Hono's Blog

Bullying

2006-12-14T13:34:00.000-08:00

Bullying at schools is a serious issue in Japan today. According to a survey carried out in October this year by Yahoo Japan News, only 12 % of the surveyed people have never experienced bullying, being bullied, or seeing bullying. The kanji of the year 2006 was decided to be “命”, life. One of the reasons came from the recent news of a student’s suicide from the pain of being bullied.
There are many reasons for children being bullied, but one of the major reasons is that the child is a character. Japan is a homogeneous nation and people have cherished unity from long ago. People of different races have experienced discrimination because different kinds of people were not accepted in the homogeneous society. This idea still exists even among the children at schools.
Some of the examples of bullying are badmouthing in front of that very person, drawing graffiti on the person’s desk while he is not there, hiding the person’s slippers stored in the shoes box, and ignoring the person when spoken to.
Bullying leads to problems such as truancy, mental problems, and suicides. I once saw a television program with an interview to a woman who was once a member of the motorcycle gang because she wanted to get away from the bullying at school. A person might bully another without thinking seriously about the future, but bullying can easily change the life of the bullied person.
Bullying decreases as children grow older. This is because they learn through experience that people are all different with different ways of thinking. They will become to be able to accept different types of people and different ideas. They will also be able to learn that everyone has both good points and bad points.

Trends and Magazines

2006-11-30T13:02:00.000-08:00

Trends are easily created in Japan because of its group-oriented culture; people purchase the same items as other people do. There are a number of ways in which the popular culture of the youths in Japan is promoted, but magazines play the central role.
Firstly, magazines introduce the popular fashion in clothing. This is especially dominant in those for young women. Certain styles of clothes come into and go out of fashion in an extremely rapid pace. Magazines list particular shops’ addresses and phone numbers so that the readers are actually able to go to the shop to purchase the clothes picked up. This is practicable because Japan is a small country. The places where the youths are able to buy trendy clothing are limited to particular cities or towns. For example, Tokyo is one of the prefectures where the latest fashion can be observed, and Shibuya, Harajuku, Shinjuku, and Ikebukuro are some of the places where the youths can acquire the clothing in vogue. Many magazines insert snapshots of regular people, not models, walking in those places wearing fashionable clothes. These photographs prove that those clothes are in fashion in reality, and incline the readers toward buying the clothes.
Secondly, magazines promote products, though not as explicitly as clothing. Spending the Christmas Eve with a boyfriend or a girlfriend is characteristic of Japan, as people in many other countries spend the day with their families. Similarly, the custom of girls giving sweets to boys including boyfriend and colleagues on Valentine’s Day is unique to Japan. Moreover, the so-called Pocky-no-hi, or a Pocky Day, November 11th, only exists in Japan. These unique events are advantageous for magazines to sell out products. They can advertise present goods, attraction spots for dating, and sweets for Christmas and Valentine’s Day. Pocky must have a large sale on Pocky Day. However, except for Pocky on Pocky Day, products and services are not directly advertised. They are implicitly introduced through the magazines’ suggestion to the readers to have a successful date on the special day.
In conclusion, magazines are the best item for the youths to know and keep up with the latest fashion, which is essential for them to maintain their status as fashionable people.

