too; they supplemented each other`s talk which made it very clear for us to understand the whole picture, and the balance of speech when they gave descriptions  made it easy for us to get a grasp of the story without having such a one-sided view. 

  The message Mr. Daisy sent to us was very valuable I thought. Suddenly being a president of a school with a  failing system in a country which you aren`t familiar at all was, though he retold in a comical way, was no doubt a daunting task. The way he approached it was by taking a step back to understand the environment, culture, people then addressing the problem WITH the people. Now, this is a wide spread teaching; to not blindly go in to an unknown land and suddenly try to take power over it, thinking that you know everything that needs to be done. However, it`s easier said then done, and to actually take that teaching to heart by implementing it-that`s a different story. To some people it may come naturally, but to some I think it takes enormous amount of self control and patience to do so. The way Mr. Daisy  tried to tackle the problem by involving the people, encouraging them to speak out and actually reflecting their opinions in restructuring, like he said creating"ownership" among them, was spectacular. To make reforms from the inside, meaning shifting the people`s paradigms was probably the key success to saving the school. Now with the environment where the faculty`s opinions actually mattered, even if there is to be a down turn in the success of the school in the future,  i`m confident that with the cooperation they will be able to overcome it.

 What I wished to ask, but was cut off due to the time constraint was, if there was some kind of impact or change in the students attitude since Mr. Daisy stepped in. Since Mr. Daisy was the present it is natural that  he mainly deals with the faculty board, but upon hearing about how he usually had lunch with the students, showed how much he cared and valued the students themselves. Perhaps his attitude toward the students, or individual communications  he had with them has contributed in motivating them in someway? Or  maybe the way he requested for  the faculty to be more open with ideas and to have more dialogue during the decision making process has generated to the students and encouraged them to do the same? Or perhaps the fact that the school was succeeding, the results of the school itself has been a factor to change the students attitude or feelings toward the school? Anyhow, I believe that there is some sort of story on the students side and I wished to hear more about. 

  I hope we will be able to, with the power of what we have learnt in class and through the lectures the past few guests have given, take to heart a few messages on good leadership and be able to apply them in our future. Thank you Ken for brining in all these guests, it has been a very valuable experience for all of us and i`m sure each of us has brought home a little something to ourselves that would be both useful and important to our lives from now on.

Leading At The Edge #5

   The real life stories featured in chapter #10 Tenacious Creativity, were simply amazing. I was especially impressed with how Callahan managed to survive on the raft for more than a month! Left with more water to spare too! ( This story reminded me a lot about the book I read before, The Life of Pi. It`s one of my favourite reads, so whoever is viewing this blog, I highly recommend you to take a look at this book:)). The endurance of Callahan, combined with immense self control played a big as part of the success in survival, as the his creativity I did think. I don`t think I would have the will to restrain my self from eating up or drinking the food and water that was stored.
  Although there was a lot of focus on teamwork being able to come up with radical ideas, because there are more heads together than just one. However, I think that being alone can sometimes prove to be more effective. I have seen that there is a tendency for people to rely on others and not try to for themselves when in a group. When alone though when a problem is needed to be solved, you only have yourself to rely on and you are forced to come up with some sort of miracle. I actually do have a lot of these experiences actually, though definitely not as heroic as the stories in the book. I think it is related a lot to the other quality of not giving up, that was referred to in the chapter, but when you are in a difficult situation if you think long and hard enough you somehow find a way. By not panicking and thinking systematically you really can find  brighter prospect to things.
  I think part of the leader`s job is to bring out that creativity in people. We can`t just let them and be, and hope for a miracle idea to strike them. I think the leader`s attitude that encourages and values participation, creativity, voices of individuals on daily basis is what helps prepare for dire situations where we need to draw on each`s ideas. The leader`s role is vital at the very time of the predicament too; they must be open to other`s opinion and have the guts to follow another`s idea.

