Japanese young women really like ordinary men !? 三平女子/sanpei jyoshi

In the 1980s, Japan lost sight of reality because of the bubble economy. Many people weren't down-to-earth. They painted a rosy picture of Japan. Under these circumstances, many young women liked men with a high academic background (高学歴/kou-gakureki), high salary (高収入/kou-syunyu) and high stature (being tall, 高身長/kou-shincho) since they considered these three conditions to be the key to lead a happy married life. As you can see, these three words (conditions) include the same kanji character "高/kou (it means being high in this context)". In this sense, the word "三高/san-kou" was coined (三/san means three) to denote these three conditions. This coined word became very popular. With the economic downturn, however, the word has become obsolete, but it's still sometimes used as a symbolic word for the bubble economy.

These days, another coined word, "三平女子/sanpei jyoshi" is becoming popular. 女子/jyoshi means women, so 三平女子 indicates women who want to marry men meeting three conditions. Like the aforementioned word "三高/san-kou", 三平/san-pei comes from three adjectives including the kanji character "平/hei". If you are Japanese language learners, please guess what these three adjectives are. The answer is that 平凡な/heibon-na（being ordinary), 平穏な/heion-na(being calm or peaceable), and 平均的な/heikin-teki-na(being average) . More specifically, young women are willing to marry ordinary- looking (平凡な外見）and calm （平穏な）men with average salary (平均的な収入）. It's been said that, as young women have been struggling with the sluggish economy since they were born, they always want their lives to be stable and secure.

I'm wondering what word will be coined to describe popular men in twenty years' time.

Women over 40 in Osaka have significant characteristics !?

People in different areas of Japan have different characteristics. Please think of when the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami hit Tohoku, the northern part of Japan. At the time, a lot of people worldwide seemed to wonder why the victims were able to stay calm in such a dire situation. It was widely reported that they were very endurable and tolerable. I've heard that the Japanese word "我慢/Gaman" was widely introduced in newspapers (Gaman is defined as the ability to endure the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity). It's been said in Japan that people in Tohoku (northern Japan) have greater endurance than those in other areas.

Anyway, women over 40 in Osaka are referred to as 大阪のおばちゃん/Osaka-no-Obachan, and are well-known as middle-aged women who have significant characteristics. Unlike a lot of Japanese people, they usually speak out whatever they think of, and they speak loudly and quickly . When they are asked for their opinions, they are very outspoken. On top of that, they are very good at making their stories funny. They always try to haggle for bargains. They tend to stick their noses in others' businesses. Because of these characteristics, some from other areas say that women over 40 in Osaka are meddlesome and impudent. On the other hand, some say that they are friendly and dependable. Other than that, they like outfits which make them stick out whereas similarly-aged women in Tokyo like outfits which make them blend with others. You can find these characteristics in all the people in Osaka, but women over 40 are the most distinctive among them.

Although I currently live in Chiba next to Tokyo, I grew up mainly in Osaka. Because of this, I'm familiar with these characteristics. Rather than that, I had assumed that I was familiar with them until when I heard a woman talking at the locker room of a gym a few weeks ago. The woman looked in her 30s. Her accent and way of speaking immediately made me realize that she is from Osaka. Although the locker room was noisy, her voice stood out to the point where everybody there could hear what she was talking about. She was very talkative and didn't give others any chance to interrupt her. When I returned to the locker room after working out, she was still talking. The two listeners seemed a little tired. I thought if they were Osaka people, they could stop her. I realized how strong characteristics of Osaka people are " in areas other than Osaka".

In your country, is there an area where people have significant characteristics?

437,500USD for a man. 18,750USD for a woman.

