TED Community » Chad Hanashiro

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Building bridges and making connections with people from other countries.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +0.30 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• +1

  A comment on Conversation: Is modern communication going to produce a generation that doesn't understand body language or verbal expression?

  Aug 4 2012: I think modern communications methods (texting, e-mails, SNS, etc.) have little influence on using and understanding body language and verbal expression. I feel this way because body language and verbal expression are part of human evolution. When people aren't communicating their smart phones for texting or making comments on facebook, they are more than likely to be engaging in face-to-face interactions with other people.
  
  However, now that we have so many methods for communicating, people have different preferences about which method they use. For example, I am currently living in Japan, and you hardly see a person not texting (sending e-mails) with their mobile phones. A television show conducted a survey and found that people in their 20's and younger prefer texting (e-mails) the most; in second was making a telephone call, and third was meeting in person. On the other hand, people 30 and above where the opposite: they preferred meeting in person, next was making a telephone call, and texting was last. This is the case in Japan, but I also noticed the same thing when I visited my home in Hawaii.
  
  In the beginning of my comment, I stated that modern communication as little influence on body language and verbal expression. I firmly believe this, but modern communication can be the root of social problems. In Japan, students in middle school and high school (maybe even primary school) create message boards online about their school. These sites are called "gakkou ura-saito" (underground school sites). On these sites, a lot of bad-mouthing of classmates goes on, which is one for of bullying in Japan. Unfortunately, the bullying sometimes escalates into a physical form and there have been cases where the victim of bullying commits suicide.
  
  Modern communication is a double-edged sword. It's extremely useful for keeping in touch with people and expanding one's network, but it can create social problems if used maliciously.
• +1

  A comment on Talk: Parag Khanna maps the future of countries

  Aug 4 2012: Khanna briefly touched upon the difference between "Japanese Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere", which is actually the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" of the Empire of Japan (1868-1947) and the present day Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere which is led by China. The difference is in the type of "power" these two countries used. The Empire of Japan used militarism, a "hard power", to expand their empire. On the other hand, China is currently encouraging student foreign exchange programs (exporting of students, as Khanna explained), diplomacy, trade, and the establishment Chinese languages overseas, which are "soft power".
  
  He also mentions that the infrastructure line, the line that crosses boarders, is the key to, "having a world that we want--a borderless one." This may be one solution, but there are conflicts concerning borderless borders in the ocean: i.e. the Senkaku Boat Collision between China and Japan in 2010.
  
  As humans seek for conformity, but governments continue to expand their economical and political power, problems with borders/non-borders will continue.
• +1

  A reply on Talk: Debate: Does the world need nuclear energy?

  Aug 4 2012: I agree.
  
  I've been living in Tokyo for the past three years, and I have seen a change in attitude towards nuclear power. Which means, people only realized that nuclear power can threaten lives when there is a large scale accident (Three Mile, Chernobyl). The nuclear disaster that occurred at Fukushima Daiichi was a result of a history of bad management (link to article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/10/opinion/fukushima-could-have-been-prevented.html?_r=1 ).
  
  Even though Japan is highly vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis which can cause catastrophic disasters, the irresponsible management at TEPCO ignored tsunami studies. These studies simulated that a tsunami could potentially disable the power plant. As we can see, the problem at Fukushima Daiichi was not the technology used for running the power plant, it was the humans who were in charge.
  
  Standing at a crossroad, the Japanese government chose to shut down all nuclear power plants (presently, the Oi Nuclear Power Plant is up and running). I applaud their effort in trying to please the general public, but I feel that this could be an opportunity to re-evaluate and create improved technology for implementing nuclear power, especially for resource-deprived Japan.
  
  As the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi unfolded, it is only natural for people to criticize nuclear power for all of the inconveniences and hardship that it has brought upon the public. I have many friends who have been joining the demonstrations against nuclear power here in Tokyo. Personally, I was also anti-nuclear power; however, realistically, nuclear power is a highly reliable energy source that Japan needs. So, both nuclear power and renewable energy resources should be used until technology advancements make renewable energy resources more reliable. And then, a transition from nuclear to an alternative energy resource might be possible.