Shikoku

Last week, I traveled Shikoku island in Japan.
There are lot ofmountains and less flat land, where cities locate.
There is a inland sea called Setonai-kai between Shikoku and the main land of Japan. There are 4 big bridges accross the sea, which are Akashi Ohashi, Seto-Ohashi and Shimanami Kaido. Their outlooks are really bearutiful. When I took a ferry, I felt that nice view, it was like Aegean Sea in Greece.

Shikoku Island is coutryside except Takamatsu and Matsuyama. People there are friendly and local time looks slowly. If you want to relax in the countryside, it's better to visit there and enjoy hot springs and its nature.

Matsuyama(松山)

Freeze in a crowd!

It's difficult to find a doctor

When you want to see a doctor, how do you find?
It's not easy to find an ideal doctor. For me, I'm new comer in Kobe and don't have an information at all...

If this issue is about products, I can compare them by reading reviews on the Internet. Their spec is objective and easy to compare with others.

However when it comes to doctors, this method doesn't work. This is because our demand is depend on our situation. Expectation from young men is probably different from that from elder people.

I tried to search by Google Map. But I just found a long list of doctors. There was not any reviews and no information of doctors.

Then I decided one doctor. It's gamble. My conditions were only two, access and office hours. What was the result?

It was bad...
I got a joker. There was an old doctor who looked to have lots of experience. But that experience annoyed me. He never listened my explanation. He just looked at me and diagnosed from his experience. I appealed that his points were not exact, but he ignored.

I promised myself I would not see him anymore. He was far from my ideal image of doctor. But still I don't know how I can find a doctor...

Radical Innovation Cleaning water

"Social Entrepreneurship" - Ashoka's Bill Drayton speaks...

Meaning of "Education"

I'm interested in education.

One day I looked into its origin with a dictionary. I found that Education is composed of "edu" + "cation". "edu" means something that comes from inside to outside. "cation" means action. Then I realised that the education is basically self-motivated action.

In Japan, "education" is regarded as teaching in schools. Teachers give their knowledge to students. The position of teachers is higher than that of students. Discipline or rules govern the students.

I don't like this culture and think it is wrong from the educational point of view. The real role of teachers is not giving knowledge, to inspire their students to motivate self-learning. Teachers are just supporters in the case their students are at a loss in their thinkings.

I watched a TV program which shows teachers in Finland. Finish way of teaching is respected by the world. Their goal is for children to think by themselves. Theacher as a carrier is ragarded as respectable job. It's not easy to get the job. All candidates have to get PhD in universities. I guess this is one of proofs that they think education very seriously.

I hope Japanese education system will be like that in the future. To do that, we have to change our mind-set totally.

Eco Touring at Biwa-ko (Biwa lake)

There is lots of water in Japan. We don't have to prepare about drought.
Last week, I participated in an eco touring in Harie, Shiga. People who live that town make the best use of water, stream and spring water.

Each house has a water place called "Kabata" inside or outside the house. Kabata is composed of water from stream and spring water. In the water from stream, there are carps and other small fishes.

People use spring water for their drinking, cooking and cooling vegetables and fruits. Some people use that water for washing their faces and teeth. In the other hand, people use the water from stream to wash their dishes. When washing the dishing, the carps are eating leftover meals and make the water clean. That is really sustainable water system. Many carps keep the water clean and people can use it for their lives.

This place became famous because a documentary about Kabata by NHK earned an international prize. I was heard from a guide that ABC from US covered that place before our touring. It was really good countryside in Japan.