Beauty

I watched a video about Japanese subculture, “Gothic Lolita”. Since I am Japanese, I was familiar with it at least more than other people but I didn’t know some of the stories about it. The video was shot on a bridge in Harajuku, Tokyo. Many Gothic Lolita girls are on the bridge. Gothic Lolita is the girl who wears gothic clothes or the clothes which princesses wear. What the video talked about was that the costume came from England and spread to certain group of Japanese girls. In the video, one gothic Lolita girl talked about the group of Gothic Lolita. There are two kinds of Gothic Lolitas. One usually doesn’t wear the costume but when they hang out with Gothic Lolita friends, they dress up in that way. The other girls wear it every day. We also call them “Otaku”. Otaku is the people who are crazy in something. For instance, People who are crazy in Animation are Animation Otaku. Chile also has that kind of people. They dress up like famous musicians. Boys and girls do that. They also dye their hair green or pink etc… They also paint their face. To make fun of them, other people call them “Pokemon”. America also has that kind of people who dress up differently from others. They even go to school with the costume. The aspect of beauty is changeable depending on the trend of the age. For instance, Marilyn Monroe had had big influence for fashion in America before but it is changing. Avril Lavigne has had big influence for fashion recently. The aspect of beauty is also different depending on the regions. For instance, southern people prefer country music in America so their aspect is that the musician of country music is beautiful or cool. In northern part of America, people prefer pop or rock music so their aspect is totally different from southern people. The aspect of beauty is also different depending of their age. In Japan, the length of skirt of high school students is different depending on regions. Each region has own popularity. If we dress up differently from other people of our group, they laugh at us. There are some people like Gothic Lolita in our group. They usually have depression, so they want to show themselves differently to other people. Who decide what beauty is ourselves. Media also gives us a lot of choices but the person who decides is ourselves after all. These are the aspects of beauty of my group mates and me. A man from Chile doesn’t care about appearance except for Gothic Lolita. He cares only about personality. A man from America said that it is changeable but now, he cares personality and physical appearance. He wants her to take care of him and be healthy. He wants to have a lot of in common with her. I care physical appearance as well as personality. I also want to have in common with her. People who have a lot of common can be beautiful.

American Culture

I watched a video about American culture. In the video, a lot of pictures of American culture appeared such as Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Star Bucks, Madagascar, Mickey Mouth, Cinderella, Dunkin Donuts, Mossimo, Coca-Cola. This video showed me most of American culture because it talked about American food, weather, music, what to do for fun and American’s looks. I didn’t see what I wanted to see, for example American holidays or school system etc… Talking about food, I almost agree with everything what the video said but I don’t agree an answer which Americans eat bread a lot. I rarely see when Americans eat bread although I have been here almost 8 months. I agree with others such as Americans eat Macaroni cheese, Mashed potato, Pizza, Steak, Hamburger, Fried Chicken rice caw, pig, cow and Donuts. Many people talked about weather of America but the opinions from some of them are different. Some of them said that it’s very hot, not humid and dried. Some people said that rain a lot, wind, storm and tornado. Others said that it’s very cold and a lot of snow. Why their opinions are different was that I think they were thinking about different part of America. As we know, America is a very big country with has 50 states. The weather among north, south, east and west are very different. Americans like a variety of music such as Dance music, Gasp, Rock, Rock & Roll, Hip Hop, Classic and country. Americans do a lot of things for fun such as camping, barbecue, playing a game eating chips, going to a part and doing Frisbee, chasing butterfly, flying in an airplane, skiing, playing with cats, playing computer games, running, going to beach, flying kite and dance party. I do most of them for fun like an Americans but I sometimes go to Karaoke, restaurant or amusement park for fun. People from other countries think Americans are big, and fat, white or black. They have also beautiful blond hair, long legs, high nose and blown or blue eyes. My opinions about Americans’ appearance how to have fun haven’t changed at all from before but my opinions about food and weather and music have changed a lot. I expected food in a restaurant is not expensive in America but actually it’s more very expensive than my expectation. I expected that weather in Mississippi is very worm all the year because it is south but it’s very cold and sometimes it snows in winter. I expected Pop music is very popular in every states but it was wrong. Depending on a state, the popular music is different. Here, in south, usually country music or Jazz are very popular. I think America has diversified cultures because there are so many races and nationalities. America is also very interesting country. If I ask “What is the official language in America?” Everybody may answer “It is English.” but actually it is wrong. America doesn’t have any official language. A variety of languages are spoken in America.

