Japanese and Mandarin, English and German

留学生	留学生
可爱	可愛い
大学	大学
年	年
一、二、三、四、五、六、七、八、九、十	一、二、三、四、五、六、七、八、九、十
家	家
介绍	紹介
医院	病院

Knowing how to write in Japanese definitely helps with learning how to write in Mandarin (a Chinese [Sinitic]  language). I think you can understand why if you look at the table above.
How these words are spoken; however, is totally different from the way they are written. The spoken words are not that similar at all.

The table below is of English and German. These words look more different compared to the Japanese and Mandarin words, but sound much more similar. It's kind of ironic!

Learn	lernen
School	Schule
Friend	freund
music	musik
wonderful	Wunderbar
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday	Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag, Freitag
Blue	Blau

Love Fast Food

 

Control your portions sizes! Fat free ice-cream! Guilt Free Juice!

 

One of the things that I liked about living in Japan was the number of people who weren't ashamed to express their love for food. One of my classmates said that each weekend she would go out with her Uncle to eat different Ramen. She was a hobby Ramen eater. She proudly told me that she could eat the largest Ramen size. A teenager at my other highschool finished off more than fifteen plates of sushi and a vegan host family that I lived with would eat cake every second day. The big, piled up plates and cheerful mood would remind me a little of Dragonball Z (a cartoon in which the Super Sayan characters eat a LOT of food).

 

One of my Host Father's said that food has been a traditional form of entertainment in Japan before the introduction of TVs and computers. Some people will spend a couple of hours just to prepare a single meal. Yet, these generous servings of food didn't seem to cause massive weight problems. I think it's because even to get to work or to walk to school often requires a lot of exercise. You're constantly climbing up stairs.



 

 

 

 

 

 

How Does Your Environment Make You Feel?

Here are some pictures that I have taken on my mobile phone in Australia.

Aren't they beautiful?

When I'm surrounded in environments like these I feel at ease, vibrant and beautiful.

I want to eat lovely foods, walk around, run around, laugh, sing, ride my bike at high speed and enjoy the gloriousness of life. Fortunately, nature's beauty exists all over the world.

How often do you deliberately stop, take a breath and smell the flowers?

How does your environment make you feel?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glowing Water

I was feeling tired tonight, so I bought some dinner at the cafeteria and some glowing water.

There's a small button at the bottom of the plastic container with three modes of glow. There's glow, fast flash-glow and slow flash-glow.

 

 

Eating Disorders and New Age Feminism

 

I disagree with the way that New Age Feminism has transformed eating disorders and body image hate into a symbol of women struggling against misogyny and patriarchy.

 

Eating disorders and body dissatisfaction grabs a sizable proportion of the population world wide and can be found in both men and women. If all New Age Feminism can do to empower women is to say: The eating disorders are the result of misogyny and patriarchy in the system; continue to keep being the awesome you that you are then that's some pretty rotten advice. Considering that anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of all the mental illnesses out there, saying that an eating disorder is no one else's business but the disordered is like saying that suicide is no one else's business.

 

Sufferers of anorexia nervosa are likely to hide their illness by always talking about food, lying about how much they eat or eating a big meal with friends and nothing else or little else in private. Similarly, those with post traumatic stress disorder or major depression (with the highest suicide rates) are likely to hide any suicidal thoughts or suicidal plans. This behaviour is harmful. And, not just to the sufferers, but to family and friends too. And, to other people who develop an eating disorder whilst trying to imitate the other person's looks. It is absolutely other peoples business to do something to help. Because we, as humans, are social creatures. We rely on each other to survive; to do something when a man is being attacked on the streets, to stop child abuse, to give aid to women starving in famines around the world. And, to end eating disorders that are hurting us.

 

 

There are phenomenally high rates of obesity globally and it seems as though more and more people are shifting towards the extremes - of underweight or obese. Anorexia Nervosa has increased in Australia, Japan and France. According to a study of behaviour in Australia, 1 in 5 girls displayed behaviour consistent of that with an eating disorder.

 

My frustration is highlighted by a recent be-who-you-are video, where the New Age Feminist Lecturer claimed on TED talks that it doesn't matter whether you are "skinny" (aka healthy) or obese on the BMI charts: so long as you don't drink alcohol, exercise, eat five fruits and veggies a day and don't smoke tobacco ~ you will be healthy. She based her claims off of this study. 

 

~ Which was measuring for mortality rates and not health (someone can live for a long time and still develop arthritis or a damaged liver from an eating disorder).

 

~Which didn't claim that only eating five fruits and veggies a day was sustainable. The study claimed that by eating fruits and vegetables that you can improve your health.

 

~Which didn't include people with underweight BMIs.

To the Feminist from TED talks: What kind of message do you think this is sending to people who have anorexia nervosa and are Underweight?

Just eat five fruits and vegetables a day and you will be fine?

Don't worry about meat, rice, bread, milk or all those other things on the Food Pyramid?