Can you guess what that title indicates? This is an incentive bonus for the Soccer World Cup Victory which is stipulated by the Japan Football Association (The JFA). If the men's national team wins the World Cup, each member can receive 35 millions JPY (437,500USD. 1USD=80JPY). On the other hand, for the women's national team, each member can receive only 1.5 millions JPY (18,750USD). When this fact was widely reported, immediately after Nadeshiko Japan won the victory at the Women's Soccer World Cup in Germany, a lot of people questioned the huge difference between men and women, insisting that 1.5 millions JPY was too low whatever reason. In response to this, it's reported that the JFA is considering increasing the incentive bonus to 5 millions JPY (62,500USD).

Other than that, it's been widely reported how difficult it is for women to make a living as soccer players in Japan. In the national team which accomplished a great achievement at the right time and lifted a nation rocked by the disaster, there are only five "professional" players among 16 members who belong to club teams in Japan (Some belong to club teams in other countries). Others are amateur players. Although some of them are allowed to devote themselves to play soccer with a salary, many of them work during the daytime and practice playing soccer in the evening after work.

Speaking of women's club teams in Japan, some reports on the team "TEPCO Mareeze" are still fresh in my mind. The team was forced to break up by the nuclear disaster because it was run by TEPCO, which has been struggling to get the crippled nuclear power plant back under control. I've heard that the team was based in an area where the crippled plant is located, and many of the term members worked for the plant during the daytime (All the members were employees of TEPCO). As I wrote in the last post, the victory at the Women's Soccer World Cup inspires women to be persistent in what they want to do and live up to their dreams even if their goals aren't traditionally associated with women. Then, it will widely open the door for women in many fields. To support both women's soccer players and women who are struggling in other fields, I want to go to watch a regular women's soccer game.

The considerable achievement at this Soccer World Cup becomes more meaningful in Japan because it was made by women

The phenomenal final game at the Women's Soccer World Cup in Germany sticks in my mind. I'm sure that it is something indelible. Words like excitement, jubilation and amazement are not enough to express my feelings. I was captivated and inspired to carve out a new future.

When the US scored both the first and second goals, a lot of Japanese people supposed that the game was over, appreciating the amazing success of the " the silver medal". Contrary to the expectation, however, none of the Japanese players seemed to feel rushed or be in despair. They were playing as usual. They were undaunted. When Sawa, a well-known 32-year-old leading player who is a pioneer of women's soccer in Japan, equalized with a goal at the last minute, I realized how much she stuck to the championship. Her goal made me imagine her tough life and the very long journey here. At the penalty shootout, impressive performances made by the Japanese players, especially the goal keeper, made me think about many things.

Many English newspapers point out that the Japan team was playing on the shoulders of the nation devastated by the 3/11 earthquake, tsunami and the subsequent nuclear disaster, and it made the team become stronger and helped it gain the victory. As they said, I'm sure that all the Japanese players really wanted to encourage the victims and the nation by showing great performances because I often hear Japanese athletes saying that the best thing they can do for the victims and disaster-struck areas is giving impressive performances. However, more than that, I think that the strong passion of the Japanese players for soccer led to the championship.

In Japan, when the 1st Women's Soccer World Cup was held in 1991, soccer was considered as a sport for men and women's soccer players were hardly appreciated. Speaking of 1991, it was a few years after the so-called bubble economy was burst in Japan and it became necessary to make a dramatic change of the male-dominated Japanese society. It was at this time that women finally started taking important roles in society, as if to respond to the requirement. Since then, women have been struggling for 20 years to reform stereotypical images of women's roles and to obtain more lifestyle choices. Because of the background, I've noticed that many women identify themselves with the women's soccer team "Nadeshiko Japan" and are encouraged to be persistent in what they want to do or their beliefs. On top of that, since it's widely known that unlike men's soccer players, it's very difficult even for talented women to make their livings as soccer players, the considerable achievement at the World Cup captivates a lot of people and triggers a review of their lives. Even some conservative men say that women can make a breakthrough for Japan's stagnation. I'm not sure if women can play this role, but I'm sure that a dramatic change is necessary.

