"2) Worries about Education - Only 17% of women worry about their kids' educations?! What happened to the "education mama"? education-employment route has subsided in recent years.

It's fairly obvious to yon teachers of english that this is true. Japan's eikiwai's make S.K. or Chinese English schools look like theme parks. So I would assume a majority of Japanese aren't bitching out their english instructors and telling them to make their children study hard anymore or as in China, teachers have to take test and are ranked and awarded points by their students performance. But I mean really man do you learn more form school or your own interests?

"3) Hopes for the Future - Japan is dead last (besides Guatemala, perhaps). Only 15% of Japanese women and 22% of Japanese men think Japan will "get better." Maybe this serious pessimism has rubbed off on me. Did I learn this "terminal decline" neurosis from the Japanese?"

dependent on where you are in the u.s. hope regarding the future is rather low or extremely high. in New Orleans less than 20% of the population thought things were getting better, on the other hand 80% of California thinks things are getting better. Hence, if you're from the south, chances are you picked it up in the U.S. That ranking from Guatamala is surprising, along with Venezulua their economy is starting to blossom although I'm not sure if Chavez's boy won there or not. I know he was going to end the American crop spraying that had killed their agriculture.

peace,
A

in New Orleans less than 20% of the population thought things were getting better, on the other hand 80% of California thinks things are getting better.

So are you saying that optimism and pessimism are related to economic conditions? Wouldn't that make Japan relatively high? Have the Japanese always been pessimistic in general? Did you see numbers like this in the 60s or 70s?

The survey may have been more specific, but the way it's phrased in the report, japan apparently doesn't really approve of condoms, the rhythym method, or coitus interruptus.

From what I hear, seems that more than 26% of japanese men approve of abortion. Likely more than 38% of women too.

"So are you saying that optimism and pessimism are related to economic conditions? Wouldn't that make Japan relatively high? Have the Japanese always been pessimistic in general? Did you see numbers like this in the 60s or 70s?"

it's not necessariuly economic conditions. the economy in louissania was actually growing by 5% (one of the best in "the south") before Katrina hit. It's just a regional sense of despair. I'd assume the Japanese might feel despair about their country though becuase China, S.K., etc are running rings around them right now.

Also, one thing that occured to me. many japanese might not worry about education because it's not established that their schools are good... well unless you take the world of Chinese education surveys.

peace,
A

"not established " now established.
sorry.

-
A

Only 15% of Japanese women and 22% of Japanese men think Japan will "get better.

but havn't you noticed that most japanese people not only don't seem to the slightest worried (and it's not honne-tatemae), if anything rather satisfied (you could argue resigned) when they say stuff like this. I'm inclined to think that, however hard for many the transition might have been, most people are profoundly happy the insanity of the bubble has finally been exorcized.

I'm inclined to think that, however hard for many the transition might have been, most people are profoundly happy the insanity of the bubble has finally been exorcized.

White is black, people!

Also, one thing that occured to me. many japanese might not worry about education because it's not established that their schools are good..

I also considered that, but the survey result seems to go along with a lot of recent trends in Japan: the whole 60s and 70s education boom has certainly subsided and I don't get a sense that mothers now feel the need to push their children as hard as they used to. The social benefits are lower and the required amount of work to get into a Todai is lower. Also, nouveau riche families can now send their kids to Keio HS and be guaranteed admission to Keio Univ. etc.

Of course, all of this leads me wondering how the hell juku have managed to become so prolific over the past decade or so. I mean, if it's so easy to get into a university these days and most parents couldn't care less about their kids' educations, what's keeping these places alive? (More than that - they're positively booming at the moment.) Is it just a case of "everyone else is doing it, so maybe we should too"?

Good question. But has juku enrollment really gone up lately? Seems like they've been around for a very long time, and in some ways, they are not 100% about test cramming for all kids. Some of them are like afterschool programs.

Kind of insane though that Japan basically has two education systems operating at the same time: a public one that sticks to a national curriculum, most of which is not useful for university acceptance, nor really a "liberal arts" learning for learning's sake type institution; and a private one which is focused solely on the functional skills needed to pass entrance exams.

pew! i smell a rat!

Another obvious question is, if the education is so good then why are the jukus necessary?

Saru, I think people look at it differently. The education system is good because of juku. Parents needn't worry about the tax-payer financed schools, because that's not the place to learn. And if a parent is unpleased with the juku, they can go to the competition (except for the whole long term contract stuff). So for those parents who give a damn (surprisingly few), the question of education is akin to "quality of your long distance provider".

Neighborhoods around Aomori aren't broken up by class, so the public schools don't favor the wealthy so much as the lucky. A small number of effective teachers exist in the system, and are rotated from school to school. In the years when a school has a lot of good teachers, test scores soar, and the juku kids and the regular kids aren't all that different.
Often a school is left with no good teachers, and poor discipline runs out of control. In those cases, only the wealthy can still provide a good education via juku.

viva la juku!

I've heard recently of a study trying to determine the happiest countries on earth and found that ranked number one in happiness was Nigeria, then (I believe) Mexico, and several other poverty-stricken and third-world nations. This study doesn't seem to have these results at all; the study I mentioned ranked America as about 16th and Britain at about 20th.

The survey in your post doesn't consider all countries, however, and there is too much human error involved at all to say either survey is right or wrong, in my view.

taking the kid to juku also helps redress that unnatural mother-child relationship