Greenland Rules!

Ken Sumida

Where is a gigantic icy island going? During week 10, we learned about Greenland. All of us seemingly didn't have sufficient knowledge about it. I'm really curious to know who has got a positive image of it. Maybe almost all of us have got a mediocre image, because the textbook which we use in our class offered an awful view of it. I mean, Greenland lies in the Arctic Circle and its landscape consists of huge icebergs and gray granite rock. Daylight time is very little, for half of a year, and this results in social issues, alcoholism and suicide. In the island, plentiful fierce polar bears loiter and sometimes they prey on men. With respect to its economy, almost all of its industries are immature so Greenland can't go well without Danish financial aid. I imagine, however, any country has its own strength. So, I went looking into Greenland and intend to add new tips to the information you already know.
 
Looking at the economy, as we know, Greenland depends greatly on Denmark. Actually, it has suffered from the economic immaturity but luckily it has gradually come to light that Greenland has incredibly abundant natural resources. In particular regarding oil, the amount of oil which exists under Greenland is speculated to be equivalent to tat in the Middle East, according to some experts' estimations. Moreover, recent global warming may be likely to enable Greenland to mine before long.
 
The findings re. the natural resources makes Greenlanders confident. As a result, quite a few of them commenced to claim they should be independent from Denmark. Interestingly, a referendum took place in order to ask citizens for expansion of autonomy. Surprisingly, more than 70% of respondents were for it. That means they believe their economy will get robust and Danish support will became no longer vital for them. Rather, Greenland's natural resources have become attractive to the European union and Greenland is expected to join the EU. Possibly, the EU will attempt to encompass Greenland in the future, I think.
 
Greenland's circumstances are changing and they got out from the conventional dismal situation. Perhaps, we are fortunate to learn about Greenland. This is because Greenland is one of the most promising countries.

The 'Fire' in Hiroshima & Nagasaki

Ken Sumida

As 9/11 is an unforgettable day for Americans, 8/6 and 8/9 are unforgettable days for Japanese. On these days in 1945, America dropped atomic bombs. This attack has been believed to be indispensable in order to cease the Pacific War. Actually, many people, in particular Americans advocate that. Was it necessary? Honestly, I can't understand why Americans have believed that. Contemplating that, there are several controversial points.
 
Initially, America defeated Japanese forces and occupied the Okinawa Islands by that time and so nobody anticipated Japan would launch destructive counterattacks. It was absolutely obvious that Japan was bound to sooner or later surrender to the US forces. Secondly, America dropped two different types of atomic bombs. For America, the series of attacks were large-scale experiments. In fact, in order to make these experiments successful, America secretly conducted prior experiments time and again. They would have never done that, if they had had a piece of humanity. Up to here, I've criticised the American conduct in anger. But I don't intend to aim at blaming them. Rather, it is more important to discuss the role of Japan as the only atomic bomb nation in the world.
 
After the World War 2, sad to say, there were quite a few wars in a row in the world. Wars have continued to break out and the damage resulting from wars has lingered on. Under the circumstances, what does Japan need to do to contribute to peace? I think Japan is unfortunate to have been the atomic bomb victim, but only Japan can tell the world about the brutality of nuclear weapons. For a long period, nuclear weapons have been believed to serve as a deterrence for occurrence of wars. What's going on as a consequence of following this philosophy? All in all, an increase in the number of nuclear weapons has commenced to threaten our life. It is undeniable that a country may suddenly launch a nuclear missile. Thus, we need a new framework in order to keep the world peace. Nuclear weapons are no longer indispensable. Combative solutions are going to bear no fruit at all.
 
As the old saying, it is easier said than done, looking for replacements for nuclear weapons will possibly be difficult because, this, we know, must involve tremendous effort or drastic changes. That means plentiful vested interests are going to be wrecked. Therefore, American might not be able to do that, because of its great dependence on huge military industries. However, I confidently believe that Japan is able to guide other countries to do that. Unfortunately, Japan is a domesticated dog of America now. This really humiliates me so much!! Anyway, no more wars!!
  

Architecture as Icon

Ken Sumida

I like Dunedin. As you know, there is Scottish architecture here. Two years ago, I went to Hamilton, which is the fourth largest city in NZ. Although Hamilton is quite a nice city, its scenery is totally different to Dunedin. What can distinguish Dunedin from Hamilton? In my speculation, the answer is the Scottish architecture. Coincidentally, the day before I took an IELTS test, I handled a task 2 regarding historical buildings. I'm wondering if I've been destined to talk about historical buildings and so from now on I'd like to introduce my ideas about Dunedin's fabulous architecture which ignites my curiosity.
 