October 18th

  For the beginning half of the class today , we gathered in our research writing support groups to discuss about our extended outline. The day before, Koji, Takehiro, Izumi and I had got to together, as well as shared our outlines on google docs so I think we had a rather good head start. We already had our technological devices ready for working as a group, and decided to check, peer-edit each others work through sharing documents on google drive (Something I learned the previous semester).  We already are showing signs of excellent team work I think. I feel pretty confident about this group; we have an clear idea of how we are going to work as a group and motivation to improve our work as a team. 
  I`m a little worried about my essay though, because I don` t have a very solid thesis statement. My thesis statement is formed by basically two guideline questions, but i`m not very sure whether they fit together as one statement. I think through further research on the topic it would make things a little more clear and easier for me to work on. Hearing other`s presentations on the topics was a great way to get an image of what was to be addressed in the essays. The problems of the essay being to broad and vague came up, and it seemed like each of us had to keep our focusses narrower as well as more to the point. It is difficult still, trying to picture what each of our essays would be discussion,  but I think with further sharing and feedback from our members we would be able to clarify those doubts. Another thing I realised today, was that my argument needed to present some controversial ideas too, to strengthen my argument. Also, remembering from my first term lesson, I need to  keep in mind the importance of topic sentences. I tend to stray away from the main focus throughout the paragraph.   I am pretty excited about what I will be able to discover through researching and forming my ideas on technology and leadership communications. I hope that through the process I would be able to improve my essay writing skills as well as deepen my understanding on the topic.

Leading At The Edge #4

  It is an ongoing battle in one`s head I think,  balancing between taking a risk and playing it safe. We have to constantly weigh out our options, whether we take risks or not. What I find most effective when  I have to make my mind in a difficult situation is to remember the words my mother taught me to ask my self. "What is the worst that can happen?".This of course for  situations where there is a prerequisite that a certain risk should be taken. It is the sort of line dropped to  encourage you to go for it. For example when I was younger, I remember being afraid to raise my hand in class to say something. By asking my self the question , What is the worst that can happen?" I realised that the only thing that could happen was possibly being a little embarrassed facing the crowd(maybe get some sneers from fellow classmate boys),  and that the gains would be much bigger, with me learning to overcome stage fright, making my voice heard by others, showing participation...etc. The same goes with the time I was hesitant in making long term commitments like joining various school teams or out of school activities. Though at first posing as obstacles that may be hard to overcome, when you see some positive qualities in it, that is when you take a risk.  I have seen that risks based on good intentions taken for yourself often times work for the better, making you stronger to adversities and expanding your potential.  My mother always taught me to be a risk taker.
  The situation is different though when the risk taking involves not only you. More so when your life is at stake like Shackleton`s expedition.What you can manage and deal by yourself may not be what others can handle, in order to change the risk factor into positive results. When you are alone risk taking means challenging the boarders of your capacity, which your are aware of, but when working as a team, you do not know what those boarders of others are. It is hard to draw line on whether to take risks or not but I think instincts play a big part in this.
Risks are an inevitable part of living, living ambitiously, and as the book says, leaders must learn to be comfortable with the discomfort of risk.  Weighing the possibilities, evaluating the consequences must be constantly done, but when there is momentum, I believe that we must have the courage  to take a step.

Risk taking image on Stanford Technology Program:

Leading At The Edge #3

  The read on the chapter about conflicts gave me an opportunity to think again about conflicts within a team. Examining Shackleton`s story, it seems especially vital to them to deal with conflict because conflict can easily lead to a life and death matter. Slight disagreements about what may seem to be the littlest thing to us, such as who gets the last piece of biscuit, can lead to a nasty battle. Especially when survival is involved,  the want of small things even can be reason for dispute, and for those small things dispute can evolve in to a full fledged violent threat. During Shackleton`s expedition, even truces that were formed through talking things out were temporary and often found broken which caused more conflicts. I imagine that  conflict resolving would be one of the top priorities for leaders in such a situation where men are cold, hungry and constantly on the brim of death. Conflict is something that cannot be avoided in those predicaments but depending on how it is managed, damage can be reduced  to a great degree.
  Whenever I find conflict within a team, I try to take everybody`s mind of it by concentrating on a different issue or issue some off time to let off steam. It is effective in that everyone can refresh their minds and hopefully see a new perspective of teams, but like Shakleton crew, if we were faced with survival issues I don`t think it is easy as that. As quoted from the book, "The Challenge is not how to eliminate the conflicts but, rather, how to manage them in productive ways that strengthen bonds among team members"Sometimes the conflicts can`t be escaped and must be addressed immediately. I have a tendency to hush up the conflicts, but it is true that the conflicts itself can`t be eradicated, and the win approach to it would be to leverage the conflict to creating better bonds in the team. The approach I take now is basically shutting out the main issue here, and it isn`t very productive. By hiding from the main conflict, one day the little tremors may accumulate and cause a big disruption to the team.

