Q4a) was the perceived racism of the west against Japan the main reason why war broke out in the Asia Pacific?

In my opinion, I think that the perceived racism was not the main reason why war broke out in the Asia pacific. There were other reasons and factors why war broke out in the Asia Pacific. For example, Japan feared colonization, problems on protectionism and lack of resources. All of these are the reasons why war broke out. I shall explain and elaborate in the next few paragraphs.

The first factor is the racial attitudes against the Japan. Although the westerners admire Japan’s culture, they do not think that Japan will become a viable world power. The western and the Japan had different opinion on the cultures. Western may neglect the race of the Japan. Western and Japan had different ranking on the race. This may result in the unhappiness among the Japanese as the Western may not acknowledge the race of Japan as a world race or power,

The second factor is the lack of resources. As Japan is a small country, Japan does not have enough raw materials and land. Raw materials such as coal, oil were insufficient and hence, they may have to take over other land such as China to have sufficient raw materials. Japan also has not enough land to support the people in Japan. The farming methods were old-fashioned and the land is not big enough for the country to plant rice (staple food). The food was not enough to support the people in the country. Because of lack of resources, the Japan had to go to war in order to solve the problems on the lack of resources.

The third factor is the fear of colonization. Japan does not want to be colonized by other western powers. She wants to be viable world power herself and not be colonized. However, Japan is a small country and she may be colonized by other bigger western powers. This may be another reason why Japan went to war.

In my opinion, I think that the perceived racism of the west against Japan was not the main reason. The main reason is the lack of resources. Without resources the people may starved because of lack of food and the economy may dropped as Japan had to trade for sufficient materials. Some of the countries may not even want to trade with Japan. Hence, lacking of resources is the main reason why Japan went to war.

Nov 1998
Q3. Some people like being alone; others are happiest when they are with a crowd of people. Which do you prefer?

Being alone or being with a group of people depends on the person’s situation. Some people prefer to be alone because they need some time on their own and not distracted by the others. Other people may feel that they are happiest when they are with a crowd of people because they can share their joy with a group of people. My personal preference is to have both, depending on the situation.

I enjoy being with a group of people because I dislike being alone. Especially when watching a movie alone. All around you, there would be groups of people or couples watching the same movie as you. However, the thoughts of being alone and with a company seem different. When you are alone in the large theater, you will tend to sense the forlorn. It feels awkward to be alone as people around you will be chattering happily in groups. Hence, being alone seems to be a sign of lonliness.

Another reason why I enjoy being with a crowd of people because I will be able to share my joy with my friends. When I am feeling depressed about matters such as family relationship difficulties in coping my studies, there would be friends to cheer me up. When we crack jokes with each other during moody days, we will be able to cheer up eventually and naturally lift up our spirit.

However, there will be at times that I prefer to be alone. When I am studying for tests and examinations, I prefer to be alone as I may be distracted when I am with a company of friends. Concentration is the most important factor when comes to preparing for examinations. Therefore, if I am with a group of people, I will not be able to concentrate well as we may end up chit-chatting with each other. Hence, it may take up more time to revise with my friends than studying alone. Time is wasted when we are not able to settle down to study.

Thus, a different response depends on different situation. When I need to be alone, i will certainly enjoy being alone so that i will not be distracted by the others, However, when I feel lonely, I will enjoy being with a group of people so that i can share my joy with them.

In my opinion, I think that passion is a more important factor for my choice of career. This is because I believe that if you manage to get a job that suits your interest, you will tend to be more motivated and determined to face any new challenges. I have a teacher who is willing to give up his high pay salary of more than 30 thousands a month to become a secondary school teacher who earns about 3 to 4 thousands. When I ask him why does he willing to give up such a high salary job, he replied me that he wanted to find some meaning in life and that is to teach. His previous job is stressful and has irregular working time. He loves to teach and hence went to teaching. However, there are some of the people out in the world who prefer money more than passion. They feel that if they have a high pay salary, they would get better standard of living. They may also feel that this will lead to a comfortable life. However, some of them begin to loathe their job as the level of stress is high. Hence, I rather choose to have a career that suits my interest than to live my life in agony.



The recent celebration that I had celebrated is the Chinese New Year. We had a long holiday break including the weekend after the Chinese New Year. During the Chinese New Year, we went to our relative’s house to visit them. My younger brother would take two of the traditional mandarin orange and greeted the elderly politely. I had an enjoyable time in my relative’s house as I got to talk to my cousins whom I rarely visited. What surprised me most is that one of my cousins had bore a baby! It was rather unbelievable as I am already an aunt at such a young age! I also got to eat sweets and chocolates which I think most of my classmates would have loved it!

My Favourite Food
There are different kinds of cuisine all over the world. However, in my opinion, the food I liked most is the homemade local food, Hainanese chicken rice. It may be an ordinary dish to you but to me, it is the most delicious dish ever.

