Tag - media-mix

 
 

MEDIA MIX

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 20, 1999
Pinching pennies for a better future — if any
One of the bedrock beliefs that Japanese society has about itself is that everyone belongs to the middle class. This isn't to say pronounced social classes don't exist. A middle-aged woman once expressed to me her fear that her adult daughter would never get married and move out. Since the daughter worked as a nurse in a large hospital, I said that maybe she'd meet a nice young doctor. The woman looked at me as if I were crazy. In Japan, doctors never marry nurses.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 29, 1999
D-I-V-O-R-C-E becomes final in one day
While divorce in Japan is increasing at what some people might call an alarming rate, it is still less common than it is in most Western countries, particularly the U.S., where it's projected that between half and two-thirds of all couples who marry this year will someday split.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 15, 1999
Japanese women say single life fine — if they're financially independent
Some say that '70s feminism began its fall from grace in 1986 when a study claimed that a woman's chances of marrying sometime in her life drops to 5 percent after she passes her 35th birthday. The notion that so many nominally liberated women found this conclusion distressing gave rise to the cynical belief that reconfiguring a woman's place in society is fine as long as she isn't required to give up that ring.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 1, 1999
Can the education escalator be derailed?
There's a debate going on in government and in the media about revising the Japanese system of education. The forces for change want to do away with rote, test-based instruction, which they blame for all the youth-related problems we read about now, and replace it with something more individual-oriented and flexible. The debate is important, but so far no one has mentioned one of the major reasons why the current system won't be easy to get rid of.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 16, 1999
XTC colors songs with earthy palette
Since they don't tour or make videos, XTC gives interviews. Lots of them. Colin Moulding, the group's soft-spoken bassist reckons he and his partner, guitarist Andy Partridge, have done something like a million since they began promoting their new album, "Apple Venus, Vol. 1," last fall.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 2, 1999
Alexei Sultanov
Not long ago a famous American classical pianist gave an interview to a Japanese newspaper in which he complained, "I can't tell if a Japanese audience is enjoying the performance or if they're bored."

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree