Global Issues in Japan . . . . hmmm, it’s kind of hard to have deep thoughts about the situation in the world when it is eight o’clock in the morning, but I am going to try. I guess the biggest thing that I think about is how to teach a course in Global Issues while not being a hypocrite. I mean, I don’t want to say one thing in the class, and then do another thing in my real life. That is why I have started to recycle all of my milk and orange juice cartons. I was in Izumiya the other day, and I noticed that they have a large recycling centre right beside the mains doors near the McDonald’s restaurant. I can bring all of my old milk and orange juice cartons to this place, and then they will be recycled into something else rather than just being dumped in a landfill site. Anyway, in theory, this is a really great idea. Now I just have to do it! I have been collecting and washing out all of my milk and orange juice cartons for a while now. After I am finished with a carton, I quickly rinse it out, and then I throw it under the sink. The problem is that I now have so many empty cartons that every time I open the cupboard below the sink, they all fall out all over my kitchen floor. In fact, it got really bad yesterday night because I wanted to put another carton under my sink, and they all fell out just as my friend ringing my door to visit me! I had cartons everywhere! It was a mess! I was very tempted just to crush them and throw them all away in the garbage so that I didn’t have to deal with them, but then I thought about my global issues class. How can I talk about environmental issues in the classroom, and then throw out all my cartons at home? Anyway, I patiently put all the cartons back in the cupboard. I guess I will have to flatten them all down and take them to the recycling centre at Izumiya before I am tempted to throw them all away again!