Have young people in Japan stopped having sex? • Hacker News Board

Re: Have young people in Japan stopped having sex?

#21

Post by dec0dedab0de » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 9:36 AM UTC

usernew1817 wrote: post #18

m_mueller wrote: post #14

The subject is interesting, especially because I'm married to a Japanese - but man do I hate articles that go round and round like this one. Here, have a little bit of a sociological hypothesis - but let's not go too deep for your little brains shall we? Here, have a little bit of anecdotal evidence instead. Enough of that? Alright, let's start over again. [...] Oh I'm outa time, let's end the article now, kthxbye. I…

why does saying "married to a Japanese" sound so much more awkward then saying "married to an American/Canadian"

I think its the soft sound at the end, but I'm not exactly sure why.

Re: Have young people in Japan stopped having sex?

#22

Post by einhverfr » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 9:36 AM UTC

m_mueller wrote: post #14

The subject is interesting, especially because I'm married to a Japanese - but man do I hate articles that go round and round like this one. Here, have a little bit of a sociological hypothesis - but let's not go too deep for your little brains shall we? Here, have a little bit of anecdotal evidence instead. Enough of that? Alright, let's start over again. [...] Oh I'm outa time, let's end the article now, kthxbye. I…

+1, especially on wishing there were more really good social sciences blogs out there covering issues like this.

One of the big problems of course is the fact that while outsiders can see dynamics of and sometimes critique cultures, such critiques are necessarily incomplete (well all critiques are necessarily incomplete but outsider ones are especially likely to be).

But on your final question, I think one of the big issues is that the corporate media insists on pushing everything into narratives the corporations can understand. For example, in the US I tend to associate with people from a wide variety of backgrounds politically (and talk politics, as taboo as that is) and one thing I have noticed is that while the media tends to see social conservatives as the "sex police" the social conservative movement is the largest movement in the US which questions the desirability of Capitalism on an economic level (and the critiques are really interesting), but that doesn't work for corporations, so....

So here you have a corporate media organization engaging in difficult cross-cultural criticism. While it is an interesting article, it says as much about Western corporations as it does about Japan.

Re: Have young people in Japan stopped having sex?

#23

Post by eli_gottlieb » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 9:38 AM UTC

einhverfr wrote: post #22

m_mueller wrote: post #14

The subject is interesting, especially because I'm married to a Japanese - but man do I hate articles that go round and round like this one. Here, have a little bit of a sociological hypothesis - but let's not go too deep for your little brains shall we? Here, have a little bit of anecdotal evidence instead. Enough of that? Alright, let's start over again. [...] Oh I'm outa time, let's end the article now, kthxbye. I…

+1, especially on wishing there were more really good social sciences blogs out there covering issues like this. One of the big problems of course is the fact that while outsiders can see dynamics of and sometimes critique cultures, such critiques are necessarily incomplete (well all critiques are necessarily incomplete but outsider ones are especially likely to be). But on your final question, I think one of the big…

>the social conservative movement is the largest movement in the US which questions the desirability of Capitalism on an economic level (and the critiques are really interesting)

Care to point them out?

Re: Have young people in Japan stopped having sex?

#24

Post by einhverfr » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 9:41 AM UTC

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #23

einhverfr wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1, especially on wishing there were more really good social sciences blogs out there covering issues like this. One of the big problems of course is the fact that while outsiders can see dynamics of and sometimes critique cultures, such critiques are necessarily incomplete (well all critiques are necessarily incomplete but outsider ones are especially likely to be). But on your final question, I think one of the big…

>the social conservative movement is the largest movement in the US which questions the desirability of Capitalism on an economic level (and the critiques are really interesting) Care to point them out?

John Medaille has written extensively on the subject. His book "Towards a Truly Free Market" is worth reading.

A lot of it boils down to the critiques of market capitalism by Hilaire Belloc and Gilbert Chesterton and how these have largely continued within the conservative Catholic movement, as well as parts of the Orthodox and conservative Protestant communities as well.

I am a Heathen and I worship Odin, Thorr, and Freyr. Chesterton can be a bit arrogant when it comes to religion sometimes, but the reasons for his arrogance are often interesting to ponder even when one does not share the same religion.

Re: Have young people in Japan stopped having sex?

