29/11/2007

J-girl Nihongo watch Pt.2

Continuing what may or may not be an ongoing series.

The latest report from my reliable source on all things cool and female in Japan is that the new word on the street is ARASA .

It used to be that single Japanese women in their late 20s were called "Christmas Cakes". In other words they were pretty much useless after the 25th! But these days an increasing number of woman are choosing to marry much later, or not at all. According to Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the average age of women who got married in 2006 was 28.2 years (up from 27 years in 2000 and 25.9 in 1990.) What that means is there are a lot of women choosing to reject the kind of traditional life their mothers had. This may be because they'd rather have fun than settle down, or it may be they don't want to marry a guy like their father - who only had time for the office. Whatever the reason, rather than get married, quit work and have kids, they are choosing to do things their way.

And when asked how old they are they say (in that wonderful way the Japanese have for shortening English words): "A-ra-sa"

Around 30.

22/11/2007

Hisashiburi

Long time no see. But I haven't been procrastinating, honest. Since I last posted I've written a cover story for Metropolis magazine on the anime movie Afro Samurai and an article for the arts pages of The Japan Times newspaper, both of which are now on in the writing section of my website. I also did an interview for the Dec/Jan issue of Monocle magazine. All that and I started at a new language school! So it has been an interesting couple of months.

More soon... maybe.