It was a little cold in Tokyo on February 22. The influenza was spreading all over Tokyo in the past several weeks. I personally thought that the number of participants would be small. However luckily, eight people participated in a regular meeting.

First, we discussed the meaning of Saint Valentine’s Day because men get chocolates from women on Valentine’s Day in Japan, which looks strange from the viewpoint of westerners. In France, men invite women to restaurants to dine together or give red roses to women as an expression of love. I asked the participants why men don’t hand women some gifts at first. Do men feel shy to hand women some gifts in this country ? Is Japan still a chauvinistic country ? Some participants said that Valentine’s Day is for the sales of the chocolate confectioners.

Second, we talked about Ms. Minegishi’s apology on YouTube with a crew-cut head. There is no denying the fact that her crew-cut head seems to be a symbolic gesture to have forgiveness from the viewers. However, she could have a certain sympathy from her fans.
The article of “The Japan Times” says that all members of AKB48 must sign a pledge agreeing to a rule of not having a date with a boy. Is it legal for the office to force a young girl not to go out with a boy from the viewpoint of the Labor Standard Law? The article of the papers says that this case does nothing to improve women’s position in society. Ms. Minegishi sings a song whose well-known title is “I am me.” However, she was not allowed to be herself like other Japanese women. (The Japan Times, February 2 )

Third we spoke a little about the significance of studying English in Japan. It is generally admitted that the ability of English remains a little poor in Japan compared with other Asians. Dr. Masahiko Fujiwara says that Japanese should be proud of poor scores of TOEFL, because we have never been colonized by western countries. Even the minister of education says that pupils and students should learn at first Japanese language and culture to be a good Japanese citizen. Isn’t such an idea anachronistic in such a borderless society ? We should improve our skills of English to get in touch with foreigners as a global citizen.

Fourth, we had a debate concerning the recent corporal punishments in Japan. We are surprised to hear that women’s judo coach resigned over abuse of athletes. It is reported that 15 top female judo athletes sent complaints to both the All Japan Judo Federation and the Japan Olympic Committee.( The Japan Times, February 2 ) Many top athletes say unanimously that any corporal punishments never strengthen their spirit and body. The female judo athletes said in a statement “We were deeply hurt both physically and mentally. Some of us were reduced to tears.”
After the brainstorming, we had a debate match with the title of “ Is it possible for us to abolish the corporal punishments from sporting world before 2016 ?” The negative group stressed that the teachers who inflicted corporal punishment on students should be fired or get disqualified by invoking the law. The government should make a law to prohibit teachers from inflicting corporal punishment on pupils. On the contrary, the affirmative group insisted that it is very hard to abolish corporal punishment until 2016, because they don’t have much experience to give administrative guidance to schools and sporting world. There are also time restrictions to abolish corporal punishment until 2016. There seems to be not so much communications between athletes and the All Japan Judo Federation. The fact remains that the athletes have so much pressure to win in the Olympic Games. We Japanese need to reconsider what are the Olympic Games for from now on. Although the negative group won a debate match because of their persuasive argument, both groups had a very heated discussion that night.

Written by Junichi Saito