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This entry was posted on Monday, August 24th, 2009 at 6:30 pm and is filed under All About . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
33 Responses to “All About #8 - Top 5 Things You Need to Know About Japanese Society”
Monday at 6:30 pm
Hi mina-san! We hope you learned a lot from this lesson
Monday at 7:48 pm
meh
Monday at 7:51 pm
Always interesing. Even though I have lived here for a number of years, I still learned new information. One suggestion–maybe through in some additional Japanese words. Like “sore daijin” so listeners learn even more culture and in the native language. Still, all in all, good stuff.
Monday at 8:27 pm
It sounds as if Natsuko is reading, even the jokes!
Tuesday at 1:28 am
I wonder if the “selfishness” of younger Japanese people is influenced by Western trends. A lot of the changes in the Japanese lifestyle and workplace they were talking about are actually pretty common in America. とても面白いですね。
Tuesday at 7:03 am
JP101!
We are living very similiar to the Japanese, my brothers still are single because of their own interests. I also single and living with my family and I’m already 25 years old and my family wants me to get marry too. I have my own plans and marrige is not on my options now until later on, we are the future.
S_R_C
Tuesday at 8:00 am
very interesting
i know some people who got married because it was getting ” late ”
unfortunately most of them ended up bad , mostly because of financial problems
Tuesday at 9:48 am
Thank you for the feedback and comments! I agree, I think some of the trends might be the result of Western influence. It’ll be interesting to see how these trends change in the future
Tuesday at 6:20 pm
I agree with Amanda that the Japanese youth is adopting western ideals, especially that of indivisualism, I expect to see a more westernized society of Japan in the coming years. Also, I think a reason the Japanese, as well as Koreans want their children to become married and have their own children around the age of 25 is because of having a lower probability of having birth defects, as well as having a higher probability of having a prodigy child, in turn with their tradition.
Tuesday at 7:57 pm
Just watch a movie classic like Tokyo Story by Ozu (1953) and you’ll find the same issues in post-war Japan. Does “recently” mean after the war? Meji? The proportion of unmarried women in their late twenties has been increasing steadily since the seventies and was increasing even earlier.
For the record there were several gross errors in this lesson.
Natsuko: “less and less babies are being born each year”
From a Japanese government report:
“The number of babies born in 2008 increased by about 2000 for the first time since 2006.”
Peter: “it’s gotten so bad that if the trend continues japan’s population will start to shrink in a few years”
Japan is shrinking already in this case because of larger death rather than fewer births:
“The first time Japan saw more deaths than births was in 2005.
This was reversed in 2006, but deaths overwhelmed births again in 2007 and 2008.”
This wishywashy (onomatopoeia?) random information with questionable interpretation does for me more harm than good. You are just reinforcing stereotypes here.
This lesson is so vague and/or contradictory that it is saying nothing and often you can put any country in place of Japan for the trends and it would still sound ok.
“in Japan there is currently a falling birth rate”
“Live with parents well into their adult years,”
The US had a falling birth rate for most of the past decades and the number of adults living at home as increased considerably also. Probably the main difference with the US here is the immigration policy.
US Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam.html
“These days you won’t see as many big families. But often you have multiple generations living together so it can be pretty busy…”
How can you lose an argument when it is consistent with any findings?
So now we know that Now we know that Tokyo is big and crowded. With the busiest station in the world!
Tuesday at 8:23 pm
Something tells me Giovanni works for a competitor. He has never once said anything positive. Giovanni, if everything is as bad as you make it why do you keep coming back to each lesson?
Wednesday at 12:04 am
ALLEN,
I could say the same thing to you and wonder weather you work for Jpod.
There are some good things and bad things. I like the intermediate lessons. BTW, I said many positive things in the past. This is the nature of feedback and criticism. For me saying everything is great does not help anybody. Consider that some people actually pay for this…
Wednesday at 4:23 am
Giovanni I think you looked way too much into this one, this wasn’t meant to be a history lesson for one, and these people are actually living in Japan, I think they know a little about what they are talking about. The point of this lesson was not to inform you of other countries trends and lifestyles only those of Japan. I think if you have something so negative to say, then either keep it to yourself or send the creators an email with your complaints.
