Produced by OCHANOMIZU UNIVERSITY SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, GEIC and The Japan News

PLUM PRESSPROFESSIONAL EDITION, FEBRUARY 2018

WASTE NOT, WANT NOTF

ood waste is food thatis thrown away eventhough it is still edible.
According to the Food andAgriculture Organization of theUnited Nations, one-third of thetotal food production for humanconsumption is wasted or lost
every year, which is equivalent toabout 1.3 billion tons.
In Japan particularly, as muchas 6.21 million tons of food waste
is generated a year, which isabout twice as much as the foodaid sent from around the world ayear for people who are sufferingmalnutrition.
Food waste causes carbon
dioxide emissions because of theneed for incineration, and thus
reducing food waste needs to bedone as strenuously as possible
even aside from ethical concerns.
The Japanese government
makes efforts to tackle food waste.
To reduce food waste producedin the process of distribution, theMinistry of Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries (MAFF, one of theJapanese government sections
that oversees major industries,
such as those related to food)holds workshops for companies
in the food industry.
Also, MAFF has been revisinga conventional rule regarding foodproduct distribution. Under theformer rule, the delivery deadline
is one-third of the duration of the
shelf life (time from production

A website we created about food waste

Credit: Kino Fujii
Kitchen garbage in the cafeteria at Ochanomizu University.

date to “best-before” date), andthe sales time limit is at the twothirds point of the shelf life. Thisrule, called the “one-third rule”
in Japan, causes large amounts offood waste. MAFF recommends
changing the delivery deadline to“half of the product’s remaining
shelf life.”
The Consumer Affairs Agency(the government agency that
deals with consumer problems
to protect consumer benefits)offers online printable booklets
free of charge to the public on its
website regarding how to reducefood waste. However, this would
be meaningless if it only attracts
the attention of people alreadyinterested in food waste. It would
be more effective for generalorganizations to take action.
The most popular efforts arethose of the food bank. ThroughCredit: Kino Fujii

this social welfare system, foodthat was supposed to be disposedof for various reasons getscollected and redistributed to thehungry population. Canned andfreeze dried food are acceptable
as donations from the public.
The activity brings advantages
not only to the beneficiaries, butalso to the supporters, as it leads
to the reduction of garbage andfinancial burden.
However, there is still a lack ofawareness of this system, which
could be seen as fatal for an
institution like this, and it should
be given more attention. There

are organizations sending out
information about these activities
through social media, which
could be a very efficient meansof raising people’s awarenessthrough public intervention.
The impact a single person canmake may be minimal. However,with everyone’s contribution, theimpact would be enough to makea difference. There is no need for
extreme actions. The important
thing is the number of people who
participate, not the breadth of theaction. As the saying goes, “Everylittle bit counts.” In other words,
simple actions such as spreading
information and opinions aboutfood waste on SNS, or not buying
more food than needed, can turninto a big action.
What is lacking the most in
solving this issue right now is asense of crisis, the awareness that
this problem involves not only
the poor and the government, butalso the public. Every little bit
will help.
By Sena Matsuzaki, Momoko
Oyama, Shoko Kamimura, Mai
Shiino, Yukana Nakajima, Kino
Fujii and Kanako Minagawa

NOTICE TO READERS
Ochanomizu
University
Senior High school is in
Bunkyo Ward, or “center ofeducation” in Japanese. As thename suggests, there are manyeducational institutions in thearea, including the Universityof Tokyo, Japan’s mostdistinguished university.
Our school has beenregistered by the Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports,
Science,andTechnology(MEXT) as a Super Global
High School (SGH) since 2014.
We, the students of SGH, areexpected to lead the globalizedsociety. In the SGH program, welearned about social problems,such as those regarding theenvironment and human rights.
Also, some of us performed
fieldwork in Taiwan to discuss
global issues in English. As ourschool is for girls, the aim of ourschool is for women to play amore active part in internationalsociety.
This newspaper is publishedby senior students in U class as
part of the SGH program.
By Eriko Sakiyama, Minami
Sawai, Akane Koizumi, Kano
Shibata, Erika Noda, Yoshika
Hara and Mirei Morita.

