things that young people are turned off in Japan

When animals smile

Solid Alliance released these funny earphones. The screw type is called “Franken,” and the Banana one was probably inspired by this:

These are the things that young people are turned off by in Japan. I agree with this list because I am also turned off by these things:

Television: I don't watch much TV either, maybe a total of one hour a month. The quality of dramas and documentaries in Japan is not as good as ones from the US or UK.
Travel: I am not sure about this part, but I heard that young people love to save money because they have never experienced a booming economy in their life. They are more thrifty about money than older generations.
Car: Cars were important for dating before. The HONDA Prelude and the Mazda Familia were so popular that they were called “dating cars.” But now, young urbanities don't ride in or buy cars. Trains are cheap and convenient enough and young people hate to waste money on cars they don’t need.
Drinking: My generation enjoys drinking, but I heard that young people think drinking is bad and uncool.
Newspapers: I don't buy newspapers either, because I can read news on the internet, so why would I pay to read it on paper?
Tobacco: I quit smoking, though nowadays few young people start the habit… because of  ill effects of smoking works fine.
Science courses: I am not sure about this one either, but this might be related to the decline of science-based companies and the unglamorous image surrounding research jobs.
Professional baseball: No more stars like Ichiro or Matsui :-)
Love and Relationships: Because we are a dying nation!
Magazines: I can get more information on the internet!
CD: Download them, of course!
Game centers: Use the internet!
Pachinko: The internet is more fun!
Watch: Just use your iPhone or cell phone to tell time.
Sports: Hmm… people enjoy a variety of hobbies now. Also, indoor activities are really fun.

Here are some interesting pictures (warning: some are pornographic or grotesque) that you may use for handouts or information. I like these: names of beards, face list of real yakuza, military meals. The meal pictured in the upper left corner is served by the Japanese self defense forces, the next meal is from the US, then Holland and Canada. The gorgeous meal in the upper right corner is Australian. This picture compares the height of robots. I didn't know that Gundam is such a small robot. Can you find it?

Comments

[Tornadoes28]

There are some things that just shouldn't be done with bananas.

[Joe]

that dole commercial is freakin weird haha.

tv: something i can't live without here in america. thou i don't watch them live but i record them to my media center and watch them after and with that i can skip all the commercials.

newspaper: it'll be ancient history before we know it. why pay for news that happened yesterday when we can see what's up now for free over the net?

cd: do you mean legal or illegal download? haha.. i'm old school and still love cds. it's about the whole experience of looking at the cd art and listening to whole album =D

[twitter.com/suicchi]

Hi, I just can't not comment on this =D

watch: i couldn't stand the missing feeling of not wearing a watch everyday, that was until my undergraduate study. now i really depend on my phone to tell time, when i read your post.. now i know i'm not alone! but during exams, apparently rooms don't have clocks... so watch is still needed at some times.. i actually refuse to buy clocks for my room because i can see it from tv or computer easily... orz

tobacco: true.. i haven't seen any of my japanese friends smoke.

television: i actually turn on my tv almost all the time, with reason it may improve my japanese. i do find most of the shows are better than the ones in Australia or Indonesia... not too sure about US though.

[jeff]

Hi Mari,

What is the site for? (http://suiseisekisuisui.blog107.fc2.com/blog-entry-1021.html)

I like it a lot. Very intense!

jeff