Every household should have a government-imposed limit on the amount of rubbish it can throw away. To what extent do you agree? Waste disposal is one of alarming problems facing today's society. Some say that government should limit the amount of rubbish each household can throw away. I generally disagree with this viewpoint because the amount of waste can vary for various factors, from the number and ages of family members to occasional reasons, such as moving and parties. It is unpractical to set a limit on the amount of waste a family produces. Each family has different reasons to throw away a large amount of waste, including number of members, lifestyle and occasional events. Additionally, there is no alternative but to collect rubbish when a household exceeds the limit. Otherwise serious hygienic problems would happen. On the other hand, governments may be able to regulate the amount of rubbish by ruling waste bags. For example, in many cities in Japan, the city governments require households to put their rubbish in the designated plastic bags, which is priced higher than normal bags. This policy encourages families to reduce waste. In conclusion, it is unrealistic to directly impose a limit on the amount of rubbish although government can nadge households to decrease the amount of waste by several measures, such as pricing garbage bags.

Describe the diagram. Source: weathernews.jp The diagram shows the forecast from August 26th to 31st about a typhoon that is approaching Japan. The typhoon, called Number 10, is to the south of Japan as of at 3am on 26th with strong winds, expected to get stronger and closer to Japan. At the moment, the typhoon is moving to the west north west at 25km/h. It is categorised as a strong typhoon with the central air pressure of 980hPa. The speed of winds around it is 35m/s, temporally reaching 50m/s. It is estimated to stay to the south of Kyushu Island at 3am on 27th, being strong. On the next day, it will become very strong, near the south edge of Kyushu Island. At 3am on 29th, it is projected to hit the island directly, with the broad area of eastern Japan alerted for strong winds. Ripping through Japan, the typhoon is expected to change into low air pressure up to 3am at the end of August.

I watched Your Name, a Japanese SF rom-com film. It's okay. I enjoyed the great animation by the famous animator and the songs by the popular rock band. The music matched the scenario well. The story development is not very engaging. It's interesting the film featured some local food and places in a very detailed way. Most of all scenes are breathtakingly beautiful.

With the increase in computer use, many think schools do not need to put the emphasis that they used to on basic handwriting skills or mental mathematics skills. To what extent do you agree? In light of widespread of digital devices, it is often said to be no longer neccesary for schools to emphasise handwriting or mental mathematics skills. I tend to disagree with this opinion because training for these skills helps students enhance literacy and reasoning skills. Analogue skills play an important role for children's cognitive development. Practice for handwriting assists children in connecting letters and sounds. It is also effective for memorising correct spellings. Mental mathematics exercise grows children's abstract operational skills. In addition of these foundational importance, these abilities are useful in real life even when technology is almost always accessable. Intelligible handwriting conveys meaning clearly, showing care for readers. Mental calculation makes it easy to compare prices at shopping. On the other hand, it is true that the opportunities to write by hand is decreasing thanks to keyboard. Typed documents are preferable in most academic and business settings. Similarly, digital devices are faster and more accurate to handle numbers. Given these advantages, it sounds somewhat reasonable to claim that schools focus less on analogue skills and more on digital literacy. To summarise, although they may have been losing their practicality gradually, I think handwriting and mental mathmatics are still important skills taught at school.

When it comes to a trip, the first thing I check is budget. I google the prices of accomodations, flights, buses and trains. Google map tells me departure times, so I'll choose a transport that I won't miss. Packing is not my cup of tea. I'll stuff a few underwears and shirts. I prefer having some room in my itinerary. Checking must-see destinations online in advance, I'll put one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It is fun for me to Just explore a place too.

I use a browser and messaging apps every day for browsing and communicating with friends. They're the apps I always install when I change phones. Other useful apps to me are a map, banking apps, an authentificator and a SMS app. Map apps are very helpful when I travel around unfamiliar places. I use banking apps for checking and paying bills. For some reason, it is easier to log in via apps than from their websites. They send SMS codes to log in my account on their web page, but there's no need when using apps. Authentificator is required for PCs at work. So I just downloaded it. I sometimes need SMS texts for authentification purposes on some websites. My mobile is becoming an identification for online services more and more. And the must-have apps on it are increasing.

Inflation rate is a percentage of increase in the current average price of goods in relative to the average price of goods in a base year in the past. It is calculated by the following steps. First, the base year is selected, which can be the previous year or a specific year before. Second, the range of goods is set. Since inflation rate is a measure for the change in living expenses, ordinary necessities should be included in the basket. Third, both sums of prices in the basket in the current year and the base year are calculated, and then the former is devided by the latter. Finally, this figure less 1 makes the inflation rate for the period.

Some of today's schools insist that all students have their own laptop computer in class to assist in their education. Do you think that this would be an advantage to students' education or would it be an unnecessary complication? Information technology has become an integral part of today's society, and some compulsory schools demand that all students should bring their own laptop to the class. I think this situation would be advantageous to students because they can learn effectively with a device they are familiar with. First, it is effective to study with digital tools. Educational technology provides engaging and individually-optimised study experience with students. For example, students study maths with games and get a feedback and further practice to correct mistakes. Second, asking to bring your own device(BYOD) is a common way to allow students to study seamlessly. Students already know how to use it and they can continue studying with it after class or graduation. On the other hand, techcnology at school may cause confusion. It looks too complicated to early primary schoolers. Additionally, it is arguable who should bear the burden of providing laptops for mandatory education. Some households may not be able to buy computers for children. To summarise, although applicable grades and financial support should be considered carefully, it seems beneficial for students to learn with their own device in class.

The fact that enormous sums are paid for pieces of art is not acceptable at a time when people around the world live in poverty. To what extent do you agree? Nowadays, some artwork is traded at exorbitant prices, and some people think it as unacceptable because such large sums of money could save millions of people in poverty. I tend to agree with the opinion as it seems like the rich few monopolise the world wealth. Some pieces of art are extremely expensive. Paintings by the great artists, such as Van Gogh, cost over million dollars. If the amount of money were used for charity, the number of those who in need would decrease. On the contrary, purchase of artwork is a personal transaction, and it should not be criticised much. It is just that wealthy individuals have enough money to pay for expensive artwork in the same way as large mansions, luxurious cars and defensive stocks. In conclusion, although it is a matter of private sphere, the exessive prices of some pieces of work seem unreasonable when considering the wealth gap between the rich and the poor.