Conversation with Mizuki Tomaiwa on Youth, Giftedness, and Intelligence: Member, OLYMPIQ Society (2)
Publisher: In-Sight Publishing
Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014
Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com
Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada
Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal
Journal Founding: August 2, 2012
Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year
Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed
Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access
Fees: None (Free)
Volume Numbering: 11
Issue Numbering: 3
Section: A
Theme Type: Idea
Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”
Theme Part: 28
Formal Sub-Theme: None.
Individual Publication Date: August 15, 2023
Issue Publication Date: September 1, 2023
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Word Count: 1,142
Image Credit: None
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885
*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*
Abstract
Mizuki Tomaiwa was born in 2000 in Japan. She is an American college student with an interest in the biomedical field, psychiatry, and gifted education. She respects Leonardo da Vinci, Bach, Liszt, and her parents. She earned an I.Q. of 183+ (S.D. 16) on the Cattell CFIT. Tomaiwa discusses: classmates; father; mother; Buddhism; nature; common experience of suppression in Japan; loneliness; recommendation to a government agency; Langara College; loneliness; love for all things; geniuses; tutoring; high intelligence; Leonardo Da Vinci; history; government; Good.
Keywords: Buddhism, giftedness, intelligence, Japan, Langara College, Leonardo Da Vinci, Mizuki Tomaiwa, OLYMPIQ Society, youth.
Conversation with Mizuki Tomaiwa on Youth, Giftedness, and Intelligence: Member, OLYMPIQ Society (2)
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How was disagreeing with classmates in Japan perceived by the classmates?
Mizuki Tomaiwa: I think my classmates thought I was strange.
I could not accept rules that lacked rationality or that I felt made no sense. I was a floater in class and in the classroom because I did what I thought was right.
Jacobsen: How did your father encourage discussion?
Tomaiwa: My father was always asking me questions.
He encouraged me to think about social issues, what is needed in the world, ethics, and other unanswered questions.
Jacobsen: What were the kinds of affirmations from your mother?
Tomaiwa: My mother was always positive about my challenges, my goals, and the things I wanted to try. And she would always say, “That’s good. Why don’t you try it?”
She has never been negative about what I want to do.
Jacobsen: What is the branch or type of Buddhism for the family?
Tomaiwa:nI am a Buddhist, but my spirit is not affected by the differences among detailed sects.
Jacobsen: Does being surrounded by nature influence personal views on life?
Tomaiwa: Nature is beautiful and most calculated. It is always there and formed for several reasons.
I believe that by surrounding ourselves with nature, we can notice its beauty and get ideas and answers from it.
Jacobsen: Is this a common experience of being suppressed in Japanese schools and culture for gifted and talented youth?
Tomaiwa: While there is supposed to be a climate of respect for individual ideas, as in North American schools, there is a climate in Japanese schools that does not tolerate ideas that differ from those of others.
A student may have a great talent in the eyes of a prominent figure in his or her field, but no one in the student’s environment is aware of it, and the student may have experienced denial from the adults around him or her.
Being unique is inherently a positive thing, but in Japan it has a strong negative connotation.
Jacobsen: How did you transfer the loneliness and energy to other pursuits if at all? A transference of psychological and emotional energy given the lack of support and camaraderie from peers.
Tomaiwa: Loneliness was present throughout my elementary, junior high, and high school years. However, meeting people in my field of interest has gradually dissipated my loneliness and given me confidence and motivation.
In our encounters with people, we sometimes have fateful encounters. We never know when that will come, so it is important to always follow our heart, even if we feel lonely.
Jacobsen: Given your individuality and experience, what would be your recommendation to Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology?
Tomaiwa: First, I want them to know that there are many children out there who have talent but it is not reflected in their school performance for a variety of reasons.
I hope that through regular meetings, gifted children’s intellectual curiosity can be satisfied by continuing to give them tasks that are just barely challenging enough for them to complete.
Jacobsen: Congratulations on earning qualification at Langara College in Canada, I am aware of the institution. I used to be a part of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations on 3 of the 5 committees, when I was in student government. I believe Langara may have been a part of that alliance. Why choose Langara?
Tomaiwa: I would like to preface this by saying that I am currently studying Biomedical Science at Arizona State University in the US, so I am not studying at Langara College.
I chose Langara College because it had an ESL course to learn English and I was told that it was the most difficult course in Vancouver, so I wanted to give it a try.