When Nadeshiko Japan left for Germany, nobody except a few staff members saw off the team at an airport. No reporters were there. In contrast, yesterday morning, a large number of people and reporters were waiting at the airport to offer a warm welcome to the impressive team. All the team members were stunned by the big change.

Nadeshiko Japan! Do you know what the Japanese word "Nadeshiko" means?

At the Women's Soccer World Cup in Germany, Japan had some amazing victories and eventually reached the final game. The unexpected success has lifted the nation rocked by the devastation of the 3/11 earthquake, tsunami and the subsequent nuclear disaster. The impressive performances made by the Japanese players have encouraged a lot of people to struggle to overcome difficulty and inspire them to make greater efforts to reach their goals. On July 17, Sunday (on July 18, Monday at 3:45 a.m. in Japan), Japan will play against the US for the championship. Fortunately, since that Monday is a national holiday in Japan, a lot of people will watch the very early morning final game live on TV in the hope that a miracle will happen. Actually, Japan has never beaten the US in soccer.

Anyway, the Japanese women's national soccer team has been referred to as "Nadeshiko Japan" since the Athens Olympics in 2004. Since women's soccer was unpopular, to make people aware of it, the team was given a name. Although I don't remember when the name became widely known, I'm sure that the fourth place finish in the Beijing Olympics enabled the name to be recognized. Now, I think that everybody knows what "Nadeshiko Japan" indicates.

Since Japan beat Germany at this World Cup, the meaning of Nadeshiko has been gaining the attention of reporters from other countries. Do you know the meaning? Nadeshiko means dianthus, which is a type of flower. However, nadeshiko implies yamato-nadeshiko/大和撫子. I bet that a lot of Japanese people think of yamato-nadeshiko from Nadeshiko Japan. What is the meaning of yamato-nadeshiko? Yamato-nadeshiko is used to describe Japanese women who have traditional Japanese beauty, kindness, and inner strength, although since people portray different images of these women, it's difficult to define them. However, yanmato-nadeshiko is generally used in a positive way and is often used as a complimentary word. I think that a lot of people still consider traditional Japanese beauty, kindness and inner strength (which yamato-nadeshiko implies) as characteristics which Japanese women shouldn't lose even if the times have changed.

In Japan, it's been said that traditional Japanese women have inner kindness and strength. They sense what somebody expects them to do, and then they usually do things for the person and back up the person not to be realized by the person that they do that for. In a good way, they are persistent in what they have decided to do and can keep struggling to reach their goals, although they often look fragile.It's been said that these inner feelings make them more beautiful. In my opinion, these women are described as yamato-nadeshiko. As the team name "Nadeshiko Japan" shows, the Japanese women's national soccer team often makes us think of these women.

Culturally, we often place more value on a single unknown flower which is blooming strongly amid the weeds than well-known beautiful flowers which always enjoy people's attention. Thus, we find the single flower beautiful. I hope that the explanation on yamato-nadeshiko has helped you understand something new.

http://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/index.html

Are Japanese women seeking for an opportunity to rely on men and to express their passion??

The annual world tango championship called "Mundial de Tango" was introduced by a Japanese TV program yesterday. It's held every August in Buenos Aires, Argentina where tango is very popular. The program tried to understand what tango was by means of examining three Argentinian couples who attended the 8th annual world tango championship held last August (408 couples from 16 counties attended it). According to the program, tango is a dance which requires dancers to present a love story and express their passion; so tango deeply reflects how a pair of dancers are feeling while they are dancing.

The first pair covered by the program used to be a couple in private life. Both of them are in their early 20s. Since they realized that their private relationship always influenced their dancing, they intentionally broke up to make their dancing better. As for the second pair, the male dancer is 37 years old. He did very well with his previous partner, who was also his girlfriend, every time he attended the world championship. But right before this world championship, she walked away from him. It broke his heart. However, he was determined to attend this championship with a new young partner not only to win it but also to overcome the difficulty. The third pair is a couple in private life. They are in their early 20s.