2

PLUM PRESSPROFESSIONAL EDITION, FEBRUARY 2018

Technology

T

Spread of SNS brings copyright concerns

hese days, almost all people, regardlessof age and sex, have smartphones ortablet computers and use the Internet
for various purposes. At the same time, thenumber of people who are getting into trouble
regarding copyright on the Internet has been
increasing. According to Chart 1, the moresocial networking services (SNS) expand, themore likely such trouble arises. Considering
the situation, these incidents show that many
people uses SNS without paying attention tocopyright.
SNS is often used by young people.
Therefore, to understand the status quo of
copyright on SNS, we asked three questions
to 120 third-year students of Ochanomizu
University Senior High School. The questions
are as follows: “Do you use SNS?”, “Haveyou ever used an image without permission?”and “What do you think about unauthorized
reproduction on SNS?”For the first question, the rate of users wasfound to be 99%, showing that most young(million)
92
90
88
86
84
82
80
78
76

Chart1

49.65

2012

54.87

2013

Chart2

(%)
60.23

2014

64.88

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

It’s bad.

2%
20%

20%

It’s bad but
inavitable.
It’s not bad.

20%
38%

2015

The number of SNS users

It’s indifferent to
me.
etc.

The percentage of copyright troubles on the Internetin the total of copyright troubles

Q3: How do you think about using the images without permission?

Credit: Miyu Takemura
Reference: ICT Research & Consulting

people are using SNS. For the second question,
about 70% of students answered, “Yes, I haveused images without permission.” Moreover,for the third question, the rate of people who
answered, “I think it is bad, but I can’t help
unauthorized reproduction.” or “I don’t thinkit’s bad.” was about 70%. Those who answered“I don’t have any feelings about it.” accounted
for about 20%. (Chart 2) These answers seemto indicate that people have little understandingof copyright issues regarding SNS.

Credit: Miyu Takemura

Seven out of ten respondents use images
without permission. Some of them may think
it is not important. However, it is a serious
problem because the law prohibits it. They
should consider stopping such actions, notonly for copyright holders, but also forthemselves. It is time to rethink SNS use andchange the perception of copyright.
By Yumi Sato, Miyu Takemura and
Natsuki WatanabeWill humans serve AI in the future?

M

any people expect thesuccess of AI in theTokyo Olympics andParalympics in 2020. AI stands
for “Artificial Intelligence” and it
indicates the efforts and abilities
to make computers realize theintelligence that human beings
possess.
Today, large-scale security isrequired for hosting the Olympics.
Therefore, several companies haveadvanced in the development ofvarious new security systems. For

Credit: Noriko Saegusa

example, Panasonic Company
developed and started selling a
new security camera that employs
AI technology named Argos
View.
This Al technology is helpful
for analyzing the character andpatterns of people or objects
in the camera. This technology
is referred to as an “object
recognition system,” which
detects targets based on methodsofdistinguishinglearnedbeforehand.

It is possible to sound an alarmas soon as this system detects
a possible criminal person or asuspicious-looking object.
The number of settings on
security cameras is increasing.
While the effect of security
increases with a larger numberof cameras, visual confirmationand monitoring of imagesby personnel is ineffective.
Meanwhile, a monitored image
can be confirmed effectively byusing a camera enhanced with AI.

However, there are problems.
The main problem of security
cameras is invasion of privacy.
Security cameras with AI
make it easy to identify anindividual. People will be able toabuse it. In addition, some people
are concerned about a decreasein employment. According to an
Oxford University study in 2013,
AI will do half of 702 different
jobs in the United States within a
few decades. It is often said that
AI will take jobs that involve
decisions such as those made by amanager. In other words, humans
will serve under AI.
It is said that not only security
cameras, but also all AI use haveadvantages and disadvantages.
It is also possible that the rise of
AI will lead to serious problems.
Although AI may save us a lot of
work, if we continue seeking only
convenience, we will not operate
AI, but rather AI will operate us.
To prevent such a shift, we must
consider how to coexist with AI.
By Mio Kaita, Mizuki Saito,
Noriko Saegusa and Nanako
Nishihiro

PLUM PRESSPROFESSIONAL EDITION, FEBRUARY 20183

Japanese Culture
Global dietary culture: Focus on ‘washoku’Comparing the salt content between Chinese and Western dishes, and considering why washoku contains a lotof salt and the harm caused by excessive intake of it, we look at the future of washoku.

