4.

Today we had library orientation and it was really stimulating. We reviewed the databases we learnt last semester and how exactly we can use them. I felt so lucky to be a student in ICU once again since the amount of database we can access is incredible. It is just so mottainai to spend our college life without using this. Unfortunately, tomorrow is our Course Wide Test and I don't have much time to use the database to revise my essay so hopefully I will use it after I finish the test.
The more I learn about the academic tools we can use, the brighter my view becomes. I feel pretty excited to write essays now because by using the tools I can get more and more knowledge that are so high level.
I also thought that it must have been really tough for college students to finish their assignments decades ago so we are such a lucky generation to have both the Internet and the books. Since there are so many tablets (?) being used these days, I can't deny the possibility of the amount of paper books to decrease. I actually saw that kind of situation in a TV drama and it was about a magazine. I love to turn the pages and I love the smell of the book. So yes. we are all so lucky to have both. Maybe 20 years later, there won't be any paper books that are out there.
Lastly, I thought that library in ICU is such a caring and incredible place. I hope i can plan to visit the place where gives us advice for our report assignments.

3.

1.“Michael Brown Shooting, Protests Highlight Racial Divide.” CNN. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. Alvarez, Lizette, and Cara Buckley. 
This is about the protest against the police law, which legalizes racial profiling. Racial profiling that was done recently was the Michael Brown case. He was shot by a police even though he proved he was unarmed. 

2.Spickard, Professor Paul. Japanese Americans: The Formation and Transformations of an Ethnic Group. Revised edition. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press, 2008. Print. 
This book is written about the discrimination that happened to Japanese American during WW2. I think I can get some historical facts that will support my statement from this book. 

3.“Zimmerman Is Acquitted in Trayvon Martin Killing.” The New York Times 13 July 2013. NYTimes.com. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.
This is about the case that happened in 2012 and the article is about the court rejecting the claim that said the shooting was done just by the assumption Mr. Zimmerman had made. 

I am currently working on my essay and it is going to be about racial profiling. Through having a research through news websites, I have found out that there are lots of problems about it. I am pretty shocked to know that there are still many serious racial issues that also affect human life. I am facing difficulties in completing my essay since it is tough to organize the ideas and sources to support my opposing statement against racial profiling. However at the same time I am also being stimulated by acknowledging facts that I didn't know. I think that is what is enjoyable about writing academic essays.

Using Zotero was amazing. I have been having so many troubles to list the sources in MLA format so the I felt the tool very useful. I hope I can control myself and avoid to rely on it too much since we were told that these tools might make so mistakes sometimes too. Tool is a gift that helps us and not something that does everything completely for us. I have to keep this in my mind.
By saving my time using this tool I can also spend more time on researching and reading. This will definitely make my essay a better one. I am looking forward to getting used to Zotero.

2. How we feel about life in Tokyo

Hello! This is my second blog entry and is about the survey I took.
Since ICU is in Tokyo and we spend most of our time in here than at our home these days and I just moved into Kanto region in March, I wanted to know how my classmates are feeling about Tokyo! SO, I took a survey of how 2D feels about Tokyo and got some hints about interesting places in here. (I got 17 responds)

Here are the results!
1. How many of my classmates like Tokyo.
Most of them seems to like Tokyo! Although I can kind of imagine why there are also people who do not like Tokyo so this was close to the result I had imagined.

2. Where my classmates have never been to in Tokyo
I am pretty surprised at how all of them have been to Shinjuku but a few have never been to Kichjoji, which is only 2 stations away from Musashisakai, the nearest station from school. For Shinjuku, I have had the image of only business buildings standing and almost no place to go shopping. I might have to walk around there some day.

3.What my classmates like about Tokyo.

 From this chart, we can see how people feel convenient in Tokyo. In fact, a train comes in almost every 5 minutes in Musashisakai although, for example in Kobe, train comes in every 10 minutes and they do not have other lines that can be used instead.
 "Convenience" includes how easy it is to find food. "People" includes the busy people and foreigners. I think the answer that said "busy people" meant that it is stimulating to see how people are all looking busy here in the city. For "excitement", there are indeed lots and lots of events that are held in Tokyo every month and recently we can get the informations through Twitter,  Facebooks and so on.

4. How many of my classmates buy clothes in Tokyo.
For this, I was expecting a lot of answers that will say "often" since I heard that there are so many cheap and good clothes here. Lets see how it actually is in 2D...
Surprisingly, one said never! Actually I also have never bought my clothes in Tokyo. Instead I buy them in Yokohama. I might want to visit Tokyo to get my clothes sometimes!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH 2D FOR YOUR RESPONSES! These results made me want to know a lot more about Tokyo, the city that has lots and lots of amazing things!

Hope you enjoyed reading! Thank you.

1.

Hello! This is my first entry.

I am so excited about R&P. I am not that good at doing research and summarizing the results or having presentations so I am eager to improve those skills through this class. This blog will definitely make my writing skills improve! As we grow up we will probably get a lot more opportunity to share our thoughts with someone else and we have to do that properly. We'll probably have lots of chances to share opinions through presentation, research and entering blogs. As you can see, my first entry is a horrible one but i want this blog to be a super interesting one by the end of the term.  These are the things I expect in R&P.

Technology.... hmmmm. Now we can't live without our laptops or email devices even if we're still students. In the beginning of my college life I felt it crazy because it felt like being so depended on those tools. But now, I feel it convenient to have almost everything I need to study in a tool. Currently I am using Moodle on Internet and electric dictionaries if that counts. These are part of me  because I really do use them often(I think). and Also I am interested in Kindle now, which sounds really nice because it prevents people from carrying heavy books.haha

I hope this autumn semester will be a meaningful one for me.