Here is a great resource to get you started, however, please note that you need to put it into CONTEXT!!! That is: re-interpret all arguments specifically for Japan.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/ian_goldin_navigating_our_global_future.html
http://debatepedia.idebate.org/en/index.php/Debate:_Globalization#Gender_issues:_Is_globalization_a_force_for_good.3F
Do you agree or disagree with the statement:
2. Japanese universities should start their school year from autumn as do most Western universities.
Use specific reasons to support your opinion.
Do you agree or disagree with the statement:
The Japanese government should increase the consumption tax without haste.
Use specific reasons to support your opinion.
Should the Japanese government reallocate the budget for ODA to the money to recover from recent earthquake?
Yes, Japanese government should reallocate the budget for ODA to the money for reconstruction from the unprecedented damage by the recent earthquake.
First of all, Japanese government’s top priority right now is to protect its citizens. Revenue is limited by the number of avails. Having considered who the taxpayer is, Japanese government should not prioritize its national budget for ODA but should allocate for the reconstruction of Tohoku area where many of the taxpayers suffer. Moreover, Japanese government should assure the right to life of all citizens as provided by the Constitution of Japan, Article 25 as follows.
The amount of the expenditure necessary for reconstruction is huge. The government estimated the number of temporary housings for evacuated people of tsunami and nuclear accidents. The cost of building 70,000 temporary housing was 5 trillion yen. In addition, the government is planning to provide 60,000 public housings for permanent residence, which costs 600 billion yen. Even the budget for ODA is much less than this amount, we should decrease the budget to the recovery considering the shortage of government revenue.
In regard to Japan’s responsibility in the international society, the priority for Japanese government is to recover its economy first. Japan’s earthquake has not only affected the Japan economy, but also global economy in terms of effect on global supply chain. The amount of damage will be totaled more than 40 trillion yen. Moreover, Japanese enterprises play important roles for doubling effect of Japan’s ODA. Historically, more FDI has come followed by ODA and contributed to the local economy in developing countries. Considering this, ODA is not effective unless Japanese companies recover enough. Japanese government should push recovery of Japan’s enterprises which affects global economy by various assistance measures such as expansion of loan and exemption of insurance fees.
Japan should not offset a lot of assistances by providing ODA. Japan's foreign ministry said that 113 countries and regions including a lot of developing countries had offered help to Japan. The southern Afghan city of Kandahar announced it was donating $50,000. Pakistan offered two planeloads of relief goods, including a field hospital along with a team of doctors.
In addition to the economic recovery, another big priority for Japanese government is to solve the problem of nuclear reactors in Fukushima. Radioactive particles from Fukushima have been spread widely across the borders. In the international society, Japan has been blamed for disorganization of nuclear power plants. It is clear that Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) cannot afford by itself the all expenditures for the recovery including compensation estimated as 2-3 trillion yen. Japan government is required to allocate its expenditure to solve the nuclear problem.
In conclusion, Japan has responsibility for its citizen and international society to recover the huge economic damage and solve the serious nuclear problem immediately. Therefore, Japan should reallocate the budget for ODA to domestic purposes for the meantime. “For” Opening statement by Group 2：Noriyuki, Takayuki, Reiko, Kanoko, Keiko
We would like to support the acceptance of foreign labors in Japan. We have three main reasons as below.
Firstly, Japan confronts the rapid decrease of work force due to aging society. Work force between 15 and 64 years old is decreasing more rapidly than total population in Japan. According to United Nations, it is estimated at 81.5million (64.2% of total population) in 2010, 74.0 million (59.9%) in 2020, and 51.8 million (50.9%) in 2050. At the moment, Japanese government is trying to encourage unemployed youth, women, and elderly people to get job opportunities. This policy is significantly necessary but not enough for Japanese future. In a short term, Japan could solve the shortage by fully utilization of unemployed youth, women, and elderly people. In a middle or long term, however, it is obvious that Japan will confront the serious shortage not fulfilled by domestic work force.