The traditional Japanese cuisine of“washoku” is becoming popular
all over the world. Thanks to theupcoming Tokyo Olympics in 2020, the foodculture, which was registered by UNESCO
as a World Heritage, has been receiving
greater attention from overseas. It is also
becoming known for being healthy. Is it truethat washoku is healthy and nutritious?
The World Health Organization (WHO)sets a standard of salt intake at 5g a day.
According to this, salt intake of less than
1.7 g per meal is desirable. The salinity of
washoku, Chinese dishes and Western dishes
as seen in a home economics textbook (Katei
Sogo, Tokyo Syoseki, February 10, 2015) are
4.6g, 3.6g and 1.7g per meal. respectively(Figure 1). Washoku thus contains the mostsalt of the three and twice as much as thestandard or more.
There are some reasons why washoku

Vcontains a lot of salt. For example, Japanese
use salt to make soup stock, to make a dishtastier and to keep washoku preserved longer.
In addition, Japanese tend to season foodwith salt, while people from other countries
use spices.
Although salt plays an important role inwashoku, too much of it is bad for our health.
The most serious effect is high blood pressure.
This can cause brain-related diseases, andheart disease. If symptoms appear such as
high blood pressure, thirstiness and swelling,
there is a possibility that you eat too much salt.
To address this problem, Japanese should
reconsider how they season dishes. For
example, low-salt soy sauce and spices suchas herbs can be used. In addition, Japanese
can reduce eating out, and intake of processed
food, including pickles and soup with noodles
and salt. In other words, it is important foreach person to become aware of the issue andcut down on salt.

Ahead of the 2020 Games, the number offoreign people who eat washoku is increasing.
Therefore, for foreign people that take in lesssalt than Japanese, Japanese should try tolower the amount of salt in washoku and live
healthy lives with moderate salt intake.
By Manami Ohashi, Matsuri Okamoto,Mifuyu Kuwano, Megumi Kanda, Sakura
Furukawa and Miki Yoshioka
A standard of salf intake

1.7

Chinese food

3.6

Western food

1.7

4.6

Washoku
0

1

2

3

4

5

Credit: Manami Ohashi
Figure 1 Salt intake per meal (g)A revolution in musical instruments

ocaloid is software thatsynthesizes
voices.
Simply by inputting
melodies and lyrics into thesoftware, it can create singing
voices automatically. Users
can add some features such as
intonation and vibratos as theywish. While a lot of researchers
conducted experiments to makecomputers able to sing, their
voices have been monotonous.
However, the invention of“Vocaloid”
expandedthepossibilitiesofadvanced
technology.
Now,
many
kinds
of
“Vocaloid” are released in Japan.
The most popular one is “Hatsune
Miku.” This type can synthesize
mellow voices in the way thata young girl sings. Its voice
matches various genres of music,
such as J-pop, rock, ballads andmore.
YAMAHA has advanced thedevelopment of a large-scale“singing synthesizer” since the20th century. The company’s
target is to make it possible
for everyone who wants tocreate music to synchronize real
singing voices easily at a low
cost. Of course, it was possible
to reproduce the sounds of othermusical instruments through thedevelopment of synthesizing
technology
andsampling
technology. However, it wasdifficult to do it with the humanvoice. YAMAHA thus aims at
providing high-quality businesssoftware.
There are some benefits ofcomposing with Vocaloid insteadof real human vocalists. Since
ancient times, human beings havebeen interested in and excitedby music. Until the synthesizer
appeared, people needed toprepare as many instruments asthey needed to use for playing asong, and thus it could cost a lotof money. One problem remainedeven after electronic synthesizers
arrived. There was a shortage of
vocalists and time restrictions,such that composers and vocalists
needed to adjust their schedules.
To solve these issues, YAMAHA
has been studying and inventing
new electronic synthesis productsthat will become as famous as
Vocaloid.
When YAMAHA decided totake on such a project, they had
two aims: to develop innovative
software that was different
from former imitations, withthe products not costing muchmoney, as amateurs can buy
them; and data processing needed
to take less time than the former
technology.
The following is how tocompose a song using Vocaloid.
First, a melody and lyrics are
inputted and a virtual singer sings.
Next specific settings are adjusted
to change the singing style. Thereis also a variety of voice banks.
At last, a voice and character tomatch the music are chosen.
Vocaloid has inspired various
products
beyondmusicalinstruments. For example, itcollaborated with FamilyMart, achain of Japanese convenience
stores, to make products using
the Vocaloid character. Vocaloid
is a popular part of “Cool Japan”
culture, including games and live
concerts. Meanwhile, there is an

opinion that such activities mightlower the image of Vocaloid
among users. However, it is clearthat the number of Vocaloid users
and products is increasing, so
further development of it can be
expected.
By Nanaho Akasaka, Tomona
Ikushima, Ruri Kojima and Saki
Sekiguchi

