We show that there are several calculation problems in micro economics that can be used as exercises in differential and partial differential for Kosen students. It is expected that to solve mathematical exercises in micro economics will help Kosen students to be concerned with society and develop their culture.

View full abstract

We do not have the teaching staff room in our school. So, it is not easy to share data of absentees or latecomer in a few days. To solve this, I made this system with HTML, MySQL and PHP on our Web server. By using this system we became possible to share absentees and latecomers information easily.

View full abstract

This is a critical essay on Bill O’Reilly’s American best-seller, Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan (2016), which, soon introduced through the Internet, shocked some Japanese intellectuals. Considering the pitiless, ill-intentioned content for the Japanese, the book will never be translated into Japanese and probably remain unknown to ordinary people in Japan, many of whom like the United States. The writer of this essay, a Japanese scholar of comparative literature, analyzes how the atomic bombings are justified in Killing the Rising Sun, and criticizes the book using relevant materials, like the TV drama The Pacific produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hunks, which describes how innocent patriots like Eugene Sledge were to become coldblooded killers through the bloody battles against Japanese counterparts in Pacific islands like Peleliu; such theme is so universal that the series still has fans in Japan. The Japanese translation of Tears in the Darkness: the Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath, a wonderful book by Michael & Elizabeth Norman, also has succeeded in moving the Japanese readers with the two different perspectives of America and Japan, and the authors’ sympathetic attitudes toward the ex-enemies. For example, the so-called beasts did not use Japanese swords so often as the fans of Killing the Rising Sun might imagine: in Mr. and Mrs. Norman’s book, a Japanese officer used his precious weapon just after he knew that the captive had stolen some money from one of his dead soldiers. Bill O’Reilly, on the contrary, only tells stories about good Americans fighting bad Japanese. Since he uses the present tense showing how America comes to drop the atomic bombs, it is understandable that his hatred is keen enough to appreciate Truman’s decision to kill hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians even though the president seems to have regretted to know that innocent women and children also died the most violent deaths ever known in human history.
As Yuko Tojo, granddaughter of war-time prime minister Hideki Tojo, was welcomed by American veterans, offering flowers at the memorial service for the US marines in Peleliu in 1999, Japan and the United States are now close friends, having forgiven each other. Japan’s war crimes were severely punished at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and other trials in foreign countries such as China, the Philippines, and Russia. Nearly one thousand Japanese were executed, some of whom had been wrongly accused and spent their agonizing last days. General Iwane Matsui, one of the unfortunate, had respected China and had ordered all his soldiers to maintain military discipline, but was hanged for the now-called Rape of Nanking. Having built Koua-Kannon (a statue of the Goddess of Mercy for the Rising Asia) in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, the retired general had prayed every day for the souls of both the dead Japanese and Chinese soldiers. The Kannon statue still exists tenderly preserved by an elderly nun and her supporters. The world will admit that the Japanese are now peace-loving people.
The atomic attacks are justified in Killing the Rising Sun in four ways: 1) by insisting that the Japanese were beasts; Tojo was a Hitler; Emperor Hirohito was incompetent, 2) by regarding the bombings as rightful revenge to Pearl Harbor, 3) by stressing that the two bombs saved "hundreds of thousands" of American soldiers, and 4) by mentioning that Bill O’Reilly was born thanks to the atomic bombs which saved the life of his future father who was about to take part in MacArthur’s land invasion of Japan. In answer to these, 1) The Japanese soldiers were not beasts, let alone women and children. Their violent acts were due to the nature of war itself. View PDF for the rest of the abstract.

