Six natural water springs in Ishikawa Prefecture were sampled and their physicochemical and microbiological characteristics were investigated to verify their aptitude as drinking water. In the six water samples, three of the hundred best water sites selected by the Environment Agency were involved. Many of the tested springs cleared the standards for drinking water, but some water contained a higher amount of general bacteria than the standard allows, and the necessity of boiling was indicated. There seemed to be no oroblem on the concentration of nitric acid and heavy metals as indices of the environmental pollution. Both electric conductivity and hardness index were very low for the water of Kannonyama in Tatsunokuchi Town, which seemed to be remarkably soft water. Many people daily drink natural spring water in an age of booming natural water. However, there are some cases in which the management system is unclear, and it will be necessary to improve the system to better check the water quality.

View full abstract

Inefficiency of English education in Japan has been exposed to severe criticism from the society in terms of the performance level of English as an international language in substance in an internationalized world such as we have today. From this criticism arises a surge of college English education reformation empowered by other college reformation motivations derived from the policies to nurture ability to survive in international and inter-collegiate competition, to change focus to more practical English, and to cope with the gradual decrease of college applicants (the substantial number of high school graduates throughout the country). What should (junior) colleges do to cope with such multi stratified waves of reformation? We discuss these problems through historical changes in the course of study, social arguments, and 21st century vision made by the private advisory committee to the late premier Obuchi, and propose basic requirements for college level English education reformation after critically scanningour sequential efforts to revise the foreign language education strategy in our college.

View full abstract