Jung Hyesoo

2007-01-11T18:47:00.000-08:00

When I read the chapter of sexuality and talked about it in the class, I was really shocked by the sexual culture of American and Japanese teenagers. I heard many times that teenagers in America and Japan have opened mind in the terms of sexuality, but its reality that is indicated in this book and the film that our classmates and Colorado students made was very surprising and shocking.
Although this book was somewhat outdated, the percentage which shows that how many teenagers have engaged in sexual intercourse, has had a sexually transmitted disease and do not use birth-control measures was very high. They seemed not to feel guilty about doing sexual interaction and being pregnant when teenagers. The reactions of Colorado student against the questions about sexuality were also very free while I had been thought that those things can not be so proud. The film made by Waseda students also well showed Japanese sexuality. They also very freely do sexual interactions and the age of the first experience was declining. The number of partners was also shocking which can means they do those things without love.
In my county, Korea, it seems that general opinions about sexuality are changing now. However, they tend to hide those things yet, and its percentage is also not very high comparing to that of Japanese and American teenagers. Of course I can not define what is wrong and opinions about it can be varied by each person, but climbing number of abortion between teenagers is definitely very big social problem and they have to be responsible for their behaviors.

2006-12-21T21:32:00.000-08:00

Talking with classmate about the chapter of Friendship, the story about friends and lovers was very interesting. Girls tend to be apart from friends when she has a boyfriend because they envy and jealous her making them uncomfortable in terms of relationship. So usually they make groups separately, which are the group of “having boyfriends” and that of “not having boyfriends.” Of course, it is natural that a girl who have a boyfriend doesn’t have much time to be with her friends compared to before because of dating or something, but it was quite shock that they make separated groups. I also had and have a boyfriend, but I didn’t experience these things and it seems not to have existed between my friends. I believe it is not very common to all the Japanese girls.
I agreed to the part of Shinyu in the book. It seemed to be very similar with the concept of “Befu” in Korean which is the abbreviation of “Best friend.” White says Japanese girls have “Tomodachi” who are just friends or acquaintance and “Shinyu” which means “Best friend.” They share emotional things and talk about a secret or personal things with their “Shinyu.” They have something like a responsibility to their best friend while they just play and taik about not very serious things such as a issue of favorite singer, a trend of clothes or something with “Tomodachi.” I also had some “Shinyu” in my school life and I told my secrets or both serious and petty worries to only them because we liked and trusted each other as a real friend. They always gave me a solution through deep talking and I was also often a companion they could be lean when they were in difficult time. It may be almost same all over the world.

2006-11-30T20:52:00.000-08:00

What is most impressive in chapter 5 ‘Material Child’ was the part of ‘Kawaii culture’. Actually, after I came to Japan, I was very confused by this ‘kawaii culture.’ As well as children, adult women also like cute characters very much, and I found almost everyone has some ‘kawaii’ things which other people might think it is not match with adults. Most of the girls like to say ‘Kawaii~’ when they see some characters or the things which is made of cute and popular characters. It was not understandable to me actually. They were definitely cute and pretty, but I would not buy those things because adults should be more mature and it does not go with grown up people, I think. There are some people who like especially those cute things in my country, but its number is not very large as that of Japan and we do not name it as a special culture. It was very interesting and somewhat funny.
The content about magazines was also interesting. Magazines in Japan provide a lot of information about clothes, accessory, cosmetics and so on which are seen as obligatory for success as a communicating teenager. I have seen magazines in Japan, and its amount of information was great. Also in my country, magazines are likely to act as those of Japan, but it seems that Japan’s magazines have more various information and it kinds are more plentiful.
I always feel that Japan’s material culture is varied in tremendous kinds. I can not say that it affect Japanese in good aspects, but it will be still most interesting thing to me living in Japan as a foreigner.

2006-11-16T08:52:00.000-08:00

We discussed the school life in Japan and USA in the class and I could compare the differences between two countries. At first, there was a big difference in study and other activity hours. It was a little different from what the writer said in the book because her research was out of date, but what we discussed in the class showed us that the schools in Japan demand students to study much more and reduce the time in sports or other activities. My country is also in this situation but I always have been blamed it and thought that it is not a good policy to educate students to be healthy and rich in originality. Of course when a student study more he/she might be bright in studying, but more important thing in his/her growing would be healthiness both spiritually and physically and various experiences in a variety of fields. In that sense, I want to evaluate the education policy of USA with more value. The other thing I was impressed was a part of Sempai-Kohai. I am quite familiar with this culture in school because it is also important in school life as well as other societies such as company in my country. Especially my high school was strict in the relationship between Sempai and Kohai, and I felt it is quite similar with that of Japan after I came to Japan. It seems that there is no special concept concerned with it in USA. It might come from each different culture which has been lasted since long time ago, and both good points and bad points exist. When we are strict in the relationship with Sempai or Kohai, we would be more respectful each other but it might be a useless thing like one of the abuses which can disturb a familiar relation and other many things in school life. There were many differences and similarities between two countries in school life and thanks to the book and classmates who came from Japan and western countries I could get many facts about the school life in each country.

2006-10-26T22:42:00.000-07:00

Chapter 3 in this book explains about the similarities and differences in the families of Japan and America. The problems in the families might be almost general and similar anywhere in the world, and I also agree with her explanation and opinions. The most interesting thing was the part about ‘Pressure and Paradoxes.’ Fortunately, my parents were not very strict and made me quite free. So I could often talk with them about my personal problems and curiosities about sex which she mentioned as the one of the biggest paradoxes in both countries. However, many of my friends were confusing because of their parents’ contradictory attitudes. As she said, they were not willing to give any information about sex to their children, and some people shamed about even their menses with their parents though it is a natural thing to teenager girls. When we talked about that in the class, it seemed to remain still as a big problem in Japan. I think all parents should realize what this situation would cause problems both personally and socially. The other impressive thing was ‘kyoiku mama(education obsessed mother)’ in Japan. Of course almost all parents in the world may want their children to grow as a competent person, but it is not very good attitude ultimately for them, I think. It may be the most extreme case to kill neighbor who played noisy so that her daughter could not study, but there are many mothers like her while saying like “This is good just for you. I don’t want you to be under pressure” also in my country, Korea. However, children actually feel it as a paradox and stress more than as a good motivation. Besides, there are some students who suicide owing to this stressful paradox. Her comparison between two countries was quite agreeable and I felt that the problems are almost same with parents in other counties.