Japan & successful countries Essay Example for Free

Japan successful countries Essay Japan being one of the most successful countries in the world suffered from several problems too. In order for them to achieve greatness and near perfection, they had to be broken also which made it more possible for them to stand up again and adapt to changes. For a very long time, they closed their doors to foreign countries and made life on their own without the help of anything or anyone except them alone. However, despite of this decision, Japan was able to improve their living and manage to become one of the most successful countries in the world. In present, Japan continues to adapt to the changes that the world offers them without sacrificing their own national native philosophy. Considering the success that Japan had, it is indeed amazing to know that they have imprints of foreign culture and philosophy in them. How they were able to maintain their native and national philosophy while adapting to change is something that makes them really an interesting subject to discuss. After their resistance to colonizers and isolation, they were able to foster a nation which mixes stories and culture of the west and the east. Japan and the early years after Isolation There are several amazing things that people must know and understand about Japan. When they successfully defended their country from foreign invasion in 1945, Japan freely borrowed ideas from different countries with the absence of military impositions and the presence of colonial life. They were able to adapt to changes without people telling them what to do. Instead, the country and its people freely and willingly adapted to change while isolating themselves and soon opening to the world (Kasulis). Japan philosophy Japanese philosophy is not based on their native beliefs and studies. It is rooted into several foreign philosophies which they improvised and used to give a touch of Japan in them. However despite of the fact that theirs was a mixture of several foreign ideas, there is always something that makes their philosophies their own (Kasulis). The most distinctive characteristic of Japanese philosophy is how it has assimilated and adapted foreign philosophies to its native worldview. As an isolated island nation, Japan successfully resisted foreign invasion until 1945 and, although it borrowed ideas freely throughout its history, was able to do so without the imposition of a foreign military or colonial presence. Japanese philosophy thus bears the imprint of a variety of foreign traditions, but there is always a distinctively Japanese cultural context. In order to understand the dynamics of Japanese thought, therefore, it is necessary to examine both the influence of various foreign philosophies through Japanese history and the underlying or continuing cultural orientation that set the stage for which ideas would be assimilated and in what way. Works Cited Kasulis, Thomas P. (1998). Japanese philosophy. In E. Craig (Ed. ), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge. Retrieved March 15, 2009, from http://www. rep. routledge. com/article/G100

The Imagery of Fire in Virgil’s Aeneid Essay -- Allen Mandelbaum

The Imagery of Fire in Virgil’s Aeneid In discussing fire imagery in the Aeneid I will attempt in the course of this paper to bring in an analytic device to aid in assembling the wide array of symbols into a more uniform set of meaning. Consistently throughout the Aeneid, fire serves to provoke the characters to action. Action which otherwise it is not clear they would enter upon. Fire clears the way for the juggernaut plot to advance. Juno, first of all, described as burning - pondering (with her hatred of the Dardans) goes to Aeolus with the idea of sending the winds to create an under-handed storm to destroy the Trojans, at the sight of their fleeing ships and successful escape from the Greeks (I.75)1. Fire from the Greeks burns down Troy. Forced by necessity to flee for their lives, Aeneas can gain his fathers acquiescence only with the portent of two flaming omens. Cupid in the form of Ascanius induces Dido with a fated love for Aeneas, consummated by their union in the cave. Jupiter with these words on his lips send s Mercury down to a lingering Aeneas at Carthage. Mercury, carry across the speeding winds the words I urge: his lovely mother did not promise such a son to us; she did not save him twice from Grecian arms for this–but to be master of Italy a land that teems with empire...to place all earth within his laws. But if the brightness of such deeds is not enough to kindle him...does he–a father–begrudge Ascanius the walls of Rome? (IV.310-311) Mercury flies down to Aeneas and delivers these very words among others, Aeneas is struck dumb by this (and not for the last time) and afterwards He burns to flee from Carthage (IV.375). Much later , but significantly, the Fury Allecto is sent by Juno to Amata, wife of... ...ld end here, it is just this absence of this full light the dimness of the darkness visible which constitute Virgil's true and deliberate commentary on his world. Bachelard, Gaston. the Psychoanalysis of Fire. trans. Alan CM Ross,pref. Northrop Frye Boston: Beacon Press, 1964. (Orig pub. in French under the Title La Psychoanalyse du Feu 1938 by Librarie Gallimard) Eliade, Mircea. ch. 3 the Misfortunes of History, Ch. 4 the Terror of History Cosmos and History: the Myth of the Eternal Return. trans. Willard R. Trask. New York: Harper and Row, 1959 (Orig. pub. in French under the title Le Myth de Eternal Retour... 1949 by Librarie Gallimard) Johnson, W R. Darkness Visible, a study of Vergil’s Aeneid. Berkeley: Univ. California Press, 1976. Mandelbaum, Allen, the Aeneid of Virgil: a verse translation by Allen Mandelbaum. New York Bantam: Books, 1971-1981.

