In my country, Romania, I had to change shoes, but only in kindergarden. Actually we had to have three pairs of shoes, one we got to the kg, another for the inside and another for the occasions when they let us to play out (which is quite stupid, why couldn't we just use the pair we got to the kg?). Well, this was like 15 years ago so I don't know how the rules changed. In grade school (4 years) I had to wear a uniform (no restriction regarding shoes), but starting 5th grade casual clothes were ok. Nowadays there are lots of schools that require uniforms, but personally I hate them. I heard of a highschool that has pink uniforms even for guys if I wore in their shoes, lol, I would have gone on a strike.

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I love vampires.

I think it's quite interestering that it is becoming more common in American schools to require a particular dress code. Not a uniform per say, but the students have to choose say: khaki shorts and a white shirt and a navy jacket. They can have their own style as long as it follows the dress code.

In most places, such a change is due to gang violence and gangs' use of color to represent themselves to other members. Teachers get training on gang signs to know when they're thrown, etc. (I was a teacher for a year, and this is part of the training I received.)

Of course, that's just public schools. Private school can and often do require uniforms (e.g. catholic/religious schools).

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If you've ever thought or said "Nice Guys finish last" and really meant it, then you should probably read this LJ post by DivaLion. It's incredibly insightful whether you're male or female.

From a bumper sticker I like:
"If you're gonna ride my ass, at least pull my hair."

American movies (esp. teen movies, indie movies) do have bullies. Made me wonder whether there were so many bullies in American schools. Yet, schools in every country have bullies.

Back wen I was in high school, I only remember there being one bully. He'd leave you alone if you'd show even an ounce of balls though, and he'd only go after the truly weak people. Or rather I should say he stopped focusing on you if you stood up to him. Saying all that though didn't make him a paper tiger. He didn't get that reputation for just picking on losers; that son of a bitch knew how to fight.

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Sarcasm just doesn't work over the internet.

I also have an issue I'd like explained regarding Japanese school uniforms/dress code; in many anime shows different characters attending the same class appear dressed similar uniforms but each has different items. For example one would have a shirt, another a vest, a blazer, a sweater, necktie, bowtie etc... All of the clothing items fit the school uniform color and style, so it doesn't appear to be free dress but still the students dress differently from one another.

Can anyone explain?

Thanks,
Avner.

The thread seems to have digressed quite a bit...

Oh well, here are a couple of questions. I've browsed through all 16 pages so far, and I don't recall seeing them being asked. If they have been, I apologize beforehand.

Well, here they are:
1. Are Japanese peoples' sexual morals as loose as they're made to be in manga directed at the more mature audience? (I'm NOT talking about hentai) It seems every character has casual sex with every other character...

2. What foreign languages are commonly taught in Japanese high schools?

Thanks for any answers.

Sorry for resurrecting an old topic but I was just curious:

are many Japanese really that insistent about Japan and their culture being totally unique? Even those who've lived in Tokyo for many years?

Not too surprised that could happen 'cos even among the more conservative Chinese in my country, many are very insistent of the superiority of their culture and keep downplaying the importance of other countries. And many are like completely ignorant about other countries and have no interest in other cultures. For them, it might be as though their own culture invented everything in the world.

I can't say for the great majority, but many Japanese netizens have expressed anger towards overexposure of Korean artists in their dramas and such (read this on tokyohive). It also makes you wonder why most Japanese artists almost never go to make Korean albums and Chinese albums but stick mainly to the Japanese music market. They, like many ethnic Chinese, are quite nationalistic, but perhaps not to the extreme.


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Nulla in mundo pax sincera
"Always go too far, because that's where you'll find the truth." - Albert Camus

You'll find people like that no matter which country you look, even if you haven't seen them, they'll show up when an opportunity presents itself.

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@VampireBanana yeah, greydrak is right. Discrimination against foreigners is not so bad in major cities, integrated towns, and Tokyo, but for example the immigration policy into Japan leans heavily towards a kind of ethnocentric cultural purity even if the immigrants are highly educated nurses from the Philippines who have practiced in Japan for years
personally the majority of Japanese i have met have been overwhelmingly polite and nice, but like greydrak you will run into these types of not so nice 'fence builders' everywhere

@chineserider from what i understand of the Korean music industry, K-pop stars make much more money in international performances and sales than they would do in South Korea itself, even if the singer/band/actor or w/e is very popular - the major Korean record labels negotiate very restrictive contracts in terms of their domestic record sales (personally i tend to favor a notion of starving artist, over greedy ones built by MNC that complain they aren't paid enough, but then they probably would not get international exposure w/o help from those companies to begin with so w/e)

Hhhhmmm... all right! Thanks everyone for the responses. That's a bit of food for thought there.

I have some questions!!!
So... are all those character types and cliches a common thing in Japan? It seems that in every manga I read there is at least one very sick person who is terminally ill or in very delicate condition. I just read No Longer Human by Dazai Osamu and I thought maybe this cliche stemmed from that book... Also with yandere and tsundere... are people in Japan as really obsessed with food? I read lots of characters that will fight to the death over food...
I feel like a lot of the cliche characters I read in mangas made a lot more sense after I read No Longer Human, though I could be wrong.
Also, I really doubt this is true, but are there really rich schools with one handsome boy every calls a 'prince'? Of course that's probably an impossible thing but I always wonder where these cliches stem from

For schools there are special schools in Japan for the "elite," and a good example would be Horikoshi gakuen. It's a school for students in the sports, rich people, and entertainment industry. The students all ride in cars to school, and many have bodyguards as well.

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Nulla in mundo pax sincera
"Always go too far, because that's where you'll find the truth." - Albert Camus

are Japanese schools really strict about not letting students dye their hair, have piercings, etc?

do people really confess in letters?