Secondly, as well as shortage of supply, demand will increase in social service sector corresponding to the rapid increase of elderly people. In Japan, proportion of elderly people over 65 is estimated at 22.6% in 2010, 28.5% in 2020, and 37.8% in 2050. Particularly, Japan faces shortage of nurses and care workers at the present and much worse in the future. Under EPA policy, Japan has accepted about 1,100 trainees for nurses and care workers from Indonesia and Philippines since 2008. Yet the trainees have to leave Japan if they fail to pass the qualification examination within a certain period of 3 or 4 years. Because the examination held in Japanese is quite difficult for them, the pass rate is only 4% these two years. Despite most of the local hospitals accepting the trainees are satisfied with their performance and they improved communication matters in a year, Japan doesn’t utilize the trainees who are enthusiastic and experienced under the current system. In the future, many other countries such as South Korea and China are heading for aging society as well as Japan. It means that every country will compete to procure huge demand for work force such as nurses and care workers in the global labor market. It can be too late to attract foreign work force if Japan doesn’t seriously prepare the basis to accept and utilize the foreign work force as soon as possible.
Thirdly, many foreign labors want to come to Japan for work. Some foreigners have trained to master Japanese traditional culture. They will help to fulfill the shortage of successors and grow the Japanese traditional culture. For example, Hakuho is a Mongolian Sumo wrestler who has won the many titles as a Yokozuna, the highest rank in professional Sumo wrestling. He contributes to the growth of Sumo industry by showing strong performance. In summary, Japan can’t avoid accepting foreign labors in a middle or long term. It is obvious that Japan will confront the rapid decrease of work force and increase of demand more seriously in our future. Japan has to make decisions and efforts to prepare the acceptance of foreign labors as soon as possible. They will also help to fulfill the shortage of successors and grow the Japanese traditional culture. Group1 member: Hideki, Marie, Yukari, Minoru
“Japanese government should restrict living in tsunami affected area because of following three reasons; prioritizing the life of citizens, the cost that could be possibly burdened, the incredibility of Japan in the world especially for economic aspect.”
Firstly, Japanese government should prioritize the life of citizens. First of all, losing citizen means losing the national treasure which can support a national prosperity, so Japanese government must give the highest priority to protecting the life of citizens. Moreover, according to the Act for establishment of the Cabinet office (based on Article 4), government takes responsibility for preventing damages which will be caused by disaster. In addition, followed by the Building standard law (Article 39, 84), local government can restrict to build new buildings in dangerous areas. In fact, Hyuga, the area where recent earthquake impacted, experienced M7.0 or bigger quakes that have 5 times as much magnitude for the last 70 years. Finally, there is no doubt about security of human lives because everybody knows deep sorrow of missing his or her family and friends and no one want other disasters to take away their loved ones.
Secondly, Japanese government needs to consider about the cost that could be possibly burdened if tsunami should attack the coastal areas. The cost varies from many aspects. It takes huge cost to recover from disaster, such as costs of reconstructing infrastructures including the residential areas, evacuation, preventing damage caused by natural disaster. In fact, it cost over 20 trillion yen to recover from the earthquake which hit Tohoku region this year. This number counts for more than 20 percentage of annual government budget. Furthermore, if Japanese government is blamed for neglecting to take a necessary step to protect citizen’s life, a large amount of compensation must be paid for the surviving members of deceased persons’ family.
Finally, inappropriate policy of Japanese government possibly causes the incredibility of Japan in the world especially for economic aspect. This means that, if the failure of countermeasures against natural disasters should trigger credit uncertainty of Japanese government bonds, it might cost unexpectedly to issue bonds. Moreover, in the worst case, there won’t be any buyers for Japanese government bonds, and this means a financial crisis. (Group: Takahiro, Momoko, Shota, Akane)
This is only a hypothetical situation designed for you to consider your reasoning:
A year ago, North Korea completed a long-range missile test and has most likely manufactured a nuclear weapon.Last week North Korea invaded South Korea and the UN Security Council passed a resolution for North Korea to leave immediately.Now, the US is pressuring Japan to send armed troops to a multi-national coalition.Should Japan send armed troops? Why or Why not?