Mango Street "quiet war"

 When I was a junior high school student, I went to a cram school. The teachers gave students lots of homework everytime. I'm not good at math and I dislike it, so everytime I left math homework till last. Every week, I did math homework the day before math class. I often asked my mother when I had questions about homework. She tried to answer difficult questions and she taught me how to work out. However, I rebelled against her because I hated math and I didn't want to think about math questions. I said to her "Why do you work out that quwstion like that? I don't know the reason. Please tell me more clearly." or "Why do I have to study math? I think I don't need such studying to live." I rebelled her from the feeling of impatience that I take math class and listen the lecture carefully, but I can't understand math.

 After I graduated junior high school, my behavior has changed. (Of course I din't like math even I became a high school student.) Math became more and more difficult, and I noticed that my mother can't teach me math anymore. I stated solving my problems by myself.

Internet

 I can't live without the Internet. By cell phone or smart phone, we connect to the world everyday, every time.
 I often think about how the world following the Internet will be when our generation got older like 70 or 80 years old. Recently, many older people can use computers and the Internet. My grand mother can do,too. She goes to computer school and learns how to use it. While she develops her computer skills, my grandfather can't use it and he hates to even touch it. Getting back to today, there is no one who has never seen and touched a computer before. In elementary school, we had a class at computer lab. When we get older, will we use the Internet? I think the answer is "Yes."  Please imagine the world every older people has i-Phone or i-Pad and they use it in the train. They may listen to the music downloaded from websites. That's cool!!

 We use it to research thesis at university and to send emails to friends, co-workers, and business partners. Also, checking SNS like Twitter, Facebook may be a habit for many people these days.
For people who grow up in such a situation with the Internet,  the Internet is part of their lives.
 As long as people use the Internet, lots of new services will be created and the Internet and us won't be divorced forever. I want to see how I live life with the Internet in the future...

Endangered Cultures

 I agree with Wade Davis's idea.
 From the experience of studying abroad, I feel that I have broaded my horizon than before. I stayed in Canada for about 3 monthes and I met new knowledge, new way of thinking.
 If the world is almost same because of the globalization, what is the reason we travel? Why are there wars? Why do anthropologists exist?  Is it diffrent from Tokyo to New York? Because the buildings and cafes on streetes are same. I think we should be careful about globalization. It can lose many precious culture.
 As I was watching TED, I was so surprised to see the native people who don't know newest technology know how to mix plants and make medicine. And the medicine has same effect as developed countries make.

Fitting in

 When I was 1st grade in elementary school, there was a small bullying.
 One day, one transfer student joined in my class. She has lived in America for some years, so she was so-called returnee student from abroad.
 Now, if I meet a returnee student, I try to understand his/her background and I'd like to know what kind of experiences he/she had in the life.
 However, it was elementary school age. We were just kids. We didn't try to understand her. In addition, almost all the classmates couldn't accept her who is a returnee student and didn't grow up same as everyone. 
 One day, in one class, we studied by ourselves because the teacher was busy to do something. Untill the teacher came back to our class, we were told to study Chinese character, kanji. We had one word which was difficult to read for everyone(The word was「文字」. We said we could read this「ぶんじ」though it was「もじ」). Then, she, the transfer student could read the word and she taught us how to read it. Actually, she was a clever girl and her answer was right, but we didn't agree her. We said "That's strange." or "I can't believe you." No one helped her. I feel sorry for her now.
 I think children are kind of conservative. They can't accept things or people that are different from themselves.

 Bullying is so spread because it became habitual, frequent thing maybe. If others do a thing and it is thought habitual, people don't get to feel it's bad thing, and it spreads around at once. To riduce bullying, adults can help. The lecture of young person who experienced bullying at school days may affect positively to student's thinking about bullying.

Equality in the home

 Wives can be paid for doing housework!! At the same time when I was surprised at the system, I was envious of Taiwanese women.
 However, after I consider well, I found that housework is made up of the feeling comes from love for family. For example, feeling like "I want to make delicious dinner for my cute children and tired husband." or "I want to make the room clean for my family to be comfortable at home." Wives do housework for family, not for money.
 I think the system can't work in Japan. Traditional custom will disturb it. I searched the Internet and found that even today, about 80% of men agree to women doing all the housework. In such a situation, husbands won't pay money to their wives.

 In my family, almost all the housework is done by my mother. My father has been a business bachelor and he lives near Tokyo now. If he lives with us, he can help cook lunch or dinner.  Yesterday, I asked my mother about housework. She said "If I don't work, it's O.K. to do all the housework, but if I also works all the day, not as a part-timer, it's hard to do housework by myself." Actually, my mother is busy worker recently and she seems to be tired to do housework like cooking dinner, cleaning. I have to help her more!!!

When I got married someday, I want my husband to do some housework like taking out garbages in the morning or cooking lunch or dinner on Holiday. Anyway, I'd like to spend my life happily:)

Japanese Gender Issues

 I'm going to write about b)  what you've heard about the situation in Japan through news stories/ brief Internet research.

 I rhink I've never treated badly because of my gender at school or elsewhere. Maybe that is because I am a woman.
 Women have lots of advantages compared to men. For example, women can watch a movie for 1,000 yen  on Wednesday. It is called "Lady's day" service. In addition, if women go into a restaurant, they can eat good lunch called "Lady's set" which is often including dessert. Also, there are women's university in Japan. Only women are allowed to enter the university.  And, when you take a train, you will see "This car is only for women." Men can't ride in the car.
 For women, these services and system are good and no one complain about it. However, these may be discrimination for men. Why can't men watch a movie cheaper? Why is the "Lady's day" service only for women? Why is the service's name "Lady's day" instead of "Men's day"? Through the Interner research, I found men feel that these are gender discrimination.

 At first, the services are made by businesspeople to get more profit, and they actually make our society better. Women can enjoy movies easily, and they can take trains peacefully by "only for women cars". It is difficult to say these services for women are gender disctrimination or not.

Japanese Subculture

 Do you know Kyarii pamyu pamyu? She's a popular Japanese fashion model and also a singer. The picture below is hers.

 I think one of Japanese subculture is Harajuku fashion culture originated in Harajuku which is a downtown in Tokyo.Lots of young people (many of them are teenager, maybe) gather at Harajuku. On the street, there are many shops of clothes, shoes, sundries and foods. A crepe shop is famous at Harajuku and people enjoy window-shopping with eating the crepe.

 Harajuku fashioned people wear unique, original clothes. It's far from simple, but they are cute. Also, they dye their hair blond, light brown, and some people have their hair highlighted. One of the trend is to change the color of under part of their hair. Like the second picture below shows, 90 % of her hair is blond, but the rest of her hair is red!  I saw a girl whose the hair is like this at KGU.  In addition, some people dye half of their hair black, and the half  blond. They're unique and conservative people will be surprised if they see the hair like her.

How do you think of this Harajuku culture?
I enjoy seeing their fashion and I like it:) I'd like to see Kyarii pamyu pam!