2009年11月23日月曜日

Discussion#7:Daylight Saving Time

On November 19th, Moderator (Ryoji), Satsuki (Sakiko), Nikaido (Sachi), Saori (Kamazuka) and Amasawa (Reika) discussed if Japan should introduce Daylight Saving Time system. Satsuki is working at the government, and she explained what the merits are: Decrease traffic accident; Save energy; economic ripple effect. Nikaido is working at a commpany, and she is at the neutral position. She thinks that earlier starting is good because it will save the energy. However, durin the DST, workers can't do overworking. So, it is not good for her that overworking becomes less. Also, she thinks that it is trouble some to change all the clocks at the office. Kamazuka is a housewife. She has a daughter and she is worried about her daughter's condition because she has to get up earlier if they introduce DST system. She thinks that her daughter will fall asleep in school classes. Amasawa is an elementary school teacher. She thinks that introducing DST system is good for children because students can go home before it gets dark and it is very safe. Also, students who belongs to club can do their activities more.
Kamazuka's problem was solved soon because this system would introduced on Sunday, and it is good for people to adapt to the time. Moreover, earlier going to bed and earlier waking up is good for people including children. However, it will cost 100,000,000,000 yen to introduce this system because they need to cange soft ware for compuers and medical care. Actually, Hokkaido introduced this system some years ago and it took about 4,000,000,000 yen...
So, Nikaido explained her new idea. Her idea is that we don't have to change our clock but change the schedule, like changing the time for starting work. But, I think this is very complicated because we need to think the time all the time.
As Hokkaido introduced this system, Daylight Saving Time will work in Eastern Japan, but won't work in Western Japan because Japan runs East to West. Most of us understood that this system wouldn't work in countries which is long and runs east to west. So, I don't think that Japan should introduce this system.