October 7th

  The concept of "flow" by Mihaly Czikszentmihaly is very much like gratification I thought. It perfectly explained why we can be so engrossed into something to the point of us losing the sense of time. He defined this "flow" as something that occurs when sufficient skill is matched with sufficient challenge. This concept of flow really clicked with my understanding of gratification and I felt enlightened from the very abstract perception I had about it before. A leader being the one to provide those that he/she works with the opportunity and autonomy to find flow within the tasks given was absolutely the right way to put it. I think all what I have been talking about channeling energy towards a goal or sharing passion can be summed up to this concept of "flow".
  We also talked about managing conflict today. Megumi announced that she felt no conflicts whatsoever. At least she didn`t regard conflicts as conflicts in a negative way, merely obstacles to overcome. I was amazed at her positivity; not everyone, hardly anyone I should say can deal with problems the way she does and have such an joyous outlook of issues. I do believe too, that conflicts can be a key to solving things and opening up new doors. It can be a initiative to talk about the problems that lay in the team , what their initial goals/commitments as a team were, and as a result enforce a stronger, better team.
  In truth though i`m afraid of conflicts in a team. For one, conflicts are memorable. Conflicts big or small can linger in ones mind and lead to misjudgement of one another in the future, slowly corrupting the harmony of a team. The memory of conflict could be so bitter that in attempt to avoid it, refrain from relationships with certain people or not speak one`s mind about important issues.  Another, is that conflicts can make horrible turns in certain cases. The argument can heat up so badly that it could go astray and be  a battle about and entirely different issue. This one incident can lead to damage beyond repair of the relationship and trust between members of the team.
  Conflict though is inevitable. As much as I dislike them I have to deal with them. Without conflict nothing develops. I guess it all depends on how you perceive things. Whether you take it as an factor for down fall or as an chance for opportunity, it is up to you to decide and change the course of things. Based on the evaluation test we did in class for conflict management I would like to  rethink my way of dealing with conflict.
  Right now, what I find particularly effective is to just take time off from working as a team. Whether the conflict is between the team members or something entirely different, conflict creates tension and reduces productivity(at least at that moment). Taking a break from the pending issue, refreshes and energises everyone allowing them to start anew with a rational mind.

Leading At The Edge #2

  Focusing on  team work in this chapter, I realised how recently I had only been looking at how teamwork functions from the leaders point of view. So starting off with the main question, what makes a good team? A good team can be evaluated in many ways, such as by how well they can produce results, whether each member is fully utilising their ability or by how good the chemistry between the members are. A factor which I think is common to scoring on these criteria is team communications. I`m not talking only about friendly communications, but just personal everyday interactions are vital in creating a good team spirit. Leaders can create a team atmosphere but certainly can`t just lead the way of a group of people who has no sense of unity. Active engagement to is necessary at the basis to build feelings of affection, trust, respect for each other.
  The example of the Hanoi Hilton Prison, where the prisoners communicated through tapping was just amazing an amazing story. There must have been someone who initiated this movement and channeled the negative energy to this kind of interaction. That person is probably what I would call a leader in the situation. This story also perfectly exemplified the need for members to communicate actively to create a strong bonds. It also proves that not only face to face interactions, skin ship such as shaking hands or hugging  can contribute to constructing strong ties. If you think in context of everyday life in modern days, perhaps the use of social media and ICTs play the very same role. It would be interesting to research the how communication technology contributes to the work of a leader and a team.
  Another thing I found particularly interesting about this weeks chapters was the mention of the third party. Shackelton created the Directive Committee, which was an inner circle of key advisors, in order to  maintain morale and at the same time seek solutions to ensure the seaman`s survival. It is vital I think to have another trustworthy person/team that can give you a different perspective and monitor your actions. A leader must have the open-mindness to listen to others, and actually make it a point in doing so by appointing another to be the other eye and brain.

