The Writing Revolution

I, who have been keeping a weblog in Japanese for fifteen years and a weblog in English for two and a half years, am deeply interested in the method of writing.

I found the interesting article "The WritingRevolution" on "Atlantic Magazine website".  The author of this article wrote as followings.

Fifty years ago, elementary-school teachers taught the general rules of spelling and the structure of sentences. Later instruction focused on building solid paragraphs into full-blown essays. Some kids mastered it, but many did not. About 25 years ago, in an effort to enliven instruction and get more kids writing, schools of education began promoting a different approach. The popular thinking was that writing should be “caught, not taught,” explains Steven Graham, a professor of education instruction at Arizona State University. Roughly, it was supposed to work like this: Give students interesting creative-writing assignments; put that writing in a fun, social context in which kids share their work. Kids, the theory goes, will “catch” what they need in order to be successful writers. Formal lessons in grammar, sentence structure, and essay-writing took a back seat to creative expression.

The catch method works for some kids, to a point. “Research tells us some students catch quite a bit, but not everything,” Graham says. And some kids don’t catch much at all. Kids who come from poverty, who had weak early instruction, or who have learning difficulties, he explains, “can’t catch anywhere near what they need” to write an essay. For most of the 1990s, elementary- and middle-­school children kept journals in which they wrote personal narratives, poetry, and memoirs and engaged in “peer editing,” without much attention to formal composition. Middle- and high-school teachers were supposed to provide the expository- and persuasive-writing instruction.

 

I heard that in school of the U.S. the method of writing was emphasized, so I was surprised with this article.

Although I don't know about the present education of writing in Japan, I got "the catch method" of writing education in school. I had to write a diary in every summer vacation for homework, and I didn't know what I should write on a diary, which my teachers would read.

After I finished school, I learned the method of writing by myself. The most useful reference for me is Barbara Minto's "The MintoPyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking, & Problem Solving." It's no useful for me to learn "the catch method" in school. Of course there are people who don't like "the pyramid principle."

I think that the suitable method of writing differs depending on the person. Someone can become able to write creatively well by learning "the catch method." But it is effective for someone to learn "the pyramid principle" like me. It might be important for anyone to be able to choice their suitable method.

As I wrote in the entry "Swim in the Ocean", we wouldn't be able to swim in the ocean just with reading a book about how to swim. We have to write certain amount in order to became able to write well, if we learned any kind of methods.

Heta-Uma (Unskillful but Skillful) and Uma-Heta (Skillful but Unskillful)

There is the word "ヘタうま (heta-uma)" in Japanese, which hardly can be translated into English. Heta-Uma is combined with the two words, "へた (heta)" and "うまい (umai)". "Heta" means unskillful or primitive, and "umai" means skillful or sophisticated.

In the 1980s, Teruhiko Yuasa, a Japanese illustrator, advocated the concept "heta-uma." He insisted that artworks, which were seemed to be unskillful but in fact were skillful, were most excellent, and called them "heta-uma." And he also criticized artworks, which were just quite skillful but not excellent, and called them "uma-heta."

I'd like to show one of his artworks "情熱のペンギンごはん (Passionate Penguin's Meal)". I think that it isn't realistic but quite skillful. At least it doesn't seem to be primitive for me at all, so I'd like to call it "uma-uma" (skillful and skillful).

In the previous entry "I Hate SongsSung by Whitney and I Love Songs Sung by Carole" I made a comparison between Whitney Houston and Carole King. In the words of Teruhiko Yuasa, Whitney Houston's songs are typically "uma-heta." Her songs are just quite skillful but without any substance.

Sony used to be like what Apple is now, but now it lost its luster. Sony invented Walkman, but it couldn't invent iPod, iTunes, and iPhone. It's not only Sony, but most Japanese electronics companies are slumping. Panasonic, one of the largest Japanese electronics companies, released the report about the estimate of huge loss in fiscal year 2013.  I myself don't want to buy products made by Japanese electronics companies, but I actually bought Apple's products, iPod, iMac, and iPhone.

When I compared the specs of electronic products, sometimes I find that Japanese products were best, but they don't make me want to buy them at all. I guess that they resemble to Whitney Houston's songs, "uma-heta" (skillful but unskillful).

The specs of Whitney Houston might be better than most singers, but her songs don't move me at all. Recent Sony's Products don't move me either, but Apple's products touch me.

In the entry "Why Do I Buy AppleProducts?" I wrote "Nowadays the specs on PCs are not different so much, so the feel of them are important for me. In this mean iMac is as same as my Mont Blanc's fountain pen, whose touch is really nice." Apple's products don't seemed to be unskillful, so they can't be called "heta-uma" (unskillful but skillful) but "uma-uma" (skillful and skillful), but it's clear that Apple doesn't pursue specs on the paper. For example, the size of display of iPhone 5 isn't largest in smart phones, because Apple took account of usability.

One of the strangest electronic products that I've ever seen is the PC with an air washer made by Fujitsu, one of the major Japanese computer manufactures. Who wanted to PC with an air washer? It is "uma-heta" (skillful but unskillful), isn't it? No, it is just "heta-heta" (unskillful and unskillful).

I Hate Songs Sung by Whitney and I Love Songs Sung by Carole

I hate songs sung by Whitney Houston and her followers. It doesn't mean that I hate her herself, but rather I have pity for her life. I just don't want to listen to her songs.

She could sing loudly in a very high note, and when she sung she looked so comfortable. But so what?

Her voice was a kind of acrobatic performance. When I heard her voice at first time, I was surprised at her voice, but I had got used to it quite soon, and I've been never moved by songs that were sung by her at all.

I think that it was the dark age of soul music from the late 90s to early 00s, because soul music world was flooded with songs without soul, like songs that were sung by Whitney and her followers.

