Japanese young women tend to have ______ than Japanese young men.
But there is a difference. In the original omiai, the young Japanese couldn't reject the partner chosen by his parents and their middlernan. After World War II, many Japanese abandoned the arranged marriage as part of their rush to adopt the more democratic ways of their American conquerors. The Western ren'ai kekkon , or love marriage, became popular; Japanese began picking their own mates by dating and falling in love.
But the Western way was often found wanting in an important respect: it didn't necessarily produce a partner of the right economic, social, and educational qualifications. "Today's young people are quite calculating," says Chieko Akiyama, a social commentator.
What seems to be happening now is a repetition of a familiar process in the country's history, the "Japanization" of an adopted foreign practice. The Western ideal of marrying for love is accommodated in a new orniai in which both parties are free to reject the match. "Omiai is evolving into a sort of stylized introduction," Mrs. Akiyama says.
Many young Japanese now date in their early twenties, but with no thought of marriage. When they reach the age—in the middle twenties for women, the late twenties for men—they increasingly turn to omiai. Some studies suggest that as many as 40% of marriages each year are omiai kekkon. It's hard to be sure, say those who study the matter, because many Japanese couples, when polled, describe their marriage as a love match even if it was arranged.
These days, doing omiai often means going to a computer matching service rather than to a nakodo. The nakodo of tradition was an old woman who knew all the kids in the neighborhood and went around trying to pair them off by speaking to their parents; a successful match would bring her a wedding invitation and a gift of money. But Japanese today find it's less awkward to reject a proposed partner if the nakodo is a computer.
Japan has about five hundred computer matching services. Some big companies, including Mitsubishi, run one for their employees. At a typical commercial service, an applicant pays $80 to $ 125 to have his or her personal data stored in the computer for two years and $ 200 or so more if a marriage results. The stored information includes some obvious items, like education and hobbies, and some not-so-obvious ones, like whether a person is the oldest child. (First sons, and to some extent first daughthers, face an obligation of caring for elderly parents. )
According to the passage, today's young Japanese prefer______.
A.a traditional arranged marriage
B.a new type of arranged marriage
C.a Western love marriage
D.a more Westernized love marriage
The coming of age of the postwar baby boom and an entry of women into the male-dominated job market have limited the opportunities of teen-agers who are already questioning the 'heavy personal sacrifices involved in climbing Japans rigid social ladder to good schools and jobs. In a recent survey, it was found that only 24.5 percent of Japanese students were fully satisfied with school life, compared with 67.2 percent of students in the United States. In addition, far more Japanese workers expressed dissatisfaction with their jobs than did their counterparts in the 10 other countries surveyed.
While often praised by foreigners for its emphasis on the basics, Japanese education tends to stress test taking and mechanical learning over creativity and self-expression. "Those things that do not show up in the test scores personality, ability, courage or humanity are completely ignored," says Toshiki Kaifu, chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's education committee. "Frustration against this kind of thing leads kids to drop out and run wild. "Last year Japan experienced 2, 125 incidents of school violence, including 929 assaults on teachers. Amid the outcry, many conservative leaders are seeking a return to the prewar emphasis on moral education. Last year Mitsuo Setoyama, who was then education minister, raised eyebrows when he argued that liberal reforms introduced by the American occupation authorities after World War Ⅱ had weakened the" Japanese morality of respect for parents. " But that may have more to do with Japanese life-styles. "In Japan," says educator Yoko Muro," its never a question of whether you enjoy your job and your life, but only how much you can endure. "With economic growth has come centralization;76 percent of Japans 119 million citizens live in cities where community and the extended family have been abandoned in favor of isolated, two-generation households. Urban Japanese have long endured lengthy commutes travels to and from work) and crowded living conditions, but as the old group and family values weaken, the discomfort is beginning to tell. In the past decade, the Japanese divorce rate, while still well below that of the United States, has increased by more than 50 percent, and suicides have increased by nearly one-quarter.
In the Westerners eyes, the postwar Japan was ______.
A.under aimless development
B.a positive example
C.a rival to the West
D.on the decline
A.many Japanese women have a bad relationship with their husbands
B.many Japanese women live together with their husbands in perfect harmony
C.many Japanese women have a low social status
D.it"s an out-dated custom for Japanese women to be housewives
A.won
B.lost
C.beat
D.missed
A.accommodation
B.compensation
C.competition
D.complication
According to the author, for all Japanese women's lobbying efforts,______.
A.Japanese male chauvinism is to be brought under control soon
B.little result has been achieved
C.the law takes no notice of their rights at all
D.many Japanese female victims have been compensated for the damage
The change in Japanese life-style. is revealed in the fact that
A.the young are more tolerant of discomforts in life
B.the young are tolerant of discomforts in life
C.the young are less tolerant of discomforts in life
D.the young are satisfied with discomforts in life
The 8th paragraph suggests that young Japanese may support______.
A.higher tax rates
B.higher health-care budget
C.receiving more money from their parents
D.higher salaries
Which of the following statements is probably TRUE of Japanese educated women?
A.They are more family centered than American women.
B.They may feel frustrated due to the existing barriers.
C.More than half of them have jobs that are insignificant.
D.Most of them can"t bear sexism in the Japanese workplace.
Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Laura Sherbin consider the work status of Japanese women
A.sinister.
B.stressful.
C.deplorable.
D.disorderly.