October 2nd

  It surprised me how different each of us in the group scored on the negotiation evaluation test. I had most points on compromising, Joki most on collaboration, while Johnny had the highest for competition and hardly any for avoiding. It showed us just how different our negotiating styles were. Looking at each category,though not all of them were ideal styles, they did have their pros. Each category  had the potential of  being highly effectively depending on who you were dealing with. Personally I did not view the competing style as a favourable, for it seemed too aggressive, cunning, putting your interest before anything else. However if you think about it sometimes it can`t be helped if it is a life or death matter an issue that was an pending emergency..Same goes to the avoiding style. The avoiding style does not have a good image if it`s just looked upon as a way to shy away form the argument and not face the important issues that needs to be discussed. If the opponent is someone who wouldn`t back off from the negotiation though, if that person continues to press a point that is to your disadvantage, the best option may be just to leave the negotiation. This may be a difficult task  for people who have a fight-to-win mind set but being able to back down when necessary is also an important skill.
I think to be able to be aware of these different approaches and being able to use these versatile styles depending on the occasion helps you become a stronger negotiator.
  Finally we talked about leader ship as a whole, what makes a good leader. All three of us in the group had had experience, or was currently experiencing a team sport  in " bukatsu",  so our values seemed to come a long that angle. Throughout the discussion we agreed upon a good leader to have the quality of sharing the ultimate goal among fellow members. I had the perspective more on sharing the visible goals, such as an upcoming match or test-those that would motivate the others to work  for it. However, Joki pointed out an interesting view on not only posing the goals itself, but how that could be achieved. Each person had different methods of tackling a task, but there was a need for everyone to be on the same ground. Maybe individual ways were okay if it was  an activity that you do on your own, like studying, but when it`s a team sport(activity) it`s different. Being on time, coming to practice without fail all contributes to the team mentality, enforcing a stronger bond and trust among members which is absolutely important for a teamwork. He also emphasised that there was a need for constantly letting team-mates know, showing them the way things were , the commitments and obligations, until it becomes natural to them. The leader always must be clear on the motives and verbalise, as well as set example of the process, never letting anyone fall behind. Keeping stride is important when working as a team I believe.
The most basic then, if a leader is to guide the team mates in a certain way, is to spread the inner passion to them. Un-doubtly the leader has a strong passion for what he/she does, but there is no point if he/she cannot share upon with the other members. If they do not have the ability to share upon the rest of the members, the energy in you can back fire and lead to your frustration then to demotivation. Being able to envision the passion with your teammates is an essential skill, and it is an on-going process for me learning how to do just that.

September 26th

  Today`s lesson got me thinking about what the "win-win" situation that we were always seeking for actually was. Because in the business world, I would think that people opt more for a win on their own situation  rather than a win-win one. For them money, making a profit is everything. So is the case for the majority of the people living in fact; money is without doubt a big factor in our life. Therefore, people generally probably would have a WIN paradigm, or if not at least a win-win one where there is essentially more win on your side. It is hard to get an equal balance of wins, if there was one anyway, in real life I think. If there were a near equal win-win terms, there would be definitely a less win factor on your part compared to if you have just won completely-so I think. As I have said, people want to win, they need to win especially when money is involved.
  Again though maybe the situation would be a little different if the people you were negotiating with were those that you feel you need to have strong ties with. Whether be it family, neighbours, or possible business partners, if they were you allies, if they could help you out in the future someday( being business minded here-doesn`t mean that keeping good relations with friends mean that you want something our of them:o), or the very opposite if you don`t want to get in trouble with them, it would be a good idea to keep them happy with the results of the negotiations. In maximizing the satisfaction on both sides, there is a chance of getting a  higher return in the long run . A important point to note  here I think is for both sides to not  achieve a win win situation based on a  compromise. As Johnny pointed out, coming to a compromise is a lower level of a win-win situation, it does not necessarily boost your satisfaction level, it just stumps it on both sides to a certain degree. In the end, I guess the point I would like to make is that in real life, trying to achieve a win-win situation is mostly actually trying to create a win situation for yourself. You either try to win more, even on the seemingly balanced equation, or you get your `win` way, by strengthening ties with the opposing negotiator in making them happy.
I hope I don`t seem too cynical.
We have been doing a lot of class work based on this term, and out of curiosity I wonder what others think about these win-win situations?