The Visit to Hospitals

This story happens in the University of Washington Medical Center. A car crashed against a sixteen years old kid riding a bicycle coming from a movie. His name is Belly. His grandmother permitted for organ donation once before but she changes her mind because Belly squeezed back. She believes he is still alive. One of doctors decides to take special examination. The Belly’s father has gone and nobody reaches his mother. According to the medical examination, the functions of his brain and stomach are not working any more so he is dead. A nurse and a man doctor are talking whether donating or not because it makes the grandmother sad. The man doctor talks with two nurses from Chicago. They have something in common because the doctor was a resident in Chicago before. The man doctor starts to counsel for the grandmother. She doesn’t have children except for Maressa, the Belly’s mother. She tells the doctor about Belly. He is wonderful, cool, funny, generous, loves music and has lots of friends. The grandmother finally allows donating Belly’s organs because they can save a lot of people’s life. The organs are used to help people. The video which I saw was serious situation. There are some similarities between Japanese hospitals and American hospitals for that kind of situation. If someone is injured and carried to a hospital, the family usually goes to the hospital to talk with a doctor. Of course, the family doesn’t believe the death first so the doctor takes a special examination and gives evidence to the family. The distance between doctors and patients are also usually very close in Japan like what I was in this video. On the other hand, there are some differences between Japanese hospitals and American hospitals. We don’t usually donate organs after death unless the person prefers to donate them because it makes the family sad. I don’t think hospitals offices really operate like what I saw in this video. This is the story of Japan. There are a lot of problems in hospitals. A doctor doesn’t examine patients properly, does crime to earn a lot of money, hides a mistake and doesn’t take care of patients and the families at all. Those are totally different from what I saw in this video. I think those matters are also happening in the United States so I don’t think hospitals offices really operate like what I saw. I think there are no differences for a typical visit to hospitals between in Japan and in the United States except for the language. When we feel disease or get injured we go to a hospital and tell the symptoms. We are examined and the doctor treats us properly. When we have serious disease or injurer, we stay in a hospital for a while to be treated. We talk a lot even about personal things with a doctor because the distance between doctors and patients are usually very close. Some of the treatment fee is covered by our insurance. I think most of the things are very similar to in America.

The Superheroes

For this week’s assignment, I investigated about superheros in Japan and America. Although there are some similarities, I also found some differences. Many superheroes came out. For instance, Inspector Gajet, Teen Tighton, Trans Former, Spider Man, Bad Man, Super Girls, X-Man, kids next door and Ranger series from America. We have Draemon as a superhero and Renger series from Japan. Superheroes had been for only boys but they are becoming for boys and girls. There were three people in my group so we picked up one superhero each and talked about them. Our nationalities are one Japanese and two Americans. As Japanese, I talked about Doraemon. It is one of the most popular superhero in Japan and around the world because the story is translated into a lot of languages. The story is different between on TV and in a movie. Draemon is a robot shaping a cat which came from future to help an elementary school boy called Nobita. Nobita is a very stupid boy and always gets problem in his daily life. Draemon gives special equipment to him whenever he gets problem to help him. It is a story on TV. In a movie, Doraemon and Nobita and their friends go to a different world which usually has a problem to help people there. A movie of Draemon is usually created based on an environmental problem so it is very educational for kids. One of my American group mate talked about Bad Man. Bad Man has two lives. One is business man and the other one is super hero. He has gray or black cape. He has lots of enemies. Most famous ones are Jorker and Tow face. He uses his real power and magic from science. His parents are killed. That’s why he became Bad Man. He protects Gothan city which is like New York City with his power. He has a partner celled Robin. She is younger than him. He always wants to live in normal life. Bad Man has a cartoon, too. He is like half Asian and half American in the cartoon. The other my American partner talked about Teen Titan. This is a ranger series. There are 5 superheroes in this story. All of them are from different planets and teenagers. They live in the same city and always fight against bad guys. They are wearing different color’s capes and they can transform. There are some similarities among super heroes. All of them are toward for kids and becoming more educational. Every superhero protects something. There is also a difference. For instance, the contents are sometimes very different depending on countries because superheroes are usually reflected by the country’s culture or politics etc… I think Bad Man and Teen Titan present America inaccurately because those have a lot of violent scenes and destroying sense. On the other hand, Doraemon presents Japan accurately because the story includes educational matters. If I could create a super hero for my culture, my super hero would be based on a problem in Japan because it is very useful to educate kids. They can enjoy learning with watching superhero.