Do women wear the pants in a relationship?

This topic has been argued for a long time and it will no doubt continue.

The meaning of "Women wear the pants" is called "kakaa-Tenka" in Japan.

According to Wikipedia, "Kakaa-Tenka" means that housewives rule their household and husbands always must follow the wife.

It is often said that high percentage of Japanese families are Kakaa-Tenka style.

However, people in foreign countries think Japanese guys still have much power than woman and Japan is basically male-dominated society.

Why is there such a big gap between the actual situation and the images that comes from the people in foreign countries?

As you know, Japanese husbands are sparing in giving praise to their partners in public.

In contrast, American husbands always give their wives unreserved praise.

Also, Japanese women politicians are very few compared to the U.S.

In addition, the ratio of full-time housewife is much higher than the U.S.

With these reasons, I think this gap happened.

Back to this topic, who should wear the pants in a relationship?

According to the internet, there are a tons of comments and opinions.

Some Japanese guy said " I don't want be whipped" "I don't want to be controlled by my wife"

However, most of the people said that Kakaa-tenka(women wear the pants) always goes well compared with Teishu-Kanpaku(Chauvinistic husband)

One web site conducted an interesting web research.

They asked "Kakaa-Tenka and Teishu-kanpaku Which type is better in a relationship? " and 75% of people supported Kakaa-Tenka style.

In my opinion,

Yes, I totally agree with these opinions that Kakaa-Tenka is always going well.

Because, I think most of wives that have chauvinistic husband always endure a long and hard struggle. Husband is the only person who think the relationship is going well.

Next, even if someone said that in Kakaa-tennka, husbands have to be whipped and follow in every decisions, I think it is wrong.

I mean in Kakaa-tenka situation, husbands feel comfort because wives control

everything and husbands can concentrate on their job.

So, when the wife feels comfort, husband also feels comfort.

And ideally, wives are given freedom and real power by husbands.

Husband plays a role as if he were whipped, but actually, husband controls from the backside and makes the big decision.

Then, wife will appreciate for husband's considerations and she treats her husband with due respect in public.

But, husbands must be careful in their relationship, because wives always

become stronger after they have a kid.

Written Jun 21 revised Dec15

Internet research result

Do Women Wear the "Pants" in a Relationship?

Category: Relationships & Dating

Natalia "mac n cheese" M. says:

I think it really depends on the couple and the personality of the guy and the girl. If the guy is generally laid back, or just plain whipped, then the girl always decides. If the girl is very submissive in nature, then the guy has the last say. Sometimes neither wants to admit the truth, and thus you find yourself in heated debates over a simple matter on Saturday nights.

http://www.yelp.com/topic/new-york-do-women-wear-the-pants-in-a-relationship

Cool bento

I watched one interesting Japanese TV program called "Cool Japan" last week. This program introduced about Japanese cool things. They focused on how cool the Japanese bento culture is.

They reported some fantastic bento boxes and technologies. For example, one Ekiben(train lunch) has easy re-heating system.

Foreigner guest commentators were surprised how cool the Japanese bento culture was.

In addition, the Japanese style bento is getting popular in the U.S recently.

Some people started to make "bento" for their kids instead of sandwiches and banana. A lot of kinds of bento boxes are sold on the internet and we can find a lot of related books in the book stores.

Also, Mrs. Deboran Hamilton who used to live in Japan makes the Japanese style bento and she introduces her bentos in her blog.

Meanwhile, a new style hand-made bento is booming in Japan these few years. It's called "Kyaraben (Japanese Character Lunch Boxes)" and tons of images are up loaded on the internet. Few years ago, Kyaraben was really rare but, now a lot of products to make these bentos are released and it's getting popular. Also, this trend just started to spread to the U.S.

Why are bentos getting famous in the U.S?

First of all, bento is known as healthy food compared to the U.S typical lunch box such as sandwiches and banana.

Actually, a lot of parents concern about a nutritious balance.

Generally speaking, the Japanese style bento has a lot of variation of side dishes and it has deeply considers the nutritious balance in there.

Meanwhile, American style lunch boxes don't have it. Sandwiches mean peanut butter and jelly in the U.S.

