ANRI's BLOG

Chapter 7, Sexuality

2006-12-26T19:36:00.000-08:00

According to the presentation from our classmates, people in Japan experience their first sex at the age of 16.8 on average. Some answered that their first time was when they were 14 or even young. It is said that the average age of having first sex has been getting earlier. I think that teens consider sex not as serious as adults think their children should.
Children get knowledge about sex from media such as magazine, TV, and mainly from friends. Among teens, having experienced sex could be considered “cool” and “adult”, thus some may experience it anyway without thinking that sex is originally for having a baby. People usually use condom to prevent from pregnancy, but as it is known, nothing can prevent it 100%. There was a TV drama called “14歳の母”(14 years old mother) which was currently on air. The story was about a girl who pregnant after having her first sex. This drama brought a debate whether the content is accurate to broadcast because some thought that it might support teens’ pregnancy. The number of mother who is under 20 is increasing, and the society is more open to them than before. However, it is still very hard issue to be accepted. A friend of mine gave a birth when she was 18. She is a single mother and also a college student. Her grandmother takes care of her baby while she goes to school, then she pick up the baby after school and shift from a student to a mother. The hardest thing for her is that she cannot look after her baby on her own. She wanted to be just a mother, but her parents told that she should graduate from college for her carrier. She needs a great deal of support from her family not only because she has to attend school, but also because she doesn’t know how to take care a baby as she is too young.
Teens should deeply understand that having sex is not for satisfying their sexual wanting. It always has a probability of having a baby, and as a result their life might completely changes. Sex is an important thing between couples, but they should care if the partner is enough for a dad or a mom.

Chapter 6, Friendship

2006-12-09T20:51:00.000-08:00

I would like to talk about friendship in Japan. Marry White, the author of the book, says that there are three kinds of relationships in Japan; best friend, group friends, and senpai-kohai relationships. Best friend is who I can thoroughly trust and rely on. Best friend should be usually one, but in my case, I have one for each sex, one bet girl friend and one best guy friend. I don’t have to hide my personality in front of them as they understand who I am and feel comfortable. With my best friends in elementary school, I quarrel a lot because we always insisted own opinions and never gave up. As I get older, in middle school, I found new best friends who I can always feel at ease. It is a Japanese children’s nature to form groups to be with. Groups are what members share the same interests and stick together all the time sometimes even when they go to bathroom. There is always a leader or a head in each group who leads the group in his or her own way. In a class, there are four kinds of groups; a fancy girls group, a cool boys group, normal girls and boys groups, and an otaku group. It is particularly true among younger children. Otaku is someone who has an individual interest which others usually don’t. Other groups tend to exclude otaku because it is hard for them to understand otaku’s sense of value and being together with otaku is often seems wired. I don’t like to belong to a group because it narrows my sphere of activity and limits my potential. In a group, I have to adjust my personal standards with other members’ and be accepted, which is very stressful. In high school and university, as children gets older, they form regularize friendships because they are more independent. Between senpai and kohai, hierarchy relationship is very strict especially in club activities. I heard that it is clearly established in the cheerleading in Waseda, but in my club, Waseda lacrosse, senpai is like my sisters though I respect them and consider as senpai. Friends can be younger, older, and mostly the same age, and at any cases, parents are aware of their children’s delinquency with their friends. Smoking, drinking, and shoplifting are common delinquency teens do. Drug is not a common one in Japan, but probably in the United States. Friendship can be threatening relationship. One person’s behavior may influence others and lead them to do the same thing as a “Friend” even delinquency troubles.
It is certainly children’s responsibility to manage their relationship with friends, however, it is parents’ duty to interfere them to follow the right track.

Chapter 5, Materialism

2006-11-30T05:09:00.000-08:00

Here is the third assignment, an essay on the topic of Materialism. Japanese teenagers greatly care about trends. While being different and showing their characteristics are emphasized in the United States, following the trend and having naui goods, something fashionable and cool. The marketing industries try to shape trends in a number of ways and make consumers buy things. Teenagers are the main target the market focused on. The author of The Material Child points out some strategies that the market does to shape trends. Teenagers are open to anything new, thus information is what excites their interests. Magazine is one of the materials which provide lots of new information and the ideas which make trends. The market uses popular models and idles in order to represent trendy items. For example, after a popular idle wear a certain item, it would be sold rapidly because magazine readers naturally think it is the top of the trend. There are always limited edition products in each season which make consumer’s wanting strong because people can only get them during a certain term. In some magazines, there are personal testing, fortunes, and horoscopes section which attract especially girls’ attention. Readers’ forum pages are where readers exchange their opinions, write diary, answer questions, and communicate with others. Through such forum pages, teenagers could be confident that they are on the right track, not different. The market has made the trend of gift-giving holidays. The chocolate industry has made the idea of girichoco on Valentine’s Day. In Japan, girls buy chocolates for not only a boyfriend but also for teachers and friends on that day. This trend is peculiar in Japan. White Day is a month later when boys give back cookies only for girls they received chocolates. Magazines include information about where to get good chocolates or what boys should return to girls. People want to know what is good and what is bad. Magazines give safe information for readers.

