The ability to understand and evaluate the various claims we see on the news, in advertisements, and on social media is an important life skill. Similarly, being able to weigh up conflicting arguments and assess whether they are adequately supported by facts is part of academic work. Although we are all entitled to have an opinion, not all opinions are equal. Some are well reasoned and logical. Others may sound believable, but actually be built on shaky foundations.

Being able to see the logic of an argument is a very good way to help determine whether it is something you should take at face value or be a bit more careful about. Arguments that are based on faulty logic are called “logical fallacies”. They are surprisingly common, but being aware of them will make it a bit easier for you to see when arguments don’t quite make sense. Here are just a few of the most common ones:

Ad populum

This refers to an argument based on popularity. It may sound convincing at first, but just because many people believe something does not make it right. In the past, many people believed the Earth was flat, but we now know it is round. Similarly, the popularity of something does not prove its quality.

Ad hominem

This is the rejection of a point of view because of who said it. It often takes the form of an attack on someone’s skill or character. For example, saying “You can’t take John’s point about management seriously. He’s never run a business,” would be dismissing John’s opinion because of his (lack of) experience, not because his argument was weak. People often use this kind of argument when discussing politics—but even a politician you dislike may say something you agree with occasionally.

Straw man

The straw man fallacy involves misrepresenting someone’s point of view to make it easier to attack. Darwin’s theories on evolution were once attacked for saying humans evolved from apes. This idea was easy to make fun of, but it was not actually what he said. You may have seen this kind of tactic in the run-up to the American election when the candidates try to influence public opinion about their opponents.

False dilemma

This kind of fallacy presents a problem as having only two (usually opposing) solutions. The statement, “If you’re not for me, you’re against me” is an example of this. Another example would be “The Tokyo Olympics should either go ahead as planned or be cancelled completely.” While these are two possibilities, they are not the only two. (The Games could be postponed again, for example, or held with no audience.)

A little knowledge of these kinds of fallacies can make discussions more interesting and give you greater confidence in your own ability to assess the way others present their opinions. Making informed decisions about the information and views we see is even more important now that ideas spread so quickly online: we all need to develop the skills to separate fact from fiction.

Photo Credit: Pixabay@Pexels.com

Blog Quiz

1. A logical fallacy is …

a. an argument you disagree with

b. an argument which is logical

c. an argument that is based on faulty logic

d. an argument that is based on inaccurate facts

2. Which of these is an ad hominem argument?

a. I don’t think this is right: Donald Trump never says anything I can believe.

b. I agree with this. Most of the people I discussed this think so too.

c. I can’t decide until I’ve researched it more thoroughly.

3. What kind of logical fallacy is contained in the following statement? Gasoline causes too much pollution, so all cars in the future will be electric.

a. Ad hominem

b. Straw man

c. False dilemma

d. Ad populum

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

A1. C

A2. A

A3. C

Like many people, I really love ramen. I have visited lots of restaurants from Kyushu to Hokkaido and tried many kinds of soup. I even have an application on my phone that shows me where all the best shops are. Therefore, when were told by the government to avoid crowded places because of the pandemic, I started to panic. I began to wonder if I could make delicious ramen at home.

I like cooking. It’s a fun hobby, a great stress relief, and I usually cook for my family when I can. However, I believed making a proper tonkotsu soup at home was the only possible in restaurants, in steaming kitchens where busy chefs understood the magic of the bubbling broth. However, after doing a little research, I found there are lots of people who love ramen and many of them live in countries where it isn’t easy to buy it in restaurants. There are plenty of recipes available in different languages, some by Japanese people and some by international ramen lovers. I also found videos showing the technique of making the broth, the tare, the noodles, and the toppings. It took time, but I learned a lot. Once I felt confident, I combined some recipes and began shopping.