View full abstract

This is an introduction for young Japanese learners of English to e-future (Korean publisher)’s new graded comic readers series of Vera the Alien Hunter (2016) written by Jason Wilburn & Casey Kim, and illustrated by Seungjun Park & Bioh Kang. The wonderful writing team of Wilburn & Kim reminds us of their former excellent works: Magic Adventures (2012) and School Adventures (2014), in both of which the charming siblings Jack and Bella are actively involved, leading the stories to happy endings. Compared to these adventures, the new illustrations are somewhat inferior to Jaehwan Jung’s in techniques; the character designs are rather unoriginal (in fact, Luca will never fail to remind the reader of Japan’s well-loved manga character Dora-emon). However, the plot of Vera the Alien Hunter is so well-made that the reader will never be able to predict how the series of Vera and Luca may be concluded. It can be read as a graphic novel of the teacher-student relationship where Luca earnestly teaches and trains Vera until she becomes the earth’s reliable alien hunter.
The theme is their friendship in a Western sense, but more accurately, the typical, Eastern cultural affection between teacher and student, which can be found similar to the relationship between the Japanese-like teacher Yoda and his disciple Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. In the theme song recorded in the attached CD, Luca says to his student, "You have to trust me. You have to do your best. I’ll help you learn the things you need to know," and Vera answers, "Yes, I will trust you. I’ll learn all I can learn. I will succeed if I believe in me." Interestingly, the message suggests that the reader will succeed in learning English if he or she trusts this set of textbooks. Through the interesting comic books, it might be possible to gain as great self-confidence as the obedient student Vera has done.

View full abstract

This paper is a comparative study on Lyman Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) and its musical movie version The Wizard of Oz (1939), referring to other movies like The Wiz (1978) and Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), TV series Emerald City (2017), several Japanese translations, and four graded reader versions published by Oxford, Compass, Macmillan, and IBC.
It consists of six sections: 1) The Contrast of the Gray Kansas and the Colorful Oz World (Baum’s intentional gray versus color expressions are reflected in the famous switch from the black-and-white Kansas scenes to the color ones of the Land of Oz in the first Technicolor movie, whose technique the recent Disney film has imitated with the help of upgraded technology. One Japanese translator, however, somehow missed the keyword "gray," and two out of the four graded reader writers omitted it). 2) Are Munchkins Abnormally Small? (Although Baum did not describe Munchkins as abnormally small, in the musical movie they were played by dwarfs from all over the United States. This movie’s influence has been so powerful that not only Oz the Great and Powerful but also three graded readers seem to follow suit). 3) Why Does Dorothy Want to Return to Kansas? (Dorothy explains to the Scarecrow, saying "there is no place like home" in the original book, which is faithfully repeated in the 1939 movie fortified with Aunt Em’s motherly devotion to the girl. Yet, this important phrase is not included in Compass and Macmillan). 4) How Japanese Translators Had Difficulties Translating "I"s of the Main Characters (Quite different from English, the Japanese language has several counterparts of "I," depending on his or her personality, so Japanese translators had to interpret each character’s personality. Motoyuki Shibata, ex-Tokyo University professor of American literature and one of the leading novel translators in Japan, uniquely chose "watashi" for "I"s of Oz, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion, presumably because they are symbolically parts of one man). 5) Is Emerald City Not Green? (In Baum’s book, Dorothy and her companions are made to wear green glasses, which Oz himself later admits to be his trick to make the city look greener. The movies show the Emerald City is really green enough as the young Oz in the 2013 Disney film says, "It’s a good thing my favorite color is green." The graded readers, with the exception of IBC which is almost always true to the original plot, have two different simplifications: the green spectacles are necessary because the city is not green at all, or such glasses are unnecessary since, as in Oz the Great and Powerful, Emerald City is actually filled with greens. Oxford and Compass chose the former, and Macmillan the latter). 6) The Limitations and Defects of Graded Readers (Except IBC, the graded readers excluded the final journey to meet Glinda, which turns out to be the abridged versions’ characteristic imperfections. Though the final part of Baum’s original book may appear to be redundant, it is full of unique characters, two of which are the fighting trees in the 1939 movie and China Girl in the 2013 one).
The conclusion is that Lyman Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the 1939 film version are now so closely related that both have mixedly influenced the later productions, including movies, Japanese translations, and even graded readers (Like Judy Garland, Oxford’s Dorothy wears "red shoes" instead of the Silver Shoes) .

View full abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of Ni addition to low Ag lead-free solder on the mechanical properties of solder joints by tensile test and their fracture surfaces. It is found that the Ni added specimens form plain interfacial reaction layer, and suppress the occurrence of cracks into the reaction layer. Ni addition increases the solder/Cu joint strength because of fine Sn primary phase. The fracture position changes from the inside of solder bulk to the vicinity of the interface between reaction layer and solder bulk or into the interfacial reaction layer. And then fracture mode changes from ductility to brittleness.

