Haruka's blog

A Short Essay about 'Sexuality'.

2007-01-09T00:07:00.000-08:00

In this book, White says that AIDS rate in America is high and going up. However, I have heard that AIDS rate is highest in Japan in all developed countries. I remember I was so surprised at that time. I think the education system is one of the reasons for this fact. A teacher of mine has said that text books of Health study in Japan are thinner that in America. Japan has a problem of lack of information about AIDS. Japanese teenagers do not receive enough information about AIDS, so it results in the highest rate. We know that AIDS is very serious ill of course, but perhaps we do not know how serious it is. We tend to think such things like problem that other people have, not but that we might experience.
White also said that teenager pregnancy rate is higher in America than that in Japan. AIDS rate is higher in Japan, but it is opposite in the case of teenager pregnancy.Why? I do not know the following explanation is the accurate reason, but according to White, Japanese people tend to think that sexual activity is not most important thing. Japanese think that to enter good university and friendship are more important than sexual activity. Moreover, White says that Japanese are less worried about pregnancy and AIDS than American do. I made a following conclusion of the question. Japanese teens are less interested in sexual activity than American teens, so it results in catching AIDS in one time sexual experience. However, about pregnancy, there is more information about birth control in magazines that teens often buy, so they know about it and they can avoid teenager pregnancy.
According to White, going out for most Japanese is to go movie and amusement area with same-sex friends. She added “Dating in pairs is an awkward business for Japanese teens”. She also said that older teens and twenties rely on friends for finding boyfriend or girlfriend and they rely on computer dating services, too. Compared in Japan, American teens often go to going out with different sex, and it depends on age that going out in pairs or groups. I think it is true that going out is to go shopping or movies with same-sex for teens, in Japan. However, it depends on age how and with whom teens go to going out. In my experience, teens in junior high tend to go out as a group with different sex and same sex. In high school, there are more couples in school, so they go out as a couple. After enter university, I think it became less awkward to go out with different sex. I do not know whether there are many people who rely on computer dating services or not, but it is true that there are people who rely on their friends to find their boyfriend or girlfriend. Moreover, there are university students who go to “Goukon” which means to have a dinner, drinking party or to go to karaoke with different sex who have not known each other as a group to find a boyfriend or a girlfriend, I have not experienced it, though.

Short essay about 'Friendship'

2006-12-12T05:37:00.000-08:00

I recognized that there are two meanings of ‘friends’ by reading this chapter. These are ‘group fiends’ and ‘best friend’. I had not been conscious about this fact until I read this chapter. However, there is exactly the separation. In Japanese junior high and high school, we are separated into classes. Within one class, there are about 40 students. We spent almost all of the time in the class and the classes last for 1 year. Because of this system, we can naturally make friends with classmates within the class, and gradually we come to be with a certain friend or certain group friends. I spent a lot of time with my group friends. There were about 10 people and within the group, there was my best friend. I really enjoyed these days with my group friends for example, chatting, going to karaoke, having lunch together and so on. However, I told most important things only to my best friend. I do not mean I did not want to talk about kind of secrets with my group friend, but I felt relaxed the best when I was with my best friend.
I have to mention club activity friends. I had also this kind of friends. I experienced a lot of things because I belonged to a brass band club. We practiced almost everyday even during summer holidays. We challenged hard things together. For example, there was a competition once a year, and we performed at our school festival. Through these experiences, our relationship became strong. For Japanese students, club activity is really important, so these experiences and club activity friends are our treasure.
Influence from friends is great deal among teens. Teens tend to spend more time with friends than parents. If we have a worry, we often talk about it with our friends. It is because we feel embarrassed if we talk about such thing with our parents. Friends are in our generation, so they can feel our problem closer. It is true that there are some bad influences from friends such as smoking and alcohol, but we can gain more important thing by spending with friends. In this chapter, there is story about a person who says she became to think how close she and her friends are is important. I think so, too. I thought that how many friends I have is important before, but gradually, I came to think that how close I and certain friends can become is more important. I really enjoyed my junior high and high school days, so I would like to treasure my friends.

