Beanie level: Eunuch in drag

Do kids in Japan have more freedom/autonomy/self-sufficiency than kids in the US? Or is this a literary device, like the popularity of orphans and boarding schools in English stories? Kill off the parents (literally or figuratively) so the kid can have adventures.

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    Not sure which show/books/manga you’re referring to; but as far as I know (cred: I speak simple Japanese, read some literature, have visited; and have a few Japanese friends from my year in the UK):

    the answer to that is both yes and no. Because Japan is considered safe, yes you will see small children commuting to school etc on their own on the metro, on buses. They are also – universally, I hear – expected to clean their schools and so on. But their mothers are stay at home moms (usually) and like in most Asian cultures, it is acceptable for children to continue living at home even once they start working (but again, my friends “pay rent” or “pay back growing expenses” in that they send 30% of their income to their parents every month, more if they live at home)

    So the point of my meandering answer is that – yes they are more independent in some aspects; less so in other aspects. ^^

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      I relate so much to Yuji Sakamoto’s dramas because it reminds me of my own culture and childhood.
      I grew up in a small town and it wasn’t uncommon for us kids to be left at home alone at a very young age, even at 5yrs old because it was safe.

      I learnt at an early age to be responsible for myself. Cook, clean, do homework after school etc before going out to play with the neighborhood kids till my mom comes home.
      Those friends I still have to this day.

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        That is so cool! And very helpful in your adult life, I would think.

        I had a fairly free-range childhood, and my mother had me responsible for my own laundry, room, various chores, and of course homework. But we were rarely left to fend for ourselves completely. Not that young, anyway. By the time I was a teenager, I would babysit my younger siblings for a few hours at a time on occasion. And we never had the autonomy and responsibility kids in Japanese entertainment seem to have.

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      Fascinating! Thank you.

      I had noticed this before, but what prompted the question last night was that I have been watching Good Morning Call on Netflix, and we have 2 highschoolers who are living on their own. Renting their own apartment. And no one bats an eyelash. Well, there was a fair amount of blinking and eyebrow raising when it comes out that a boy and a girl are living together as roommates, but that was because of the boy/girl thing. Not the living alone thing. Which I found very strange.

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    I have been working here for two years. Kids here are more independent because they’re expected to go to school on their own. In the first few years in Elementary, they clean their own rooms and serve their own food. Almost all Moms here are working so they usually leave their children at daycares from 3 years old until 5 (before they’re required to attend school) so there. Also, it’s quite common to see 1st graders having their own house keys (as I see with my students).

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      That is so impressive. As I said above, I feel like my mother was good at teaching us responsibility and how to take care of ourselves. But nowhere at the level and the youth of the kids I see in Japanese entertainment. And apparently art is imitating life here.

      This is why I love watching international television. It broadens my horizons. And I’m very glad to have people like you guys to let me know what is real and what is fiction.

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I am really enjoying all of the mother figures in Mother. And not just the characters. The matryoshka dolls and the Virgin statues.

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Then, maybe, just maybe, you might want to consider not killing people anymore.
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The Sun and the Moon? Hansel and Gretel? The Little Matchgirl? I’m thinking your definition of happy fluffy fairy stories needs some calibrating, lady. Even if they were bowdlerized. I’ll give you Peter Pan, though.
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So . . . apparently we no longer feel the need to blur out knives. Have the rules changed?






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    Finally. I thought it was always so weird to do that because in reality Korean kids are exposed to knifes, people smoking, soju commercials, motels etc just by walking down a street.

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      OMG…can’t believe I just added an “s” to knife instead of writing knives. It’s too early.

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        Ha! I didn’t even notice. You’re right, it must be early.

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      What always cracked me up was that they would blur knives but not guns. And sometimes they were kitchen knives.

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        I remember one time on this drama that I can’t remember the name of, someone fell off the building and died, but they blurred out the blood around the person’s head which MADE NO SENSE at all.

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          You know the other one that cracks me up? Poop! A dog will have an accident, or there will be a shot of a toilet, and the poop will be blurred out.

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      I think it’s that the broadcast stations don’t want to encourage it/hold the responsibility that to have people possible say that their programs are exposing all of this stuff to their younger audiences, no matter how useless their way of blocking it all out is– at least they are trying to do their own part in not giving exposure

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    I don’t know if the rules have changed. I thought Hwayugi was rated for ages 15+ (since most tvN shows are). And I think when a show is rated for more mature audiences, the knife blur rule doesn’t apply. I am not sure about any of this, it is my educated guess.