I enjoyed the three different love stories presented by the three pairs in the championship, although I didn't see many technical differences among them. I found it interesting. Only the third pair couldn't get into the final. The results made us think about whether or not tango dance partners should be a couple in private life. Since tango seems to be sensual, I was wondering how many people didn't care about their boyfriends/girlfriends dancing tango with their dance partner.

Anyway, the TV program mentioned that this time, a pair consisting of a 42-year-old Japanese woman and a 21-year-old Argentine man won the world championship in the category of “Stage Tango”. Last time, a Japanese pair won it in the category of "Salon Tango" (There seems to be these two categories). The remarkable accomplishments really surprised me because I don't think that Japanese people are good at expressing their passion, which is an essential element of tango.  I wondered if tango performed by Japanese women seemed attractive to foreigners since they usually express themselves in different ways: indirectly.

According to the program, in Japan, tango had been very popular especially among women, which also surprised me. However, the main reason reported was convincing: Many women who are fascinated by tango feel that they can rely on their male partner while they are dancing tango. This feeling attracts them. It seems that tango requires male dancers to lead their partners more aggressively than other kinds of dancing do.

These days, in Japan, many young men don't express themselves to their girlfriends. Women are often forced to put themselves in a situation where they have to be forward and take initiative in a relationship. Under these circumstances, Japanese women seem to be seeking for an opportunity both to rely on men and to be allowed to express their passion while responding to men's passion. Dancing the tango may be that opportunity.

http://www.tangobuenosaires.gov.ar/festivalymundial10/web/en/index.html

Are Japanese wives too forgiving of their husbands' love affairs ??

I often hear non-Japanese living in Japan saying that they can't at all understand the attitudes of Japanese wives toward their husbands' love affairs. The non-Japanese wonder why the betrayals don't often make wives determined to divorce, and insist that Japanese wives are too forgiving of their husbands' love affairs. I don't think that younger wives try to shut their eyes to their husbands' love affairs like the older generations did. However, I have to admit that traditional ideas which help men glamorize or rationalize their love affairs still remain in society and younger women.

According to a survey, wives tend to condone their husbands' love affairs because they think that the affairs can put them in a stronger position and they can wear the pants in the relationship. Come to think of it, a few female friends of mine told me in the past that if they found that their husbands were cheating on them, they would never divorce because not letting their husbands go is would be the best revenge. Needless to say, there are other reasons why wives try to forget their husbands' love affairs or let them pass. Actually, the very definition of love affairs is very ambiguous and totally depends on the person. As a matter of fact, some women say that wouldn't mind if their husband slept with a prostitute, however, they would mind if their husband regularly had dinner with another woman. Some insist that they don't allow their husbands to go to bars where women called hostesses sit next to them and talk (sometimes flirt) with them. Some would feel uncomfortable if their husbands go to dinner with another woman, just the two of them, even if it's something like stopping at a cafe to grab something with their female coworker after they work late.

No one will know what to do until the time comes.

The buzzwords and new words of the year contest in Japan

Every year around this time, the top 10 winners of the buzzwords and new words of the year contest are announced. The results are widely reported in the news. People often make it a topic of conversation. Generally, newly coined words and impressive phrases which have had a great influence on society are selected. Some of them describe social phenomena so adequately that they have been popular for many years. 「亭主元気で留守がいい/teishyu-genkide-rusugaii」and 「家庭内離婚/kateinai-rikon 」, for example, have been frequently used since they were selected in 1986. The former was a catch-phrase used in a TV commercial. As far as I remember, middle-aged housewives repeated the phrase there (please see the video below). The phrase means that if husbands are healthy and away from home, it will be the best for their wives. It implies that housewives expect their husbands only to make money for their families. As for the latter, 家庭内/kateinai means inside families or at home, and 離婚/rikon means divorces, so 家庭内離婚 indicates the situation where a marriage couple still live together, but they don't love each other and don't even talk to each other, so the couple have realized they have already divorced mentally.