Jacobsen: To others struggling with loneliness in adolescence, or in adulthood, what would be advice for coping with them? Sometimes, aloneness is a lifetime sentence for some people. Certainly, I note a global cultural tendency towards anomie.
Tomaiwa: I hope you will never give up because there will always be someone who understands you.
For example, seek connections through social networking sites or send a message to the ideal person you want to be.
That and the times when you feel lonely are really hard. You may not even trust yourself anymore.
That’s when you need to keep taking action and never give up.
Jacobsen: How does this “deep love for all things” in geniuses express itself outwardly?
Tomaiwa: When the process is underway, people may not yet feel anything.
When it is completed or nearing its goal, people have more opportunities to come into contact with it, to feel it in their hearts, and to make their lives more convenient or otherwise advance humanity.
Jacobsen: As a tutor, what methods tend to work for below average students, average students, and above average students?
Tomaiwa: I recommend that you work through the textbook and the accompanying problem sets in terms of building a foundation.
Estimate a longer period of time and encourage repetition.
Once the foundation is in place, try to understand the more difficult problems. Try to understand it more quickly and deeply the second time than the first time.
Jacobsen: What did the February, 2021 discovery of very high intelligence do for you?
Tomaiwa: I remember that it became clear to me why I could not adapt in Japanese schools.
Jacobsen: Why is Leonardo Da Vinci the greatest genius to you?
Tomaiwa: It is not possible for everyone to observe everything from multiple perspectives.
I would like to emulate the attitude of finding beauty and trying to understand it from the aspect of natural science such as mathematics and physics.
Jacobsen: What are things people feel frustration and anger towards to drive history?
Tomaiwa: They may feel and act out of anger or disappointment when they feel disadvantaged or their lives are in danger.
Jacobsen: What are examples of governments not investing in education enough?
Tomaiwa: I was born in Japan and educated in Japan all my life, so I will give you a Japanese example.
In my experience, I do not think that the Japanese government invests enough in education. It is because there is not enough investment in students and teachers.
The Japanese government does not provide the right level of education for each individual student, nor does it pay its teachers an adequate wage for their work. Their overwork, mental illness, and turnover due to too few teachers are the result of the Japanese government’s failure to invest in education.
Jacobsen: What are the attributes of God?
Tomaiwa: Beliefs about the attributes of God vary widely depending on people’s cultural, religious, and philosophical perspectives, but I believe it is every “mind” people have.
For example, in Japan, people sincerely pray for health and safety when they visit shrines.
Bibliography
None
Footnotes
None
Citations
American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Jacobsen S. Conversation with Mizuki Tomaiwa on Youth, Giftedness, and Intelligence: Member, OLYMPIQ Society (2). August 2023; 11(3). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/tomaiwa-2
American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Jacobsen, S. (2023, August 15). Conversation with Mizuki Tomaiwa on Youth, Giftedness, and Intelligence: Member, OLYMPIQ Society (2). In-Sight Publishing. 11(3). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/tomaiwa-2.
Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): JACOBSEN, S. Conversation with Mizuki Tomaiwa on Youth, Giftedness, and Intelligence: Member, OLYMPIQ Society (2). In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 11, n. 3, 2023.
Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. 2023. “Conversation with Mizuki Tomaiwa on Youth, Giftedness, and Intelligence: Member, OLYMPIQ Society (2).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 11, no. 3 (Summer). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/tomaiwa-2.
Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Jacobsen, S “Conversation with Mizuki Tomaiwa on Youth, Giftedness, and Intelligence: Member, OLYMPIQ Society (2).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 11, no. 3 (August 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/tomaiwa-2.
Harvard: Jacobsen, S. (2023) ‘Conversation with Mizuki Tomaiwa on Youth, Giftedness, and Intelligence: Member, OLYMPIQ Society (2)’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 11(3). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/tomaiwa-2>.
Harvard (Australian): Jacobsen, S 2023, ‘Conversation with Mizuki Tomaiwa on Youth, Giftedness, and Intelligence: Member, OLYMPIQ Society (2)’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 11, no. 3, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/tomaiwa-2>.
Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. “Conversation with Mizuki Tomaiwa on Youth, Giftedness, and Intelligence: Member, OLYMPIQ Society (2).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.11, no. 3, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/tomaiwa-2.
Vancouver/ICMJE: Scott J. Conversation with Mizuki Tomaiwa on Youth, Giftedness, and Intelligence: Member, OLYMPIQ Society (2) [Internet]. 2023 Aug; 11(3). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/tomaiwa-2.
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