Leading At The Edge #1

  The first chapter discusses a good  leaders quality of visionizing the long term goals but at the same time focusing also on the short term goals and limited resources. Frankly speaking, I don`t think I did a very good job with this when I was in the position of a leader when I was in High school. I was captain of my sports team, but I would not say that I had a very clear ultimate goal. I believe I too, focused more on the short term ones, such as winning the next competition, or exceeding a level in the examination and so on. However, when I think about it carefully, maybe I had a better eye for looking at things in the longer span than the rest of my team mates, short term as they may seem by others. So while keeping in mind the ultimate goal, in my case the next competition, the next examination, in a way I let the others concentrate on even smaller scale goals. By steering their attention to perfecting a move, or increasing their speed of movement, I see now that maybe that has contributed to diverting their worries or uneasiness toward the bigger goal and instead charging their energy toward something more visible, achievable. By creating the step to step measures, in the end we were systematically able to reach our goal successfully. I also think that another important reason to why our team ended in  success was because the depth of my ambition was in parr with theirs. In not being overly ambitious, as ambitious as what everyone could keep pace with, each member could play  their part fully, without the pressure that may have brought them down.
  I certainly believe that  showing symbolic gestures and setting personal examples are important factors of being a good leader. The act that dramatises the situation is what diffrienciates the leader from the rest I think. At least, it would be a signal to the rest in showing the capacity of what he/she is capable of and thus lead others to look up to he/she in some way. What makes these acts most memorable though I think, is timing. No matter how chivalrous, or courageous, or thoughtful  the gesture you made has been, if it weren`t  done in the appropriate timing it may not create such an impact. Worse, it could even have the very opposite effect, people thinking negatively of you, of what you meant it to be.

JCK #4

  Overall I would say this Japan Korea China Trilateral Youth Forum has been a great experience. The people I met, including the participants from the three countries, student staffs were just the most wonderful people. They were super motivated, talented people who had  the drive to lead our generation to create a better future. I could see that they had faced many failures but through hardship have emerged as a figure stronger ever than before. 
  The actual planned discussion platforms were very fruitful,  despite the  rather strict time constraint, but what was most meaningful I believe were the personal interactions outside those frames, such as the late night talks, the clapping on the back after the performances from each country, the tasting of the Hokkaido delicacies in the food festivals. They were sincere interactions, personal gestures and thoughts that were shown to anyone who you wished to have good relations with. These one on one interactions are what you don`t see when you talk about the relations between Japan, China, Korea. I personally was able to talk about some sensitive issues such as the perception of war, information regulations in China, plastic surgery and so on. The issues that surround us are so deeply rooted that they are indeed no where near being resolved, but watching these friendly exchanges where one was really caring, listening to the others with all ears showed me that the reality proved wrong from the image that the media has instilled in us. It certainly gave me hope for the partnership of the  future East Asia.
 It gave me a lot of faith learning that there were so many young individuals out there trying to do their vey best in whatever they do, but at the same time never forgetting that what is most important is to not keep them for oneself  but to share their hard work and benefit others. There are countless lessons the Korean, Chinese, Japanese students have taught me this time. I hope I can repay them someday, motivate or inspire  people the way they did. 

  Life comes with so many opportunities. I have realised that with constant hard work, enough faith for what you do, and compassion for others these opportunities do come around. And each time they come around you would have more competence to make most out of it . I hope not to  leave this experience as just a one time excursion, but to absorb all I have learnt throughout this five days and project it to a stepping stone for the future.

That is all for the JCK posts.

Thanks for reading:))

JCK #3

  Today we had an MUN conference. I represented Indonesia, along with two other delegates from China and Korea. Before coming to this Forum we had written our position papers on " Education and Culture" and "Employment and Decent Work". I was more interested in education and culture so I joined the  committee which discussed about them in the actual MUN conference. It was my second time participating in the MUN, I had only done it once before at the forum pre-camp with just the Japanese participants in August. I was not very sure yet what the MUN was about, what the procedure was and what sort of things were going to be discussed but I tried to participate as much as I could by giving the voluntary opening speeches (A short speech talking about the situation of your country/remarks related to the topic)  and so on. What was most difficult I realised was where the end point of discussion was. I was not sure  about what the outcome of the conference was going to be , I knew as much that we had to submit a report to the main board on the goals and targets we would like to achieve,  but I didn`t have any idea of how specific we had to be or what kind of goals, targets and boundaries that came along with them were to be recorded in the final. On the other hand, all the Korean delegates were students who were awarded at the previous National MUN Conference so they had an clear image of what had to be done. Honestly they took the show; on top of them being vocal they had a vivid idea of what their country`s MUN was about, which led them to efficient back and forth conversation and speedy negotiations. I think often times discussions are a lot about compatibility of the ones engaged in it and the flow of the conversation. I`m not talking about people having the same ideas on an issue, rather they can be opposing but I feel that discussions flow so much more smoothly and fruitfully when they have similar views on what should be  prioritised or what details could be left untouched. I had the same feeling of slight unease of the way the conversation was turning when I was casually discussing something with a Korean boy the night before. It isn`t the language barrier only I think, it`s just the natural sense of communication that you have fostered in the environment you have been in, whether it be your country, region, family or school. 

