Discussion topics

More and more elementary school teachers in Japan are turning to English language schools with native speakers, as they seek to gain confidence in teaching the language before it is formally added to their curricula in the academic year starting April 2020.

Many teachers admit to lacking confidence in their English, in areas from vocabulary to grammar, expressiveness and pronunciation. Elementary school teachers say they are afraid of teaching their students “the wrong thing.”

In 2011 Japan made English compulsory for fifth- and sixth-graders as part of their extra-curricular “foreign language activities.” Last year the guidelines were further revised to start English education from the third grade as part of foreign language teaching, and make English a formal subject from fifth grade, starting in 2020, in an effort to enhance the nation’s global competitiveness.

Of the 346,000 elementary school teachers giving English lessons in Japan, only 5.1 percent have teaching licenses for English at junior high schools and high schools, where it is on the curriculum, according to the education ministry’s latest data for fiscal 2016.

When I mentioned to a friend that my baseline neurosis had evolved from daily stress into anxiety, her response was, "Go for a float!"

A float?

Yes — spend an hour in a dark, soundproof room floating in a salted, body-temperature warm pool. "You just lie there and meditate," my friend told me.

As a doctor wary of overprescribing medications, I was intrigued by the idea that floating could combat stress and anxiety. So, I looked to see if there was any science to back up this claim. I visited the lab of neuropsychologist Justin Feinstein at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research, who is investigating float therapy as a nonpharmacological treatment for people with conditions like anxiety and depression.

Feinstein asked if I wanted to try it. So, after a quick shower, I jumped right in. It took a while to let my thoughts quiet down, but eventually I was so relaxed I fell asleep — while floating!

Though the treatment sounds promising, it's important to remember that this research is preliminary. While floating isn't a proven therapy, there's little harm in trying to float some of that stress away.

Constructing a home by hand can be both expensive and time-consuming, especially when the home features a custom design. Some homebuilders have chosen to automate part of the construction process instead.

A new architectural startup called Branch Technology uses 3D-printing robots that can construct parts for homes.

The company will build a prototype of its first home, designed by architecture firm WATG, this year in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Branch's machines will print the walls, roof, and floor of the 1,000-square-foot model over the span of a few months, and then a construction crew will assemble the components on-site.

The cost of the prototype (somewhere between $300,000 and $400,000) will be higher than what Branch eventually hopes to offer to customers. The project's larger goal is to push the boundaries of 3D printing in construction.

Many business leaders still believe that time on-task equates to productivity. However, studies have shown that shorter amounts of sleep lead to both lower efficiency and slower completion of basic tasks. That is, sleepy employees are unproductive employees, and they generate fewer and less accurate solutions to problems.

Many people don't understand that when you are not getting enough sleep, you work less productively and thus need to work longer hours to accomplish a goal, creating a negative feedback loop.

The effects of sleep deficiency on CEOs and supervisors are equally powerful. On days when the supervisor was under-slept, the employees rated them as having worse self-control and being more abusive to others.

Allowing and encouraging employees, supervisors, and executives to arrive at work well rested makes them productive individuals who inspire and support one another. Ounces of sleep offer pounds of business in return.

The Japanese government has asked the Chinese government to loan Japan more giant pandas. Amid the growing popularity of the giant panda cub Xiang Xiang, who is on public view at Ueno Zoo in Taito Ward, Tokyo, the Japanese government hopes to realize the loan as soon as possible as a symbol of improved relations between Japan and China.

The Japanese government is considering Oji Zoo and Yagiyama Zoological Park in Sendai as possible breeding facilities for new pandas. Oji Zoo has only one female, Tan Tan, meaning they need a male for breeding. Yagiyama Zoological Park has petitioned for pandas, to cheer up people affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

Giant pandas are extremely popular in each country for their cute appearance and rarity; they have become an important diplomatic tool for the Chinese government. China is likely to decide whether to loan more pandas after carefully examining developments in China-Japan relationships.

Shin Shin and Ri Ri — Xiang Xiang’s mother and father — were borrowed from China in February 2011, and the Japanese side has paid a total of $950,000 (about ¥100 million) a year to have them. 

Japan will charge a departure tax of 1,000 yen ($9.37) per person beginning next year, with plans to use the anticipated 40 billion yen raised annually to bolster tourism.

Foreigners and Japanese alike leaving the country by air or sea will pay the tax when they buy tickets, much like they do with airport facility fees. Travelers younger than 2 are exempted from the levy, which debuts Jan. 7.

With tourism-related spending by the government likely to mushroom, many legislators asked for specifics on how the new revenue could be used, citing the costs to secure enough workers for understaffed customs operations as well as spending to set up integrated resorts with casinos.

After more than a decade working in tech, Kimbal Musk (brother of famous technologist Elon Musk) decided to lean into his true passion: local food. He now runs a chain of local food-focused restaurants called The Kitchen, as well as Big Green, a national nonprofit that builds educational gardens in public schools.

So it might not be surprising that he expects a growing number of young Americans to join him in the local farming movement.

When asked to name a big food trend looking forward into 2018, Musk said he sees millennials flocking to careers in agriculture rather than traditional office jobs.

"For the past 20 years, I think that technology has been a wonderful benefit for us in so many ways, but it's not a very connected life. Social connectivity has really suffered because of technology. But we see urban farmers sell direct-to-consumer and be a part of their community," he told Business Insider. "I see millennials leaving their office jobs to be in the urban farming community, because they get a connection back to their community."

At the MIT Technology Review’s EmTech conference held in Singapore this [year], Japanese researcher Jun Rekimoto presented a form of tech called ChameleonMask which he dubbed a “Human Uber” that “shows a remote user’s face on the other user’s face.”

How it essentially works is: ChameleonMask uses a real human as a surrogate for another remote user. The surrogate user wears a display as a mask which shows a remote user’s live face and transmits the user’s voice.

The remote user sends the surrogate user directions on how to act, too.

A Select All report quoted Rekimoto as saying: “Our pilot study confirmed that people could regard the masked person as the right person.” 

If this is so, it could really change the way we live our lives, right down to getting someone else to go to work for us every day. Right?

Fasten your seatbelts for a flight departing to Paris—and never leave the ground.

That’s exactly what 12 passengers did at First Airlines in central Tokyo this week, where they relaxed in first and business-class seats and were served four-course dinners, before immersing themselves in 360-degree virtual reality (VR) tours of the City of Light’s sights.

“A real trip is a hassle to prepare for, and expensive, and takes time. So I think it is good that we can enjoy all this hassle-free,” said Takashi Sakano, 39, who was on his first VR trip, adding that he wanted to try Rome next time.

At 6,600 yen ($62), a fraction of the cost of an actual trip overseas, it’s easy to see why First Airline’s two-hour “flights” to Paris, Rome, Hawaii and New York have been fully booked since the company opened in 2016.

“We have lots of elderly customers who want to go overseas but are not able to easily, given their physical limitations,” Abe said, explaining that the majority of First Airlines’ customers are older Japanese from around the country.