Kids These Days!
I am always amazed at how emotionally… weird… Japanese students are. I look at the Junior High Students, who still burst out in tears if they get in trouble, or pout and cry if they ‘boo-boo’ their elbow during PE, and wonder how on earth they would manage in the bestial charnal house that is a South African High School. When a finger is slightly sore or a drop of blood is seen, the nurse is summoned amidst much ado, all the while worried looks are exchanged, and I’m left there wondering if amputation is needed, only to find out that little Ryu banged his elbow on the basketball hoop.
If such vulnerability were displayed in the same age group in a South African high school, you would experience one or more of the following effects:
1.) Your school mates would laugh and taunt you mercilessly for weeks.
2.) You would get foodstuffs of varying freshness thrown at you in lunchbreak.
3.) You would be given a real reason to cry, such as a punch to the face, arm, leg or wedding vegetables.
In School, crying is strictly forbidden, much like displaying any other sensitivity. A boy’s high school in SA is much like a zoo full of pent-up rage-infused gibbons, who will likely tear one of their own apart just as easily as they would fling their lunch at them.
But in Japan, we are all hugs and smiles and tears. You’d think the boys would put on a braver face in front of the girls, but it seems bawling like a baby is ‘cute’ round these parts. Japanese kids seem to possess this amazing ability to spring forth tears at command, whenever, wherever. I can only contain my silent mirth and just watch in amazement.
And then there’s the touching. The boys, quite simply, are gay! They touch each other and hold hands, and do each other’s hair with practiced care that only the most effeminate could manage. In SA, if someone held hands with someone else, the resultant homophobic assault upon the unfortunate(s) would be immense and swift. It’s swiftness, in fact, exceeded only in its wrath.
So which is better. A completely wussy, effeminate and emasculated teenage school population, who cry at the drop of a hat and are extremely… wimpy, or grunting troglodytes who simply beat or humiliate any such transgression. If I had to choose, I’m not so sure I’d automatically go for the former. Much rather learn to be somewhat of a man in command of one’s emotions rather than a whimpering puddle of tears!
In other news, the below cartoon appeared in the Japan Times. Given how so many ALT’s are engaged or coupled with Japanese girls, I can personally attest to the ridiculousness of their coupling.