Historical architecture is believed to hold its own value. Many historical buildings wouldn't be preserved, if they hadn't been seen as priceless for societies. In particular, I've focused on historical architecture's role in shaping local people's identity. Basically, people tend to identify themselves by the utilization of things relating to them. Historical architecture can be a symbol. For Example, Big Ben is an icon of London and it can be assumed that people probably recall it, when they imagine London. Needless to say, there has been a strong tie between Big Ben and London.
 
Likewise, Scottish buildings in Dunedin have the identical function. They were established as a result of the gold rush. Immigrants have historically spent both their enjoyable and harsh lives through the buildings. For immigrants, historical buildings are their treasures handed down from one generation to another. Looking at the Clock Tower, apparently the University of Otago has used it to stress its history and tradition. That is, it emphasizes that it is the oldest university in NZ and as such has academic value. The university would have difficulty conveying the image which it wants to convey, if it were not for this marvellous building. In my opinion, the Clock Tower can convey the positive image of the University to both prospective and current students.

What's Travel?

David Santos Martinez

Since the beginning of time men have been interested in what there was beyond their surrounding horizons.

When the first man moved from one place to another with the only purpose of enjoying different lifestyles or environments, traveling as a leisure activity was born. And it is important to emphasize the point that travel is not always something done for pleasure. Migration, natural catastrophes, prosecution… are some of the factors which can lead us to leave our places of origin in order to find a better life. But that is another story…

I want to focus on why travel appeals to us. I think that travel and curiosity are deeply connected. We want to see places which do not look like ours, we would like to know what makes us different from all those different cultures spread out all over the world.

That’s one of the first reasons why traveling broadens your mind. Because, when visiting another country there is a large likelihood of finding habits that, initially, can be considered strange. But the only thing we need to do is to “calibrate” our perspective so as to have the perspective of the members of the culture that we are visiting. As a result, we have this experience that makes us more tolerant and respectful of other ways of thinking. In addition, by travelling we can learn a huge variety of things which are not written in books but impressed on the world in a kind of natural language. I call it learning by doing.

Despite the fact that once we are traveling every single action is, as I see it, a positive experience, to get on with it might be harder than it seems.

There are two main things which are needed for travelling: time and money. And regrettably neither of them is abundant nowadays. However, the less brave and adventurous may have an extra obstacle if they consider the language as a major barrier. My advice is to forget about it and try to go everywhere. If you want to make yourself understood you will manage to do it regardless of whether you are in China, Japan or France (not to forget that, if you can speak English, things will be much easier in most cases)

Personally, I can say that travelling is probably the best thing that I have done in my life. Indeed, I haven’t found anything yet that provides me the same amount of knowledge as travelling. Traveling makes you think globally. I would definitely be a completely different person if it wasn’t because of such experience.

Owing to all the advantages that I have mentioned, I still cannot help being surprised when I hear someone saying that he doesn’t like travelling. He doesn’t care about what there is in other places, he simply doesn’t feel any interest or curiosity. Coincidentally, all these persons are perfectly happy about having no idea of how things are in other cultures; an attitude that contrasts with the kind of “emptiness” that I feel inside, like if something was missing. And that is why I go from one place to another trying to fulfill this “hidden” vacuity which makes me wonder about who we are and why we are so different; and thus I conclude that traveling is nothing but the pursuit of our identity. 

The Importance of Understanding History

Masayuki Sato
 
It is human beings that make history. Both good and bad, it is human beings that make history. Also, it is human beings that make history from now on. That is to say, we human have a possibility to develop some technology more and also bring on wars.
 
In history, human beings made great efforts to create new systems, machines or formulas etc. Einstein established the theory of relativity and Newton created the law of universal gravitation. Also human beings put these things to practical use and developed these. Because of that, we can pass our days comfortably. But we mustn’t be satisfied only in this situation. We must take one step further for the future. To do this, it is important to understand and learn history. Some people may think that I can’t find a new theory or I can’t create new products. But our mission is not only that. Each person has an own role individually. You learn history firstly then you should think about how you will put it to good use.

On the other hand, human beings have also set off catastrophic events in the past. In my point of view, it seems that most of the important historical events in the past were catastrophic, more than good ones: The massacre of Jews, the Nanking Massacre, World Wars, the dropping of the atomic bombs, the Iran-Iraq War… What do we learn from these? We must not repeat like these histories and will never bring on the tragic events. By understanding history, we should bring the balefulness of the wars down for the next generation to make the world peaceful then let them think about the importance of our life or how human beings make a peaceful world from now on.
 
