2012-09-11, 17:18 | Link #2421 | |
Banned
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Quote:
..That's why Nii-nii goes to school to meet Haruka without taking a morning bath..... |
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2012-09-12, 20:48 | Link #2422 |
Knight Errant
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Age: 36
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As far as I can see, Anime is definitely not a realistic depiction of Japanese family life. The reason parents are so rare in Anime is simply because Parents would get in the way. It's similar in western literature, there's an alarmingly high number of orphans (Luke Skywalker of Star Wars is a case in point, he has no parents, and what parents he has die in the first half hour of the film. He seems to get over it pretty quickly, all things considered).
From what I can see, Japanese families are fairly close, and parents are keen to look after their kids, and in fact I'd say are more likely to overly coddle them then not. For instance, look at all NEETs and hikikomoris living with their parents, the parents usually trying to do their best by their dysfunctional children, when in fact "tough love" might be the best answer. As an interesting aside, from what I've heard the whole "harsh chinese parenting" thing is also likely a cliché at this point. While there was truth to it in the past (and hey, in the west we had corporal punishment!), it seems today most Chinese parents seem to prefer taking a kinder approach. Apparently popular parenting book titles include "A Good Mother Is Better than a Good Teacher" and "Education of Love". I recently watched parts of a BBC documentary called "Chinese Schools", while schooling in China is far from perfect (every kid is a young pioneer! Crazy examinations!), the parents on the whole seemed pretty normal. There are some crazy committed parents out there, who make their kids into study machines, but then doesn't that happen everywhere? I knew kids at my school who were studying 5 hours a day (in addition to 9 hours of schooling). Anyway, I'd say the parenting landscapes in other countries are pretty difficult to describe in only a few paragraphs. But I'd say that there's more variation in parenting style within a country, then there is between countries. |
2012-09-12, 21:47 | Link #2423 |
NYAAAAHAAANNNNN~
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 35
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Study till night was a hit in my Primary and Secondary school days. Some of my foreign friends still don't believe me when I was caned for scoring below 80% in any test or exam, while the local ones thought it was pretty normal other than the caning part : most were just nagged at.
Until the second Gulf War when the economy took a hit, they realised that the cert is more worthless than it looks because you still get sacked if your company doesn't do well. Then they start investing in alternative skills for their kids, for me it was worse off because my dad lost his job and could't afford "alternative skills training" for both his kids - so I started working as a verbal punching bag instead. Studying till dawn is a ludicrous idea; you can be the best in your field, what if the money flows out of your industry? Being the best makes nonsense when you can't find a job to suit it.
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2012-09-12, 21:55 | Link #2424 | |
Knight Errant
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Age: 36
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Quote:
I think Immigrants tend to spur their children on much harder. From what I've heard, Irish-Americans back in the day put a lot of pressure on their kids to do well, while I can say with some degree of certainty that that kind of competitive educational culture doesn't really exist in Ireland. As for the Caning, well, Corporal Punishment is not unique to Asia. My dad had a story where the Christian Brothers hung a boy out of a window by his feet... |
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2012-09-12, 22:14 | Link #2425 |
うるとらぺど
Join Date: Oct 2004
Age: 44
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From the way the Japanese society and family function, I'm interested in how the parents feel if their children falls into the extreme sides of life as yakuzas, fuzokujous and AV actors. Will the children be disowned or the parents resign to the fact ?