Reading through “Winter in a Warehouse” Essay

â€Å"Winter in a Warehouse,† is about a group of warehouse women on their way to and from the washroom of the milling company. The washroom is in the office building which is a considerable distance from the women’s workplace, the warehouse. As it is winter, the trek from one building to the other becomes a tedious and an unwished-for errand. The atmosphere is cold and hostile as the people they come across with. The short journey evokes in the narrator’s mind several issues – gender, class and social status – between the warehouse women and the rest of the characters in the poem. In â€Å"Winter in a Warehouse,† Anne Spillard speaks about the condition of the lower- class working women in the latter-day industrial society. The poem started with the narrator’s voice fondly recalling the image of his grandfather, â€Å"Grandad ‘goes for a loo */Behind the old chimbly† (lines 1-2), from a long time ago. The tone here is friendly, the language is colloquial and the mood is gay. Grandad, being old, â€Å"Dragging his feet in carpet slippers† (3), is also probably retired from his work in the mill. The use of grandfather in the poem suggests time difference. The corrugated iron â€Å"Where the wind flaps rusty limbs/ Of corrugated iron† (7-8), denotes a time long gone by. It is probably 40 to 50 years ago since grandfather worked in that company when manufacturing firms employed mostly men in its workforce. Noting the narrator’s familiarity with the setting, it is likely that he or she is a third generation worker employed in the same mill or factory that his grandparent worked for. Grandfather finds the long walk to the office tiresome, â€Å"†¦ ‘It’s too far to trail/ ‘T ‘ the bloody office’ (4-5), so he simply decides to pee against the chimney by the bank. The narrator seems to perceive this as an unusual gesture, â€Å"And pees against the great black chimney† (9). The chimney, great and black, is a thing of significance and not to be trifled with. Grandfather’s peeing where he pleased perhaps constitutes defiance of the convention on peeing and of what the chimney signifies. On the other hand, the narrator’s voice registers a suspicion about grandad’s account, â€Å"Or so he tells us† (10). It implies that grandfather could be lying, that perhaps it is not that easy to break the company regulation as well as the convention. It is only at the 10th line, with the use of â€Å"us† that the narrator is revealed. They are women workers stationed in the warehouse gone for a walk to the office building within the company compound to wash their empty coffee cups and to pee. Upon arriving there, they see the millpond nearby, â€Å"Down to the office/ Where the mill manager used to sit† (12-13). The mill manager, like the grandfather, is a representation of an era gone by. In the early stage of industrialization, it was the manager, who was usually also the owner of the business, who conducted his businesses in an office with the help of a staff or two. He was also visible in the company premises. In more recent times, with further division of labor and the expansion of industrialization, the manager has normally taken to holding his office in an inner chamber within the office building. He is scarcely visible to the workers and as such, there is usually a layer of office staffs that deals with the rank and file or the ordinary workers of the company. It is these office girls that the warehouse women came across with when they went to the office premises to have use of the washroom. The office girls act and speak superior to the warehouse women. They address the women collectively, in a cold and impersonal manner. The washroom is in a state of disrepair, â€Å"Melted snow drips through the washroom ceiling† (18). The water at the mains must be turned on first before the women could flush the toilet. The male washroom, â€Å"†¦ it’s leaking. † (23). These little details describe the ambience of the washroom area – old, ill-kept and deteriorating. And yet, the office girls almost begrudge them for using it. â€Å"‘You warehouse people always arrive/ ‘Just when we’ve boiled the kettle/ ‘for elevenses,’ the office girls rebuke us. † (15-17). The warehouse women do not have a washroom in their workplace. In the period described in this poem, even answering the call of nature, presents a problem. Unlike men, women cannot urinate anywhere. Furthermore, in most manufacturing companies, peeing is only allowed during designated breaks. One girl even goes so far as to point to out to the women that the male washroom must not be used, â€Å"Don’t use the Gents, †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (21). Perhaps, the reminder is unnecessary, as the women have been coming there on the same errand for years and are aware of the fact. It is also not far to suppose that the Gents has not been working for decades. Thus, the part about the male toilet leaking is a take on the grandfather’s story. Perhaps, the male workers in the mill were not subjected to strict regulation on peeing only because the male toilet was leaking. Throughout the poem, the voice constantly changes: from the third person singular (lines 1-10), to first person plural (11-14), to second person plural (15-17), to third person plural(18), back to first person plural (19-20), to third person singular (21-23), and lastly, to third person plural (24-31), making it vibrant and giving the reader the feeling that the characters are performing before him. It also shows the individuality or lack of, the characters within the poem. Nina, one of the office girls, has a distinct voice and she has a name. In contrast, the warehouse women are only referred to as â€Å"us,† â€Å"we† and â€Å"warehouse women. † The warehouse women have only one voice: the voice of a group. The office girls have their voice as a group and their individual voices as persons apart. Despite the office being heated, perfumed and powdered, the narrator notices that â€Å"the office girls sit shivering† (24), a hint that their thinner clothing cause them discomfort during winter. On the other hand, the warehouse women have become indifferent to the coldness. Why? It is because winter is the all-year season inside the warehouse. What is not mentioned here but is implied is the suffering of the warehouse women doing hard, manual and routine labor, whose enclosed workplace is perhaps unheated, full of fumes and dust, and dark as one could imagine. Towards the end of the poem, the engaging voice at the beginning seems to have become somebody else, an alienated figure viewing a scene that he is not part of, But the warehouse women, Shapeless in heavy sweaters and wooly longjohns, Trudge back through the snow, No longer noticing this winter Which may last forever Inside the blankness of their warehouse. The poem begins on a cheerful note, in an informal way and in a youthful voice, with a fond recollection of one’s grandfather and his days. It ends on a cheerless, aged and serious tone about a group of women trudging their way back to the warehouse across the snow, oblivious of the season and what it might bring to them.