 

This anti-anorexia model, Isabelle Caro Dies, died as the result of health problems caused by her anorexia:

 

Do you know what's being disrespectful and hateful to not just women but to all people?
It's allowing the hard work of Isabelle and others to go in vain.
There are some people who think the pictures in the 'You Are Not a Sketch' campaign are skinny bashing. I say that's ridiculous. If you cannot recognise anorexia for what it is then you have a problem.



Food and Female Body Image in Japan

In Japan there are people of many different shapes and sizes.

Some people will say that everyone in Japan is really skinny. Do you think this is the case?
What about Sumo Wrestlers?

I have seen some Blogs claiming that Japanese women don't eat enough food.
I think this is also a generalisation. When I did some research on the internet, I found that whilst there has been an increase in cases of eating disorders, the average BMI for Japanese women is, in fact, healthy. This didn't surprise me at all.

When I lived with host families in Japan, I could never complain of small meals. Breakfast and dinner was a big affair with various bowls of delicious foods to eat. Some people would like to eat big, fluffy French Toast, some fruit, noodles and vegetables with hot chocolate, fruit juice and tea for breakfast. Others would like to eat a bowl of rice, nato, crunchy bamboo shoots, fish, miso soup, some fruit, sea weed and vegetables along with vegetable juice and tea. And others will eat two or three times more than that. Some people won't eat breakfast at all, but not where I lived. What is eaten and portion size depends on the individual, really.

A Typical Highschool Lunch.

So, why, you wonder, do so many Japanese women look like this:

Honestly, I don't know how to answer this question.
It's true that some women do look like this (well, obviously, otherwise these models wouldn't be featured), but from my obeservations, it wasn't normal or even that common.
So, instead, I'm going to try to examine where this idea came from - when people think that most Japanese women look like the people in the above pictures.

One reason I can think of is body image pressure from the media. What we see on tv and in magazines isn't necessarily a reflection of reality.

In Sweden, for example, a modelling agency was accused of trying to recruit patients with anorexia nervosa from a mental hospital. Unattainable body images aren't exactly rare on a global level. But, when someone sees the same look on tv, in magazines and in computer ads all the time then perhaps that can fool them into thinking that images are average when they're not. And then, when they see someone in real life that looks like the tv image, it just reaffirms their distorted beliefs.

Another reason I can think of is that perhaps the individual that is being observed is actually still a teenager. Models of 'adult sized' clothing are being recruited at as young as 13 or 16 in countries outside of Japan. Similarly, members of the highly publicised AKB48 band, for example, tend to be teenagers or tweenagers. The teen body shape is often in the process of development physically and so usually it just isn't possible for a woman to look naturally the same as a teenage girl.

I think it's a real pity; though, that people see these images and think they have to look like them.

Culture vs Personality

 

 

Can you remember going to highschool?

What was that like for you?
Did you experience any pressure to conform?
 

When I went to highschool in Australia it was considered uncool to listen to Britney Spears music, Ipods were in fashion and many girls skipped meals.

I guess that to some degree, in highschool, the group can dictate what music an individual likes, what technology they will buy and even if someone will choose to eat enough food or not.

I think, from my experiences, that in highschool there is a lot of pressure to conform.
 

However, I have found (so far) that University life is so much free-er.

As long as you are not interfering with someone elses life, I have found, you can listen, eat, dress and be however you choose to. No one is going to expell you from University for cutting your hair into a mohawk and dying it green. It's okay not to be the same as everyone else. You can choose to accept or reject what lessons you were taught as a child and teenager. I like this kind of freedom.
 

I see that there are so many bloggers and vloggers out there, informing their audiences of what to do or what not to do in various countries, including Australia.

For example: In Australia, they don't celebrate Halloween. *

And, I think this way of thinking is a little odd. It seems school-ish to me.
Although, I can understand where it's coming from. In all countries, as in highschool, at least some degree of conformity is relevant for survival. Furthermore, I am a bit of a people pleaser.
 

Still, I puzzle over questions like:

Isn't all that high strung highschool conformity stuff back there in the past?

I mean, as an adult, as long as you are conforming to the law and are not inconveniencing someone, isn't it ok to choose to do some things that are out of the norm that you enjoy?
Why do you want to be like everyone else anyway?
To what extent does culture take over someone's personality?

* "In Australia, they don't celebrate Halloween."

I'm sure that there are many people in Australia who don't celebrate Halloween but for me (personally), I did celebrate Halloween.

 

I have happy childhood memories of dressing up in scary costumes, watching my brother's friend's parents carve out a pumpkin, of bubbling dried ice cauldrons and late evening trick-or-treating.

In highschool, some people had Halloween parties and on Halloween you could choose to go to highschool dressed in a scary costume. The shops get decorated in celebration of Halloween each year. Even some 'internet banking' signs in Australia get decorated with Halloween spider nests.

 

 

You can actually celebrate Halloween in Australia if you want to.
And, there are some people who might think it is a little odd and 'unAustralian' to do so.
But, I am native to Australia and I have celebrated Halloween many times before.
So, is it really your problem that someone else has a problem with you doing something non traditional or is it theirs?
I think it might be their problem.