Wednesday at 11:54 am
hi giovanni,
>Natsuko: “less and less babies are being born each year”
it’s a virtue to be more accommodating… as long as we can understand what was being expressed… it only takes a little more for english natives to be forgiving over the grammertical mistakes non-natives make… the same way japanese are tolerant over mistakes which japanese learners make… Feedbacks and criticism can be constructive only if it’s expressed appropriately…
Wednesday at 5:48 pm
I never criticized Natsuko for the way she expressed herself, I commented on what she said about the number of babies falling. I like Natsuko very much, she has always been a great asset to Jpod. I do not accept CHIN’s criticism though it might have been well meant. Facts have nothing to do with being a native or not. I just do not appreciate the current all marketing no content approach. All I am saying is: stick to what you are good at…
Why is that so negative? Ignoring advise like that has caused many companies to go bust. Take what you want, discard the rest. The fact that people live in Japan does not make them necessarily experts, by the way, as much as sitting in front of a computer clicking links does not make people computer experts.
People can check for themselves the facts…
Dear Jessi, if this is a “lesson”, as it is called in the titles, what are its aims and objectives? How are you going to meet these learning objectives? What are we supposed to learn from this? Have you read the title? Five things you “need” to know. Does this match the content? If its just a “chat”, then just say so. Now you say this is not so serious. Fair enough…
I once heard a talk on how important it is to read peoples mind. I went on and saying how you can anticipate problems, how you can make everybody happy, and other great uses like that. Very interesting, only nowhere it was explained how you can actually read people’s mind… That is how I feel after listening to this.
Anyway, it does not take a “mind reader” to see that JESSI lost patience with me, the job, or both. Hope thing will get better!
Wednesday at 10:12 pm
@ Amanda & Jesse
it has Nothing to do with the west.
western Music yeah thats been done.
in America the teen birthrates were High wich can be good & Bad
theres NO “Trend” the simple fact Japanese women have careers
& don’t have time for having a kid or getting married.
women working more is a world wide thing.
I don’t think its selfish either. if a Girl was to get married
before college & have a Baby. most Parents would be upset
and call them selfish. I Believe they are doing it to
please their Parents
Thursday at 10:36 am
The poster Jesse (different spelling) is actually a listener, but I’ll say that the aim of this and all of the All About lessons are to educate listeners about Japan and its culture. We hope that the information in these lessons will give listeners better insight into the country where the language they are studying is spoken.
Thursday at 11:30 am
haha…
Thursday at 8:34 pm
A part from the name confusion, for which I apologize, my point still stands. Have I learned 5 things I NEED to know about Japan (JESSE and/or JESSI)? According to the image Jpod has of its listeners, you can deconstruct it based on past lessons and marketing material, after listening to 10 minutes on Japanese society, life, work, culture, and politics, I should be saying: wow this is great stuff. Now I can go out there, get a job, make a lot of money and impress all the girls! I find this very patronizing. Sorry if I do not fit the stereotype…
Thursday at 9:43 pm
Giovanni, the only one being patronizing in all this is you. You are being condescending not only to the staff at JPOD but to all of us listeners. You seem to think that if JPOD ignores your advice, they will go “bust”. You seem to think that you have all the answer to how things should be presented as well as the content. Give it a rest. Your pseudo-intellectual BS is not appreciated and not at all helpful. The only thing I found productive was finding how disingenous you are.
“I never criticized Natusko for the way she expressed herself.”
giovanni says:
Monday at 8:27 pm
It sounds as if Natsuko is reading, even the jokes!
If that isn’t critical, I don’t know what is.
I will have to admit you are entertaining. It’s not often one finds somebody who takes himself so seriously.
Monday at 11:40 am
to be fair to Giovanni he criticized the content of the broadcast, including the dodgy and poorly presented ‘facts’, and as a listener he is quite within his rights to do so. instead of becomng hugely defensive about the broadcast and attacking Giovanni these comments should be taken on board constructively, in the spirit they were made - not in ‘mean’ way, but in a constructive way.
i’m pretty new to jppod101 and by and large it’s excellent. i’m living just outside Tokyo and looking forward to more fluency… so far my japanese is strictly average
thanks
Wednesday at 4:46 am
“It sounds as if Natsuko is reading, even the jokes!”
This is actually an objective statement of observation. A critical intent would have to be assumed here by the reader, but the words themselves are not judgemental.
Meanwhile, constructive criticism, where it is actually given, should be welcomed. Hearing different opinions about the quality and content of the material helps the jpod staff know what the users want, and hopefully leads them to make improvements beneficial to everyone.
Wednesday at 6:36 pm
Konnichiwa! Thanks for a wonderful podcast!
I have a silly comment about the Japanese birthrate. I think the Japanese government is worried that there will not be enough money coming in to pay for the keep of older people. But, I see a different aspect, here.
Japan is sooo crowded. I would think one would be thrilled to finally be able to relieve that congestion. I can’t imagine that people actually enjoy being pushed into trains like sardines in a can.
