No Fun No Life

☆Casino☆

2006-12-13T04:05:00.000-08:00

Japan Should Bring in Casino Gambling

Yoshiaki Araki
Lewis & Clark College
AES 220-01
December 1, 2006

Abstract

The Japanese government doesn’t allow people to operate casinos, so there are no casinos in Japan. In America, casino gambling is illegal or not depending on the states, and there are not only positive aspects, but also negative aspects to casino gambling. For several reasons, Japan should allow casinos to be operated.

Some people disagree with casino gambling due to increased crime or air pollution in the local areas where casinos are located. However, casino gambling also has positive aspects which outweigh the negative aspects. The first positive point of casino gambling in Japan is cultural aspects. Japan would have an opportunity to express their culture through Japanese style casino gambling. Casino gambling would also be a tool for many people to begin to be interested in Japan. The second reason is great economic benefits. One of the big economic benefits is increasing employment and another is higher tax revenue.

Comparing the benefits from casinos and the costs, the former is stronger than the latter. Especially, the impact of stimulating the economy could help substantially. Casinos could help Japan become a more attractive, interesting and prosperous country.

Japan Should Bring in Casino Gambling

The Japanese government doesn’t allow people to operate casinos, so there is no casino gambling in Japan. A casino is a place or area that has many kinds of gambling activities. Generally, casinos are located near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping and amusement facilities (Casino, 2006). According to Garrett, community affaires federal reserve bank of St. Louis, casino gambling has become more and more popular for the past forty years. In the late 1980s, Nevada and New Jersey were the only states where gambling was legalized by the government. Today, casino gambling has spread to twenty-nine states, and the total revenue in the United States reached $40 billion in 2001 (2003, p. 4). Last summer, I went to Las Vegas, which is famous worldwide as a gambling city. In these casinos, not only young people but also old people enjoyed playing games. Especially, to my surprise, the casinos had some VIP rooms, and people who went there looked really wealthy, such as a woman who wore luxurious clothes and a rich oil man who wore traditional Arabian clothes. I felt caio gambling was big business.

In America, casino gambling is illegal or not depending on the states. Why is the legality of casino gambling different, depending on countries or states? The answer is there are not only positive aspects, but also negative aspects of casino gambling. Some countries disapprove of gambling due to religious authority and beliefs. Specifically, Islamic people are prohibited from gambling. Most countries either prohibit or control gambling by law. One of the reasons why some governments regulate it is these countries’ laws don’t regard wagers as contracts, and think of the resulting losses as “debts of honour,” which are unenforceable by law (Gambling, 2006). Like other countries, Japan prohibits casino gambling for this reason. However, the Tokyo government intends to bring casino gambling there and, is thinking about the necessity of amending the current law. Based on what the research shows, Japan should allow casino gambling to be operated, because casino gamblings would bring Japan both positive cultural and economic effects.

Casino gambling causes two main problems. The first is that casino gambling causes crime. At the beginning of the operation of casino gambling, the crime rate is decreased by increasing employment opportunities and wages for low-skilled people, in the short term. However, these effects can’t be maintained for the long term. Over time, casino operation result in increasing crime rate (Grinols and Mustard, 2006). One of the reasons why casinos cause the increasing crime is the problem of addicted gamblers. Their specific symptom is “preoccupation,” which means addicted gamblers always think about gambling. Another symptom is “loss of control,” which means if addicted gamblers are stopped gambling, they become out of control. These gamblers tend to cause crime as well as unemployment and also have physical and mental health problems(Dorsey & Jaffe, 2006). Another reason is the problem of visitors connected to crime. These people can be both victims and offenders. Especially, there are many cases in which visitors became victims. The main reason why sightseeing places often break out in more crime than other places is that visitors tend to be the target of criminal (Grinols and Mustard, 2006).

Air and noise pollution is also a problem constituted to by casinos. Basically, casinos are open overnight, and very many people use their own cars to get there. This causes
air and noise pollution for neighbors, and sometimes prevents neighbors from sleeping. More seriously, air pollution can lead to lung disease and other respiratory illnesses (BBC News, 2006).

However, these two problems of high crime and air pollution can be decreased. The solution for the first problem is to strengthen security. Modern casino security is divided into two sections. One is a physical security force, in which guards patrol the floor and pay attention to suspicious activities, and the other is a specialized surveillance, which uses high-technology instruments, such as the casino’s closed circuit television system (CCTV), to prevent cheating and avoid other misbehavers which are made by both guests and employees (Casino, 2006). One can expect specialized surveillance to improve, because instruments that are used for security have been improving rapidly. Society can also find ways to reduce the problems connected to addicted gamblers. Therapies for other forms of addiction, such as psychotherapy, group therapy, inpatient treatment programs and so on, are also effective to help gambling addicted people to find a cure (Dorsey and Jaffe, 2006). In other words, there are proven ways to heal addicted gamblers. Moving to the next problem, the solution for pollution is to build more public transportation systems. They absolutely can decrease the number of guests who use their own cars. For the casinos, new transportation systems might also promote an increase in new guests. In addition, it would let the city have the opportunity for new businesses such as transportation development companies, taxi companies, etc.

