i read this article this morning, and i found it very interesting. i think it's pretty accurate, as far as i know about relationships between japanese men and women. unless a woman marries very young, i think japanese women marry at a later age because they don't want another child to take care of (the husband).

recently an internet friend wrote that it was harder to bring up boys here, because you had to teach them that girls are just as important, just as deserving of respect as they are. this really had an impact on me. of course! that's what seems to be lacking. girls and boys are *told* girls and women can do anything, be anything, but they aren't treated any different as children (my pet peeve here is how little boys are spoiled here.) i mean, just the other day another mother was talking about how she wished she had a girl (she has two boys) to help her in a few years when her sons were busy with school and studying for exams. i had to take yoshi to task just over the weekend when he said that our kitchen is small and when sasha is older and wants to help in the kitchen.... oh?! and what about hiro?!

i also read this article (from a week ago) this morning. it's almost as though people are trying to find a reason why young japanese aren't marrying and having babies. women don't want to baby men (husbands). people live with their parents until they marry (and some men still live with their parents after they marry...). marriage is a desirable notion, but not decided lightly these days, if you are a woman.

good for them, i say.