#25

Post by chad_oliver » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 9:41 AM UTC

usernew1817 wrote: post #18

m_mueller wrote: post #14

The subject is interesting, especially because I'm married to a Japanese - but man do I hate articles that go round and round like this one. Here, have a little bit of a sociological hypothesis - but let's not go too deep for your little brains shall we? Here, have a little bit of anecdotal evidence instead. Enough of that? Alright, let's start over again. [...] Oh I'm outa time, let's end the article now, kthxbye. I…

why does saying "married to a Japanese" sound so much more awkward then saying "married to an American/Canadian"

I think it sounds weird to some people because they're used to "Japanese" being a adjective rather than a demonym. When used in an unexpected way, any word sounds weird.

Re: Have young people in Japan stopped having sex?

#26

Post by tux1968 » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 9:44 AM UTC

m_mueller wrote: post #20

usernew1817 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why does saying "married to a Japanese" sound so much more awkward then saying "married to an American/Canadian"

well it doesn't to me - but maybe that's because I'm not American? Why does it sound weird to you?

It really does sound strange to me as well, almost derogatory in tone. It sounds so much better to my ear to say "i'm married to a Japanese person" or "... person from Japan". But I have no good reason as to why the same doesn't hold for Canadian/American.

Re: Have young people in Japan stopped having sex?

#27

Post by usernew1817 » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 9:45 AM UTC

m_mueller wrote: post #20

usernew1817 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why does saying "married to a Japanese" sound so much more awkward then saying "married to an American/Canadian"

well it doesn't to me - but maybe that's because I'm not American? Why does it sound weird to you?

I think the referring to "a Japanese" vs "a Japanese man/woman" sounds a little racist, it shouldn't, it makes syntactical sense, but I guess its the cultural influence on the language, I don't know why I brought it up, I was just really taken back when you said "I'm married to a Japanese"

Re: Have young people in Japan stopped having sex?

#28

Post by raverbashing » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 9:45 AM UTC

In the midst of all, this seems to be one of the best parts of it:

"Tomita says a woman's chances of promotion in Japan stop dead as soon as she marries. "The bosses assume you will get pregnant." Once a woman does have a child, she adds, the long, inflexible hours become unmanageable. "You have to resign. You end up being a housewife with no independent income. It's not an option for women like me."

Great, so if a woman marries she loses independence and her own income, and then people don't know why women don't want to marry?

Same thing here:

"Romantic commitment seems to represent burden and drudgery, from the exorbitant costs of buying property in Japan to the uncertain expectations of a spouse and in-laws"

Re: Have young people in Japan stopped having sex?

#29

Post by m_mueller » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 9:47 AM UTC

einhverfr wrote: post #22

m_mueller wrote: post #14

The subject is interesting, especially because I'm married to a Japanese - but man do I hate articles that go round and round like this one. Here, have a little bit of a sociological hypothesis - but let's not go too deep for your little brains shall we? Here, have a little bit of anecdotal evidence instead. Enough of that? Alright, let's start over again. [...] Oh I'm outa time, let's end the article now, kthxbye. I…

+1, especially on wishing there were more really good social sciences blogs out there covering issues like this. One of the big problems of course is the fact that while outsiders can see dynamics of and sometimes critique cultures, such critiques are necessarily incomplete (well all critiques are necessarily incomplete but outsider ones are especially likely to be). But on your final question, I think one of the big…

1) I'm fine with incomplete arguments if there is at least some attempt at an analysis shown instead of just a meaningless collection of facts and anecdotes. In that case the engaged reader could benefit by gasp thinking about it for himself.

2) So the problem is that corporate media is politically streamlined? Yes, I absolutely think so. In Switzerland we have an interesting weekly magazine called 'Weltwoche', which allows rather extreme opinion pieces of all political sides to appear unedited. I enjoyed that a lot, until the selection of articles began to appear biased to the right. I think the idea is still great - give me unfiltered opinions and analysis, instead just filter by the 'intellectual depth' if you will. It'd be black coffee in magazine form.

Re: Have young people in Japan stopped having sex?

#30

Post by archangel_one » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 9:47 AM UTC

m_mueller wrote: post #20

usernew1817 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why does saying "married to a Japanese" sound so much more awkward then saying "married to an American/Canadian"

well it doesn't to me - but maybe that's because I'm not American? Why does it sound weird to you?

Does to me; I guess I think of it as either an adjective or referring to the language. While this usage is technically correct, I think I'd always say "Japanese person". I don't really have a good explanation though of why it's different to "American" or "Canadian" in that regard. Maybe just it's less common for some reason.