Casinos also have positive aspects which outweigh the negative aspects discussed above. The first positive point of casino gambling in Japan is related to its cultural aspects. Japan would have an opportunity to express its unique culture through Japanese style casinos. Casinos have almost the same styles worldwide, so the notion is that the style of casinos in Japan could be unique, reflecting Japanese traditional culture. According to Hiroshi Miwa, architect and regional planner in Kyoto, most Japanese traditional architecture, such as housese, Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and castles are made of wood because of the climate and culture of Japan. Wooden structures in Japan put emphasis on simple beauty, and are famous for containing unique proportions and combinations of gentle curves (1997). Casinos in Japan should express this simple beauty and be composed of wooden structures, which would attract national and international attention.

If casinos become a symbol of Japan’s tourism, it would be a tool for many people to begin to be interested in Japan. According to Hus, professor at Kansas University, over 90 percent of the people who gamble are tourists and visitors. People from Germany, Great Britain and Canada are the main tourist countries (1999, p. 97). If Japan allows casino gambling to be operated, these foreign people who like gambling might want to know about Japan and visit there, and Japanese casinos designed in a traditional manner would be a draw for sightseers. At the same time, it would give Japanese people a chance to know foreign people. In a globalized society, the tighter international relationships become, the more important it is to understand other countries’ traditions and culture.

Perhaps the main positive points of casino gambling in Japan would be great economic benefits. Las Vegas is one of the examples of a city that was developed around casino gambling. Before casinos came to Las Vegas, this area was no more than a town in the desert. However, now many unique hotels and colorful neon signs show “the American Dream.” The prosperity of Las Vegas would not have been able to come true without the casino business. One of the principle economic impacts is increasing employment. In 1999, casinos in Las Vegas generated 23,000 new jobs in the service sector, 14,400 new jobs in trade, 12,400 in construction, and 4,000 in the government sector. The reason why casinos in Las Vegas could generate such enormous new jobs is casinos don’t require workers who have high skills initially. Even if a person doesn’t have specialized skills, they have chance to work (Hus, 1999, p. 97-98). Since 2002, the Japanese economy has been recovering, and high investment and consumption contribute to Japanese economic recovery. However, the recovery of unemployment has been slow compared with the recovery of the overall Japanese economy (Statistics Bureau & Statistical Research and Training Institute, 2006). The increasing employment by casino gambling would be a constructive solution to help solve the slow recovery of unemployment in Japan. In addition, if Japan achieves a recovery in unemployment, it would stimulate high investment and consumption.

Another positive economic impact of casino gambling is higher tax revenue. In 1996, casinos in Atlantic City paid $303 million in taxes from casino revenue. Casinos also paid $80.8 million for city government, $35.4 million for the schools, and $22.6 million for the government. In addition, casinos pay other extra taxes such as corporate taxes, Social Security taxes, and others, so the total money casinos paid reached $700 million a year (Hus, 1999, p. 124-125). States often use these taxes for specific social programs, such as public education. Therefore, in Japan we also expect casinos to contribute tax revenue to increase the effectiveness of public education and social programs, especially for the elderly.

In conclusion, as mentioned above, there still remain some problems caused by casinos. However, comparing between the benefits from casinos and the costs, it seems that the former is stronger than the latter. Particularly, the impact of stimulating the economy in Japan, such as the increasing employment and higher tax revenue, could help substantially. Therefore, there are strong arguments that Japan should bring in casino gambling. Casinos can help Japan to become a more attractive, interesting and prosperous country.

References

BBC News. (2006). Casino ‘could be bad for health’. Retrieved November 1, 2006, from http://news.bbs.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/South_yorkshire/6082992.stm
Casino. (2006). Retrieved November 1, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.prg/wiki/Casino

Dorsey, J. & Jaffe, J. (2006). Gambling addiction: signs, symptoms, and treatment. Retrieved November 29, 2006, from http://www.helpguide.org/mental/gambling_addiction.htm

Gambling. (2006). Retrieved November 1, 2006, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling

Garrett, T. A. (2003). Casino gambling in America and its economic impacts. Retrieved November 21, 2006, from http://stlousfed.org/Community/assets/pdf/CasinoGambling.pdf

Grinols, L. G. & Mustard, D.B. (2006). Casinos, crime, and community costs. The Review of Economics and Statistics 88(1), 28-45.

