Kakuta Haruo---Decoding Japan---

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Location: Sakai, Osaka, Japan

Saturday, May 22, 2010

March, 2010

Monday, March the 1st, 2010

It is rather cold on the first day of the last month of the second school year. Yet the Sun's shine is already that of Spring, and the brightness at the time of a day is becoming that of the equinox. Is Spring more describe-worthy than Winter?

Pollinosis season has finally come. As I was out in the ground for the whole morning. I feel heavy-headed, especially deep around nasal passage. I am on the 16:40 train to see a doctor.

Tuesday, March the 2nd, 2010

A cloudy morning with the after-trouble of the pollinosis.

Wednesday, March the 3rd, 2010

Rather gray clouds reminds me of the season being still the beginning of the spring, that is, a little bit after the end of the winter.

Thursday, March the 4th, 2010

The English Camp 2010 started with the rainy weather. On my way from Hagoromo Station to the Osaka International Youth Hostel, I came across several girl students, who were also heading to the hostel.

Sunday, March the 7th, 2010

The day after the English Camp is a rainy day with a lot of clothes to wash. It means a lot of washings to dry. That might mean a lot of laundry to be left undried.

Monday, March the 8th,2010

A work day after the English Camp has a bright sun shine and some clouds. We can hope that the washings will be dried.

As the sun has become brighter, it has become a kind of whiter.

Tuesday, March the 9th, 2010

It's raining hard. Nearly a quarter of the platform is wet. The wetness has departed from the gray heaven above the sky. The gray color is, however, half white, with the bright sun shine in the back of the clouds.

Rain drops are out side of the tram windows; steamed up the inside is. These two days, the tram hasn't been so much crowded, without girl high school students.

On my way back home, the rain is still drizzling. The cold rain is cold enough to make me shiver.

Wednesday, March the 10th, 2010

It's raining hard again this morning. The clouds are heavier than yesterday. However, the brightness of the hidden sun teaches us the spring has come.

On the way home, the air is still chilly, even after the afternoon which was, of course, warmer than the morning. Is pollen flying even in this coldness?

Thursday, March the 11th, 2010

A very clear morning with a lot of sunshine beaming from the eastward. I have caught up with the work I should have done. I can hardly conduct duties simultaneously all in a day's work.

Friday, March the 12th, 2010

The sun beams into my face from the higher position than it used to be during the winter. No wonder! The Vernal Equinox Day is approaching. As I wear my winter overcoat, I feel rather hot.

Saturday, March the 13th, 2010

A gloomily cloudy morning still welcomes the spring's warmness.

Sunday, March the 14th, 2010

A fine morning.

On our way home from Mikunigaoka High School, we saw a big evening sun with pale orange colors. The paleness enabled us to watch the sun directly. It reminded us of the sun in Beijing a couple of years ago. The sky was veiled with something to make the sun very pale and dim.

Monday, March the 15th, 2010

The closing ceremony day has a bright heaven veiled with sluggish clouds. The closing ceremony day's tram has many private school students with few of public ones. How come?

Rain drops are falling on my head. Is pollen falling on my head, too?

Tuesday, March the 16th, 2010

Today has another entrance examination for public high schools, although it is rainy this morning. It sometimes snowed during the time of the year.

Wednesday, March the 17th, 2010

A fine morning with the bright sunshine and chilly air. The second day after the closing ceremony has started with the peaceful morning.

Non-class days are the season to alter myself. Shall I show another alter ego? Or should I create another new one?

Thursday, March the 18th, 2010

Another fine morning with the forecast of evening rain. The heaven is, you may say, covered slightly with weak clouds.

Friday, March the 19th, 2010

The last work day of the week is rather cloudy against the weather forecast. Predicting is always so difficult.

As hardly predicted, so have occurred things beyond prediction.

Saturday, March the 20th, 2010

The first day of the three-day weekend has started with the fine weather although the heaven looks slightly covered with something filmy. Covered with what? With pollen? With yellow wind? Or just with thin cloud?

Sunday, March the 21st, 2010

Ogion said, "To hear, one must be silent." (Ursula Le Guin, “A Wizard of Earthsea”, Puffin Books, 1971, frist published by Parnassus Press, 1968, p.29) I have to keep silent for a while. Otherwise, I cannot hear anything.