At the time, many husbands were assertive and came home late every day. Although wives understood that their husbands were forced to work long hours, they realized as well that their husbands often went drinking on the pretext of working. To make matters worse, many husbands didn't try to save time for their families. Under these circumstances, some wives really wanted to divorce. However, great concern about negative impact on their children, difficulty in economic self-reliance and other reasons discouraged these wives from divorcing. Instead, they started trying to enjoy their lives, not expecting their husbands to do things for them. They decided to shut their eyes to the aggravating attitudes of their husbands toward them as long as their husbands made money for their families. The phenomena created the aforementioned phrases.

Anyway, two days ago, the top 10 winners of the 2010 buzzwords and new words were announced. It's said that, as the channels to deliver information have become more varied, it has become more difficult to select these words. As a matter of fact, some people are wondering about the results. I'm planning on describing the result in my future posts. Last year,「政権交代/seiken-koutai/political power shift or change of administration /government」won first place in the contest. It shows how much people expected the new government last year, although many of them are currently ready to brand it as an incapable group. In my opinion, this power shift was an inevitable step for Japan to become a real democratic country.

Popular women gatherings called 女子会/ joshi-kai

About two years ago, the phrase 女子会/joshi-kai started being frequently used in Japanese society. 女子/joshi means women or girls and 会/Kai means meeting, gathering and so on, so 女子会 means women gather to enjoy meals, drinking and talking mainly in restaurants. Men are not allowed to join them. These days, a lot of restaurants offer special menus for 女子会. I do not know exactly why the phrase has become that popular nor do I know when it began being used. However, I guess that restaurants struggling to survive coined the phrase, or perhaps started exploiting it to give women more opportunities to go out for a meal. This might be because there was a palatable change in society; more and more women were willing to enjoy drinking; in contrast, men had less interest in drinking. Women had become more active; on the other hand, men had become less active. Speaking of inactive men, at the time, the coined phrase 草食系男子/sousyoku-kei-danshi (please click here) started being frequently used to describe the characteristics of young Japanese men.

When I first heard of 女子会, it sounded bad to me, making me think of housewives who really like gathering and gossiping about people they know. I assumed that 女子会 was definitely going to become a sort of compulsory gathering, no matter how people actually intended to use the phrase. Can you guess why?

I've realized that some women force their friends etc to join gatherings organized by them. Their friends often feel that they are under a great deal of silent pressure to join them. The polite answer "I'm afraid I can't" sometimes leads to a sort of bullying. You might realize sooner or later that others complain about you whenever you don't join the gatherings. Because of that, if you are frequently asked to go to a women gathering due to the great popularity of 女子会, some of them will be frustrating.

According to a TV show that was on a few days ago, some young women are fed up with 女子会. Some consider the gatherings to be sort of official meetings, not expecting themselves to be able to enjoy talking with other participants. Some don't like 女子会 largely because they can't express themselves especially when they disagree with somebody, feeling like they are always required to stay in line with her.

I'm wondering why women's gatherings are more likely to become awkward meetings.

Are Japanese women too patient?

Yesterday, it was reported in a TV show that a lot of middle-aged Japanese women try to overcome climacteric disorder only by being patient even though there are many medicines to ease their symptoms.　The phrase "being patient" reminded me of two of the following stories.　

The first one is about my Japanese friend.　Many years ago, she gave birth in Sydney. According to her, her delivery was expected to need a special technique, so the hospital asked her if other doctors and residents could observe her delivery. She accepted the offer. Because of this, her delivery started in a large operating room while being watched by many doctors. 

While she was struggling with an acute pain during her delivery, she tried to hold up as much as possible and didn't yell out. A lot of observers seemed to make her feel like she wanted to hold up better than usual. Despite her bearing the pain, a nurse beside her started slapping her cheek. Although she was surprised by it, she was struggling so hard to give birth that she couldn't ask why. After the delivery, it turned out that the nurse had assumed at the time that my friend had been unconscious since the nurse had never seen patients not yelling out during the delivery.

