FEATURE: Keeping Our School Clean

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By Taichi NAGAO & Yasuo YUMOTO

Just imagine what our school would be like if we didn't have cleaners...

When you enter the building, you would see shoes everywhere and then you would have to walk on the sticky floor littered with cans, pet bottles and food wrappers. The trash bins would be overflowing. The bathroom mirrors would be dirty and you wouldn't be able to see your face and check your hair and there would be no toilet paper! We'd have cockroaches running around our classrooms during lesson time and after school too. Instead of being Nagoya Kokusai Senior and Junior High School, we would be known as Nagoya Cockroach Senior and Junior High School.

Without cleaners our school would be disgusting dump.

Fortunately our school is not like that at all because there are people who work hard to keep our school clean. But did you know that for the hundreds of students, teachers and office staff who use this building every day, there are only six cleaners. They clean the entire school, from top to bottom. It's a big job . Can you imagine it? Let's be honest, how many of us can manage to keep our own bedrooms clean? Or even our lockers?

The cleaners work from 6:15 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. everyday except Sunday. And they see things which we don't notice. They pick up our rubbish that we leave everywhere and have to go through the garbage to separate our trash into burnable and non-burnnable items because we are careless and we don't bother to look at the clearly labelled bins. Sometimes we throw things into the garbage that are not empty and the contents leak all over the floor. Some students spit chewing gum on the polished wooden floor and the cleaners have a hard time scrubbing it off. And there are people in the school who don't even flush the toilet after they have used it. Because of these things the cleaners have a very hard time.

This is beautiful, modern, spacious building belongs to all of us, it is our school. How hard is it for us to use a little extra energy to throw our rubbish into the bins, to make sure we separate the burnables from non-burnables, to flush after we use the toilets? Let's not take our school for granted.

OPINION: No Reason For War

By Iusuke OCHIAI

Two airplanes collided with the World Trade Center Building on September 11th. The Iraq war was said to have started in retaliation and Japan approved of the war. Japan, the only country in the world to have
experienced the horrors of the atomic bomb, felt this war was necessary. Why?

A questionnaire was given to the third grade international students asking them if they agree that the Japanese army should be used in this war. The results showed that only ten per cent agreed with the
war. The majority 65% were totally against the war. And 25% did not care.

Personally, I feel that a person should not fight with another person for whatever reason. Now, many people are dead in Iraq. Not only the Iraqi people but also foreign civilians as well as the men and women in the military who were ordered by their governments to fight. The US Forces alone have lost more than 1,000 people. As it is, the number of people who are dying because of this war is still growing. This should not continue. I think it is important to help each other and to learn to live together peacefully.

FEATURE: Built to Last

By Miyuki ASAI & Ryoko GOTO

Our headmaster, George Pruitt said he would rather be at school than at home during an earthquake because our school is one of the safest buildings in this area.

Not only is it a safe building but there are other features that we can appreciate such as the tall ceilings, wide corridors, large windows that let in a lot of natural light, as well as the warmth from the sun and there are even rooms that we do not use. There's a huge open space in the middle of the school, so we can communicate freely with our friends and teachers. Mr Pruitt said that when it was built, he thought the building was luxurious because the materials for the school came from all over the world. And did you know that the President of the school, Mr Kurimoto designed this building? He has an architectural qualification so he literally built his dream school from scratch.

Maybe in the future, our school building will change a little, as the number of students increases. But for now, Mr Pruitt has one message for us: "Please enjoy this building because you are very lucky. Please take care of our school and handle it with care and respect."

NEWS: Faster Way To Get To School

By Yui FUKAHORI

Students will no longer have an excuse for being late for school. On October 6th, a new train service called the Aonami line from Kinjyohuto to Nagoya station will open. There will be five trains every hour and it will run faster than the subway. A one way ticket from Kinjyohuto to Nagoya station costs 230 yen. Aonami means 'blue wave' in English. Every station will be shaped in a wave pattern as part of the Aonami theme.

School Elevators

By Mana KATO

In our school we have an elevator for disabled students to help them get around the building. But, recently students who are not disabled have been using elevator secretly especially after gym class and during the intervals between classes. As you know, this is against our school rules, not only that but it is unfair on the students who really need to use it. From now on let's be more thoughtful and use the stairs.