Some people bring a cold pizza and snack or only granola bar. I don't think that it's good for kids.

So, now, some mothers realized that kids need to eat better lunch and they started to follow the Japanese style bento.

Second, bento looks really cool in the U.S, because bento has a lot of variation of stuff and they're organized really well.

Also, bento box design is really cool and kawaii(cute). In addition, these products have amazing technologies.

It's the similar situation that the Japanimation is popular in the U.S.

For these reasons, bento is getting popular in the U.S.

However, I don't think bent will become a major lunch style in the U.S.

The reason is very simple. As you know, it requires a lot of time in the busy morning. Most of Japanese moms wake up early to make it or prepare it the previous day. Also, American moms aren't ambidextrous like Japanese moms.

They understand how great the Japanese bento is, but they can not make it every day.

So, what is the better situation in the U.S?

I think they should make better sandwiches because their staple food is bread. They also can use some bento ideas in there.

Kyara-sandwiches looks nice and kids would become happy at lunch time.

Many American moms are working compared to Japanese moms, so I think they don't want to spend a lot of time to make their lunch boxes in the busy morning. If they add more good consideration for well balanced nutritious food, it's enough.

Making kyaraben everyday is too much and impossible.

Written May 30 revised Dec14

Reference URL

http://lunchinabox.net/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWyOInzopQU
http://www.nhk.or.jp/cooljapan/previous/index_1104to06.html

No problem is problem

It's been three years since I came here in LA. I'm getting accustomed to life in this country, but I have one thing that I still can't adapt myself.

It's the word " No problem" which is commonly used here and there.

For instance, One day, I had a problem with the sprinkler of my house and I asked to repair it. Then I said "thank you" to plumber when he finished. Then he said " No problem" . Even though it's obvious that someone is doing something wrong, they use "No problem". If it is in Japan, I expect the words of apology like "I'm sorry for inconvenience".

Also, I often hear it in my office. When I found mistakes in the documents of my co-workers made and I asked them to revise it, they said "No problem". Furthermore, If I say "I'm still bit worried about it", they certainly say "Don't worry. No problem!!". However, this nightmare sometimes come true.

Meanwhile, Japanese people tend to say "I'm worried" and "I'm sorry" especially in their business scenes. It is thought that saying "I am sorry" frequently is polite in Japanese business culture. Therefore Japanese business men often apologize even if they are several minutes late without their fault.

I think that Japanese people are worrywart too much, but why are American people so optimistic?

I tried to check on the internet and I found a lot of Japanese people who have same opinion of me. Also, I found one American person who wrote a book that    described why American people say "No problem" in greater detail.

The author's name is Rochelle carp and according to her book named "The method to treat the American who does not reflect", generally speaking, American people have a challenging mind that they can solve difficulties by themselves if they have an aggressive posture and this mind should be evaluated most. Therefore, they answer "No problem" even there are some problems in there when someone asked about their job progress. They don't mean that problem is never going to happens in the future.

I was impressed by reading this opinion. I didn't realized that they said this phrase with spirit of challenge not optimistic feeling. If this consideration is true, it's a point that we Japanese people should learn. However, it's out of question that only saying "No problem" and then nothing to do.

I think Japanese people used to have this attitude, but we forgot in the process. I can come up with some phrases like "Attatte kudakero"(Go for broke) and "Nantoka narusa"(What will be, will be), but I have no chance to use in my daily life. I find myself choosing a safer way without thought.

In this way, I understand the true meaning of "No problem" this time and I will believe this challenging attitude and I will try to get along very well in my life in LA. However, I think it sounds nice that saying "You're welcome or My pleasure" instead of "No problem" when people reply to "Thank you".

Written in Dec 05 and revised Dec 11.

What's the standard of beauty?

I read the crazy article about the attractiveness of women of different races which was published by Satoshi Kanazawa.

He is phD based in the UK. He concluded in this article that black women were less attractive than other races such as white or Asian women.

The original article was posted on the psychology today website, although it has now been removed due to the controversy.

However, before it was deleted, many people copies and reposted it on various other website.