The next story is about mysterious Japanese women's behaviors. I'm sometimes asked by Western men why their Japanese girlfriends suddenly express outrage without clear reasons. They don't understand why at all and don't know how to deal with their girlfriends. The blasts sometimes lead to a break up.

As you may know, some Japanese women still don't say anything when they feel frustrated with what their boyfriends did.  They just try to let it to go away or accept it while being patient. Some try to imply that they don't want it instead of saying no verbally. Some hope that their boyfriends can notice what they are thinking before they say it. However, these approaches often make the frustration grow, and the women end up erupting in rage.

Today, more and more Japanese people clearly express themselves. It's generally said that they have become less patient. However, they still tend to be patient based on Japanese culture. I think that keeping it bottled up is good, but it's more important for Japanese people to release frustration and try to solve problems before they are stretched thin.

Japanese women being like men/ オス化女子

Have you heard of the Japanese phrase 草食系男子/sousyoku-kei-danshi (herbivorous men) ? When I first talked about the coined　phrase here more than a year ago (click here), it just started gaining popularity. Now, the phrase is very popular to the point where even elderly people who always have a hard time catching up with new words often use the phrase in daily conversation. Everybody has realized that the number of men categorized as 草食系男子/sousyoku-kei-danshi (herbivorous men) are increasing, although the definition is ambiguous. Some young men are willing to refer to themselves as 草食系男子/sousyoku-kei-danshi (herbivorous men).

http://zexy.net/contents/lovenews/
article.php?d=20100915

As 草食系男子/sousyoku-kei-danshi (herbivorous men) has become popular, Japanese phrases: 男前女子/otokomae-jyoshi and オス化女子/osu-ka-jyoshi have been often heard of. These two phrases represent Japanese women who act or think like men typically do. These women often make people feel that they are more masculine (mentally) than 草食系男子/sousyoku-kei-danshi (herbivorous men). Also, it's said that these women are increasing in number.

According to a survey on these women in their 20s and 30s conducted by a major magazine, the following things make them realize that they are like men.
-Using male words subconsciously (In the Japanese language, some words are used mainly by men; some words are used mainly by women. In addition, suffix forms make your sentences sound masculine, feminine and things like that )
-Always expressing oneself very clearly. Disliking women who sneakily bitch about others. 　
-Disliking all of the things that are generally considered to be feminine.
-Disliking typical Japanese women's behavior: always doing something and going somewhere with the same close friends. Preferring going to a movie and on a trip alone.
-Loving drinking alcohol very much. Stopping by male-dominated bars alone without hesitation.
-Not wearing skirts. Sitting in a chair with your legs open.

In addition, the survey describes that people consider the following women to be オス化女子/osu-ka-jyoshi.
- Women who are frank, have a positive way of thinking, can move on quickly and never linger on things unnecessarily. Their behaviors always stun men. -Women who can make quick decisions at work and always express themselves clearly.

In the survey, other examples are also introduced. From these descriptions alone, I would say that I'm a オス化女子/ /osu-ka-jyoshi.

Let's try to obtain an attractive face!

When my friend was working for a well-known cosmetic company, a make-up artist who was working forseveral popular Japanese actresses came to the company and gave a demonstration to the employees. First, two of the female employees--a good-looking woman and an ordinary-looking one(to be honest, a rather bad looking)--took off the makeup that they had put on themselves. Then, as the rest of the employees watched, the artist started putting makeup on them, demonstrating her skill and turning these two into enchanting women. The unattractive woman changed to the point where the other employees hardly recognized her, which really stunned them. The make-up artist found out the most charming part of her face, highlighted it to create an appealing face. On the way home, the unattractive woman was finally able to enjoy the experience of having men look at her. She was surprised that even young men were trying to hit on her, and it made her happy.