  The MUN conference that lasted for approximately 4 hours was finally drafted and handed into the main council. Again I was amazed at how efficient the experienced Korean students who mainly had a hand in this were. With the short time given , they managed to address various issue and collaborate them with their original ideas of how to tackle them. The skill to be able to look at the bigger picture, the impediments of education and the necessary steps that were needed to overcome them were well spotted I believe and and I would have never been able to do that alone.  

  Although I can`t deny some of the benefits that MUN can foster, such as negotiation, public speaking skills or being able to look at the bigger picture and efficient leading of the discussions, personally I was left with some mixed feelings about it. It seemed a bit to superficial to me, a lot of talk but less knowledge and first hand experience on what the real issue was about. In the end, maybe only what matters is how good one`s presentation skills are, but that can easily lead to what is really important being overlooked. It may have be due to the time constraint but I feel the issue was too big and sensitive to be wrapped up in just a few hours.  Since students were gathered all the way from Korea, China I would rather have talked about issues that were actually related to us. Something that was more real and we had some thoughts about, rather than about things that we had simply researched about beforehand. 

JCK #2

  Second day, a symposium was held  to discuss the three different topics presented yesterday, " Western Culture and Eastern Culture""Representation Of  Youth and Women" and "Digital Divide". We were divided in to groups of 15 to talk about these topics in the time constraint of 2 hours. Sensing that there was hardly enough time to talk about such broad topics in such a short time, the night before we gathered up to discuss the outline of what we would be focusing on during the symposium. Because the topic was so abstract, we really had to decide what we wanted to debate about and although a few had already made a general agenda, there were many things that people wished to be added or deleted feeling that they weren`t worth talking about. Again, I was made to see how difficult it was just to set course of a discussion. There were so many things that were worth focusing on but at the same time, before getting into any details we had to clarify among all of us the perception on certain terms or ideologies . At times it seemed like  we were in the midst of discussing the topic itself rather than about what we were going to discuss; it all became very confusing, due probably to it being one am after a very long day.

  During the actual discussion, we divided further into groups of 5, 20minutes to discuss each topic in the group than 10 minutes to share our ideas. The time constraint was intense and we were practically firing out one idea after another. What I found particularly interesting was about " Digital Divide", as I had never really thought about it but was actually, if you think about it a very relevant issue to our generation and very current in that the Chinese students had limited access to information on the internet, such as constraints on Facebook. It was not about Facebook though that I was especially engaged in,  but about the digital divide between the old and the young. I always vaguely imagined that when we talked about the digital divide between the young and old, it meant simply that the old did not have the benefits that the young gained through the ICTs. However, thinking a little more in depth this time, I came to realise that maybe it was not as clear cut as that. What actually would they benefit from using all the devices?  The benefits from the ICTs are largely opportunities for business, education and such but were the elderly really in need of them? No one I believe is in position to make them use the ICTs just for the sake of  bridging the digital divide. I think the issue here is the elderly feeling the social pressure of having to use these devices. It is the feeling of feeling left behind, that is what we need to draw our attention to and must resolve. Of course it is different for those who wish to learn how to utilise the ICTs, we have to give them full support as a community but I feel that there is a must for us to create a society where it is ok for the elderlies who wish not to use them , not be able to function them. Many other different new perspectives  were brought up during the session. I wish we had a longer time so that we could leisurely engage in conversation about whatever that interested us in the topics. Due to the planning the night before though, I think we were able to hold a very effective and fruitful conversation.

