Yet another way anime does not reflect real Japan...

[Darthtabby]

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/201.../#.VRbqReFSI2I

So apparently in Japan Home Economics courses have been mandatory for both genders since the early 90s. This is not something I tend to see reflected in anime at all. On the rare occasion when Home Economics comes up, it seems to be treated as something for girls. And it's pretty common for characters to have issues with cooking.

[IceHism]

There's no proof that this requirement is reflected in all schools.

[GDiddy]

Uh.....my school had Home Ec for both genders. And this was back in the early 90s.

[Triple_R]

To be fair, a few anime shows do have a male lead that cooks for others or at least cooks for himself. Toradora! and Free! immediately come to mind. Yakitate!! Japan and Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate are other examples, though admittedly the show's very premise calls for cooking/food preparation in these cases.

The "guy's (prospective) girlfriend is a horrible cook, and many jokes are made out of her preparing (bad-tasting) food for him" is indeed over-used in anime, and it's worth criticizing, but I think it's mostly a matter of just lazy writing. There's certain standbys - We all know what they are, so I'm not going to bother to describe them in detail - That anime keeps coming back to because it's quick and easy, and this cooking one is one of them.

Edit: Also, IIRC, most of the professional cooks in Hanasaku Iroha were male. And most of the mochi makers in Tamako Market were also male, IIRC.

[Flower]

Originally Posted by GDiddy

Uh.....my school had Home Ec for both genders. And this was back in the early 90s.

Same here...and this was back in the middle 80's. However just because a home ec class exists does not in any way mean people will actually learn to cook from it. Some folks learn how to cook before they leave the nest, and unsurprisingly some have more of a knack for it than others.

Others pick it up at a job related to food service sometimes nd others are shown by friends or acquaintences of "ye olde skool o harde knocks" after being on their own. Once again though, even with the employment, through friends and acquaintences or the experimental learning method there are still differences both in having a knack for it and having skilled mentors or instructors or whatever.

[scififan]

Originally Posted by Darthtabby

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/201.../#.VRbqReFSI2I

So apparently in Japan Home Economics courses have been mandatory for both genders since the early 90s. This is not something I tend to see reflected in anime at all. On the rare occasion when Home Economics comes up, it seems to be treated as something for girls. And it's pretty common for characters to have issues with cooking.

Where is the basis of early 90s claim?

In late 90s, Japan's Education Ministry made Home Economic as the compulsory education for both gender. It was 1998(applied to some life skills) and 2008(applied to all life skills).
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%8A%...AE%B6%E5%BA%AD

However, Education Ministry's Curriculum Gudielines only have the major impacts to Japan's public schools(administered by the national government and the local government).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curriculum_guideline

[Darthtabby]

The Japan Times article I linked to above indicates it was made mandatory in the early 90s.

Homemaking classes became mandatory for junior high school students in 1993 and senior high students in 1994.

So does this CBC News article that makes note of the development in the context of Japan's low obesity rate. (This is actually the article that first brought it to my attention.)

Twenty-two years ago, home economics became a core course, like science and math.

[Tempester]

I never got the impression from anime that home economics wasn't a required subject for Japanese schools. Anime just tends to avoid showing classes altogether so of course you won't get to see them doing home economics class that often.

[aohige]

Originally Posted by Darthtabby

The Japan Times article I linked to above indicates it was made mandatory in the early 90s.



So does this CBC News article that makes note of the development in the context of Japan's low obesity rate. (This is actually the article that first brought it to my attention.)

I am baffled that "food and nutrition education" still is not a mandatory part of American education system.

I mean seriously.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by aohige

I am baffled that "food and nutrition education" still is not a mandatory part of American education system.

I mean seriously.

To be honest I'm no longer baffled at anything the American education system left out anymore

[Nicaea]

Originally Posted by aohige

I am baffled that "food and nutrition education" still is not a mandatory part of American education system.

I mean seriously.

I bet there will
be someone out there to protest loudly if even an attempt implementation was done.

Imo I'm not sure if it really is just due to classes not being shown in anime. That being said, there is a limit in scenes ome can put per episode.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by aohige

I am baffled that "food and nutrition education" still is not a mandatory part of American education system.

I mean seriously.

We're still too busy debating if pizza is a health food. It's also far from the worst of the problems afflicting American education.

[RichardFromMarple]

Originally Posted by Tempester

I never got the impression from anime that home economics wasn't a required subject for Japanese schools. Anime just tends to avoid showing classes altogether so of course you won't get to see them doing home economics class that often.

One episode of Lucky Star has the main girls cooking at school, not sure if any boys are in the scene, though in general their screentime are keep to a minimum.

[Tempester]

Originally Posted by RichardFromMarple

One episode of Lucky Star has the main girls cooking at school, not sure if any boys are in the scene, though in general their screentime are keep to a minimum.

Yeah, and Mashiro-iro Symphony also had a scene involving home economics that was relevant to the plot of the two schools combining.

I didn't say that home economics classes were completely absent from anime and I wasn't asking for examples, which is why I said "tends to".

[aohige]

Originally Posted by Solace

We're still too busy debating if pizza is a health food. It's also far from the worst of the problems afflicting American education.

Well, I figured being one of the top, if not THE top, first world nation with obesity and diabetic problems, nutrition education may be somewhat a priority.
There are so many average citizens that doesn't know the first thing about it.

And lol at the pizza thing. I heard some school district was arguing it's considered "veggies".

[Akito Kinomoto]

For some reason my initial instinct insists on saying something like when did anyone ever think anime reflected real Japan? even though we're talking about culture references and not social...behavior(?).

What a weird thread.

Originally Posted by aohige

And lol at the pizza thing. I heard some school district was arguing it's considered "veggies".

Why not consider it oishi?

[Fizix]

I'm baffled that anyone would expect or even begin to consider anime to reflect real Japan. Sure there will be some representation of the real Japan, to lesser or greater extents depending upon the show. However anyone who expects a medium like anime to accurately represent Japan is being a tad naive.

[Triple_R]

On the pizza tangent:

The good thing about pizza is that it's one of the easiest ways to get all four major food groups into one meal. With just one meat topping and at least one veggie topping, you have all four food groups in one meal. So pizza is one way to get veggies into your diet if you don't like eating veggies alone, and pizza is also one way to get dairy/cheese into your diet if you don't eat cheese alone and don't drink milk much.

The bad thing about pizza is its typically high calorie content. Bread and cheese tend to have high calorie content, and pizza typically has a lot of bread (pizza crust) and a lot of cheese. I've found it pretty hard to find decent pizza that isn't killer for a Weight Watchers diet.


What I wrote above is probably common knowledge, but for the sake of those who might not be familiar with some of it, I thought I'd throw it out there.

[aohige]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

The bad thing about pizza is its typically high calorie content. Bread and cheese tend to have high calorie content, and pizza typically has a lot of bread (pizza crust) and a lot of cheese. I've found it pretty hard to find decent pizza that isn't killer for a Weight Watchers diet.

And... High in fat. High in cholesterol. High in glucose.

Sorry I'm staying way too off topic.
We did have home economics when I was going to school in Japan in the late 80s, but it wasn't limited to girls, I recall being in it too.
I just don't know if it was mandatory. At least for the one I attended, it was unisex.

[Darthtabby]

I chose the title of this topic as a way of acknowledging that there are so many "are these anime tropes anything like real life" topics on this subforum.

I don't expect anime to be completely realistic. But I'd expect it to reflect widespread social trends and attitudes somewhat. When it came to this topic, I got pretty much the opposite impression of what the reality is.

Plus I think this is an interesting topic.