Never will I forget the scenario on how my father often cooked the Hainanese chicken rice. My father loves to cook since he was young. Hence, when he is free, he will often cook dishes for us. His specialty is Hainanese chicken rice. When my sister and I were younger, we would often position ourselves near our father when he was cooking the Hainanese chicken rice so that we could learn something from him. Firstly, my father would wash the chicken that he bought from the market. He then stuffed the chopped garlic and ginger into the chicken and boiled for about 20 minutes. He would cook the rice together with pandan leaf in a rice cooker. My father would cut out the fats and skins out from the chicken so that it will be more nutritious for us. After everything was ready, all of us would automatically appear on the dining table ready to eat. The sight of the food made us drool. After a bite of it, we were simply drawn to it. It was such an appetizing and delicious food!

As years go by, everyone was engrossed into their work and was getting busier. I could rarely eat my father’s homemade food nowadays as he had to work. I would certainly miss his homemade food. In my opinion, any other food in the street would not be comparable to my father's. To me, homemade hainanese chicken rice is the best!

Never will I forget this day that constantly plays in my mind even after these years. It happened four years ago, my first day in school in secondary one during 2005.

I was supposed to report in school at 7.10am early in the morning. However, I came too early to school, one of the earliest to arrive in school. I could not sleep a wink the previous night as I was too nervous and excited wondering how the new school would be like. While waiting for the bell, I tried to find familiar faces in school but to no avail. Everything in the school was strange to me. A new environment, tall buildings teachers and students whom I did not recognized. The bell rang and I went to the hall feeling nervous and jittery. I was in 1E3. The different classes were arranged according to our PSLE score. As I saw people rushing into the hall, I saw a few of my primary school friends such as xinyi, taufiq, billy, kok leong etc. I was so relieved that I was not the only one from my primary school in this school.

The school councillors brought us around the school on a tour. They introduced us the different places in our school and when we were going to use them. For example, we had to go to the music room when we had music lesson. After touring the school, we were brought back to our classroom to meet our form teacher. I felt excited then trying to imagine what kind of teacher she or he would be like. Our form teacher’s name is Miss Heng. She introduced herself and welcomed us to this school. She told us that she was our English teacher and History teacher for the year. She also told us her own background and stories which I found relatively interesting.

After the introduction of teachers, it was time for us to socialize with our fellow classmates. We played ice breaker games. The aim of the game was to get to know each other better, we got to learn each other’s names and make friends with different types of people. One of the games we played was ‘whacko’. The coucillors patiently explain the games and rules to us. We were supposed to hit someone whose name was called. We played for nearly half an hour and the loser had to do a forfeit. Another game we played was to pass the message to a row of people. As the messenger was passed down, the secret message became weirder and weirder. In the end, the message was totally modified.

After the games were the cheers and mass dance. We had to dance according to the songs and dance steps. The cheer was the usual cheers we did in Primary School. The cheers and mass dance were a preparation for the upcoming camp in a week’s time. We would be joining forces and competing with the other classes,

In my opinion, I think that Secondary School is totally different from Primary Schools. The ways the teachers handle things were much different and in secondary schools, we had to learn to be independent and not act like a child. In Secondary Schools, we had to learn nine subjects. However, in Primary School, one has to lean only four subjects. Overall, I think it was a great and fun day for me to enjoy. Even strangers had become good friends now. The first day in Secondary School was a memorable day for me.

Dear Mrs Sim,

Hello! How are you? I hope that you are doing fine! It has been such a long time since you taught me Literature during my secondary two years in Kent Ridge Secondary School. My main purpose of writing to you is to tell you about the changes in school that I have experienced since school reopened.



The first change that I have experienced is that attitude of the teachers and that amount of pressure we face. Our subject teachers are becoming more strict and serious compared to last year. This is because this year we have our major examination; the 'O' levels. Hence, teachers have been trying their best to teach the entire syllabus covered in the examinations. It is a busy year because countless pieces of homework are given to us by the teachers. Everyday, there will be extra lessons until about four o'clock. Hence, when I reach home, I find that I do not have enough time to relax. One will be doing homework, revising what one has learnt and preparing for tests. It is indeed a nerve-wrecking year for all of us!



The second change that I have experienced is the huge responsibility in our CCA (NCDCC which is also known as National Civil Defence Cadet Corps). As the secondary four students are the seniors, we have the responsibility of running the programme for the CCA and taking care of the juniors. We have to help the teachers in their admin work such as helping out in keying the particular of our members. As our ranks in CCA are higher, we are taking charge of giving commands to the juniors and preparing lessons for them so that they can take their courses. If the teachers are unavailable, we have to take charge of almost everything.



The third change that I have experienced is the change of subject teachers in subjects such as chemistry, Principle of Accounts, English and even my form teachers. My previous teacher was Mr. Tang. He was also my English teacher in the previous year. Currently all the teachers who are teaching my class are very experienced teachers. Although I am still adapting to the teaching methods of various teachers such as in Principle of Account because different teachers have different teaching style and methods, I do not think that I will have any problems learning under them. My English teacher is Ms Heng who has taught me for two years of English since Secondary one so I understand her teaching style well. Mrs. Tan is my current chemistry teacher, she teaches very well and she tries her best to cover the syllabus on time. With all the teachers helping us, I feel that we can score well.



What about u? What has changed in your life since you left our school? I hope that you can reply as soon as possible.

Thank You



Yours sincerely,

Si Ying

siying 4e5 krss


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