kimiのblog（ⅡB)

Sexuality

2007-01-11T19:11:00.000-08:00

Today, the age of having first sex is getting earlier. According to the presentation, young Japanese experience their first sex at the age of 16.8 on average. I think that many recent young people think sexual act is proper for lovers. White says sexually active is not serious in Japan. It is partly true. However, this tendency appears recently.
In old days, a man or woman should be a virgin till he or she marries. It was not good for people, especially women, to do sexual act with a person except a spouse. Therefore, people did not talk about sex and did not do sex-education. People do not need sex-education. Even now, many conservative people think so. It has been considered that a sexual intercourse was an act for descendant prosperity. It is about these days that a sexual intercourse came to be called love-making. For Japanese, sexual act was special thing. Kamanara matsuri is a festival to enshrine a male symbol. It is assumed that the festival has divine favor of descendant prosperity, an easy delivery, matchmaking and couple harmony. “Matusru” means “enshrine.” Therefore, this festival shows Japanese people think sexual act is sacred thing. (However in fact, this festival is not famous for Japanese but for foreigners.)
Both Japanese and American adult (especially conservative people) think sexual active is serious. However, recent young people do not consider sex as serious as adults. I do not say it is bad tendency. It can be said that recent world is freer than that in old days.

Friendship

2006-12-14T19:00:00.000-08:00

I think group friendships, especially girls’ relationships, are exclusive. Once close relations are made, they do not allow others to join them. When I changed an elementary school, I had very hard time at first. I am very shy and not good at socializing. I cannot join the group, so I did not readily have a friend. Close and exclusive friendships are made even in high school. I went to six-year secondary education school, which is girl’s school, so friendships became closer than other high school. In the last year of high school, I did not speak to my classmate and only talk with my friends who are in different classes.
I suppose that close and exclusive friendship is one of the reasons of bullying. If a student wants to join a group, the group members tend to reject others. They think that if one person takes part in the group, an atmosphere of a group is disturbed by the person. Therefore, they ignore or behave badly to newcomer because they want to protect their group. Of course, many students are willing to take the newcomer into their group. As they get older, they become generous to others.

Material Child

2006-11-30T18:34:00.000-08:00

In chapter 5, the writer said that the marketing industry influences teenagers to buy thing and tries to shape trends. We can find many advertisements in magazines, internet site, trains, and streets. These advertisements inspire us to buy. Moreover, marketing industry shapes a trend by using advertisements. In Japan, many industries use popular TV stars, athletes, and sometimes the man in the street public to set the latest trend. Fashion is the most remarkable example. Teens tend to buy the clothes which appeared in magazines, because they do not want to be out-of-date. Industries cleverly use media and induce teens to buy.
In chapter 5, there are some examples of new media; telephone party lines, karaoke boxes, and the continuing practice of exchange diary. Teens use them to communicate with friends. This part is extremely out-of-date. Recently, teens never use “dial QQ”. Instead, teens use internet. They use “messenger”, “chat”, “blog”, and “mixi” to communicate with other people. Moreover, “karaoke” is the most popular culture in Japan. Businessmen as well as teens use “karaoke”. Many people use “karaoke” for many reasons; to reduce stress, only to enjoy singing, and to understand each other. “kokan nikki” is also out-of-date. I did it when I was elementary school student but I never did it in my teens. I do not know that children under teenage still exchange diaries, but it is sure that teens no longer exchange diaries.

School

2006-11-09T10:07:00.000-08:00

I went to the private school for six years. My school has strict school rules about the appearance of the students. For example, students do not dye or perm their hair, pierce their ears, and color their nails. Moreover, students have to wear the school uniform, sweaters, coats, and bags which are appointed by the school. However, in fact, many students break these rules secretly. They use the bag which is similar but more fashionable and useful design.
I think the rules of Japanese school are related to old Japanese thinking; a person who has proper appearance has proper mind. I think that is the reason for that Japanese school has strict rules about appearance of students. A school can (forcibly) make students wear proper clothes by establishing school regulations. In addition, Japanese like harmony. Japanese tends to dislike a person disturbing harmony. If you want to show your personality, devise your act to the maximum in a rule. The strict rules of Japanese school are based on these ideas.

Family

2006-10-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

There are many issues about Family in the chapter3 in this book. I agree most of the author’s opinion. However, this book was written long time ago. Nowadays, Japanese family is changing little by little.
The author focused “gender” in the Chapter3. This topic is often discussed in Japan these days. Of course the “gender” feelings are still strong in Japan. For example, Japanese fathers do not take a child-care leave. They think that mothers must take care of their children. In fact, my father also thinks that woman should do housework and my mother asks me to help housework, but she rarely ask my brother to kelp. However, recently, many women work in Japan. Women start to be accepted by Japanese society. This trend shows that the idea that the women have to do housekeeping and the men have to do work outside is gradually becoming old. Proportionately, Japanese birth rate is dropping these days. This fact made people turn their eyes to “working mothers. Therefore, now, people say that it is not good that men make women do a lot of housework. They think that men should help women. This idea has not been main current yet, but Japanese family will change for the foreseeable future.
In the class discussion, we talked about “Mama’s Boy” and “Daddy’s Little Girl”. In my family, I talk with my father more often than mother and my brother talks with my mother more often than father. Father takes good care of me and I think my mother is too easy with my brother. It may be said that my family has “Mama’s Boy” and “Daddy’s Little Girl”. However, it is rare in Japan. “Mama’s Boy” is not rare, but “Daddy’s Little Girl” is rarely seen. My friend says “My father is nobody except an obstacle!” She cannot get along with her father, and her father gives up trying to talk with her. I cannot understand why she hates her father, but there are a lot of daughters who dislikes her father.
There are many type of family in Japan. Each family has their own problem. However, family is invaluable, so we should have to treasure the family.

2006-10-09T05:41:00.000-07:00

Hallo! My name is Kimika Iwata.
I'm a freshman at Waseda University.
I like reading books and comics.
I have never been to foreign countries.
I would like you to tell me whatever you know about foreign culture.