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2012-09-12, 23:31 | Link #2430 | |
勇者
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Tesla Leicht Institute
Age: 34
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Speaking of AV
Japan sees surge in aspiring adult film actresses; 6,000 said to debut each year Quote:
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2012-09-13, 00:00 | Link #2433 |
Nyaaan~~
Join Date: Feb 2006
Age: 41
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So, speaking of something "sort of" culture related. Back when I was Japan in April, I noticed two things Japanese cuisine related different in North America that surprised me considering I thought I knew a decent amount about the cultural before I went (..I guess I'm easily surprised)
1) Certain restaurants or cuisine types are considered "high end" there vs. being gimmicky and considered cheap in North America - Tempura & Teppanyaki Restaurants 2) Miso soup in Japan is not served at the beginning of a meal but along with the rest of the cooked food. I actually asked the nicer restaurants that I frequent here in Toronto why and was told: "People here are just used to having soup as an appetizer" |
2012-09-13, 00:34 | Link #2434 | |
うるとらぺど
Join Date: Oct 2004
Age: 44
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Quote:
If you are good, it might actually leads to something better. |
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2012-09-13, 00:51 | Link #2435 | |
( ಠ_ಠ)
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Somewhere, between the sacred silence and sleep
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Quote:
And likewise, the common everyday food we eat, is almost never seen in US. Most popular food are like Japanese style curry rice, ramen, gyudon (and other cheap donburi), soba and udon, etc. But no, EVERY freakin Japanese restaurants here in US are about sushi, tenpura, more sushi, and sushi. WTF. The restaurant I went near where I live (in US) served 5 pieces of Takoyaki at seven bucks, and small side of yakisoba at eight. Those are supposed to be CHEAP JUNK FOOD for god's sake. That's like serving french fries and tacos for 7~8 bucks. Japanese restaurants in the west are absolutely NOT a representation of everyday Japanese meal. Not even close.
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2012-09-13, 01:33 | Link #2438 |
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 67
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I'm somewhat lucky. We have a dozen or so mom'n'pop Japanese restaurants in my area that are actually run by Japanese and actually do regular Japanese food (though they do sushi as well). A couple even do seasonal dishes popular in Japan. Then we have 3 or 4 what I'd call "hoity" restaurants like aohige describes. Touristy... and unrepresentative.
We have several actual Korean-run Korean restaurants. They're always seem excited to see "da white people" come in. Last time my son and I were in one, we ordered a sampler mix and the owner stood there and talked about each dish, what part of Korea it was from... it was a good thing we didn't have an agenda, but he was entertaining. On the other hand, the innumerable "teriyaki places" are almost always run by Koreans. Yeah, I can tell the difference in the languages. Often I get sense of "we don't care, just buy it"... What is a weird experience is I'm starting to see a lot of latino cooks in the "teriyaki" and "kaiten-zushi" places. Some of them are very creative but ... I can see why Japan was thinking about "global sushi rangers" to patrol.
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2012-09-13, 08:05 | Link #2439 |
Knight Errant
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Age: 36
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Personally I don't like Sushi and prefer Ramen and other soups. But to be honest, where I am the Japanese places are simply overpriced with subpar food.
The best ethnic places in Ireland are currently the Kebab joints. There's also a fairly large number of Chinese places, some of which are pretty good. There's also a section of the city that has decent Korean food. I think the key to good ethnic food is numbers. You need to have a large number of the places crammed into a small area, and so have price competition and competition for food quality. And to get those numbers you need to have large numbers of that ethnic community. Not only because you need those numbers to start restaurants, but also because the best restaurants largely cater to their own community first, and "natives" second. In Ireland there's a lot of Chinese and Arabs, but very few Japanese. That's why our Japanese food is overpriced and subpar, there's not enough competition. Generally there's a few criteria you should use when evaluating an ethnic restaurant: 1. Decor, the trendier it is, the worse the food will be. 2. Clientele, the greater the proportion of people eating there that are of the ethnicity, the better the food. 3. Competition, If you see the same genre of food being served just across the street, the food and prices will be better. 4. Menu, See a chinese menu with weird dishes almost entirely written in Chinese that's got poorly translated English subtitles? Go for it. So if you find a lone good looking Japanese place on the trendiest street, filled with trendy 20 something Irish people you're going to get shafted. Instead, go to the ethnic "ghetto", find a dingy Korean place filled Korean old dudes and families, right across the street from 2 or 3 other Korean places where you can barely read the menu, and feel secure that you have probably struck gold. And the trendiness thing is particularly true. There was a Sichuanese place I used to go to all the time, amazing place, always crowded. It recently switched to a new location and went all "Up market", it's food is now shit. Alas, I never go there any more (now I cook my own!). |
Tags |
culture, discussion, japan, japanese culture |
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