Materialism

2006-11-27T20:45:00.000-08:00

《Materialism》
　　　　There are many goods in our society and teens express themselves by their clothes and possessions. I think it is natural to by what we want to wear and have, but I think it is true that we buy some goods because of the influence marketing industry as White says for the following reason. There are many advertisements in our society. Magazines also encourage us to buy certain things. Moreover, especially in Japan, goods that are relating to some characters sell well.
First, we can see a lot of advertisements in our daily life. For example, we can find advertisements of magazines, books, cell-phones and drinks in trains. Many teens use trains to go to school, shopping and part-time job so they can look such advertisements. Another example of advertisement is in magazines. We can see advertisements of shops, perfumes, shoes and so on in girls’ fashion magazine. We gain new information from such advertisements and come to want to buy them.
Second, magazines provide not only advertisements but also provide information of fashion. As white says, in Japan, many teens want to buy trendy things. I buy one or two fashion magazine a month. There is new information of clothes every month. I often buy clothes that I found in magazines. Shops also say that “ This clothe is on the magazine!!” I think it is the marketing strategy.
Third, in Japan, character goods are popular among teens who are especially junior high and high school students. For example, there are many Disney Stores and students buy towels, key rings, pencil cases and so on. They want to buy whatever things relating to such character. Many students’ school bags are similar looking because of this reason. It can be said that we are influenced by marketing industry, but it is not always a bad thing. I think many Japanese can feel comfortable when we are wearing clothes that are popular and trendy on the time. I do not want to wear exactly the same clothes as my friends’, but we can express what kind of person we are by our possessions. We are surrounded by a lot of information, so it will become more important to think how we can express our personality, choosing what to buy from variety.

A short essay about school

2006-11-09T01:58:00.000-08:00

《School》
According to White, schools play a significant role on teens’ life. She also says that it is not always in classrooms but also outside classrooms that something important happens. I think it is true from my own experience when I was in a junior high school and a high school. First, I belonged to a brass band club and practiced almost everyday. I might have spent my time longer with my club friends than with classmates. Second, I enjoyed going home with my friends and going out on weekends. We talked a lot when we were walking to a station from our school and went to many places on week ends. For example, we often went to shopping, karaoke, and watching movies. I think these days had a great effect on a development of my mind.
Some Colorado students posted about school uniform and we talked about it in a class. Colorado students said that in America, students can wear whatever they want, but they cannot wear clothes that promote smoking and alcohol. Students are also allowed to wear piercing and tattoo. I was so surprised because in Japan, many students have to wear school uniform and maybe tattoo is not allowed. Wearing school uniform makes students cooperative. For this reason, I think that it is not always bad for students’ personality. I have to explain my high school rule. We did not have any exact school rule in my high school, but we had to wear school uniform. There were people who were wearing piercing and dying their hair. The length of skirt was not checked at all. I myself enjoyed wearing my school uniform. However, there are many schools where students have to wear their school uniform following a certain manner. This is the big difference between in America and in Japan.
In the book, White says that American students do not have assignments on summer holidays except a small amount of reading. Contrast to that, in Japan, we have to do a lot of home work during summer holidays. For example, I had to do some workbooks and we were supposed to take examination relating to these workbooks in the beginning of the next semester. In addition, the test was done to check whether students did review of last semester or not, so we had to study a lot for few weeks in the last part of a summer holidays.

A short essay about family

2006-10-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

《Family》
There were some points I would like to think about more in the book “The Material Child” by White. First, in her book, it is mentioned that both in America and Japan, sometimes teens tend to avoid being together with their family in their house, but they still have time to spend with their family. I think it is true in Japan. When I was junior high school and high school student, I studied in my room before I have some tests, but except the time, I think I was always talking to someone in my family. However, I think there is a difference between boys and girls. Girls tend to talk with their family about, for example, things that happened at school more than boys do.
Second, I was surprised at the terms “Mam’s Boy” and “Daddy’s Little Girl” which one of the Colorado students introduced. I also heard that in America, the relationship between mother and her daughter is the worst, but in Japan, the relationship between father and her daughter is said to be the worst, so it is opposite in America and in Japan. I think this is because Japanese fathers tend to treasure their job than their family more than American fathers do. It probably made the relationship between Japanese mother and her daughter closer than Japanese father and his daughter. Moreover, in my opinion, it is easier to talk with mothers about things about me than with my father for girls.
Third, in the class blog, one of the Colorado students talked about his experience of his parents’ divorce, and in the class discussion, I heard that divorce is more acceptable in America than in Japan. I think it is true that divorce has a negative image in Japan though it is better than before. In contrast, in America, half of the couple ends in divorce, but the relationship between couple’s families are surprisingly good even after they divorced. I think the divorce does not always have a negative influence on their children, so I hope the image of divorce will become better in Japan like in America.

Haruka's blog

2006-10-11T00:51:00.000-07:00

Hi, I'm Haruka Hirosawa. I'm a freshman in Waseda University.
I belong to international club and often talk to students from foreing countries,
so I'm very glad to have this opportunity to talk to students in Colorado.
Thank you!!