Credit: YAMAHA
An example of Vocaloid software’s
package4

PLUM PRESSPROFESSIONAL EDITION, FEBRUARY 2018

Education
The situation of Japanese studying abroadA

offer classes in English and accept
students from other countries.
While the situation in Japanis such, studying abroad has thefollowing advantages.
First, we can have experiencesthat we cannot receive in otherways. Needless to say, we haveopportunities to speak English ortalk to foreigners in Japan thesedays. However, experiences inEnglish-speaking countries differ
very much from those in Japan.
Also, experiencing various
cultures and values by studying
abroad broadens our horizons andmakes us confident.
Besides, some companies takethe fact that students study abroad
into consideration and delay
recruitment time.
The graph above is acompilation of data gatheredby the Japan Student Services
Organization (JASSO) in 2015. It
shows that the number of Japanese
students who study abroad isincreasing. This is opposite to thegraph made by the OECD. What
does this mean? Actually, theccording to a study by
the Organization for
Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) in
2014, the number of Japanese
students who study abroad peakedin 2004 and has been decreasing
ever since. On the other hand, thenumber of Chinese students who
studied abroad in 2011 was about
723,000, four times the number
in 2002. The number of students
studying abroad has also tended toincrease in other Asian countries.
Why is it decreasing in Japan?
According to a survey by the
Ministry of Education, Culture,
Sports, Science and Technology
in 2009 of obstacles to studying
abroad covering Japan’s 87
national universities, there are twomain principal obstructions. The
first is job hunting after returning
to Japan and the second is thatthe universities’ study abroad
programs are relatively young.
Still, the internationalization ofuniversities in Japan is graduallyadvancing. Some institutions

OECD study does not take into
account the number of students
who studied abroad for less thana month, as JASSO’s study does.
In other words, Japanese students
understand the importance ofstudying abroad but it may be achallenge for them to do so for along time.
As suggested above, it is notnecessarily true to say that the
number of Japanese students
who study abroad is decreasing.

Promoting reforms of study
abroad systems and seeking
improvements of support tostudents are necessary to prevent
students from missing suchopportunities. If these wererealized, more internationallyminded human resources would
support Japanese companies.
B y S a o r i K o k u b u , Yu k a
Kurihara, Reina Fukushima andSaori Mezaki

Situation of Japaneseinternational students (JASSO)
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

Less than 1 month (Unit: Person)
Total (Unit: Person)
Credit: Reina Fukushima

Column: How do you relieve your stress?

D

A: Hm… Actually, I have someproblems with my studies forthe university entrance exam
and I feel a lot of stress.

o you feel stress or have
any way to relieve yourstress? Sanae is a school
nurse, and Anne is a high school
student who has some worries.
Anne is seeking a way to reduce
her stress.

S: Some of your classmates said
the same thing, so I conducted
some research. I asked students
if they feel stress at school andwhy.

Sanae (S): Good morning.
Anne (A): Good morning.

A: What was the result?

S: You don’t look well today. Are
you alright?

S: A total of 96.6% of students

How do you relieve your stress?
sleeping
listening to music
singing
excersingcryingbreathing deeply
scribblingcleaning
others
0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

How do you relieve your stress?

Credit: Yumi Sugino

your age are under stress.
Many are worried about theirstudies, like you.
A: 
Everyone has his or her
own issues. Some of them
are stressed about personal
relations or club activities. I
wonder if there is good way to
reduce stress.
S: Well, this data shows how they
reduce their stress.
A: Many people reduce stressby sleeping and listening tomusic, among other activities.
S: 
There are interesting ideas,such as collecting sweets,
cleaning the room, and writing
down one’s troubles on paper.
Each person has their own
solution. How about looking
for a way to change your moodand forget about the trouble?
A: I’ll try that.

By Saya Ichikawa, Takako
Ishihara, Yumi Sugino, Kanako
Maruyama and Yuki Mizuno

Plum Press
Published by a group of 40 studentsof Ochanomizu Senior High School,a public high school in Bunkyo
Ward, Tokyo, in cooperation with
the not-for-profit Global Education
Information Center (GEIC) and The
Japan News.
Publisher: Ochanomizu Senior HighSchoolProject Supervisor: Mayumi Abe
Project Coordinator: Junji Sakurai(GEIC)
Editor: Minami Sawai
Assistant Editors: Eriko Sakiyama,
Yoshika Hara
Contributing Editors: Ayano
Usukura, Yumiko Mori (J-Proze Co.,Ltd.)
Staff Writers: Minami Sawai, Eriko
Sakiyama, Yoshika Hara, Akane
Koizumi, Kano Shibata, Erika Noda,
Mirei Morita
Contact: 2-1-1 Ootsuka, Bunkyo-ku,
Tokyo, Japan 112-8610
URL: http://www.fz.ocha.ac.jp/fk/