Personal Statement The Freshman Mentoring Program

When I entered high school, I knew I wanted to get involved. I was not sure what groups or clubs I wanted to join, I just knew I wanted to be involved with my community. I didn’t make much of an effort in the beginning years to truly engage myself in the various groups and clubs offered at my high school. I am not sure if I was intimidated, nervous about trying new things, or maybe even a little scared. I was upset with myself because I know I am not the person who sits back and lets things come to me. I realized I had to take the first step to figure out how and who I wanted to help. I was determined to get myself involved in my school, so I forced myself to go outside my comfort zone and be the leader I wanted to be. I applied to be a part of the freshman mentoring program and was accepted in both my junior and senior year; earning a spot on the mentor executive board my senior year. This program assists incoming freshman with the transition into the high school. Being the first person the freshman came into contact with, I knew I had to put myself in a leadership role and be a friend and mentor to these students, not just on the first few days of school, but throughout their first year. I also became involved with Class representatives and the football team. I was never a captain or a class officer, but this was not going to stop me from being a leader. As a class rep, I was able to be a voice for my class and help plan out our year. On and off the footballShow MoreRelatedMy Personal Statement : Bijay Shrestha1086 Words   |  5 PagesPersonal Statement – Bijay Shrestha Respected Sir/Madam, Thank you for your time to read my application. I believe that having read my personal statement, you will have a clear picture of my development, enthusiasm, and experiences in physics. Physics is a mathematical formulation and concepts that undeniably works. 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Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 Pages52 Intellectual Abilities 52 †¢ Physical Abilities 55 †¢ The Role of Disabilities 56 Implementing Diversity Management Strategies 56 Attracting, Selecting, Developing, and Retaining Diverse Employees 56 †¢ Diversity in Groups 58 †¢ Effective Diversity Programs 58 Summary and Implications for Managers 60 S A L Self-Assessment Library What’s My Attitude Toward Older People? 40 Myth or Science? â€Å"Dual-Career Couples Divorce Less† 47 An Ethical Choice Religious Tattoos 51 glOBalization! Images of Diversity