school

2006-11-09T04:09:00.000-08:00

Here is my second essay assignment;

Japanese schools are very different from that of American. I would like to state three differences; school rules, activities, and curriculums.
School rules in Japan are detailed and strict especially in high schools. For example, students must not wear pierced earrings, die their hairs, and girls must not wear uniform skirts which are shorter than their knees. Students are representative of schools, thus their appearance needs to be proper. Main purpose of school uniforms is to have a sense of belonging and have responsibilities as the students. In the United States, school rules are easy and they do not restrict students’ individuality.
In Japan, students do club activities after school. Unlike in the United States, students generally devote to only one club until their senior year and practice almost everyday from 3 to 6 (the amount of time is surely up to clubs). In high school, I belonged to Girl’s Basketball Team and had practices 6 days a week. Joining clubs is one of the ways that students make strong relationship with other members (friends) and learn Hierarchical relation with seniors.
Japanese students naturally take courses which have been decided beforehand. In my high school, students could choose either of them; music or art, Japanese history or geography, and science or biology, depending on their majors. Students stay at the same classroom and wait for coming teachers. In the United States, students can choose courses by discussing with their counselors, which is very attractive for me. When I studied abroad in Washington, DC, my high school offered me various kinds of classes, so that I was able to choose classes according to my interests (It might be because I was an exchange student).
In conclusion, I think that Japanese schools have less flexibility compared with that of America. Allowing students everything is not a good idea, but Japanese schools should give students more freedom and let them choose more things. About schools in the United States, I think that although American students seem to be more independent than Japanese students, they should have more responsibility on their schools. For example, cleaning up their classrooms like Japanese students do is very important. My school in DC was too dirty to spend time on studying…hehe

What do you like and dislike about your school?

family

2006-10-26T07:23:00.000-07:00

Here is my assignment, writing an essay on the topic of Family.

My family consists of four; dad, mom, younger sister, and me. Both of my parents work, so my sister and I spend most of the time without them at home. We rarely do family activities, and since I have moved in Tokyo, the opportunity has been decreasing even more.
I have healthy relationship with my family especially with mother. She is like my best friend, and I think that this tendency is becoming popular within a couple of years or more. It might be seen as lack of dignity of parents, but as far as I concern, it means that children and parents have more interaction and are connected well.
As the book I read in the class said, getting good grades is mainly what Japanese parents expect their children. There are still lots of "Kyouiku-mama", and many children go to cram schools for study support. However, grade is not only thing that effects on their lives. For example, more and more schools have Admission Office entrance examinations which estimates students' activities and award records. As a result, less parents put their children more tasks than before.
In the United States, people has become to adapted to devorce, but this idea is still not common in Japan. Although the number of single mother or father is increasing, people generally think that devorce is just negative. I adapte to this idea because the American family who hosted me when I studied abroad have two sons, and both of them have got devorced but remarried and lived happily. Japanese people may be able to accept the idea if this trend gets more common. My parents are not likely to get devorced, but if it happend, I would probablly feel sad but accept it.
Family is what I can rely on and trust. How is your relationship with your family?

lax game

2006-10-14T06:40:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I have a lax game against 明海大学(Meikai Univ.) which will be the most important one for my team.
My team was beaten by 立教大学(Rikkyou Univ.) last week, which is unexpected, therefore if we lose tomorrow, it will be the last game fore seniors. IT MUST NOT HAPPEN!!!
I hope we'll win tomorrow and move to the next step.

"Be One For Final 4"

pics; freshman(top), seniors(bottom)

☆self-introduction☆

2006-10-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm starting this blog with my self-introduction.

My name is Anri Tsushima.

I'm from Hokkaido and have lived in Saitama since this spring.

I'm freshman of sils at Waseda Univ. in Tokyo.

I play tennis and lacrosse (lax is my major interest). I also like playing the piano, traveling, and taking photoes.

I hope this blog will connect you and meヾ(♥ó㉨ò)ﾉ♡