2014年5月26日月曜日

超高齢社会の一風景

私には一人暮らしの祖母がいます。一人暮らしの高齢者というと、穏やかな日々、または寂しい生活を想像しがちですが、私の祖母は毎日とても忙しく過ごしています。定年に近づいてきた3人の子供達は、子育てや仕事の慌ただしさから遠ざかり時間ができたためか、なにかにつけて祖母を外へと連れ出します。8人の孫は、結婚して子供ができたのもいて、誕生日や七五三に祖母を連れ出します。私もそんな孫の一人で、たまに帰ると祖母の家に立ち寄り、食事へと連れ出します。(ごちそうをおごってもらうのですが)

そんな忙しい祖母も90歳を超えてさすがに足腰が弱ってきたようです。たまに足を痛めると外出が難儀になります。

家族間のコミュニケーションツールはもっぱら電話です。祖母も耳は良く聞こえ、頭もしっかりしているので、電話での会話は問題ないです。メールやインターネットも使えるようにならないと、とは言っていますが、携帯電話の操作もままならない機械音痴ですからさすがに難しいとも言っています。電話は私の実家にも良く掛かってきますし、まさにライフラインです。

祖母の家の向かいには床屋さんがあって、近所付き合いはそれこそ何十年にもなります。よくおかずや食材を届けてくれる気遣いに助かっています。もし祖母になにかがあったとき、真っ先に気づくのは向かいの床屋さんかも知れません。


祖母の家ではNHKが一日中ついています。時間があれば一日中NHKを観ていますから、世の中の出来事について祖母は私よりも遥かに詳しいですし、情報が早いです。朝の起床から就寝までNHKは祖母にとって時を告げる時計であり、世の中と祖母の家をつなぐ社会への窓であり、衰えぬ知的好奇心を満たしてくれる存在です。

2014年5月19日月曜日

Collective insecurity

Defending Japan
Collective insecurity
Japan’s prime minister is right to start moving the country away from pacifism.


I went to Turkey when I was 20 for exchanges with students of the country. I   happened to join a student meeting in Istanbul. At first I thought that meeting was for administration like project making but it was different. But I was surprised to find that the meeting was for discussing “war and peace” among students with almost the same ages. At that time in 2006, conflicts between Palestine and Israel were flamed up. Turkey is near from the area so they were much more serious on the issue. In the meeting, Turkish facilitator asked the guests from Japan “What do you think about peace?”

Please imagine the situation. How do you answer the question?

I chose the article because we can learn words and phrases related to defense and security. Prime minister Abe plans to allow Japan to come to the defense of its allies (collective security) for the first time. This is hot topic not only for Japan but also other countries like China, Korea and the US. We should keep in mind that you might have to explain the situation in your words.

Going back to the Turkey’s experience, I answered, “Peace is a situation that people can live in safe without any accidents or crimes.” Most Japanese might agree with this view. But reactions of Turkish students were different, like “I don’t think so” or “It’s a typical Japanese way of thinking”. For them the war was critical issue because Turkey accepted refugees from Palestine. On their mind, peace is the situation that people can live without warfare.

Today I’d like to share with you our thought of “war and peace” based on our experiences. And also I would like to know about your opinion about 

2014年5月5日月曜日

Post-office banking

Post-office banking
put your money where your mail is

Topic of the article:
l   The article is about the United States Postal Service (USPS), the second largest employer in America with a workforce of just over 491,000 in 2013. Since the rise of e-mail makes people less use postal service, USPS has to find new ways to raise revenues.
l   This article introduces a report suggesting that the post offices should begin offering financial services for the people who cannot get fully access to financial services. The simple reason is that a lot of Americans have scant access to banks and a lot of post offices have little to do.

Main support:
l   Over 1/4 American households are unbanked or underbanked, meaning that they either lack a current or savings account, or they have one but still use alternatives to banks such as cheque-cashers and payday lenders. The average households spend around 9.5% of their income on fees and interest charged by substitutes of banks.
l   High-street banks find it hard to make money serving poor customers, since they tend to have little money on deposit that banks can lend out. 
l   These customers are distressed so they need rescues from USPS. It has plenty of post offices in rural areas that already provide some financial services such as money orders and remittances to Latin American countries. That could save low-income customers the financial cost.

Oppositions:
l   Some refutes the proposal. They insist that the Government overreaches itself and USPS should cut its size. Others mention that it has zero capacity, understanding and capability of financial services and state that post offices in rural areas have limited value because financial services in rural areas are already enough and convenient.

Additional support:
l   Roughly 1 billion people in 50 countries have benefitted by their postal systems according to the Universal Postal Union, the United Nations agency that helps post arrive on time.

l   A World Bank study found last year that postal banks are likelier than conventional ones to provide accounts to those outside the financial main stream.