These will be the groups that will give 20-minute final presentations on the topic “What we can teach each other about work/ life balance and happiness.” It will take place during our last class on January 21st.
Iceland Study Group
XU ZHIHAO, DEGAWA ANNA, HIRATSUKA REIKO, TACHIBANA MISATO
Qatar Study Group
TSUYUKI MICHIKO, YAMADA YOSUKE, KIMURA YUKINA
Bhutan Study Group
KURATA KONOMI, ODA SHINYA, ISHIDA MARIYA
Switzerland Study Group
FURUGEN AI, GOKAN MARINA, YOSHIKAWA MAYA, MORI KAITO
Moldova Study Group
YAMASHITA MARI, KAIZU SAYAKA, KIKUCHI RYO, SEKI YUTAKA
The Netherlands Study Group
KUDO YUKA, ISONO YOSHIKI, NAKATA MITSUNOBU
India Study Group
KAMAYAMA SAYUMI, SUKEGAWA YUKINA, INOUE MARIE, TAKIZAWA KENTA
You, and the members of the group to which I assigned you, are members of a government study group that has been given the task of trying to find ways of increasing the level of happiness (satisfaction in life) among Japanese young people. In order to get clues about how life satisfaction can be increased, each group was assigned to study another country in depth…especially in terms of how it deals with the questions “What is important in life?,” “What is happiness?,” and “How can a work/ life balance be achieved?” You will imagine that the audience for your presentation will be members of the government and NGOs who have gathered together for a conference called “Achieving Life Satisfaction in Japan: What we can learn from other countries.” In addition to briefly reporting on the situation in your assigned country, your group will have to make some concrete recommendations.
Part of your presentation must also address the issue of the “ideal work environment” for achieving a happy life. Draw on your field trip experiences to inform your views on this matter and investigate what the working conditions, office environments, work social relationships, and level of cultural diversity are in the countries which you were assigned by going beyond the chapter you were given and exploring Web sites, magazines, and other sources.
Note that the chapters which I gave you from the Eric Weiner book The Geography of Bliss were just for your reference and so that you can gain an understanding of the factors which may influence the feelings of satisfaction and “happiness” among the citizens of a particular country. The point of the presentation is NOT simply to summarize what you read. You have to come to conclusions of your own and explain what positive aspects of your assigned country Japan can learn from, and what negative aspects of the country Japan should avoid.
You should use all (or MOST) of the following sources to inform your presentation and to help you come up with conclusions of your own:
* The CIA factbook. [Consider if there might be connections between such factors as levels of educational attainment, birthrate, Internet usage, etc. and happiness.]
* Tourism websites related your assigned country
* Wikis (such as WikiTravel)
* Blogs of people who have lived, visited, or studied in the country.
* Embassy websites or, even better, actually going to the country’s physical embassy since we’re in the capital and the embassy would be located here.
You will have an ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM OF 20 MINUTES for your presentation.
When I was traveling to California during a previous vacation, the inflight magazine on JAL had an article about Bhutan in it that was quite interesting. So, I cut it out and scanned it for the Bhutan group. Here it is: Article from inflight magazine about
Bhutan. It may help the group who was assigned to Bhutan.
