Materialism

‘Throughout this chapter, White describes many ways in which the marketing industry tries to shape trends and to influence teenagers to buy things. What are some specific examples?’

In Japan it is said that teenagers are big market. They are very responsive to fashion and trends and teenagers have certain purchasing power (although their income is not so big). Therefore many companies try to attract teenagers using many advertisements.
TV and magazine are still the main advertising media. In magazines, there are advertisements on the first few pages and last few pages. Usually, there are more advertisements on the last part of magazines than front part. Japanese advertisements usually use its own spokesperson like celebrities and characters of anime. There is a word “CM queen(CMの女王)” in Japan, which means the woman appeared in many advertisements and the advertisement works well.
Japanese company also use phrases effectively. Drink company recently use the phrase 'にがいこいよりあまいこい’ . It is the advertisement of tea which is stronger than usual type. ‘にがいこいよりあまいこい’ has double meaning. One is ‘苦い濃いより甘い濃い(sweet strong is better than bitter strong )’ and the other is ‘苦い恋より甘い恋(sweet love is better than bitter love)’. I like this phrase and this advertisement. I think this is very effective phrase to remember the characteristic of the good.
In these days, advertisements are really diversifying. It is not only in magazines or TV. There are advertisements not only in the trains but also on the body of trains. I think it is very effective because it has a great impact on passengers and also people who are waiting before railroad crossing. Recently, clothing maker and cell phone maker did this type of promotion. Moreover, my classmate thought of very interesting example during the class. It is that companies make a special day for goods. Grico(which is a famous confectionery in Japan) set a ‘Pocky Day’. ‘Pocky’ is a name of cookie and as pocky looks like the number of 1, the special day was set on November 11th. The ‘pocky day‘ campaign started in 平成(Japanese original name of an era)11年⒒月⒒日(1999/11/11).I think the diversity of advertisement will continue in Japan. As average of living standard becomes higher, advertisement plays very important role.

I think the comments about senpai-kohai relationship in this book are little overstated. However, most of the information is still true. Every junior does not bow to seniors but in my school it is natural to exchange greetings when we pass each other in the corridors or on the stairs. Usually, these kinds of manner are stricter in sports clubs than in the other clubs in Japan. Juniors in sport clubs must clean the gym or locker room for seniors and maintain equpment like ball. During the summer camp, juniors also wash seniors’ uniforms after the practice. I think the task of washing goes too far but these manners are necessary things to learn polite words and attitudes. In Japan, politeness is a very important thing to communicate with older people or unfamiliar people. It is difficult to use polite words so if we can not use polite words correctly, people do not feel bad when we are children. However, when we are grown up, we have to use polite words correctly. Therefore I think club activities are a good chance to learn manners.
I found the table of ‘study and other activity’ on page 81 interesting. Japanese students seemed to be more pressed by time than American students. It is still the real thing now that high school students who are college-bound tend to participate in club activities only in their first and second year. People who continue club activities in their third year are very few. In the third year of high school, it is natural to prepare for the entrance examination of college or university. We spend most time going to cram school or studying instead of going out with friends and exercise. Moreover, this tendency is becoming strong these days, so I think the time spent sleeping is becoming shorter now.