School and the Society

2006-11-09T05:35:00.000-08:00

School systems in Japan and the United States differ in many aspects. I realized that this is because they are closely related to their social and historical backgrounds.
The school rule is one of the remarkable examples. Japanese schools have relatively strict school rules about the appearance of the students. For example, most schools do not allow their students to dye or perm their hair, pierce their ears, and color their nails. It is also common for students to wear the school uniform, and wear socks, sweaters, or coats of limited colors. Moreover, some schools even restrict the color of the students’ bags or umbrellas. These rules come from the fact that Japan is a homogeneous state. Unity has been cherished for a long time, and non-Japanese people were excluded from the society especially in the past, such as the Ainu, Korean, and Chinese people. On the other hand, the United States is referred to as a salad bowl. It is essential for the inhabitants to coexist with the people of different race. This is why many American schools do not provide uniform, or have strict rules regarding the students’ clothing and hairstyle, but are rather strict about the students’ behavior such as bullying. Diversity of the students’ appearance is only natural since there is ethnic diversity, and students have to learn to respect the culture and views which are alien to them. Consequently, school rules of the two countries reflect the racial composition of the nation.
Another example is how the classes are carried out. According to Merry White, Japanese students have more school days and time to spend on their homework than their American counterparts. Until the recent introduction of Yutori-kyoiku, or the affordable education, Japanese government had been desperate to catch up industrially and culturally with the West after the end of World War II. Laws regarding education were established, such as the Fundamental Law of Education in 1947. Therefore, the large amount of time spent on education is the relic of the age when great effort was made to raise the academic standard of the citizens. On the contrary, Americans, especially the immigrants, or non-Native Americans, originally came to America to seek for new lives better than those in their home countries, and pioneered the new land. This history is correlated with the American ways of education, which does not cram up the students but rather draws out their creativity and frontier spirit. Accordingly, the ways the students are taught are strongly influenced by the history of the nation.
In conclusion, various aspects of education show the national characteristic formed both by the existing condition and the history of the country. It is inevitable to learn broadly about the past and present of the nation in order to understand the present education and the key to solve the educational problems which are especially under debate in Japan today.

Parent-child Relationship

2006-10-26T07:24:00.000-07:00

I had a lot to think about the family issue now that I live alone. I didn’t realize how much my parents loved me until I started to live away from them. What I thought is different between the United States and Japan by reading the text and the blogs is the parent-child relationship.
First, the way children conceive their parents is different. It is common that American children treat their parents as friends and Japanese children treat them as their superior. According to my own experience, many of my American friends tend to talk about everything including their inner feelings to their parents. On the other hand, most of my Japanese friends do talk about their school life and friends, but not about love life and nor do they confide their worries so much. I think one reason for this is that American children often do the chores, while Japanese children are more told to study. “Helping” their parents makes the American children feel like they’re equal. Japanese children have to “catch up” academically with their parents in order to become equal. Another reason I can think of is the time they spend together. Generally, American students stay home after school and on weekends, while Japanese students are busy participating club activities and studying at cram schools. The intimacy comes from being together and having conversations.
Also, what the fathers have prior on differs between the two countries. American fathers do not work at the expense of the time with their families, while Japanese fathers make every effort in their jobs, no matter how short they can spend their time with their families. I think American fathers want to keep close relationships in their daily lives, while Japanese fathers want to be the support so that their families can live happily.
Lastly, the way parents and children communicate is different. American families often express their love directly by telling so, hugging, or kissing each other. On the contrary, this is very rare for Japanese families. It is even common for Japanese children to be embarrassed to tell their gratitude toward their parents directly by words.
In conclusion, American parents are direct and Japanese parents are indirect in expressing their love for their children. This probably comes from the culture. It is often said that American people express their feelings clearly in order to communicate, while Japanese people cherishes the habit of tacit understanding. This indirectness doesn’t enable Japanese children to realize that they must be thankful to their parents as early as American children do. I think this relates to the problem of Japanese children killing their parents, which is frequently on the news these days.

Autumn

2006-10-18T17:01:00.000-07:00

In Japan, we have very nice weather in autumn.
It's the best time to do any activities.
That's why we call autumn as "食欲の秋","芸術の秋", and "スポーツの秋".
食欲の秋 means that we really enjoy eating in the autumn.
This is the best season for chestnut, persimmon, grape, and saury.
芸術の秋 means that we get absorbed in art or music, and
スポーツの秋 means that we play sports enthusiastically.
The school festival and the sports festival are both held in autumn at Waseda.
Are you enjoying autumn?

Nice to meet you!!

2006-10-08T23:42:00.000-07:00

Hello. My name is Hono.
I'm from Shizuoka.
I lived in Georgia for 5 years and in California for 6 years.
I play the saxophone in a brass band club in Waseda.
I love listening to music. I usually listen to Japanese pops,
but I want to be more familiar with American musicians.
I hope you will tell me about some musicians or songs you like!