Ed-Info Japan
News from May, to July, 2004

Table of Contents
	Surveys and Research
		English Skills in Korea and Japan (06/04/2004)
		What Parents Want Their Children to Be (05/21/2004)
	Culture
		Popularity of Dyed Hair in Japan (05/28/2004)
	Governmental Policy
		Support Bill for Autistic Children (06/11/2004)
	Effects of Mobile Phone
		Mobile Phone and Delinquency (07/15/2004)
		NTT Set up Mobile Society Institute (05/14/2004)

Surveys and Research English Skills in Korea and Japan (06/04/2004) Findings of a joint survey on the English ability of high school students in Japan, Korea and China conducted by Benesse Corporation and Prof. Kensaku Yoshida, Sophia University, show that Japanese students are good at "writing" whereas Korean students are good at "reading." Regardless of their actual English scores, Korean students tended to answer that they could make a speech, have a discussion, or make home page in English. As a whole, Korean students are clearly confident of their English skills. According to the questionnaire answered by their English teachers, unlike Japan, Korean students are taught practical English usage, which gives students confidence, while the English curriculum in Japan is text-centered. Prof. Yoshida says that, "It is critical to practice listening, summarizing, and giving presentations in English classes. The more the teacher focuses on teaching how to translate texts based on grammar, the more students lose their confidence in communication or speaking in English." The survey was conducted from September to November, targeting 13,600 students in high schools where most students advance to university. (source: Kyoiku Newspaper, Yomiuri Newspaper) What Parents Want Their Children to Be (05/21/2004) Boys chose "athlete" as the most popular occupation (32.2%), a record-high percentage probably due to the success of Japanese baseball players in the U.S. major league, followed by driver, policeman, craftsman, and fireman. Among girls the most popular is confectioner or pastry chef (running a pastry shop 26.1%), followed by flower shop owner, nurse, teacher and entertainer. The survey, conducted by Kuraray Co., a chemical product maker that provides materials for school bags, shows popular occupation trends among elementary-school first graders, and is almost the same as last year's. (Please click "View author's homepage" above the title). This time, we introduce professions that parents want their children to enter from the same survey. What parents want their sons to be (Boys): 1,000 parents 1. Civil servant 2. Athlete 3. Medical doctor 4. Company employee 5. Pilot 6. Engineer 7. Craftsman (Girls) 1. Nurse 2. Civil servant 3. Teacher 4. Kindergarten teacher 5. Doctor 6. Pharmacist 7. Beautician Without a doubt, "civil servant" was the most popular profession among parents, and in Japan, it is thought to be the most stable job. It offers guaranteed lifetime employment because civil servants do not face the insecurity of being fired in the future. With the exception of "athlete," parents chose occupations that demonstrated three criteria: stability, high level of qualification, and technical skill. It appears that parents want their children to enter professions that offer financial security. In Japan, parents have a strong tendency to want their children to lead an easy life and get a stable job rather than be ambitious. In the current protracted recession, the difficult state of employment opportunities for students is described as an "ice age," sometimes even as an "extreme ice age." According to the basic school survey report by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the numbers of university graduates who neither get a job nor go to graduate school reached 22.5 percent. TOP

Culture Popularity of Dyed Hair in Japan (05/28/2004) It has become very popular to have one's hair colored in Japan. A survey found that two out of three Japanese women aged 15 or over have their hair bleached (67%) and one out of four Japanese men (26%). People with brown-dyed hair can be seen everywhere in Japan, on the street, in offices, on TV programs and in magazines, and even in school. According to a survey conducted by Mie University, 61% of elementary school students answered that it is not good to have their hair bleached, compared with 34% of junior high school students and the percentage decreased to 10% in high school students. Students often feel that bleaching their hair is simply fashionable though many teachers have trouble handling such students in school. On the other hand, some scientists and researchers point out that having one's hair colored can include health risks, too. Sirokawa, a member of Japan Safe Beauty Research Center, states that products to bleach hair are more toxic than pesticides, and a spoonful was found to be the cause of a murder in 1999. The Center of Clinical Environmental Medicine in Kitasato Laboratory Hospital also concludes that each of three dye products available produces some environmental hormone action. In addition, 90% of the dye left on the skin is absorbed into body although it had long been believed that it would not. Teachers and parents should be aware of this fact and should not easily allow children to dye their hair to protect against possible health danger. (Source: Nihon Kyoiku Shimbun Research Results on Youths with Dyed Hair (Japanese) http://cerp.edu.mie-u.ac.jp/member/seko/chahatu/chap0.html) TOP