What kind of ramen would you try to make first? I like several styles, but there was no question for me. I wanted a thick, tonkotsu broth with the background flavor of seafood – a kotteri gyokai tonkotsu, if you want to be precise. Finding the ingredients was not difficult. There are many places that sell pork bones online, but I could find a butcher in a local shop with everything I needed. My family was surprised to see me come home with five kilograms of pork bones and feet, but I was quite excited. I made chashu that evening, a rolled-up pork belly cooked very slowly in soy sauce, mirin, sake, water, and a little sugar. I put my soft boiled eggs in some of the extra sauce to give them flavour. I cleared up and put everything in the fridge. The next morning, I began the main task! Making a simple tonkotsu soup is not so difficult, but it takes a very long time and your whole neighbourhood will smell like a ramen shop. After preparing the bones, my soup boiled for about 11 hours in a large pot, although I was free for most of that time. For the first few hours, I regularly added water. Later, I let it reduce to concentrate the flavor. From five kg of bones and ten litres of water, I ended up with three litres of very thick white soup. To serve it, I started with a gyokai tare of dashi, sardines, soy, mirin and bonito flakes. Then I added the soup, hot noodles and finally my toppings of chashu, egg, bamboo shoots, nori, and green onion. It was a long job, but it tasted like a real ramen from a popular shop. My family and I were delighted.

Making proper ramen at home is fun for those who like to cook, but it takes some time and effort. If you want to try, I would recommend you first read some online information boards and watch videos about the technique. Personally, I think making effort makes the achievement more enjoyable, so it is something I would definitely recommend. As for me, my wife recently bought me a book of ramen recipes as a present. My life as an amateur ramen cook may be just beginning.

Blog Quiz

1. Why did the author decide to cook ramen at home?

2. Why was the author's family surprised?

3. What does the author believe about making effort?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

A1. Because the government recommended people avoid crowded places

A2. Because he came home with a lot of pork bones and feet.

A3. It makes the achievement more enjoyable

It is dead, but it is alive. It has no mind, but it is coming for you. There are thousands, but they move together. One bite and you become one of them. Zombies are one of the scariest monsters our pop culture has created. But why? And why are they becoming more popular recently?

The answer is in the real world and digital world that we live in. Zombies have been around for a long time. In books, movies, comics, games, or television, we cannot escape this popular monster. George Romero’s movie, Night of the Living Dead, made the genre famous in 1968, and it is more popular now than ever. Many people are familiar with TV and video game series like The Walking Dead and Resident Evil (Biohazard, in Japan). But get ready—the zombies are coming, and they are going to be more popular than ever.

Movies, television, music, video games: pop culture and media are always connected to the time and events when they were created. The current events, news, and feelings of people always flavor and affect the art and media we create. Famous events and happenings have an influence as well. Godzilla rose from post-war Japan, just like the popularity of superhero movies grew from a post-9/11 United States. Public health issues have always had a strong connection to the horror genre. A growing concern over the spread of HIV/AIDS fueled a boom in vampire movies that lasted over a decade. Outbreaks of Ebola, SARS, and other diseases pushed World War Z, Resident Evil (Biohazard), and The Walking Dead to the front of popular culture. When pandemics and diseases lead the news, the result is often horror movies, television, and games that focus on infection (by blood: vampires, by virus: zombies, etc). With the spread of COVID-19, it is likely that zombies are on the rise again.

However, there is another theory about the popularity of zombies. Some people believe that zombie entertainment becomes popular when people are afraid of losing their individuality or personal views. During election years, when there are large social movements, when there is social pressure to be the same, when there is a push to join a group: these are times when the zombie genre rises up. Recently, many people point to social media (SNS) as something that is pushing people to become part of trends, groups, and to copy other people. So maybe 2021 is the Year of the Zombie? Social media is more powerful than ever, elections and social movements across the world have split people into groups, and COVID-19 has deeply changed our world. The situation is perfect for the zombie to rise, spread, and become king again.

https://www.buycostumes.com/ideas/24-films-and-franchises-that-shaped-the-evolution-of-zombies/

https://filmdaft.com/why-are-zombie-movies-so-popular/ https://www.dmdraper.com/zombies/why-are-zombies-so-popular/

Photo Credit: Lisa Fotios @pexels.com

Blog Quiz

Q1. What was the first famous zombie movie?

Q2. According to the author, what are two reasons that cause zombies to become popular in pop culture?