Monday, March the 22nd, 2010

Yesterday, we had terrible yellow sand with horrible strong winds. Today, we have quite a fine day. The tram is somewhat crowded with shoppers and holiday-makers. Today is the Vernal Equinox Day, a holiday.

Tuesday, March the 23rd, 2010

A cloudy morning has a feeling that it would rain. A female passenger might have fallen from the steps which lead to Ten'no-ji tram stop. She has a blood-stained forehead, and is taken care of by a middle-aged woman with some female bystanders around the two. Females are sympathetic.

Light rains are drizzling here, near Ryokuchi-koen Station. I'm attending a meeting where Sundai Cram School is delivering their information on the entrance examinations of Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe Universities. An entrance examination season has ended, and another is starting. Herewith, years will pass by.

Wednesday, March the 24th, 2010

A rainy morning welcomes the closing ceremony day for most junior high schools. As the results of public senior high schools' entrance examinations were announced yesterday, today's ceremony might be tragicomic. Even for those who have graduated from senior high schools themselves, it is tragicomic as the most of the results of college entrance examinations have been opened.

Thursday, March the 25th, 2010

However tragicomic life may be, it is raining hard today.

Friday, March the 26th, 2010

A cold morning started with going to Arima. It took only a little less than 2 hours to get there via Nishinomiya. We took hot spring, and had Japanese-style lunch in a tatami room. Very Japanese off day. It was a dream-like holiday, which relaxed and reset me.

Saturday, March the 27th, 2010

I am heading to Han'nan High School to see students play basketball on this fine day. Is the best day for outdoor sports the best day for indoor sports, too? …. By all odds, it has been too cold in the gym.

Monday, March the 29th, 2010

A fine morning with a lot of sun shine.

However hard the winds blow, we have a great sun set under the clear sky.

Tuesday, March the 30th,2010

The second last day of the last month of the second school year welcomes a beautiful morning. The tram is filled with warm sun shine, and people are chatting heartily. As the tram approaches their own tramroad, cars are preparing to drive their own way.

Wednesday, March the 31st, 2010

The last day of the school year is a little bit cloudy. The heaven might be masked with the veil of misty grains of ice.

The neighborhood, the college, and the high school may be able to cooperate to elaborate the system which can develop human resources who will support the community development of the sightseeing there.

Leavers are leaving today, and comers will be coming tomorrow. Time and tide wait neither for the leavers nor for the comers.

Sunday, May 02, 2010

To Write about the Local Community

The Decoding Abeno & Sumiyoshi Area Initiative might be a good naming for the project, although it might sound a little bit nerdy and unfashionable when abbreviated.

Does the study-support support studying?

The Study-Support divides the students into 4 groups; the Group 1, High Study Performance with Low Study Habit; Group 2, Low Study Performance with Low Study Habit; Group 3, High Study Performance with High Study Habit; Group 4, Low Study Performance with High Study Habit. The demographic shift is easy to follow, but is just the amassment of individual personal performances and behaviors, while each student's performance and behavior is the accumulation of daily perspiration.

To cram, or not to cram.

College Entrance Examination Literacy is still needed to be examined by teachers and acquired by students.

The literacy for the preparation for college entrance examination (PCEE) is essential, because "those who lack the cultural capital and information necessary to act as informed consumers will increasingly be marginalized" (Andy Furlong and Fred Cartmel, "Young People and Social Change", 1997, Buckingham, Open University Press, p.26).

To deviate, or not to deviate.

"it is important to note that this recent increase in student numbers has been disproportionately located in the 'new' universities (the former polytechnics) and that graduates of these institutions may face discrimination by employers. Indeed, it has been argued that the employment prospects of graduates have become increasingly stratified, with ex-students of the new universities facing the greatest difficulties in the labour market." (Andy Furlong and Fred Cartmel, "Young People and Social Change", 1997, Buckingham, Open University Press, p.17)

It is important to note that the populalization of higher education has made the 'low-deviation-value' universities and that graduates of these institutions may face discrimination by employers. Indeed, the employment prospects of graduates have become increasingly stratified, with ex-students of the low-deviation-value universities facing the greater difficulties in the labour market.