I remember the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. We staggered work hours to relieve traffic congestion. During those two weeks, it was actually fun to drive on the freeways. And, it didn’t take much; just a little. So, I wonder if just a little change in population could do wonders to relieve the congestion in much of Japan?
I think climate change is showing us that there are just too many people on this Earth; each one of us polluting in our own way. So I think it is great that Japan’s population is decreasing. I wish ours was too, here in the U.S.
But, this has very little to do with the lesson. Thank you for a wonderful lesson. I thoroughly enjoy every one! I can tell you guys work very hard at these.
Wednesday at 10:47 pm
giovanni: “…I should be saying: wow this is great stuff. Now I can go out there, get a job, make a lot of money and impress all the girls!”
I truly feel sorry for you if you have such expectation after paying 20-30 bucks and being told so by some low-level marketing gimmick. If you believe that your diverse knowledge and grasp on Japan deserves some recognition and that the information presented here is incomplete then I suggest you switch your subscription to Wall Street Journal and debate the folks there. This website is, by all accounts, a medium where we practice our Japanese by reading and listening to light daily podcast about Japan. Here’s a good idea for you if you still wish to benefit from this service and impress the ladies in the future: start writing your comments in Japanese. I believe the admins and Natsukosan will be happy to help you fix your grammar while ignoring the fact that your comment may sound silly.
Thursday at 7:07 am
Benno- absolutely agree with you that constructive criticism can be very helpful. If you have followed our friend’s posts over not only this lesson but many others, it is hard (if not impossible) to find positive input. My feeling is that if you use JPod as it is intended you’ll not only improve your Japanese but have fun doing so. Any comments or suggestions that enhance that will be terrific. The comments that constantly nit-pick on content, format, and presentation without adding anything positive aren’t useful.
Vinushka- while I agree that comments are subject to interpretation by the listener, again, I take the comments in the context of the rest of the input which has been pretty negative. By the way, his “observation” is subjective, not objective. He was not only not in the room to “observe” whether the script was being read ot not, he said “sounds like” which is a subjective statement of opinion, not fact.
Would it surprise anybody to learn the JPod staff actually reads from a script? Of course they do! They put together a number of lessons every week and that is a lot of work.
I plan to continue using JPod every day to try and improve my Japanese. If I wanted to take advanced studies in either the language, the culture, or the history I would probably consider university classes. I plan to use JPod as it was intended and enjoy doing so.
Thursday at 10:05 am
Bob-san!
RE:”I think climate change is showing us that there are just too many people on this Earth; each one of us polluting in our own way.”
That’s why on December 21 2012 it’s going to be a big change for the good of humanity, God has some big clean up to do!
S_R_C
Saturday at 4:38 pm
Thanks for this lesson. Its very useful. I’m visiting Japan right now and listening to Japanesepod101.com while commuting on the train from station to station
Sunday at 6:59 am
You should check out Nara as well. Nara is the ancient capital and the center of Buddhist life of ancient Japan. It is also nearby Kyoto. My wife and I have gone there and it is not hard to get to Nara from Kyoto and back. Just be careful of the deer!
I’m curious, now that the economy of Japan has been lagging for the better part of 20 years, combined with the current global recession, and with younger workers wanting part time or more freedom in their lifestyles, like in the West, how are companies adapting? Are they adapting?
Sunday at 12:05 am
thanks for this lesson, it’s really useful!^^
when i’ll visit japan, for sure it won’t be hard for me
Thanks again!
Monday at 11:56 am
Peter-sensei, Jessie-sensei, or whoever is reading this,
Is the Japanese emperor kinda like the British with their queen? Ilive inthe States, hai, but I do know some about England. My dad lived there and I recently learned about it in school. The queen is just kinda a figurehead, someone to look to and think,oh what a respected person! Such an amazing person! But she has nothing to do with Parliament, at least not much nowadays. Also, what is the drinking age in Japan? Out of curiosity, I know I’m most likely WAY under that age, being about 13… Domo arigato!
Konnichiwa,
-Harumi ^_~
Friday at 6:22 am
Konbanwa JPOD (UK time 22:18)
Very interesting lesson, reaffirmed what I’ve heard from Japanese friends. Many thanks for all your hard work.
Arigato gozimasu!
Heather
Thursday at 6:03 am
Thank you, it’s great to have these kind of light “lessons” after a lot of hard studying. It’s important to keep Japan and Japanese language everywhere everyday in many ways for me to REALLY learn this language.
Monday at 7:16 am
Please be careful with how you use the word “unique”. If you research the real meaning of that work you’d see you cannot say “little unique”. This goes for anyone that would say “somewhat unique”, “very unique”, and so on and so forth.
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