Q3. What is the Western name for the Biohazard franchise?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. Night of the Living Dead

Q2. Current events (e.g., war and public health crises). Times when people feel like they might be losing their individuality (e.g., elections and social media)

Q3. Resident Evil

I have been reading a lot recently, now that I have more time stuck at home… I have been wanting to be a better person and make good use of the time I have now. I am sure my old self would have been stuck in front of the TV watching Netflix or locked on the computer screen, stuck on the latest YouTube videos. A book that is changing my life is “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. I recommend you pick it up, it is an easy read, but it can change your life.  Here are a few of the many good ideas in the first chapter, but that is just the beginning… 

Everyone has habits, and did you know that the habits that you have now, whether they are getting up early, or turning off the lights when you leave a room came to you without effort? Of course, your bad habits, like procrastinating or eating an unhealthy meal come very easy too, but did you know that those little decisions make up who we are? These little decisions, good or bad add up. These “1% decisions” are not noticeable but are very meaningful. As you repeat and do small things, day by day, those habits will have an impact on the way your life will be heading. If you stay up late and finish up work you were putting off, sure you can survive on three or four hours of sleep that next day, but one day in the future, you will wake up late and miss something important or make a mistake because you were sleepy. The author says, “Success is the product of daily habits – not once-in-a-life-time transformations.” 

You might be thinking that you need to change every little thing in your life… no… start with one thing that will make your actions successful. Just like when you chop a tree down, you pick up your axe, and start swinging, you cannot cut down a tree with one blow, it takes many strikes at the tree to bring it down. Just like starting a new habit, it takes many times of doing something to start a new habit, or stop a bad one. At first, it is exciting to start something new and you can see wood chips flying, but after a while you get tired and you hit and hit but you do not see change. When you finally fell that tree, the whole world will look at you and say how great your achievement was, but you know it was the work that you did when you did not see any results was the work that made things possible. Fighting on through hard times will make future success. “All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision.” 

It is a new year now and people talk about “New Year’s Resolutions” (新年の抱負) . More than making a goal this year, plan on making a “system” that will make your goals, reality. Just like every Olympic athlete has the goal to win the gold medal, if you improve the way you train and make the environment easy for you to get better, improve your training system… you will have a better outcome. Also, achieving that goal will be good but the result of meeting that goal is nothing if your life is not changed. If you diet and lose those kilograms you wanted to lose but go back to eating as you did before the diet, you will just rebound back. You need to change your eating and exercise system so you will have those great results (lost weight and fitting into those jeans) for the rest of your life. These are just some of the great ideas waiting for you in the book. Please read it and come to the BBP and let’s talk about it. Everything counts. 

Reference: Clear, J. (2018) Atomic Habits. Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

Go to jamesclear.com

Photo Credit: Andrea Piacquadio@pixels.com

Blog Quiz

1. What did the author do this past year?

a- watch a lot of TV and YouTube videos

b-sleep a lot

c- read books

2. What is the book "Atomic Habits" about?

a-making good habits

b-studying atoms

c-a boy named "Tom"

3. The book's author said, "All big things come from ___________"

a-big things

b-small beginnings

c-once in a lifetime events

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. c

Q2. a

Q3. b

Where are you from? For me, where I was born is very much a part of who I am. Some people view their hometown as just the place they grew up. I think it is more than that. It is the place that helped make you the person you are today. I was born and raised in the New Orleans area of Louisiana in the United States. It is a city with a rich history, beautiful architecture, and some of the best and most unique food in the world.

Food is one of the most important parts of the New Orleans culture. The food often takes hours to cook. Influenced by French and African cuisine, the food is a mix of local ingredients and traditional cooking methods. New Orleans is often called “the melting pot” of the U.S. This means that cultures and people all come together here to create something different and new. This is the same for the food. It is a place where rice and bread are equals. A place where people love meat as much as seafood. In New Orleans, you learn the history of food, not just how to cook. Every time you cook, you can remember the stories and background of the food you are cooking.

New Orleans is a musical city. You can hear music everywhere you go. The history of jazz began in New Orleans. It has evolved over the years in New Orleans, and it is where some of the best musicians perform. Jazz holds an important position in the culture of New Orleans. Slow smooth jazz to upbeat fun jazz, jazz music shows off the charm of the city. A place to relax, but also a place you can have fun, dance, and party.

However, it is not the perfect place, but the people have learned to adapt and adopt its flaws. Some of its history’s worst parts are remembered and used to make it and even better place. The people are some of the kindest and most patient you will meet. Being from such a place, adopting the bad and creating good, is one reason some people might label me as an optimistic person. I like to see the good in things.

Your hometown follows you everywhere. It is important to learn as much as you can about where you are from and carry respect and love for your hometown, even if you think it is not the most exciting place. Maybe you will be surprised by how much more interesting it is than you think. Take a look at the people and history one more time. You never know what beautiful stories you will find.

Photo Credit: Oliver_Weidmann@Pixabay

nicolebauer3004@Pixabay

Blog Quiz

Q1. What city is the blog about?

