World News B 2007 October 12th

(This is one of my three kitties. Her name is Momo!)

Hi everyone! My name is Naoko. I’m new in this class. I was accepted as an auditing student. I’m very glad to be able to learn with all of you! So..... nice to meet you all!

I read the following 4 articles on Japan Times Online as my picks for today.

The questions for the answers are;

1. What is the title and URL of the news item?

2. Is this news item interesting to you?

3. Who (what sort of person) would be most interested in reading this news item?

4. Why?

5. Does this news item give you any useful information?

6. What is the useful information?

7. Could you use this information to improve your life or the life of your family, or your friends or people in the world?

8. How?

My first pick:

1. Title: Singles find community in 'social apartment

2. It is very interesting for me to know the new trend about how to communicate and even live with others who are not friends or relatives.

3. People who are single, or going to be single (maybe thinking of divorcing with their spouse?).

4. Because, I think, they might be looking for somewhere to live where they don’t feel lonely.

5. Yes, it does!

6. People in Japan and the living circumstances among young people have been changed to an active way. It pleased me a lot!

7. Yes, I could.

8. I can tell my single friends when they feel lonely and look for the new place to live. And they might find their new happy family there!

My second pick:

1. Title: Yoko Ono peace tower shines on in Reykjavik

2. I’m always very interested in how to improve peace in the world, so this article was really moving to me!

3. People who wish peace in the world and also who are in the Beatles’ generation would be interested in this article.

4. Because this article would make people aware of peace. I think it’s very important. Also the Beatles’ generation might want to know what Yoko Ono, the widow of John Lennon, is doing.

5. Yes, it does in some ways.

6. It gave me a conversation topic with others.

7. Actually, it might not improve my daily life in Japan, but I can talk about it with my friends who live not only in Japan but also in other countries.

8. As I answered to the prior question, I can talk with others about this, and I believe the conversation will improve the situation in the world.

My third pick:

1. Title: Alleged suicide helper for hire held in slaying

2. Interesting, but I felt very sad and angry.

3. Any people who read this article.

4. Because it’s so cruel criminal that would grip everybody’s attention.

5. Yes, it does.

6. I have to be careful there might be terribly bad websites on the net. Also I thought I have to be careful not to say, “I want to die!!” easily, because somebody might ask such kind of people to help me commit suicide!

7. Yes, I think I could.

8. We have to stop these kinds of criminals. Also we should help each other when someone around you has a trouble which might lead to killing himself or herself.

My forth pick:

1. Title: Videotaping interrogations worth a look?

2. Yes, very interesting.

3. People who are interested in the new lay judge system in Japan.

4. The day when the new lay judge system go into operation in Japan is soon coming, so we are more and more interested in the lay judge system and all the information around the Japanese Judicial system.

5. Yes, it does very much.

6. I’m basically in favor of recording the whole interrogation especially with serious crimes. This article gives me both pros and cons on this issue.

7. Yes, I could.

8. Many of my friends are also very much aware of the new lay judge system, or rather afraid of possibly being chosen as a lay judge in the future. So I can tell this information to my friends and talk over the issue deeply. It’d be useful when we are involved in criminal situations regardless of which kind of position we would be in.

OK, finally, as for my theme for this term, I’ll choose “New York City”!

I chose there because I’ve been listening to a radio talk show every weekday night airing from the city on the net, also I’ve been there two times before so I have several friends living there.

A new item about NYC, I’ll introduce one of the segment on my favorite radio program.

They conducted a project called, “Are you being gouged?” in which listeners go to shops in their neighborhood and report the price of the same three items on the project’s website.

You can see how the prices are vary depends on the areas in New York City.

Go to the following URL and see the segment “Are You Being Gouged? The Results”. Click any of the images you’d like to know the prices. You can listen to the segment if you like by clicking the play button. I hope you enjoy it!

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2007/10/11

OK, I’m going to visit your websites and write my comments on some of them.

See you next week!

Naoko