He says "The only thing I can think of that might potentially explain the lower average level of physical attractiveness among black women is testosterone. Africans on average have higher levels of testosterone than other races. woman with higher levels of testosterone have more masculine features and are therefore less attractive."

I think the freedom of speech should be protected in our life, but this article is unacceptable.

That is because it doesn't have enough investigation and it could lead to the racial discrimination problem.

So, what's the standard of beauty?

In the U.S, there are a lot of kinds of races and it is not uncommon that people marry with other races. We can see a lot of people that are half or quarter. That means there are a lot of standard of beauty. So, they seem to accept any type of faces.

However, they could take care of their body shape compared to their face.

In plastic surgery world, Japanese and Korean focus on their face but, American woman prefer changing their body like a breast implant or removing wrinkled.

Winner of the beauty pageants are mainly white. That is because The U.S society is designed for white as mainstream. However, some guys like Asian women and recently Latinas are getting popular like Jennifer Lopez.

I think that American woman should have their own style in their fashion and cosmetic and should live with confidence. It's my image of American beauty standard. Additionally, keep exercising to prevent being fat.

I personally like Asian actress like Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li because,

they are infinitely familiar to me as same Asian people.

Also, it could work the law of the preservation of the species.

It's the same feeling as that even your dog is really cute, you never think that I want to marry to him and make a family. Same group basically seek their partner in same group.

In Japan, the beauty standard is changing recently among young people.

They prefer a good style to a face. Many actresses have really nice proportion and small face. Also cosmetic skill and products are improving. So even if you don't have a cute face, you can modify as you like.(Sorry,,)

In conclusion, I think that each races should have their own beauty standard and these can make people appreciate each other. It's ridiculous to rank them and to decide which is the best.

Women can enjoy to select your own fashion and make up based on your

race, age and body style. Then they can live with confidence.

Written on May 25 and revised on Dec 06

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1388313/LSE-psychologist-Satoshi-Kanazawa-claims-black-women-attractive.html 

Conservative America?

Through my job-product designer, I sometimes feel that American people are basically conservative about their preference.

They prefer classy and conventional design to modern and cutting edge design  through my personal feeling.

In 2008, Nissan released the new Fairlady 240Z, but the styling is completely new not heritage design.

Car designer explained " I considered the original especially the proportion "

but I think no one realizes about their concept in the U.S.

Contrastively, New Ford Mustang Elenore followed the original design as much as possible.

Also, the original Ford Mustang is really popular in the U.S.

There are a lot of special restore shops and a lot of celebrities own this. Everybody is eager to get it.

Yes, in the U.S, owning Mustang means an outstanding thing than owning the latest Ferrari.

American people also like classy style about architecture and interior design.

General personal house design is basically the same compared to the 1950's.

The furniture design, material and color are also classy and conservative.

Surprisingly, some of household electrical stuff are not up to date such as washing machines and refrigerators.

Additionally, in 2009 Tropicana changed their package design confidently.

They tried to appeal customers about their freshness.

However, most of all consumers rejected this new package design because it changed too much.

Just after two month, Tropicana decided to go back to their original design.

In Japan, it's really common to change their package design in a short term.

So, I feel it is not essential for them to demand the latest design in their life.

I'm not sure about Gen-Y situation, but over Gen-X think so at least.

Before I came here in LA, I have thought that American people have a more innovative thinking in their life.

As you know, Japanese people tend to seek the latest in their purchasing.

They scrap old houses and built new one not renovating.

They demand the new and fresh image for car design and they also require the up to date electrical stuff such as the navigation system.

Some young people started the way of renovated thinking, but generally speaking, Japanese people demand the latest.

I think the reason is that most of American people like their good days.

They envy their parent's wealthy life.

Also, American people tend to not to go abroad compared to other advanced countries people.

So they don't have the chance to know the other different culture.

Finally, they are not interested in the trend.

Meanwhile, Japanese people have been improving their quality of life.

They used to envy the American rich and comfortable life.

So, Japanese people throw away everything when they buy something new.

Personally, I like the high balanced life that is mixed old and new like the British design.

Fortunately, some of designers realized and created something which has both taste.

I will do the same thing through my job.

Revised Nov18 2011