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Old 2008-06-10, 11:57   Link #661
Happy_Chip
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Join Date: Aug 2004
There's been some heavy-duty discussions in this thread.

On a lighter note, I'll ask Naoya-san (or whomever else wants to answer) a question:

Is there peanut butter in Japan? Is this something people usually eat? (smeared on bread to make a sandwich?)
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Old 2008-06-10, 12:02   Link #662
Happy_Chip
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf View Post
It so happens that the Japanese girl who rejected me was studying foreign policy at my university.
Ouch
sorry to hear that
I hope the rejection wasn't as dramatic as that scene in 'I can hear the sea'
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Old 2008-06-10, 12:31   Link #663
TinyRedLeaf
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Hmm...well...I don't even remember her name anymore...so I guess that means it's no longer a biggie for me.

Or it could also mean I was so traumatised that I've blacked out the memory...one of the benefits of growing older (and hopefully wiser).
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Old 2008-06-10, 21:35   Link #664
LiberLibri
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SeijiSensei View Post
In America a large segment of middle-class parents live in constant fear that their children will be snatched out from underneath their eyes by faceless strangers. As a result many children are driven all over town by their parents (usually their mothers) as they go from school to dance class to soccer practice.
I remember the surprise I got when I guided a class of schoolchildren from Chicago around Tokyo. They could not walk even more than one mile because they did not have the habit to do so. Their teacher explained to me the commuting affairs in the US. It caused me to have a question: why the country can sustain the powerful army when the nationals have weaker legs?

In Japan, children in public elementary schools gather every morning into local groups to commute. 登校班 (toukou-han / groups to go to the school) is their name. The senior children take leadership and care for the younger ones. Although no adults join to the group, major crossroads are covered by paid(*) and volunteer supervisors.

(* Once the job was offered to widows who lost their husbands in traffic accidents. Namely it was also charity policy for jobless widows. But these days volunteers come to take the major role.)

The time when the classes end differs according to the grades, so the group system is useless on the way home. But they can rely on gas stations an convenience stores when stalked by unfamiliar adults. Such shops have hot-lines to the police and help children escape. Below is the mark of hot-line shops.
Spoiler for Sticker:


I do not think the system is well made, but it is fact that Japan has relatively succeeded to suppress kidnapping so far. The middle table (marked 2 年少者略取誘拐) indicates the number of kidnapping cases of those less than 13 years old.
Spoiler for Table:


The green line shows the number of killed children in elementary schools.
Spoiler for Graph:

Last edited by LiberLibri; 2008-06-10 at 21:46.
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Old 2008-06-11, 11:44   Link #665
RandomGuy
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Osaka
Age: 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by Happy_Chip View Post
There's been some heavy-duty discussions in this thread.

On a lighter note, I'll ask Naoya-san (or whomever else wants to answer) a question:

Is there peanut butter in Japan? Is this something people usually eat? (smeared on bread to make a sandwich?)
It exists in Japanese supermarkets and you can indeed make sandwiches out of it, but it's kind of expensive for the amount you get and I'm the only person I've ever seen buying it. Take that as you will...
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Old 2008-06-11, 19:38   Link #666
LiberLibri
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Happy_Chip View Post
Is there peanut butter in Japan? Is this something people usually eat? (smeared on bread to make a sandwich?)
Yes, but most of the product are imported from the US, and the consumption amount in Japan is far less. Below is the photo of items sold in Japanese market. (Snoopy -> Peanuts -> peanut butter )


I think the peanuts cropped in Japan are rather turned into Kaki-Pi.
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Old 2008-06-11, 21:08   Link #667
Autumn Demon
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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What's the average distance students live from the school they attend? I would hate walking over two miles to school every morning, especially in the winter, but I'm fine walking home from school in the afternoon year round.
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Old 2008-06-11, 21:08   Link #668
Happy_Chip
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Thanks for the peanut butter insight.

LiberLibri you wrote:

Quote:
"I remember the surprise I got when I guided a class of schoolchildren from Chicago around Tokyo. They could not walk even more than one mile because they did not have the habit to do so. Their teacher explained to me the commuting affairs in the US. "
Children? You should see the physical condition of the average adult American. I recall when I've taken vacations in the US, being totally shocked at how unhealthily overweight everyone was. Not a few kg overweight, but really, really huge ...
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Old 2008-06-11, 21:17   Link #669
Kang Seung Jae
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Happy_Chip View Post
Children? You should see the physical condition of the average adult American. I recall when I've taken vacations in the US, being totally shocked at how unhealthily overweight everyone was. Not a few kg overweight, but really, really huge ...
What area were you in?
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Old 2008-06-11, 23:59   Link #670
Vexx
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It really doesn't matter what area.... Americans, on the average, are morbidly unhealthy - walking medical disasters. This is true in the Northwest, the South, the Southeast, the Southwest, the ... well, you get the idea. Except for the rare walking city (like SFO or NY), morbid obesity is completely out of hand.

Despite me supporting universal health care - I'd almost rather see a national mandate to trim and slim to improve basic health *status*.

My friends from Japan and Korea are universally appalled when they visit, my wife has not changed shape in 20 years yet has moved from size 4 to size 0 minus (the industry shifting numbers to make the fat happy they're a "size 6") -- and worst of all, all I have to do is walk the mall to feel thin when I'm actually 20 pounds overweight.
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Last edited by Vexx; 2008-06-12 at 00:10.
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Old 2008-06-12, 00:01   Link #671
Kang Seung Jae
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Join Date: Jul 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vexx View Post
It really doesn't matter what area.... Americans, on the average, are morbidly unhealthy - walking medical disasters. This is true in the Northwest, the South, the Southeast, the Southwest, the ... well, you get the idea. Except for the rare walking city (like SFO or NY), its completely out of hand.