Hiroshi, M. (1997). The history and future of wooden architecture in Kansai.
Retrieved November 29, 2006, from http://www.kippo.or.jp/culture_e/build/history.htm

Hus, C.H. (1999). Legalized casino gambling in the United States.
The economic and social impact. New York: The Haworth Hospitality Press.

Statistics Bureau &Statistical Research and Training Institute. (2006). Economy. In Statistical handbook of Japan. Retrieved December 8, 2006, fromhttp://www.stat.go.jp/english/date/handbook/c03cont.htm

Eating too much!!

2006-11-27T17:19:00.000-08:00

On Thanksgiving Day, I met my friendship family to eat thanksgiving meal in the afternoon. They invited their neighbors, so there were fourteen people at their home.

　Of course, I have never joined and eaten thanksgiving meal before. They served us traditional thanksgiving meal such as turkey, sweet potatoes, Indian corn, cranberry sauce and so on. I don’t know so much about thanksgiving meal except turkey is main food, so I was looking forward to eating it. There are two types of turkey that one of them is light turkey and the other is dark turkey.　These are divided depending on the parts of turkey, and I prefer dark turkey than light one. In addition, to eat turkey with cranberry sauce was really good. I was surprised cranberry sauce could be put for all food, because I though it was only for bread.

During eating meal, I enjoyed not only eating food but also talking. One of family’s fathers that were invited by my friendship family works at Lewis and Clark library and their children know my roommate. Additionally, they were familiar with Japanese movies and books, so I enjoyed talking with them about common topics.

After eating meal with my friendship family, I went to my roommate’s home. Unfortunately, their thanksgiving meal was almost over because I got there late. However, his mother served me thanksgiving meal and pumpkin pie. I ate two thanksgiving meals on one day. Then I cooked some Japanese food for my roommate.

Anyway, I had great time on Thanksgiving Day and ate too much!!

I Love New York

2006-11-13T18:11:00.000-08:00

“I Love New York." This sentence is really famous. Even in Japan, we can often see it, and there are many products with “I Love New York” in Japan such as T-shirts, mugs, key holders and so on. I also love New York. When I was freshman, I traveled to New York City for six days during spring holiday. I felt a kind of culture shock, because I had never seen such an exciting city before. Although my hometown is Tokyo, which is famous as a one of big and exciting cities in the world, New York City has another attractive aspect. I am going to show you what outstanding aspects of New York are.

I can not explain New York City without saying the aspects of the biggest metropolitan cities in the world. As everyone knows, there are many tall and unique buildings in New York City. The atmosphere that is made by continuance of tall building is beyond description. The symbolist buildings in New York City are “Empire State Building” and “Chrysler Building.” Empire State Building, which was built in 1931, is the tallest building in New York City. The height is 443 meter. There is an observation deck on the 102nd floor, and the sight we can see from this observation deck is really wonderful. I strongly recommend you to visit there. Chrysler Building is a landmark of New York City. Originally, it built for the Chysler Corporation, and it is famous as the symbol of Art Deco architecture.

The Next, I saw “Beauty and Beast”, which is one of Broadway Musical, in New York City. It was amazing and beyond my expectation. Before I went there, I had seen Broadway Musical several times in Japan, so I was familiar with it. However, to my surprise, I felt Broadway Musical in New York City is much different from that in Japan in terms of atmosphere, mode, and so on. I would like to see “Lion King” next time.

Anyway, I plan to travel to New York City during this winter break. I want to find wonderful aspects of New York City, which I’ve not known yet!!!

Totoro

2006-11-06T23:57:00.000-08:00

I watched the “My Neighbor Totoro”, which was directed by Hayao Miyazaki in 1988, with my roommate and one of my friend who takes Japanese class in my room. Hayao Miyazaki is really famous in Japan, and I think almost all Japanese people have watched at least one of his movies. To mention other examples of his movies, “Spirited Away”,” Princess Mononoke” and “Kiki’s Delivery Service” are popular not only in Japan but worldwide. His movies allow us to understand many aspects of ways, main points, and problems, so sometimes his movies are little complicated. However, I like his movies very much.

A Brief plot of “My Neighbor Totoro” is the story of communication a sister Satuki and Mei, who move in the rural area, with a magical creature Totoro, which is called “Mononoke”. Although some of his movies' scene are on European cities, the scene of this movie is on the typical Japanese rural area.

I think one of outstanding points of this movie is the beautiful description of Japanese rural area. For example, the scene of beck completely describes the beauty of Japanese atmospheres with effective sound. In addition, the theme songs also contribute to this good movie. Totoro’s theme song is really popular in Japan. It is not too much to say that all Japanese students sung this song in school festival, sports festival, and so on.

