annual edition response
Anthropology 2A
Reading response #1
9/30/13
Article 19. Who Needs Love! The author of, “Who Need Love!” Nicholas D. Kristof interviewed several married couples in Japan about their marriages. The answer was surprising; most of the couples in Japan are, by international standards, exceptionally incompatible. However the strength of the Japanese family is extremely higher than the ones in the U.S. The divorce rate in the U.S. is 55 percents, however the divorce rate in Japan is almost only half of U.S. 25 percents. One Japanese lady mentioned a secret of the strength of the Japanese family consists of three ingredients: low expectation, patience, and shame. They take patience is a virtue of a wife. According to the old Japanese lady wife cannot be mad at the husband even he is having affair with another woman. Another factor of low divorce rate is Japanese women with children often cannot afford living without the salary of her husband. Moreover, social pressures also keep the low divorce rate. Often in Japan divorce considers as shame and shame is a huge sanction and it does not ends as a gossip but affects their career. Nowadays, Japanese society of changing and it is an open question whether these changes will undermine the traditional family. This reading to me was very interesting because the culture is so much based on the male-centric society. However, during the reading, I kept wondering if the situation is same in my generation. My generation has faced so much change by the development of technology and globalization. The most of the interviews were from the old generation couples who still had kept their culture strongly. I understand, the culture would not fade away very quickly. However, it would have changed greatly than the article in the present. The strong point about this article was the interview from the several people. It drew the clearer picture of the Japanese marriage and couple’s relationship. I choose this article because, I am
Reading response #1
9/30/13
Article 19. Who Needs Love! The author of, “Who Need Love!” Nicholas D. Kristof interviewed several married couples in Japan about their marriages. The answer was surprising; most of the couples in Japan are, by international standards, exceptionally incompatible. However the strength of the Japanese family is extremely higher than the ones in the U.S. The divorce rate in the U.S. is 55 percents, however the divorce rate in Japan is almost only half of U.S. 25 percents. One Japanese lady mentioned a secret of the strength of the Japanese family consists of three ingredients: low expectation, patience, and shame. They take patience is a virtue of a wife. According to the old Japanese lady wife cannot be mad at the husband even he is having affair with another woman. Another factor of low divorce rate is Japanese women with children often cannot afford living without the salary of her husband. Moreover, social pressures also keep the low divorce rate. Often in Japan divorce considers as shame and shame is a huge sanction and it does not ends as a gossip but affects their career. Nowadays, Japanese society of changing and it is an open question whether these changes will undermine the traditional family. This reading to me was very interesting because the culture is so much based on the male-centric society. However, during the reading, I kept wondering if the situation is same in my generation. My generation has faced so much change by the development of technology and globalization. The most of the interviews were from the old generation couples who still had kept their culture strongly. I understand, the culture would not fade away very quickly. However, it would have changed greatly than the article in the present. The strong point about this article was the interview from the several people. It drew the clearer picture of the Japanese marriage and couple’s relationship. I choose this article because, I am