Chapter 7 Sexuality

There were many points mentioned in the book that surprised me. What really took me back was the mention of Korean girls by Kazuyuki (186). I have never seen or heard any Korean girl acting as mentioned in the book. Confuscianism still pervades, and while there are some exceptions, mentioning or doing anything related to sex is extremely taboo. Sexual activity, like in the States, is associated with delinquency.
With this kind of background, I was very surprised by Japanese sexuality. I had always thought that since the three East Asian countries have similar backgrounds, and shared many ideologies in the past, Japan would frown upon sex as much as Korea does. However, this does not seem to be the case. Japanese manga shows or hints that having sex is part of a relationship even between middle or high school students, and may even do it even out of a relationship. Also, a lot of men carry porns very publicly, with the covers of half-naked girls. Prevalent mention of or focus on extramarital affairs in dramas is incredible.
Early age at which teens lose their virginity in both countries was shocking too. What is mentioned in the book about Japanese is proved by the presentation seen in the last class. The number of partners and times was amazing.
As mentioned in the book, the main difference between the States and Japan is that the former frowns upon the actual thing, while Japan is against the publicizing of it.

Chapter 6 Friendship

Japanese seem to have many specific phrases about how close a friendship is. You can either be besto frendo/shinyu, domodachi, or shiriai. During discussion group, Japanese students explained to me the differences between shinyu and domodachi. You can talk to shinyu about anything, but with domodachi, you just play. But they couldn’t explain how domodachi becomes shinyu. I wonder how Japanese take the one big step forward. It’s difficult to translate it so clearly in English with the meanings attached. You can have a best friend, close friends and just friends, but you don’t never talk to your friends about your personal life.

I was surprised by enjyo kousai (援助交際). It does exist in Korea, with the same name, because this has been introduced to Korea through various Japanese media. However, the extent of it is very different. First, I imagined that Japanese teenagers who do enjyo kousai were troubled kids, without home and parents, as is the usual case in Korea. However, they seem to have perfectly normal family and home, and just do enjyo kousai because of the extra money they can earn. Then, the number of people who knew others who did enjyo kousai was surprisingly many. I was more amazed to hear that the number has actually decreased. There would be no one in Korean school who would know such kids, because they usually flunk out, and the actual number is probably of smaller proportion that that of Japan.

Chapter 5: The Material Child

In both American and Japan, it seems that marketing industries try to shape trends and influence teenagers to buy things. In both countries, psychology is at work. As children and teenagers tend to be very sensitive to differences, industries focus on the fifteen-year-olds. They do this through various ways. One way is through magazines. Especially in Japan, magazines play an important role in both boys and girls. In the magazines are articles and information on what they are interested in, which drives the teens to buy them in the first place, and buy things and visit places written in the magazine. For example, there are surveys about other teens, which are important in Japanese society, where acting one’s age is required, and horoscopes.
This market and consumer relationship works both ways. There are many ways for teenagers to respond to the market. For example, Dynax provides telephone network which teens use to share problems, or ask for help. As they feel that the manufacturers are interested in more than just making money, they tend to trust the markets more and buy more.
This book is very out-of-date, as it includes media that most teens nowadays are not familiar with, and do not mention i-pods, cellular phones and Internet. Also, although the book mentions that Japanese tend to wear similar clothes to their age group, rather than having a diversity like American teens, it seems to me that Japanese have a whole lot of diversity in clothes and tastes.Merry White focuses mainly on Japanese teens, and it seems as though Japanese teens do more of everything than their American counterparts. They save more, buy more, read more, and watch TV more. However, when I read some of the Colorado students’ blogs, it seemed that many college students spend a lot of time and money shopping.

Second Assignment： School

The school lives of Japan and the United States seem very different, from basic school systems to relationships between members within school.
As the book was written a long time ago, some aspects may be outdated, and some I hope have changed over the years. Some of the rules of Japanese high schools were very shocking, because they seem to invade students’ privacy and individualism, and seem to have no benefit from doing so. Although it may not sound as bad as the book suggests, I find that I would not be able to attend a school that directs how I should go home, ways to hold a bag and what underwear to wear.
During the school year, I was surprised when some of the professors made a point to say that you shouldn’t miss an exam because of club activities. I always wondered why anyone would do that, but the book explains that to Japanese college students, clubs seem to be of first priority.

Comment on Family

It was interesting to read about Japanese and American families. There are many similarities and differences according to different social demands of teens and parents. I found that I could identify more with situations of Japanese families, probably because of similar expectations of academic success and filial piety.
There were some surprising facts in the book. For example, I thought that while discussions of sex are taboo in both societies, America, rather than Japan, as illustrated in the book, would be more open-minded about it. Also, as American families seem to be more democratic, I assumed that parents would respect their children’s opinion more. However, White states that Japanese children “more often say that parents pay attention to what they want” (65). Another surprising fact was that some Japanese parents seem to think that “teens now express their closeness to their families by asking for things, rather than by spending time with them” (56). Whatever problems they have, I believed families to have intimate bonding between each member. It is unimaginable for me to see a family where a teenager just demands things from their parents to show his/her affection.
I think that the difference between the ideas of supporting parents comes from the different experiences children have when younger. Japanese children probably become financially and emotionally independent from their parents later than American teens, because they are expected to focus more on their academic work and leave the rest to the parents. This, and the less emphasis on independency between family members, might lead Japanese children to feel bigger responsibility for their parents.
The roles of each parent are shown to be different. In Japan, children are closer to their mothers than their fathers, who are distant figures in the family. However, in America, fathers are expected to put families before their work, and are more active in the happenings of families. This seems very distant to me. I grew up in a family where my father happened to be away a lot on business, so I am much closer to my mother. It was surprising to find that in America daughters seem to depend on their fathers when in a fight with their mother as Vicky pointed out in class. Though I had seen such scenes in the movies, I assumed them to be minority.
This chapter on family had me surprised in many ways, and helped me break off from my stereotypes.

Hello. My name is Jae Yun Cho and my English name is Jennifer. You can call me either Jae Yun or Jennifer. I am from South Korea. I used to live in Singapore for four years from 9 to 13. I came to Japan in April. I took this course because I want to know about both American and Japanese youth. I like watching movies, listening to music and travelling. よろしくお願いします.