In fact, after I watched this movie, I little missed Japan. Anyway, I had a good time to watch, and it was good English practices for me because I watched it with English subtitle. I would like to watch other movies of Hayao Miyazaki.

☆Halloween☆

2006-10-29T19:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I met satoshi’s friendship family, and I made a Jack-o’-Lantern, which is made of pumpkin for Halloween first time. In Japan, I have joined Halloween parties twice, because near my house, there is the area where many foreign people live, and one of my best friends in elementary school is American, so I joined Halloween party with him. I wore a costume of a devil and had a great time. However, after he came back America, I don’t have a chance to join Halloween events. The only place that we can feel Halloween in Japan is Tokyo Disney Land. In other words, Halloween is not so much popular in Japan.

First we went to a kind of Pumpkin market to get them. There are so crowd, so I realized Halloween is one of most important events for American. There were so many pumpkins, and it was difficult to choose one. Finally, I chose the pumpkin that is biggest and has a good shape stem. Then, I began to make my Jack-o’-Lantern at friendship family’s house. It was really difficult for me to make it. Especially, to cut and make face is most difficult. But friendship mother and father taught me how to make it kindly, I managed to complete it.
　I had a good image of Halloween because many people wear unique costume and exchange sweets. In addition, now I know how interesting making a Jack-o’-Lantern is. I try to do something that I can not experience in Japan as much as possible. I had a valuable time yesterday.

Awesome Portland!

2006-10-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

When I am asked someone about Portland, I will answer beautiful city, which is not urban and rural. Before I came here, I could get information about Portland from guidebooks. They call Portland as a “rose city.” I would like to tell some information about Portland which is not based on guidebooks, but my own experiences in terms of city and nature.

First, Portland downtown is an awesome and convenience place. There are many facilities that we need in our life such as bunks, shopping moles, restaurants and many kings of shops. Especially, I like Nobe Hill area. It’s awesome area along 23ed Street. Many cafe and restaurants are there. There are no first food restaurants such as McDonald’s, so we can eat real Oregonian food. In addition, there are many clothes shops and furniture shops. Even we walk around this street, we can enjoy atmosphere of this area. The other characteristic of downtown is transportation. In downtown, we can use Trimet bus, MAX and Portland streetcar. They have feeless area, so we can visit main places for free. Especially, I like Portland streetcar. We can enjoy sights of Portland from big windows in streetcar at a low speed.

Next, let’s move to nature of Portland. As Portland is famous as rose, there are a lot of natures in Portland. If we take a bus or car, we can reach forest area in several minutes. Lewis & Clark College, which I attend, is surrounded a lot of natures. In lose garden, there are beautiful loses, and sometimes we can see cute squirrels. Portland is also famous as organic vegetables and fruits. Especially, people in Portland like to drink wines made by grapevines that are produced in Oregon. So we can feel natures not only seeing beautiful sight but also eating organic food and drinking.

I love Portland, which has both aspects of city life and nature life. Still I don’t know Portland much, so I would like to know about Portland as much as possible, while I stay.

Response for CM assigment

2006-10-23T11:31:00.000-07:00

I think that is the commercial of arena, which is company producing swimming wears and items. The scene finished when a man confronts a shark. We tend to think a shark ran after a man to eat. However, that is the commercial of areas, so actually shark ran after a man to be attracted by his arena swimming wear. In other words, I guess the company wants to express their products are so good to attract even a shark.

sup!

2006-10-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

I am Yoshi. My motto is always smile and enjoy my life. That is why my blog‘s title is “No Fun No Life.” I am studying at Lewis & Clark College and struggling to study English. I have two key points that are important to introduce myself. One of them is soccer. I have played soccer for 15 years and after entering university in Japan, I joined futsal(indoor soccer) team. It is not too much to say that I have been growing up with soccer. I have many memories of soccer. For example, when I was elementary school student, I went to San Diego as a Japanese "ambassador" and played soccer in a local championship cup. After the game, we had the opportunity to communicate while local people with dancing and eating together. These valuable memories are one of my reasons I decided to study here. Now, I belong to a soccer club at Lewis & Clark College. We have practices two days a week and a game on the weekend at Lewis & Clark Stadium. If you have time, please come to see our game. Next, English is also key point. To tell the truth, I can’t say I am good at English at all. That is another reason to study here. Before I entered University in Japan, I didn’t like to study English and study it so much. In other words, I avoided English. When I entered my university, I met many people who could speak English fluently. I realized I needed to face English. In addition, in a globalized world, if I can speak English, my fields of vision will expand in terms of not only job, but also fun. I don’t want to live only in Japan, because there are so many countries which I haven’t known in the world. I am really interested in these unknown worlds, and I would like to visit there as many as possible before I die. Apparently, English will help me to achieve these goals. Anyway, I am living a full life here.
Peace.