Japanese technology will help Myanmar’s future

Farmers in Myanmar want to grow good rice, but they cannot afford a good fertilizer and an irrigation system as they are expensive. They also think that they can grow rice two or three times a year if they have a good facility. Moreover, they are eager to be one of the major rice exporting countries similar to Thailand and Vietnam. Recently, Japanese government has been planning to aid them with about a 14.87 billion yen low-interest loan for an irrigation project.

If Japanese technologies can help farmers' development, I would be very proud of it. I think that Japan has excellent technologies to grow good rice because our staple diet is also rice, the same as other Asian countries. Japanese farmers also have potential opportunities to grow their income if they think of the neighboring countries. 

TPP has a big issue among farmers because it might threaten the farmers' livelihood as they have a big support from the government right now. If they think of globalization, they will have many business chances to help the neighboring countries with their excellent skills, which is a strong point of the Japanese.

What is “Outernet” ?

The time might come when everyone can access the internet everywhere in the future.

The Media Development Investment Fund in New York has been creating a new global Wi-Fi system through satellites for free. The study says that less than 40% people in the world cannot access the internet, such as some people who live in far-flung areas and others who cannot afford access to the internet. Those problems might be solved using this Outernet, and it might bridge the gap between people regardless of where they live. People might be able to study at home by attending online classes through the Outernet, even though the normal Internet services don't reach them. Moreover, if we can use the Outernet, we might be able to help climbers who have lost their way on mountains as people will be able to use their smartphone everywhere.

The system structure seems to be the same as the normal Internet connections, but the difference is that the Outernet uses a satellite as the interface. We will be able to access the Internet everywhere through this satellite service. Moreover, the good thing is that the service will be free of charge. People, who cannot afford the Internet, could gain great opportunities without paying any charges.

The institution is planning to launch this system from June 2015 when every step is successful. I'm very interested in this system, and I hope that all people can have equal access to the Internet.

References:

https://www.outernet.is/

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1113072972/free-wifi-around-the-world-from-space-021714/

Think about a referendum in Crimea

96.77 % people chose to support absorption into Russia after a referendum in Crimea.  When I heard the news, I thought that it should be all right if the people indeed desired to be one of the Russian countries as the majority of people speak the Russian language. However, I had a sense of discomfort with the actions of the Ukraine, Russia, the US and the EU and I looked into the Crimea situation to increase my knowledge.

Crimea is located in the southern Ukraine on the Black Sea and the majority of people speak  the Russian language. 58% of Russians, 24% of Ukrainians, and about 12% of Crimean Tatals stay in this area. Crimea has a terrible history, but now the racial conflicts have died down. They tolerate the diversity of racial or religious cultural groups and those ethnic groups maintain good corporation. However, politicians in the Ukraine are hopelessly corrupt and the economy of Crimea is not healthy as the Ukraine government doesn't care about the region, therefore, the people in Crimea are eager for having fair and equitable politics and for promoting economic growth. At first, this referendum is for choosing "independence from the Ukraine or not", but inconspicuously, this changed to "absorption into Russia or not". After this referendum, Russia intervened in the Crimea in order to protect the Russian Crimeans. Russian President Putin insisted that Crimea choose Russia and Russia has a responsibility to protect the Russian Crimeans who live in this region. However, the real aim of President Putin seems to be to protect a Black Sea fleet and natural resources around the Black Sea, which is an important area for Russia.

In reality, Crimea depends on the Ukraine for the water service and electricity. It might be difficult to keep the supply if Russia forces its economic power on the Ukraine. According to some articles, the people in Crimea really seek fair politics and economic growth and they seem not to agree with belonging to Russia. Moreover, the result of the referendum won't be able to be reliable. The Crimean Tatals boycotted the vote and also the people who are against belonging to Russia didn't go to vote. The figure of 96.77% makes it hard to think that the vote was held democratically and that cannot be logical as around 40% of people are not Russian.

After looking into the Crimea situation, I've felt that there is a political calculation between the Ukraine, Russia, the US and the EU, and it will be difficult to solve problems sooner. However, I really hope that this matter will be solved peacefully .

References;

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/02/27/to-understand-crimea-take-a-look-back-at-its-complicated-history/

http://synodos.jp/international/7603/4
http://www.seojapan.com/blog/ukraine
http://synodos.jp/international/7337