Joori's Blog

Sexuality

2007-01-13T21:27:00.000-08:00

According to the video that sexuality group made, the average age of teenagers’ first sexual experience is 16.8 years old in Japan. I was surprised by this result because the average first sexual experience was too early than I thought. However, the sex education in Japanese schools is not informative or helpful to teenagers. The situation is same in Korea. The sex education that I received in Korea was vague and uninformative same as in Japan. However, as teens’ first sexual experience is becoming earlier, I think that appropriate sex education such as informative and realistic is needed. Moreover, proper education on responsibility is really important and needed to help teens be more responsible for their behavior.
White mentions in her book that teenagers in Japan usually abort their baby when they get pregnant(191). This may be still true in Japan, but I could easily witness many young parents with their babies, who seemed in the same age as me or seemed even younger than me. It means that they bear the responsibility for their pregnant even though they are young. In contrast to Japan, abortion is common for teenagers’ pregnancy in Korea. I am not favorable for having sex when as a teen, however, I think it is desirable to take the responsibility of one’s behavior.

Friendship

2006-12-15T01:56:00.000-08:00

Whenever I walk along the street, I could easily find high school girls and boys hanged out with their friends. Still in school hours, they stride the street, wearing school uniforms and carrying school bags. Probably, they might call each other as friends. However, I wondered as what kind of friend they think and treat each other.
According to White, there are three different types of relationships among friends in Japan; shinyu, tomodachi and sempai-kohai relationships. The word ‘shinyu’ means best friend. You can talk to shinyu anything and shinyu will always be on your side. ‘tomodachi’ means friend, but compared with shinyu, tomodachi is a friend just for fun. You enjoy spending time with tomodachi, but you do not tell tomodachi your things. Sempai-kohai relationships are the relationships between senior students and their juniors in school.
When I was in the Japanese junior high school, I could tell shinyu from tomodachi. There is all the difference between the two. I could feel that the Japanese do not open their mind fully to their tomodachi even though they are friends. It seemed like Japanese tatemae do exist between friends’ relationship. I had difficulty adapting myself to new circumstances. As we Korean have stronger ties or relation with friends, it was really hard for me to adjust myself to other Japanese and I often felt loneliness even though I was among tomodachi.
During group discussion, my group talked about group friends. Japanese students in my group told they do not like the feeling that they are alone. Therefore they tried to belong to a certain group not to be alone when they go to bathroom or cafeteria. I could understand their feelings, however, I thought that dividing friends into groups makes ‘ijime’, bullying. Many students in Japan who are bullied by their classmates do not go to school. In serious situation, students even commit suicide because of ijime. I know bullying exists everywhere, but I have no idea why so many Japanese students bully their friends in some cruel ways which lead them suicide. One clear thing is that Ijime phenomenon becomes serious social problem in Japan.

Materialism

2006-12-15T01:54:00.000-08:00

In the class, I was in the group 2 and my group did not cover the whole subject on Materialism but discussed only ‘Sex and Other Media Lessons’.
It was interesting that the magazines such as Hotdog, CanCam, and Popeye, which are introduced in the text, ‘The Material Child’, are still issued in Japan today. It was also interesting that all of my group members(They were all Japanese except me) often buy and read these magazines to get information on sexual behavior. They entirely agreed with the book that sex education provided in schools was vague. They said that, in the magazines, there was practical information on sexuality they wanted to know. I usually read fashion magazines(just scan the trend and fashion style) and I have never read Magazines related to sex. It seems that the Magazines on sex are quite popular among teens in Japan.
Magazines are influential to teens. Like magazines, TV commercials, newspapers and media also have influence on teens. The companies in both the United States and Japan try to catch the teens attention by using these means. Magazines are more popular and used to attract teens in Japan while media is more used in America. The difference between these two countries is that the companies in the United States try to reinforce the differences, on the other hand, the companies in Japan try to encourage teens with a single style.

School

2006-12-15T01:53:00.000-08:00

I spent most of my school years in Korea, however I went to a junior high school about one year in Japan. At that time, I was surprised by the Japanese school regulations. It was not surprising that there were school uniforms and gym suits in schools in Japan because there are the same things in schools in Korea. However there were certain school bag, shoes and even swimwear!! These things were decided by the school steering committee and students were not permitted to go to the school with other bags or shoes that are different from designated ones. I always wondered why the Japanese students had to look the same and had to be the same ; same clothes, same bags and same shoes.
I was more shocked as I read White’s book. Some of the rules of the Japanese schools were really shocking. I think things have changed much since this book was written. However it is unbelievable that there are ways to carry a bag. According to the book, Japanese students have to carry bags in different ways when they go to school and when they are on the way home. It seems like Japanese students do not have freedom to carry their school bags just like they want to carry. Another surprising fact was that there was a fixed way to go to school, which was established by the school.
I also found some interesting facts from the book. There is a table on page 81 that shows Japanese students have to spend much more time to study and do their homework than American students do. Students in America, compared with students in Japan, seem more unrestricted and lucky!!

早稲田際で

2006-12-15T01:49:00.000-08:00

　　　　　　　　　　　　
　　　　　　　　　　　　with Tina　　

First essay on Family

2006-11-10T01:58:00.000-08:00

Through White’s book, ‘The Material Child’, and discussions with Japanese friends, I could think more about ‘Families’ both in America and Japan, as well as in Korea. Families have different values in these two different countries. While American families stress the individual, Japanese families think the family is more important.
From White’s book, the most surprising thing was gender roles in the Japanese family. ‘The elder son is king, and sisters are handmaidens’?? Is this statement still valid in Japan? I think, in the old days, it is apparently true in Korea and Japan. But I think the situation is no longer true, at least in Korea. I do not have brothers but from many of my friend’s examples, I can see that my female friends are not treated as handmaidens. Rather, boys are more forced to do chores by their parents than their sisters nowadays. I think some of the contents of this book are not accurate because things have changed much since White wrote this book. However, many aspects of the family situation in Korea are quite similar to Japanese families.
From the readings, I found it interesting that academic pressure in Korea is almost the same or more severe than in Japan. In my senior year in high school, I used to go to school from 7 o’clock in the morning and used to stay in school to study until 11 o’clock in the evening. Korean mothers are so educational that they urge their children to go to cram schools even though their children are very young. So it is not surprising for me that after school, high school students go to cram school even until midnight. White mentions that many teenagers in Japan are under academic pressure. Although Japanese teens are frustrated by their study, I think that pressure on study in Korea is more overwhelming.

Welcome to Joori's World!!

2006-10-09T05:14:00.000-07:00

Hello!!
I'm Joo Ri Kim from Korea.
I'm a freshman at Waseda University.
It's so nice to meet you all!!
Come and talk to me anytime.
I'll be waiting for your comments~!!
Thank you