It is very important to understand and learn from history. This is the first step to think about peace or our future. And then, we must tell posterity the story that human beings have gathered the threads of so far in order to make a peaceful world and not repeat harrowing history.

Reunion Island

Celie Intering

Reunion is a French Island located in the Indian Ocean, between Madagascar and Mauritius. It is an integral part of the French Republic and of the European Union as well. Because of its east location from Europe, Reunion was the first European region where the euro became the legal money.

 

Geography, Demography and Economy

The island is 63 kilometers long by 45 kilometers wide. Reunion’s capital city is Saint Denis. It is a hotspot in the Earth’s crust. A hotspot is a place that has experienced active volcanism  during a long time. The island houses two volcanoes. One is sleeping: The Piton des Neiges, which is the highest point on the island at 3070 meters. And the other is one of the most active volcanoes on earth: The Piton de la Fournaise. Reunion also has three calderas: Cirque de Salazie, Cirque de Cilaos and Cirque de Mafate (this one is only accessible by foot or helicopter).

The population was estimated at 802,000 people in 2008. The official language is French. But non-officially, Creole is mainly spoken. Due to the diverse population, Mandarin, Hakka, Cantonese, Tamil and Arabic (in mosques) are spoken too. The economy is largely lead by sugar exportation and tourism.

 


History


Portuguese were the first known visitors of the island. They found it inhabited in 1635, and named it Saint Apollonia. Then France annexed the piece of earth and changed its name in Ile Bourbon. Colonization began in 1665 when the French East India Company sent the first settlers. The Island became officially Reunion in 1793 to commemorate the union of revolutionaries from Marseille with the National Guard in Paris (1792). Then Reunion had trouble with its name again. Indeed, Napoleon Bonaparte renamed it Ile Bonaparte in 1801. In 1848, the island was once again given the name Reunion.

From the 17th to 19th centuries, Reunion was a centre on the Earth Indies trade route. At this time, immigration started from France, India, Africa and China, which gave the island its ethnic mix.

In 2005 and 2006, Reunion was hit by an epidemic of Chikungunya. This is a disease spread by mosquitoes. Around 255,000 people had contracted the disease. Then a large eradicated campaign was made against mosquitoes. This campaign was quite successful. Now, we are far from the epidemic.


Way of life

People in Reunion Island usually wake up early. Schools and university start at 7.30 am and shops open at 8.00 am. They behave as French from Mainland France. The breakfast is made of bread, jam, nutella, crepes and juice. But in fact the lunch is quite different. French eat European and Mediterranean food, instead of Creoles who eat curry, spicy food and a lot of rice. During their free time, people usually go for a run or a walk. We have a famous running track in Reunion, which attracts thousand of persons (also Europeans) every year. They also like to have a huge meal on Sunday, with the whole family (including grandparents, uncles, cousins...). Everybody brings some food and they share it together through the day. They play music and children play soccer. 

Reunion people take a lot of care of their family.


The Storming of the Bastille

Celie Intering

By tradition this day is regarded as the end of the Former Regime and the beginning of the French Revolution.

La Bastille was a jail, which was containing lots of innocents, and not a lot of guilty people. Although at the time of the storming, there were not a lot of people there. In fact, prisoners had been transfered in an other jail. Victims of the monarchy, they were imprisoned without judgment. La Bastille was the symbol of tyranny, and now, it is in a way, freedom’s symbol. Indeed, it is standing out the beginning of a fight, the fight for freedom.

On Sunday 12 of July 1789, Camille Desmoulins, a journalist encouraged people to revolt.

On Monday 13, the Parisian crowd was manifesting and asking for the decrease of bread and grain prices. They burnt fifty entries for Paris. Later, they ransacked the Saint Lazarre convent. Indeed, grains were stocked there.

Next, a reunion took place to create an army of 48000 people. They ransacked the ‘Garde Meuble’ to find weapons. After that, they went to the Invalides to claim war Weapons. The government refused, and the crowd took them by force. The French people still needed gunpowder. They learnt that there was some at La Bastille.

Suffering several refusals, they fired on the building. At 5pm, the soldiers who were defending the jail, abandoned it. The mass invaded La Bastille, released prisoners and imprisoned the Bastille’s governor: Marquis De Launay. Later, De Launay’s head was cut off and paraded around Paris. Other statesmen's heads joined the cortege.

It was only the day after that, that King Louis XVI heard about the storming of the Bastille. He asked his informer:

-      Is it a revolt?

-      No sir, it isn’t a revolt, it is a revolution!

Louis XVI was guillotined on the 21 January 1793 at ‘La Concorde’, called Revolution Place before.