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Originally Posted by ProfCrash
There is a book by Jake Adelstein titled Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan that is pretty shocking. It delves into the crime mobs, the control that they have, how reporting in Japan is done, and the sex trade industry. It is an eye opener.
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In fact, you will find FAR MORE accuracy in fiction novels and non-fiction reportage than you will in the so-called 'culture' books for public consumption
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While I have not lived there, a Sociology class I took in college was pretty eye opening. We discussed how even the "rebel" culture for teens is pretty regulated and controlled.
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Not just regulated and controlled but 'protected' as well. About 15 years ago it became quite common for young girls (as young as 12-13 up to 20) to join 'Telephone Clubs.' They joined for free, but men wishing to join had to pay several hundred dollars, for which they received the telephone numbers of the girls. The men could call them up and arrange 'dates.' The girls, absolutely needing Louis Vuitton bags, Gucci shoes, Donna Karan clothing, etc., needed a way to make enough money to pay for them, and this money was NOT to be made working after school in the local 7Eleven... So 13 year olds were turning tricks several nights a week, and getting $400-$1,000 a night, several nights a week. You'd be amazed at how many young girls I'd see around town with all the latest fashion gear... Then the police found out what was going on. But... If they called this 'prostitution,' it might stigmatize the poor young things, or give them criminal records... So they made a new law... Any girl under the age of 20 could only be charged with 'compensated dating,' for which there was no penalty... And the clubs continued to flourish.
The dress codes were modified at the schools so that young people could adapt more western styles. This led to 'Punk' culture and piercing to the point where some kids looked as if they had been hit in the face with a Stirling sliver hand grenade. 20-30 different things stuck through their faces alone. God only knows what else they were wearing. And it was OK in the schools.
In Japan, organized crime is legal... as long as it's not hidden. The Yakuza (Japanese Mafia?) have offices with the gang names on professional signs over the doors. The members are all listed. Japan is a very different place.
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I have never trusted the test scores that say country X is ahead of the US in Math and Science because I know how the testing is done in many other countries (hint, not everyone is tested) and more importantly, how the students are prepped in those specific fields with other classes ignored.
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I looked at my niece and nephew in-laws' math books when they were in elementary school and it was too advanced for me. I suffer a learning disorder in Math, but I can recognize the subject matter. I was stuff that we were being taught at the high school level. The science books I could follow though. And those too were what we did at ages 16-17, but my nieces and nephews were about 10 at the time... Japan REALLY does give them Math and Science at levels far above what we were taught in the US... but as you say, almost no learning about the outside world, other languages except by rote memory and almost all written, no speaking skills at all even after 6 years of classes.
The majority of university students that I taught (and they ALL had at least 6 years of prior English, plus passing the English entrance exam for the University) could NOT reply to 'Where did you eat dinner Sunday night?' and many could not respond to 'Where do you live?' Remember, this is after 6 years of prior classes... In the US, we had to read Classics in the language we were studying in the 3rd year; Don Quixote for the Spanish classes and a variety of different books for the French students.
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It is a society that is so pent up sooner or later it is going to blow.
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Oh yeah.... And it won't be long now... It's one of the reasons we are moving back to Thailand this summer. This country is going to split at the seams, and the government is going to wonder how it could have happened.
Stitchawl