I'm listening to Carole King's album "Tapestry". It's first time for me to listen to this album, but I've heard most of the songs in this album before.

Her songs are so simple that they could be poor when other singers sing, but when she sings, they are really rich. I love her hoarse voice, which move me deeply.

"You've Got A Friend" Carole King

 

「ずっと友だちだから」キャロル・キング

つらくて落ち込み、なぐさめが必要で

そして、何もうまくいかない時

目を閉じて私のことを考えて

すぐにそばに行くよ

どんなに暗い夜でも明るくするために

私の名前を呼んでくれさえすればいい

どこにいても会いに駆けつけるよ

春夏秋冬いつでも

呼びさえすれば

そばに行くよ

ずっと友だちだから

頭の上の空が雲に包まれ暗くなり、いつもの北風が吹き始めたら

しっかして、私の名前を大声で呼んで

すぐにあなたのドアをノックするから

私の名前を呼びさえすれば

どこにいても会いに駆けつける

春夏秋冬いつでも

呼びさえすれば

そばに行くよ、きっと

ずっと友だちだってわかっているだろ

みんなに冷たくされて、傷つけけられ、見捨てられた時、

放っておくと、魂まで取られてしまう

だめ、放っておいては

私の名前を呼びさえすれば

どこにいても会いに駆けつける

春夏秋冬いつでも

呼びさえすれば、

そばに行くよ

ずっと友だちだから、ずっと友だちだから

きまっているさ、ずっと友だちだから

きまってる、きまってる、きまってる

ずっと友だちだから

そう、ずっと友だちだから

そうなんだ、ずっと友だちだから

そう、ずっと友だちだから

The Yankees in This Season ISN'T the Yankees at All

The Yankees was swept by the Tigers in the American league championship series and this season ended for me as a Yankees fan.

As I wrote the entry "Goodbye My Good Old Yankees", I loved the Yankees in the 1990s, including Derek Jeter, Paul O'Neill, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Petite.

They were really tough stuff. Paul O'Neil had never got any batting title, but he really was a clutch hitter. He was the symbol of the golden age of Yankees in the 1990s.

This season I expected that the Yankees would get the world champion. I was anxious about their starters, but I was satisfied with their lineup. And I thought that they were really in good shape at the end of this season, so they would do best in the post season games.

But they disappointed me deeply in the American league championship series.

Starters were far better than thought. They did really good job.

I wasn't disappointed with Alex Rodriguez, because I've already known that he couldn't hit at the tough situation, but why couldn't Robinson Cano hit at　all? Only Ichiro Suzuki and Raul Ibanez, who were the former Mariners, could hit.

In the top of the twelfth in the first game Jeter's ankle was broken, and the series substantially ended. And then the Yankees did NOTHING.

In the third game, Raul Ibanez, who caused miracles in this post season games, became the last batter. In the fourth game, C. C. Sabathia, who was an ace pitcher of the Yankees, got hammered.

The Tigers was a good team, but there was no tough player in the Yankees. What will the Yankees without Derek and Mariano be?

American Whaling and Japanese Modernization

Recently I read Eric Jay Dolin's "Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America." 

I've been interested in whaling for a long time, partly because I love the novel "Moby Dick" and partly because whaling deeply influenced to Japanese modernization. I have many other reasons why I've been interested in it, but I don't have enough time to write about all of them.

I've been to Nantucket Island, which is famous for the resort for celebrities living in the East Coast of the U.S. and the Nantucket basket. But for me Nantucket Island is the place where Ishmael got on the whale ship Pequod in Moby Dick.

Before I read the book "Leviathan," I knew about the history of American whaling in fragments, but I got a better overall knowledge about it from this book. I could now understand how Nantucket became the center of American whaling.

According to "Leviathan" the golden age of American whaling was from the 1820s to the 1850s, which is just when Japanese modernization began. From the 17th century to the early 19th century, the Edo Bakuhu, samurai's regime, which strictly closed the country, ruled Japan. In 1868 Edo Bakuhu was overturned, and the new government accelerated Japanese modernization.

The main reason why Edo Bakuhu was overturned was that it couldn't handle the threat of Western countries. In 1853 the fleet of the U.S. navy led by Matthew Perry arrived at the Tokyo bay to demand to open the country. Because of this affair Edo Bakuhu opened the country and many Japanese realized that Japan should be modernized to avoid being colonized by Western countries.

In the background of this affair there was American whaling. After the war of 1812, American whaling made great progress. Before that, its main fishing places were in the Atlantic, and then they expanded to the Pacific and the Indian Ocean. In the 1820s a fishing place off the coast of Japan was discovered and many whale ships from America appeared around Japan.

Edo Bakuhu wanted to close the country, but the foreign whale ships arriving off the coast of Japan resulted in contacts between Japanese people and foreign whalers. Sometimes American whale ships saved Japanese drifters, and some of them were taken to America and got an education there. Sometimes American whale ships shipwrecked off the coast of Japan and Japanese coastal people saved them.

One of the most famous Japanese drifters is John Mung. He was helped by American whale ship and taken to America. He leaned English and became a whaler. And then he smuggled himself back into Japan. When the fleet leaded by Matthew Perry arrived at Japan, there were only two English interpreters in Japan including him.

One of the main reasons why the U.S. government sent the fleet to Japan was to secure supply bases for American whale ships, but ironically at that time the golden age of American whaling was ending. Although the main use of whale oil was for lights, in the 1850s oil fields was discovered and developed in America and whale oil was replaced by kerosene.

I learned from the history of whaling that globalism wasn't just a recent phenomenon and an unexpected side of Japanese modernization. I think that you can find another unexpected side of American and world history from the book "Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America."