Governmental Policy Support Bill for Autistic Children (06/11/2004) The bill aiming at early diagnosis and support for developmental disorders such as autism and Asperger's Disorder is likely to be submitted for deliberation in the current Diet session. Up to now, no laws have provided support for children with autism as recipients of welfare. Under this proposed law, support for people with developmental disorders such as autism shall be the responsibility of the national and local governments, which includes (1) improvement of the system that offers counseling and day care with medical treatment and enables early diagnosis through medical checkups for infants and children upon school enrollment; (2) promotion of understanding in law enforcement and the justice system; (3) securing employment that takes into consideration the particular disorder; (4) preparation of group homes for those who wish to live independently in their community. This bill is expected to address the lack of public understanding and support for autism and other developmental disorders. Recently, Defense Agency Director General Shigeru Ishiba was widely criticized when he referred to the Self-Defense Forces as "the autistic forces" in a pun that used the word "jihei" (autism) for the "jiei" (self-defense). However, a TV drama series that focuses on the growth of an autistic child is now gathering a lot of attention. TOP

Effects of Mobile Phone Mobile Phone and Delinquency (07/15/2004) Delinquent Students Send 42 Mails a Day According to the National Police Agency, junior-high and high-school students who have been arrested for shoplifting or engaged in other delinquent behavior make 7.7 calls and send 42.6 mails a day, a far larger number than that for non-delinquent junior- and senior-high school students. A survey was conducted from September through December 2002 among 3389 non-delinquent students in the second year of junior-high school and in high school in Miyagi, Ishikawa, Osaka, and Okayama and two other prefectures and 993 students who had been arrested for shoplifting, stealing motorcycles, etc. The overall percentage owning mobile phones was 57.0% for non-delinquent students and 71.6% for delinquent students. Among high school students, 90% of both groups owned mobile phones; however, among junior-high school students, only 30.4% of the non-delinquent students owned mobile phones whereas this percentage among delinquent students was 57.0%. Looking at phone usage, delinquent students made 7 calls a day, sent 42.6 mails, and their average mobile phone fee was 11,300 yen per month while non-delinquent students made 2.7 calls a day, sent 30.5 mails, and had a mobile fee of about 6,500 per month. (Source: Kyodo Tsushin) NTT Set up Mobile Society Institute (05/14/2004) Mobile Society Research Institute has been inaugurated. NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced that its "Mobile Society Research Institute," which will study the social impact of mobile phone use, has been established effective on April 1st. Mobile phones have spread rapidly. With functions such as mail, Internet, photos and motion picture widened the possibility. They become more useful, but crimes such as spam mail and dating site have occurred at the same time. Specific themes of research are as follows: 1) Impact on society and culture; mobile phone usage etiquette, and the increasing popularity of a "mail culture" that features the wide usage of emotions. 2) Legal systems; countermeasures, including the consolidation of a legal system with which to address mobile phone-oriented crimes. 3) Impact on industry; industrial impact from the dissemination of mobile phones on a variety of sectors. 4) Mobile phone as a social infrastructure; their role as indispensable tools for information distribution during times of natural disasters. Takemochi Ishii, Professor Emeritus of The University of Tokyo and Chairman/CEO of the Tokio Marine Research Institute, will lead the institution as managing director. He is also honorary director of Child Research Net. (Source: NTT Docomo http://www.nttdocomo.com/index.html and Asahi Shimbun) TOP

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