Essay assignment 2

Dating in Japan

It is clear that dating is one of the most significant issues of student lives in Japan. However, as students grow both mentally and physically, what dating indicates gradually changes from becoming boyfriend and girlfriend to becoming partners with each other.
At first, dating means becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. Students go out with someone from a group which has almost the same status as their own group. Pretty girls go out only with cool boys, and vice versa. Boys who look uncool cannot go out with those pretty girls even if they want to, or those pretty girls do not even care about uncool boys. However, as they become older, some begin to go out with someone from a different group than their own group. A girl who always wears fancy clothes, for example, may start dating with a boy who has never thought about clothes and is always occupied with his hobbies. Moreover, students love their girlfriend or boyfriend more than they do when they are younger.
The reason why the way students date changes might lie in the maturity in them. When students are younger, they care how they look. Therefore, even dating can be one of the ways to look cool or establish their status. As they mature, however, they begin to want more than status from dating. They go out with someone who has similar way of thinking or values, and inspire each other in a positive way. They also want to rely on each other and even discuss their future. In a word, students gradually begin to look at the reality and think about their future, and look for someone who can be their partner in their lives.
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Essay assingment 1

Peer Groups in Japan

Peer groups are everywhere, and high school students hang around within their peer groups. Such peer groups exist in both American and Japanese high schools. However, they are different in terms of the existence of hierarchy and territories.
According to Murray, American peer groups form a certain hierarchy, struggling to put down the status of the other groups. Each group has a territory where they hang around, and outsiders are not welcome to be there. In Japan, on the other hand, students are almost unconscious about the hierarchy even if any. Though students usually hang around within their peer groups, some get along well with students from other groups through club activities or privately. Japanese peer groups also do not have their own territory. Moreover, when it comes to school festivals or athletic meets, students dissolve groups to some extent temporarily, and cooperate with each other, aiming for their class glory.
The reason why American and Japanese peer groups are different in terms of things above mentioned might lie in the styles of school where students have spent so far since they were elementary school students. American schools do not have classrooms where students spend all day. Hence, each student takes classes and spends their free time somehow individually. In Japan, on the other hand, every student is divided into a classroom where they spend all day with the same members; they follow same schedule, have breaks, and have lunch together at the same time. Since they spend all day together, they have to cooperate and get along well with each other. This gives Japanese students a sense of unity as a class as well as peer groups, and it might make them different from those of America.
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