Reading Prompts 4

The Japanese in Hawaii: The Family Game [Prompt 9]
1. I think it portrays the family as a very serious group, or at least about education. I fairly sure that the movie is making fun of the strained relationships between the members of this family. It portrays education as being of the utmost importance, as it should be for any school kid, but with an unhealthy reliance on strict standard testing accompanied by having to decide you school and profession by what your parents deem best for you and not what you really want. It also shows that what you want is sidelined for what is best for your family and what other peoples perception of your family's success is.
2. It is very evident that knowing a classmates "weakness" and in this case exploiting them is very important. The movie portrays the educational system as very competitive and based solely on rank, even more so than here. So knowing a competitor's weakness would be a great key to your personal success.
3. The purpose of the young wife was to show, and mock, another social practice. They apparently are not big on showing emotions, so she is there to represent a flawed person who does show her emotions, and is not well liked (or I'm sure respected) because of this.
4. I took the ending to be the true un-satyrical statement of the movie, that this sort of controlled, self minded bashing family structure is killing families.

The Japanese in Hawaii: Rhapsody in August [Prompt 10]
1. I found it so baffling that they would think they had to keep quite, respect us and our sensibilities on the Issue of Nagasaki. Even to this day we as Americans look at Pearl Harbor and think of those(meaning the ones involved back then, and not modern, current members)Japanese as the bad guy, the 'how dare they' mentality. I just sort of assumed that a Japanese person my age, especially a person who lived through the bombing would harbor similar thoughts about the US people involved. In my mind they are allowed to harbor a few fleeting ill wills about us in that even, and the American(s) would need to be the one on pins and needles, not vise-versa.
2. The views are generally speaking the same between the generations, in particular in regards to the American family members. I think that as you go from the views of the grandmother to those of the grand kids there is a lack of understanding of what exactly one generation went through to make them who they are. As the movie progresses i think they younger generation gains an understanding, and if nothing else a respect, for the elder generation.
3. I have the feeling, just from what i have talked to my Japanese friend about anything in World War 2, that they are told that it was an act of was that was necessary. The same way we feel about the Battle of the Bulge or US bombing in German supply hubs. Though I do think based on the movie they assume we still hold a grudge of some sort about their actions that day.

Japanese Religious Sites [Prompt 12]
1. They are sort of the same thing. Their aesthetic sensibilities are driven by religious teachings and beliefs, much more so than our own.
2. Honor seems to be very big there. Honor for me, you, and above all for those who came before us. this sense of honor goes hand in hand with the need to respect the subject of this honor. This to me is shown in the fact that you bow to those you meet, before the western handshake even, and that you take off your shoes when going into temples and houses alike.
3. Japanese religious beliefs and practices and intertwined with everyday life. Its not just something they uphold on Sundays, their beliefs seem so much more like practical lesson for everyday life, than the rigid traditions of western Christianity.

Japanese Culture and Aesthetics [Prompt 13]
1.
2.
3.