View full abstract

Multitasking machines are used to manufacture gears in small batches. This method is appropriate for prototype manufacturing in small-lot production differently from traditional gear gutting such as hobbing and shaping. In this paper, our effort to manufacture gears by using the multitasking machine, Mazak INTEGREX j-200 introduced to our college in 2014, is described. Gear profile data are constructed from FreeCAD (free-3DCAD software), and NC programs are prepared by Mastercam X7 (CAM program) with Multiaxis (optional 5 axis add-on). Proper selection of tool pass type in Mastercam allow us to save machining time and to improve surface quality. Two tool path types, “flowline” and “multi-surfaces”, are mainly applied to 3 machining steps, rough, semi-finish, and finish cut. It is shown that side cutting of gear is effective to reduce cusp height at finishing of the involute surfaces. Helical and straight bevel gears are also machined by same cutting manner, in which the surface model is derived by the gear profile swept along the rails. The results obtained in this study provide us the good operational capability of multitasking machine.

View full abstract

We have studied CO₂ fixation from air. Photosynthesis performed in plants might be the superior process for the fixation of diluted CO₂. The following four factors should be considered for the fixation; (1) high efficiency per unit area, (2) growth control by hydroponics, (3) easy circulation and (4) proper preservability of the products. Onions have been picked for the most favorable plants. They have been grown for 3 months in a CO₂ rich chamber. The rate of the photosynthesis has been raised over twice in the CO₂ concentration of 3,000 ppm compared with ca. 400 ppm in air.

View full abstract

It is fruitful to utilize, in some cases with a critical attitude, United States presidential speeches as basically exemplary texts for learning English. In other words, these speeches have aspects of textbooks for learners of English who want to enrich their vocabulary, learn grammar, and enhance their listening and speaking skills. They also become good texts for learning speech communication and rhetoric, and may result in learning history. In fact, the ascension to the U.S. presidency of Barack Obama, who was famous for his sophisticated speeches, triggered publication in Japan of a lot of books about Obama, some of which treated his speeches as materials for learning English. On the other hand, Donald Trump, who succeeded Obama to the presidency, is infamous for his speeches and tweets, which may appear inappropriate as English textbooks, except that they are rather easy to read. Simplicity, repetitions, contradictions, lies, and emotions, to cite a few examples, characterize his language. It is undeniable, however, that this “rhetoric” of Trump’s is closely linked to the post-truth era. Thus, reading Trump’s words analytically and critically in terms of rhetoric can lead to understanding our times more properly. In this sense, Trump’s presidential speeches, together with his private tweets, which may seem peripheral but are indispensable for understanding not only him but also what is happening in the world, can be used as “textbooks.”

View full abstract

Henry Manship served as a town clerk of Great Yarmouth in the later 16th and the early 17th centuries, which was the greatest herring port in England and one of the most important trading ports in East Anglia. He completed History of Great Yarmouth in 1619, which was one of the most remarkable achievements in historical writing in the seventeenth-century England. History of Great Yarmouth is not only a chronicle of a provincial town; it also offers a detailed narrative description of the town’s natural and built environment, the town’s relations with the rival ports, and the origins and authority of Yarmouth’s government. Manship places a special emphasis on the importance of the ruling elites in the town to the well-ordered commonwealth. He offers a detailed description of Kett's Rising in 1549, demonstrating how bailiffs, the heads of the town, took command of the troops of townsmen and drove the rebels back. He gives us a full narrative of the several successive efforts by ruling elites to rebuild the haven of the town. And he gives grounds for the oligarchic rule of the town by citing and making use of a number of classical writers including Aristotle. On the other hand, he does not mention any divisions among the ruling elites between Puritan and non-Puritan factions, which would fatally deepen a few years after he put down his pen. In conclusion, Manship’s history must certainly be seen as an effort to use the past as a means of legitimizing the prevailing distribution of power in the government of Great Yarmouth in his own time.

View full abstract