August 4 - Reading Assignments - Discussion

When I browsed through the article describing the parasite single women in Japan, I can not help myself of thinking that quite a few of my college friends in Taiwan who choose not to get married. Even though some of them eventually married, they often complain about little time left for their own. In a male dominated society, it is not an individual power to shake the conventional belief, that is, the meaning of life for some is to reproduce their own child. Many Hollywood movies also encourage women to get their own life full of fun to shop, to hang out with their friends, to create a lifestyle for care-free leisure activities. The peer influence at school has a leading impact upon many young women in Asia. Undeniably, it seems very shallow for such a protest among Asian women. Yet the revolutionary road to ultimate freedom is a price for them to pay off.

As I read the article, the thought dominant was that women who are evaluating the tradional role assigned to them are now causing a problem for the society. Marriage and child-bearing age is being raised in many cultures. In some cultures the reason is merely women going for careers. Who labels these women as parasites?? Could this just be a male perspective????

After reading the Articles about the Consumer Revolution in Postwar Japan, and about the attempts to transform the consumption concepts of the Japanese families through the change of eating, clothing and housing habits, and reading about all of the advertising and "aggressive" marketing that goes along with the changing of traditionally "Frugal" habits into "consumer" habits, it seemed like I was looking into a mirror and watching one society turn into a reflection of our society.
I feel a bit conflicted, because I see some of the bad things that a "consumer" oriented society has brought to the Japanese society during the 1960's. Some of which included changing from an extended family unit into the nuclear families in which two-income couples became more common. A change from Frugality as a virtue, to the ideal of getting more and more "stuff."
The readings also showed us that progress does come at a price. The pollution caused by chemical fertilizer run-off consumed by the fish and then humans, caused mercury poisoning for many. Again, it was like looking in a mirror, especially when reading about how the companies tried to cover it up. I never used to think about things like "carbon footprints,” but our Governments' approach to the rebuilding of Japan really lead to their increase in these “bad" things that came along with modernizing a society along capitalistic lines.
However, the more I thought about these "bad" elements, I began to think about how far Japan has come along to help the world to reduce this "carbon footprint" with energy saving appliances, factories and cars. And how their development of medical and computer technologies have helped to save lives all over the world. I can see both sides of the consumer revolution issue in Japan, and I also see that the struggles they encountered in the 1960's were necessary in order to get to where they are today.
I think there will be a lot of lively discussions tomorrow about this topic.

I truly enjoyed the readings for today. I especially enjoyed the Korean readings. The "Lost Names" excerpt was fraught with emotion. I ordered the book so I can read it all. I also like the Korean readings because they would be easy for my students to understand. The pictures that were included in the lesson about Korea, the junk, etc, are great resources for visual and EL learners. My only concern is how to include Korea into my curriculum.

The Japanese "parasite" article was also interesting. Being almost the same age as the girls in the piece, I have to say, it would be great to smooch off the parents, not have to worry about bills, and be able to buy Prada and Gucci. I know conversation was brought up yesterday about being perceived as being hard workers, with all the long hours, but really not, how does this piece hold up to that theory? I know the stats show the aging rate proves this is happening, but how many women actually go shopping for the Gucci's and spend their money like water?

Japan readings
From: An Oral History
Life Goes On: The End of a Bake Shop
I really enjoyed reading the oral histories because of the different perspective that they illustrate. What I liked about “The End of a Bake Shop” was that it was concise yet it still painted a clear and vivid picture of what life was like during WWII, from food rationing to fear of bombing. And the speaker is not a military person so it’s the perspective from a person on the street so to speak. This short narrative demonstrates how despite the war life went on; people still survived, looked out for each other, and supported each other. Not only that but the piece also shows the perseverance of the protagonist to succeed and try to stay in business as long as she was able until finally anything she lost her last tool; her bread machine.

I don't blame the parasite women, in fact I was one for a few years, living at my parents, making a good salary and going on great vacations. But I am also different then the parasites in that I lived at my parents to make moving out and starting a family a reality. et, if I had to entirely give up my professional career to have a family (which it seems you do if there is no part-time accomdations in Japan and business meetings are at 8 pm) I think I would delay child-rearing for as long as possible. What is frustrating about this situation is the refusal to change work conditions in Japan. The conservative party wants to increase child subsidies but that does not allow women to work but instead just gives them a reason to stay home and be bored. Europe enacted a law that requires companies to grant both the husband and wife 6 months off (with a stipend) after the birth of a child. Prior to this only women were given the paid time off and therefore employers didn't want to hire women b/c it would incur a burden- this new law ends the discrimation. Japan needs to make these reforms, to end the workplace discrimination and allow women to work and be moms.

As for the Korea readings, I can't believe the Japanese went through all this trouble of forcing Koreans to change their names. The new names would only create a lasting bitterness. The story about the Korean marathon runner wearing the Japan jersey and running under his Japanese name is crazy. The Japanese had some nerve. But this is a great story to show Japanese hubris/aggression. - its on page 406 of the reader

I will definitely incorporate this in my business/econ class.

Japan's culture of setting a collective goal then working hard and making personal sacrifices to achieve it. Whether it was for the Shogun/Region, the Emperor/Asian Empire, or the Economy/Nation they could turn on a dime and make it happen. I will explore what it takes to create that culture, perhaps compare it to the culture at Poly which is highly competitive. Then we will look at the 1990's recession and the cost of those victories. What values did Japan give up?

The readings also made me want to explore further into their labor shortage. Will they choose to let go of sexism and hire women/daycare workers, give up xenophobia and treat their immigrants better, or just build more robots?