Q2. What places influence New Orleans’s food?

Q3. New Orleans is the hometown of what kind of music?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. It is about New Orleans.

Q2. It is influenced by Africa and France.

Q3. It is the hometown of jazz music.

You may have discovered that reading about one topic will get you interested in others. Recently I read the novel The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins (1975). The style is what some call ‘historical fiction’ meaning places, people and events used in the book may have really existed, but the drama is a fictional story.

This particular story relates an account of a secret plan of Nazi Germany to send soldiers to England in order to kidnap the Prime Minister of Britain, Winston Churchill.

While reading, I first became curious of the location of some scenes in the book. This led me to research more about Norfolk and Norwich, England by looking at maps and pictures. I also wanted to see pictures of war time Berlin and England.

I became interested in the historical characters including Adolf Hitler, Churchill, and Benito Mussolini, the former Prime Minister of Italy. These are names I grew up hearing, but I never learned the details about what kind of people they were, or what they did during the time of World War II. I also become interested in the political problems between Ireland and Britain which have a long history and are one component of the story’s background.

The internet is a great resource for following up on topics. We can see pictures, videos and find other materials related to what we are reading. 

After finishing the book, I learned about a movie that was made based on the novel. I read about the actors featured in the movie and how it was reviewed by movie critics. From now, I would like to read more ‘historical fiction’ novels to see how the authors combine real and imaginary events or people. In fact, there have been many historical dramas produced for TV in Japan. They are often based on historical characters and events, but they can show us a human side to the events we read about in history textbooks. I recommend reading some historical novels and checking out some historical dramas as well. It is an interesting way to encounter people and events from the past. Maybe you will also be inspired to expand your interests and views about various related topics.

Photo Credit: Caio @pexels.com

Blog Quiz

Q1. Which book did the author read?

Q2. Who were two famous people in the novel?

Q3. Why does the author recommend reading historical fiction?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. The Eagle Has Landed

Q2. Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill

Q3. It can give you a new perspective on history.

I’m writing this blog right now after losing about one hour of my day by watching YouTube.  

Life is hard, right? We need to find a time and place to relax. Especially in the past year with all these crazy things happening. With so much of our lives now revolving around PC’s and doing our work in a digital environment, a lot of people need to find different ways to relax. That’s where the problem of YouTube comes in.

I’m sure you have experienced this: you finish some work and as a way to relax, you decide to watch a YouTube video. After finding a video you like, you watch it. After you finish, you look to the bar on the right and find another video that interests you. It’s only 5 minutes. So, you watch the next one. That turns into another video. After a while, you’ve spent an hour, two hours, maybe even more just watching YouTube.

Is this a healthy relationship with technology?

Websites such as The Guardian have reported on several studies and stories related to mental health and YouTube: 

(https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/03/youtube-addiction-mental-health)

In recent times (especially this past year) more and more people are using YouTube as a way to distract themselves from life. For some people, they need to watch YouTube as a way to stay emotionally balanced. They click on the YouTube icon without even thinking about it.

Research has said that YouTube can have the same effect that drugs have on the human brain. Especially with people who watch a lot of videos. 

It’s natural to like watching funny cat videos, a strange incident caught on video tape, a vlogger with an interesting story, music videos, interviews with celebrities, and many other videos. I know I’ve lost hours to YouTube. I try every day to find ways to be productive and finish my work. However, I always find myself clicking on that red play button. It has gone to the point where if I don’t watch videos, I feel a little “off”.

I understand that everyone wants to escape the real world. Especially in the past year. I also know that we spend a lot more time inside. But when does our need for amusement and fun start to impact other parts of our mental wellbeing?

Also, with the state of things, what can we do about it? Well first we can rethink our relationship with technology. Do we really NEED to constantly look at a screen? We can also try to mentally take life a little slower. Take walks and get fresh air. Modern media has driven us to want the next video, the next game, the next comic. Let’s work to take it a little slower.

Maybe then we will lose a little less time to that big, red play button.

Photo Credit: freestocks.org @pexels.com

Blog Quiz

Q1. Why are people watching more YouTube videos? 

Q2. YouTube can have the same effect as what on people who are addicted to YouTube?

Q3. What should we do to stop from becoming addicted to YouTube?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. People want to relax and escape life stresses.

Q2. Drugs.

Q3. Take walks and get fresh air.