JCK #1

Over the Course of five days, I participated in the Fourth Japan, China, Korea Youth Trilateral Youth Forum held in Hokkaido. This forum was sponsored by the UN association and in addition to the main event MUN, we engaged in many other different activities such as the symposiums, discussion sessions, social events, introduction of Hokkaido through tea ceremonies, performance by the Ainu, so forth. 
It was a really enriching experience and the effort we put in to this forum before hand, the pre-camp, the communications to research and come up with a paper with the participants from respective countries ,  all contributed I think to better the quality of this short forum.
First day of the Japan, China, Korea youth forum!! I was scheduled for a flight the day before to Hokkaido, but due to the typhoon it was chaos. All of the flights , not to mention all the transportation to get to the airport, were cancelled and everyone had no idea what to do. Eventually we were ordered to rebook any available flights but that was a not an easy task considering most flights were booked all the way to those flying in the evening the next day. Fortunately enough for me though, after many tries I was able to squeeze my self in a reservation at 6 pm that very day and without further adoI set off immediately to the airport. The atmosphere in the airport was pretty dire with everyone simply waiting for their planes to fly. In a way I found it rather strange that no one was complaining out right though, I would have imagined a very different attitude if I was in an airport in a different country. Though my plane was delayed, miraculously I was able to reach Hokkaido within that day, which was around 9:30pm. It must have been a tough day for everybody, even for the students from ICU who commuted to school without knowing that classes were cancelled. 

  The day`s main event was a symposium on three topics" Western Culture and Eastern Culture, Synergy of the two""Representation Of  Youth and Women""Digital Divide" discussed also in the real UN conference held in June. The procedure was two representatives from each country giving a presentation on each of the topics, following up with questions from the floor. The culture topic I was most skeptical about. Skeptical as in, I was not sure of what we had to discuss about there. The topic was so abstract, what did they mean exactly by culture? How can one divide the East Asian from the West, especially now when most concepts are influenced by one or another, or,  even by some other. What is it that  we call culture, and what is it that we need to preserve? One presentation for instance, was talking about cultural synergy using the example of a working atmosphere. They emphasised protecting one`s traditions, culture while integrating certain traits to produce better benefits. How about "enryo" culture then, I wonder. The culture where people do not suggest anything that may infringes other`s boudaries, acts unassumingly as a way to show politeness. This particular culture i`m sure in the business world would not come in handy, rather it would create a minus effect by losing out on your chance for being heard.  Each time answers were answered it raised a different question, and at some point it became a little frustrating. I suppose what counts though is to be aware of these issue and giving thought to them. It was really interesting to hear the views from the Korean and Chinese students, not only because of the cultural differences but because they all as individuals had a very unique personal view on things.

September 11th

   First blog for RW!! I`m pretty excited about this term because I personally am interested in the things that we will be covering this term such as leadership, interpersonal communications, self development and so on. I have read quite a few books on related topics in both Japanese, and English. At one point it seemed to me that the more I looked in to them though , the more confused I got about what is a good leader, or,  how we should compose oneself. So many different theories and advices, but then I came to see that it isn`t about searching for one right answer. I like being exposed to new ideas, and I think learning about these sort of topics is about processing the information to see how you can apply them to your own life.
    In the Harvard Business Review on " Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership", they stressed on good leader`s having the quality of showing positive emotions so as to influence other`s in the same way. Though I agree with what they said about good leaders fostering positive feelings in the people whose cooperation and support they need, I do not believe that what successful leaders are all open and friendly. I have seen many good leaders, my high school teacher for one, (in a sense you could say that teachers are leaders I think) and he did not necessarily have that out front positive attitude. Instead, he was quite the opposite with a hard expression on his face, a firm ground on things and always had high expectations of his students. He was hard to please but when we were successful the rare smiles we got were definitely rewarding. In that way he fostered positive emotions in us, to strive for something better, to work hard to achieve our goals.
  During class we discussed the about the spindle cells, oscillators and many argued that the cells were something un significant when dealing with good social skills. That cells were just there, and there was nothing we could do about to it to affect our  behaviour or interactions with others. Though they do have a point, I personally was just fascinated by how there were biological aspects that influences us. It`s an aspect I had never thought about and somehow it brought me comfort in knowing these particular cells that help us process the over flowing information around us. There was a lot didn`t understand about the cells because it was a brief text and it left me with many questions, especially about how they relate to experiences. I hope I can come across them again to clarify some of my questions.
  Oh, and Ken the book Steven Covey`s son wrote that I was talking to you about is called "The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Teens". This book has a lot of good tips about self motivation, peer pressure and is easy to connect with because it is written in a really quirky, fun way. Although I know that many of us would be graduating from our teens pretty soon, I think it is a book that is worth taking a look in to (maybe for your future kids?haha)