Questions from Deutsches Gymnasium

Yoshino K.: One person I interviewed thinks climate change is real. She says the fishing season for Saury fish has changed. Kushiro used to have the biggest Saury catch, but now the Saury go south sooner. This phenomenon must be caused by climate change.

I have noticed too that there are fewer Saury fish in the supermarket. This affects our economy. We know that the price of fish is increasing and our favorite fish to eat come from far overseas. Fish just isn't cheap anymore and we will have to change our staple diet.

Another person I interviewed said the Kushiro Wetlands were shrinking. Less fog is one of the reasons for that. Climate change is surely responsible. Not only the Japanese map but the world map could change in the future.

I suspected that the world map was changing. It has been said that the surface of the sea is increasing because the Arctic ice is melting. Some land might soon be under water. Japanese land could get smaller. That means we might not be able to grow enough food. If that happens all over the world, we might face a food shortage.

Moe S.: I asked my brother. Climate change is emphasized a lot here. However, he doesn't think it is important! He thinks climate change will make life more comfortable by giving us more warm days. He doesn't like the cold.

I disagree with him. I know that if the sea rises by one meter, we will lose 90% of our beaches! Japan is an island country, so the rise in sea level will cause much of our country to disappear.

I asked my friend. She thinks climate change must be prevented because we have to consider people around the world and our future. If we do nothing, then our descendants will have to take care of the problem. She thinks that is irresponsible. Also, climate change will affect agriculture in Japan. Japan's traditional farming culture may disappear.

I agree with her opinion. We shouldn't only think of ourselves, we should consider future families. I think we have to think about the future.

Nobuko S.: One person told me climate change has been happening many times in the past. This phenomenon isn't just a recent occurrence.

I don't agree with her opinion. Climate change which happened a long time ago is caused by Earth. However, climate change happening now is caused by human activity, for example, driving.

Another person feels climate change is a serious problem. A consequence is that skin cancer has increased. Another possible consequence is that many animals will become extinct.

I agree with him. Some kinds of animals are already extinct. I think in my country poverty and drought will also happen.

In the recent newspaper, it was reported that farmers have difficulty in growing different kinds of fruit. Apples and pears growing too much, grape having unusual colors and spongy orange have been found. This is because spring comes earlier and winter comes later these years.

Farmers and related organizations are now trying to improve the quality by changing their cultivation practice and changing the breed varieties.

Nowadays we see many articles about the impact of global warming in our country. Every year we hear that cherry blossoms are affected. Many Japanese care about the most beautiful cherry blossom season because you feel spring has come and around this season, our school will start.It gives me the feeling that everything start fresh and new.

I feel anger if I hear news about affected people from climate change, responsibility about emitting greenhouse gases, hope that many northern countries that emit much emission will collaborate to reduce emissions and feel said that many people feel indifference about this.

I feel responsibility the most, because my country emit much greenhouse gas.

Climate change cannot be solved by one country. Let us work together to reduce greenhouse gasses to tackle climate change and help together for those who have been seriously affected by the impact!

Because of the global warming, the temperature rises up to 41 degrees in Japan! We have also a high degree of humidity which means that we feel we are living in the hot Sauna. If we go out, we need to care that we will have hats or something to cover our heads so that we avoid headache from the heat.

Yes!

I try to buy domestic grown foods and avoid to buy goods with a lot of packages to reduce garbage. If I go out side, I ride bicycle and use official transportation.

(no answer yet)

I new from the news paper that fishes, fruits etc have been affected in our country. I new also that greenhouse gasses is the cause of global worming and that we emit them when we drive cars etc.

If we new that the greenhouse gas causes us such problem, we would not have made so many fossil fuel power plants.We might have used more solar, wind power and biomass.

We can learn from the past that we need to develop differently. We need to save our resources and think more environmentally friendly.

(no answer yet)

I really enjoy playing and listening to music and doing sports.

I play piano sometimes if I have time after dinner and before going to sleep. In summer, I will go to the see two or three times and enjoy swimming. In winter, I will enjoy skiing one or two times in a season.

We enter elementary school when we are about 5-6 years old. The elementary school is from first to sixth grade. And then, we go to the junior high school which is three years long. These schools are mandatory education. After that, you need to pass an exam to go to the high school which is also three years long, and then, you need to pass an entry exam if you would like to go to the university.

In the elementary school, one teacher will teach us almost all subjects. In junior high and in high school, we have different teachers for each subjects, but we have one homeroom teacher for each class who is responsible. The character of the class really depends on the homeroom teachers.

We have mainly summer, winter and spring vacations. The longest one is summer vacation, which is about 5 weeks. Winter and spring vacation is about two weeks long. We have longer winter vacation in northern part of Japan because of the snow! I think southern Japan should have longer summer vacation as it is really hot.

In holidays, I will go skiing in winter and swimming in summer.

No. In Japan we are only allowed to work when we are 16.

My father is a professor and my mother is an artist.

Most of us are Buddhist or Shintoist or both.

I think most of the Japanese do not have a strong religious believe, but on the other hand religion is deeply penetrated in our culture that we do not even notice that what we normally do have religious meaning. I most strongly feel religion in new year when we go to shrines and temples to pray that the new year will become a good year.

I think Switzerland is a unique country because you are permanent neutral.

Other than that, I imagine beautiful alpines, excellent chocolate and cheese. The name of Heidi is also very famous. I have watched and liked the animated Heidi film which run on the TV.

I like the lake near my house especially. The lake is unique as fresh water and sea water is mixed. Because of that, different kinds of creatures live in the lake. I sometimes go fishing. I feel relaxed when I see the sunset at the lake.

I like a succor player, called Hidetoshi Nakata. He plaid succor not only in Japan but also Italy and UK. He is now retired but was the best player. I am not only impressed buy the way he plays succor but also how he try to fit in the different culture. He quickly learned Italian when he was in Italy and answered questions in English when he moved to the UK.

I would like to learn many languages in order to communicate to many people in the world.

When I was sitting in a crowded train, a young woman gave her seat to an old woman. I have been too shy to get up to help elders, but since then I try to give my seats to elders as well.

I think if one does good things, others can learn from it and do good things as well. In this way, we can expand our climate friendly behavior in our surroundings.

It is something really happening and will be more and more serious as we grow up. Some people say it is good because it will be warmer, but I know that it is not only getting warm. It will affect our environment and other countries. We need to tackle this problem seriously.

Yes, because the global average temperature has risen only about 0.7 degrees since 300 years ago and we can already feel the impact. I learned that the temperature will increase about 6 degrees in this century if we do not do anything. I cannot imagine how serious the impact will be.

Yes!

I try to buy domestic grown foods and avoid to buy goods with a lot of packages to reduce garbage. If I go out side, I ride bicycle and use official transportation.

(no answer yet)

Yes, because our country is an island and sea level rise can cause serious damage to our country. But I also have hope that we can tackle this problem together with other countries.