Despite me supporting universal health care - I'd almost rather see a national mandate to trim and slim to improve basic health *status*.
The suburbs of Chicago seems healthy enough.
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Old 2008-06-12, 04:12   Link #672
RandomGuy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Happy_Chip View Post
Children? You should see the physical condition of the average adult American. I recall when I've taken vacations in the US, being totally shocked at how unhealthily overweight everyone was. Not a few kg overweight, but really, really huge ...
You're not kiddin'. I'm an American, and I was pretty overweight, but just about "average" for other people of my age and height in the country. Since I moved to Japan though, I've lost 50 pounds. In nine months. Not bad for a lifestyle change, eh? (Though now I am deathly afraid of what will happen when I go back...)
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Old 2008-06-12, 11:05   Link #673
Happy_Chip
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kang Seung Jae View Post
What area were you in?
I've travelled in the midwest and the east over the last ~15-20 years or so. Whenever I see people it really strikes me how out of shape everyone is.
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Old 2008-06-12, 11:11   Link #674
Happy_Chip
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Question about what constitutes children's anime in Japan?

The last time I was in Japan, I was in a smaller DVD/CD store [I can't recall where, but I don't think it was Akihabara].

In the part of the store that sold DVDs, there was a section labelled 'Kid's Anime'.

Within that section were DVDs of 'Girls Bravo' (!)

is this considered content appropriate for children? or was this some kind of mixup?
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Old 2008-06-12, 14:12   Link #675
Vexx
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Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 66
Yes, its content appropriate for japanese children since they weren't raised with ancient vestiges of puritan bipolar attitudes about sex

Seriously, there's little in Girls Bravo that *really* is inappropriate -- its just silly, bawdy humor that involves skin and embarrassment.

Kanokon, on the other hand, might be up for some debate as to "kid appropriate" even in Japan, but most industrialized countries outside the US are more concerned about kids viewing violence than skin.
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Old 2008-06-13, 04:50   Link #676
LiberLibri
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Happy_Chip View Post
The last time I was in Japan, I was in a smaller DVD/CD store [I can't recall where, but I don't think it was Akihabara].

In the part of the store that sold DVDs, there was a section labelled 'Kid's Anime'.

Within that section were DVDs of 'Girls Bravo' (!)

is this considered content appropriate for children? or was this some kind of mixup?
I think no. Girls Bravo is rated as R-15 (should be restricted to those less than 15 yo) by Eirin. However, unlike MPAA in the US, the rating system in Japan is quite voluntary and therefore has much less power neither de facto nor de jure. Nor an average Japanese do care for such small rating label attached to the package of DVD. Most of the working individuals in video shops are unprofessional part-timers, so it is possible "some kind of mixup" occur there.

By the way, as Vexx pointed, I admit Japanese people are (have been) tolerant on sexual imagination. Whoever sees Hokusai's artwork in 1820 could understand the origin of sexual aspect of otaku culture, I think.
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Old 2008-06-13, 08:00   Link #677
LiberLibri
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Autumn Demon View Post
What's the average distance students live from the school they attend? I would hate walking over two miles to school every morning, especially in the winter, but I'm fine walking home from school in the afternoon year round.
I could not find a good material for that. This is a map and statistics of public schools in Chigasaki. The pink borders indicate every elementary school's area, blues do junior high-school's. The table under the map shows (from left to right in each row) the average time, the longest time, the average distance and the longest distance for children to commute to the school. The last row tells that the average time and distance for all children are 15.2 minutes and 0.78 km respectively.

Note that Chigasaki is not so urban, but not so rural -- a typical satellite city of Yokohama and Kawasaki. I cannot judge if the numbers above can be applied to the whole country. If it comes to the case of less dense areas outside Keihin megalopolis, I believe the numbers surely increase much more.
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Old 2008-06-13, 14:22   Link #678
Mystique
Honyaku no Hime
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Join Date: May 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LiberLibri View Post
By the way, as Vexx pointed, I admit Japanese people are (have been) tolerant on sexual imagination. Whoever sees Hokusai's artwork in 1820 could understand the origin of sexual aspect of otaku culture, I think.
*sighs*
aaaahhh, natsukashii xD
That takes me back to a certain sex museum in uwajima, the original copy (or a replica) hangs there and i took a pic of it thinking 'hey, at least japan got their heads screwed right with the giving female oral thing, even if the giver isn't quite of our species

..and continuing from that, there was a mother with her 4 year old boy in there who left the kid to his own devices, so no, japan aren't too bothered sex wise, what with the penis shrines and festivals, fertility charms, onsens and hard gay gyrating his hips near 6 year old kids or less on national tv of course
(see his 'help a ramen shop gain customers' skit)
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Old 2008-06-13, 21:23   Link #679
FateAnomaly
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Join Date: Sep 2007
I have a few questions.
1)What will be the best time of the year to visit Akihabara, weather wise and culture wise?

2)If I can only speak english and chinese, will i have problems communicating with the service people there?

3)What are the "must go" places to see there?

Thanks in advance.
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Old 2008-06-13, 21:30   Link #680
yezhanquan
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Join Date: Oct 2006
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Age: 38
Quote:
Originally Posted by FateAnomaly View Post
I have a few questions.
1)What will be the best time of the year to visit Akihabara, weather wise and culture wise?

2)If I can only speak english and chinese, will i have problems communicating with the service people there?

3)What are the "must go" places to see there?

Thanks in advance.
I presume: Yes. The language barrier is quite real in Japan.
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