Blog #9: TED Susan Cain: The Power of Introverts

Hi! This is Takuto.

I was surprised to hear in the class about TED, which I had been using as a study material when I was in highschool. There are many stories I recommend you to watch, but this is the best I have ever seen.

I chose this story because, as you know ( or don't know?) in the class, I'm not so talkative person. That is why the first time I heard her story, I was completely encouraged and came to think I don't have to pretend to play an assertive person, but I have only to be honest to my personality.


"There's zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas." [10:36]


Susan Cain states introverts have talents to come up with unique, innovative ideas which are usually hidden inside their minds and never let go, and we should not underestimate them. The story begins with her uncomfortable experience when she took part in a camp in her childhood, forced to become "ROWDIE". And then, she casts a doubt on the society we live in, in this talk she puts school and workplace as examples,  praising aggressive, appealing people and denouncing those rarely expressing themselves. After that, she mentions cultural history in western countries including America to show why introverts have got so excluded. In conclusion, she says though she knows the importance of groupwork or communication, sometimes extroverts should be isolated and work alone to raise creativity, and as for introverts, they should expose their opinions a little more.


In my opinion, I doubt if introverts are wiser than extroverts, however, I absolutely agree her thoughts that introverts should be much more welcomed to the society, which means we should understand these sorts of people. And once in a while, we must need time to think alone.
If you are fed up with pretending to be energetic, this story will give you the courage to follow your true characters.

Blog # 8 Minimalism

Hello! This is Kimura Takuto.

Even though it is far from the end of this year, I have begun cleaning my room. And I have sold some card games I used to play with. When cleaning my room, I recalled an article in Courrier Japon. This is about minimalism.

Minimalism originated in art, design and music, and means erasing all unnecessary things and making works simple without characteristics. But recently, it has been incorporated in lifestyles, living a life with only 100 belongings including furniture and clothes.

To become a minimalist, five things are required.

1. Throwing away all unnecessary things

2. Having a good eye to distingish precious things from your stuffs

3. Cherish what you have chosen, not discarding it so easily

4. Never look at huge empty space in your room as sad, but as pleasant

5. Change your life style over and over again. Never linger in one particular style


If you don't see what I'd like to say, please refer to this, written in Japanese.

Thanks to tablet PC and smart phones having many functions, not so many things are needed when living. ( For example, clock, weather forecast, TV, newspaper and so on can be replaced by these devices.) And since economy is still dipping and people are likely to refrain from spending money on luxuries, minimalism would become appreciated.

However, there are some dissidents arguing eliminating unnecessary things also means eliminating memories and emotions reminded from them. Think about toys you used to play with. Can you erase them without any compromise?

Blog#7: Writing My Name in Other Languages

 Hello. This is Kimura Takuto. Thank you for putting good grades on my presentation!! I'm sure it will give me confidence to presentate.

By the way, did you meet those from foreign countries during summer vacation? I did.  When I was in Korea, I chatted with not only Korean people, but also a professor from Iraq majoring in entomology and a Taiwanese person.

I'm fond of linguistics and every time I talk with those from other countries or Japanese studying languages I cannot speak or don't know, I have them write my name in these languages like this picture. This is Kurdish, spoken mostly in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan. I asked the professor from Iraq to type my name in Kurdish, repeating my name. And interestingly, when I told my name, he said " why are Japanese names so long?". As little had I thought about such a thing, I was surprised to hear that. No wonder he said so because his name is only 7 letters in English, mine is 12.
And I found my name is difficult to pronounce. I repeating my name, he misunderstood my name for " Kimura Takumu" . I don't know why he took like this, nevetheless he got correctly at last. Mistakes in pronounciation reminds me of the trip to Seatle when I was in highschool. While I was there, staying in host family's house, I was called " Taquito", one of the famous Mexican food dishes.

↑My name written in Kurdish

And I also asked one of my friends studying Russian to write my name in it. Thanks to Russian letters' complexity , I don't know how to pronounce it.

I think this is easy way to make friends, asking those from other countries or studying languages unknown to you to write your name in these languages. And what's more, they will remember your name soon.

Try it!!