Usually when people apply makeup on themselves, they tend to put heavy makeup on parts with which they aren't satisfied with, like how Japanese women try to make their eyes look bigger and more impressive. However, as you can see, experts insist that this way will make your face less attractive since the heavy makeup can end up highlighting your weak points.

It's generally held that facial expressions are important in social life. As expressions gain in importance, makeup plays the more important role of helping you achieve impressive facial expressions. Upon seeing makeup from these perspectives, I really feel like I cannot neglect makeup, although I know that your face and facial expressions often come from within.

Speaking of makeup, it reminds me of a funny story: If a woman is taking a bath, and her male friends accidentally appear in front of her...If she is in her 10s or 20s, she subconsciously hides her boobs and her crotch with her hands. If she is over 30, she subconsciously covers her bare face with her hands. I can't deny it.

Career-minded women exploited by companies.

About 15 years ago, despite many women still working at traditional assistant positions without promotion potential, well-known companies would take every chance to advertise themselves by showing what a good environment and opportunities they gave their capable female employees. Since the times and the law required companies to offer career paths to more women, major companies took advantage of a tiny number of their female employees working on the same level as men in order to improve their images. Unsurprisingly, this helped companies improve their image.

Contrary to good images conveyed by companies, I would often hear various complaints and about terrible situations from these career women. When a large company was introduced as a good workplace for career-minded women in a TV program, my friend working on the same level as men in the company sighed about the introduction, saying that the information in the TV program was far from the reality. She added that she had realized her company's ulterior motive behind the advertising campaign. Sadly, it's just one example.

As for my company where I was working in a male-dominated position, it didn't try to use their female employees in order to improve its image. Rather, my company didn't pay attention to doing that. However, I was sometimes requested to deliver a speech as a part of the recruitment activity of my company.

Today, women working on the same level as men have become much more common. However, many companies still try to show what a good working environment they give their female employees and what important roles their female workers are playing in their businesses. I think that these appeals imply companies have many problems solved.

Needless to say, all of these problems aren't attributed to companies. Our economic structure that is overly dependent on working long hours and some traditional ideas are the fundamental problems.

Korean actors fascinating Japanese women

When I visited my parents' house about five years ago, I was surprised to find a mug with a picture of a popular Korean actor, Bae Yong Joon, on it. I immediately asked my mother where and how she had got the mug while gazing at it with round eyes. She happily said that she had gone on a short trip to Korea and had bought it there since she was fascinated by the very popular Korean TV show, Winter Sonata, and its starring actor, Bae Yong Joon.

About eight years ago, the show was broadcast and it ignited a Korean boom in Japan. Since then, the actor has been popular. Although I realized how popular some Korean actors and Korean TV shows were among Japanese women over 50, I didn't imagine that my mother was intrigued by that show and Bae Yong Joon.

Although I don't know Korean TV shows well, I think that many of them present platonic love and pure love in a romantic way. It's been said that such stories remind Japanese women over 60 of their bittersweet experiences. This is partly because many of them weren't allowed to marry the man whom they really loved because arranged marriage was common when they were young. In other words, these shows make them feel as if they could return to their youth when they were falling in love, since they can find similarities between the stories and their own experiences. The virtual romances seem to give them energy to deal with a harsh reality that they have to get along with their retired husbands who hadn't paid attention to them for many years until their retirement.

On the 30th of Jun, another popular Korean actor, Park Yongha, who was also in the public limelight in Japan when the aforementioned Korean TV show was broadcast, committed suicide. According to the news, the 32-year-old actor went to heaven, being watched by a large number of his female fans dressing in mourning. Surprisingly, 90 percent of them were Japanese women even though his funeral was held in Seoul only two days after his death. Most of them were seemingly middle-aged. They were collapsing into tears.

ご冥福をお祈りいたします。

the very popular Korean TV show, Winter Sonata