The following is my essay that I wrote as an assignment for an English school AEON:

Topic: Should smoking be allowed in public places in Japan? Why or why not?
Style: Formal

Regarding this subject, there have been long-lasting controversies between smokers and non-smokers in Japan. Let me marshal points of both sides briefly:

Smokers – smoking should be allowed in public places:
– Smokers are paying a huge amount of tax. The annual amount reaches around 2 Trillion JPY ($18 Billion). Since smokers are contributing a lot to the national budget, they maintain the right to smoke wherever they want.
– Given that drinking alcohol is not prohibited at all in public places in Japan, why should smoking be prohibited? Please note that drinking alcohol in public is strictly prohibited in Australia, for example.
– Nicotine can activate the human brain and increase willingness so that we can prevent depression or other mental disorders and enhance working efficiency.
– Government should not control each individual’s taste. It is the start of fascism since Nazi Germany tried to promote “a healthy empire” by banning smoking.
– Many smokers are now shifting to an electronic cigarette that usually do not harm bystanders.

Non-smokers – smoking should be banned in public places:
– Secondhand smoke contains diversified toxic chemicals that harm bystanders who just breath in the vicinity of smokers.
– In restaurants, the smell of smoke damages the taste of served dishes.
– Smoking increases the risk of fire in public places.
– There might be people who are suffering from asthma or bronchitis in the nearness of smokers.
– Smoking induces many types of diseases including lethal one such as lung cancer so that it increases the cost of our health care insurance system.
– Children or young students might be lured to smoke by seeing some adults are smoking in public spaces.

Both sides have legitimacy in one way or another. It is clear, however, that the number of smokers has been continuously decreasing so that they are becoming a clear minority in Japan. Smokers must be louder in insisting their right otherwise they will lose places to smoke freely more and more.

TOEICのSpeaking & Writingのテストを終了。先週がL&Rで2週続けてのTOEICで中々ハードです。会場は第1回目の受験と同じ、京急川崎駅近くの外語学校です。
今回スピーキングは前回よりはかなりマシで後半の60秒しゃべらないといけない2問も時間が余ることなくむしろ足らない位で、十分しゃべれました。前回つまづいて途中でしどろもどろになった、ある問題を解決する提案は、「オフィスの紙のサプライヤーが突然15%の値上げを通告して来た。予算は決まっていて値上げは受け入れられない、どうしよう」というもので、そんなの社員を集めて相談するような話ではなく、さっさと別の業者を探せばいいだろうと、インターネットの価格比較サイトを使ったら、とか適当に述べて問題無し。最後の問題も問いが何だったか忘れてしまいましたか゛まあまあしゃべれて、点は前回よりは間違いなくいいと思います。
ライティングも大きな問題はありませんでしたが、最後の30分かけてのエッセイでは、最後にある個所をより良い表現に修正しようとしていて、残り時間を見てなくて、修正しきれなくておかしな表現が残ってしまいました。しかしお題は「就職希望者への面接を電話で行うことをどう思うか」で、全部で380語のエッセイ（要求は最低300語ですが、多少長いくらいが点数がいいと言われています）が書け、理由も3つ挙げそれぞれに具体的な例もつけたので、出来は悪くないと思います。
まあトータルでまずますです。今考えると前回の受験は準備不足だったと思います。