Japan Today Get your ticket to GaijinPot Expo 2024

Tammy Bondhus Morimoto comments

Posted in: 7 decades after WWII, many praise Germany, scorn Japan See in context

I haven't heard any anti-Japanese sentiments from anybody I've known from the Philippines, Thailand, or Malaysia. In fact, some Phillipinas I know said their people like Japan. We know that many Chinese and Koreans don't like Japan. (A Chinese friend said that most Chinese aren't really like that though.) Is there a lot of strong anti-Japan sentiment in Asian countries other than China and the Koreas ?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: Search for missing 6-year-old girl in Kobe enters 5th day See in context

I know it's normal for first graders to walk home from school themselves in Japan, but our daughter doesn't. DH drives her, or she takes the school bus. He knows this kind of thing happens, and doesn't want to risk it with his own daughter. He thinks the risk is too great, because "she's too cute".

We send her to a private school that has school buses for little kids, and allows parents to walk them to and from school if they prefer to do that. There are always plenty of other moms at the school waiting to pick up their kids, and a few more that hide along the road near school and intercept their kids a few blocks after they leave the school. Are private school parents more over-protective?

I don't blame the parents of this girl for letting her walk home alone. Letting her walk home alone is considered normal in Japan. In fact, SOME public schools DON'T EVEN ALLOW parents to pick the kids up. Public school teachers exert a lot of pressure on parents not to do it, and I've even heard of some teachers making fun of kids in class if their parents pick them up.

So I don't think anybody should blame the parents, but I think they'll probably spend the rest of their lives blaming themselves. We don't want to live with that kind of guilt, so we don't send our daughter to and from school by herself.

It looks like they found her today. I am so glad it wasn't my daughter, and feel terrible for the girl and her own parents. I hope they find the villain soon.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Recent Comments

Popular

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites


©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.