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      But aren’t all dramas rated 15+? This is the first time I remember not having blurred knives, and they showed up in 2 different shows. But you are right, I need a larger sample size. It may well just be that Money Glower and Hwayugi are rated so that it is OK to show knives.

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You know the other thing about TVN\’s movie length episodes? There is 50% more stuff that our loverly volunteer subbers have to work through before I can watch. Grump grump grump. 😤😖

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While watching Black Knight tonight, my tablet fell over and the screenshot button was bumped and it took a random picture. It cracked me up, so I am sharing.
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Um . . . you killed his father. He knows you killed his father. I’m thinking he knows just how scary you are, hon.
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    Right? It was like, tell me something I don’t know. Heh.

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Watched Just Between Lovers even though the subs were only at 76%. Figured I\’d just go till the subs ran out, then switch to something else for a bit. But the subs never ran out! Thanks, subbers!

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Yes, my darlings. When you are finally able to put down your load, imagine how free and light you will be! I am looking forward to it.
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Honey. You built a robot slave to replace your exgirlfriend (who is almost 20 years your junior), gave it her face, and dressed it in a pink minidress with a skirt shorter than a cheerleader’s. I’m thinking you don’t have any room to talk about other people’s perversions.
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So, it seams Viki is now getting subs as well as video from Kocowa. I am debating whether to be happy to get subs super fast, or to be sad because Viki\’s subs are so much better.

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So, back in October, I got this text from my brother-in-law:

“Amilia, I’m sitting in a rooftop cafe in Seoul right now, and they’re filming one of your Korean soap operas below us in the garden!”

Accompanied by the following photos.

I kept zooming in, trying to tell what show it was, and who the actors were. No luck.

Until this morning, when I was catching up on 2 Cops while brushing my teeth. And hotdog! There it was! The scene my brother-in-law saw filmed, right there on my screen! I went through today a slight bit giddy.

Also a bit ashamed that I hadn’t recognized Jo Jung-suk right off. I am a bad fangirl.
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    My cousin saw Park Seojoon and Kim Jiwon filming FMW (the scene where PSJ almost got knocked by KJW’s ex’s
    girlfriend’s car scene) while she was in Korea too, and didn’t know it was them until she watched the drama. I screamed internally so much.

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      So cool! And yes, screaming internally is exactly the way to put it.

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        I went like “OMG HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW?!” In my head over and over again.

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    It seems impossible not to recognize his arms and hands and profile, but it is easy to be wise after the fact! 😂 I know I would have been exactly the same in your place 😁

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      hahah Yes now it’s super obvious. He has such a distinctive way he moves his body but back then from a far and out of all the kdrama actors it would have so difficult.

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I have been watching Because This Is My First Life on my own on Mondays and Tuesdays, reading the recaps midweek, and then rewatching with my brother on the weekend. Helps with the wait between episodes.

Last weekend my brother and I were busy and didn\’t get a chance to watch our show. So we ended up watching last week\’s episodes together on Monday and this week\’s episodes on Tuesday. Which was fun. (I can\’t tell you how hard we both laughed at Ji-ho buying Se-hee\’s deadpan cat joke.)

But now it is the weekend again, and I don\’t have my handy dandy rewatch excuse. *Sigh*

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    I honestly think there are no excuses necessary to rewatch that show.😃

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That’s not Seo-jin in the photo, is it? It’s a little girl, right?? Or am going crazy???
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    It’s Seo Jin who is played by the adorable Park A Rin, a girl. Here’s her instagram https://www.instagram.com/arin.lovely/

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      Ok. That makes sense. Thanks!

      (I am still remaining a bit worried that she is dressed as a girl in the photo. That this is an alternate reality where Jin-joo and Ban-do have a daughter instead of a son.)

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        @chandler posted a reply to my comment in the recap thread. It seams that this is the same photo they had of Seo-jin pre-timetravel. So my worries are for naught and all is well. 😊

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Joon climbs into bed wearing jeans and a winter coat. Also her purse.
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A couple of Jenny Han\’s books are included in the current Audible 2-for-1 sale. 😍 In the US, anyway. Not sure how Audible works internationally.

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I know translating takes time. I know subbers are volunteers who worked years to learn multiple languages and are now donating more of their time out of the goodness of their hearts so that I can watch a television show. I know I am a spoiled brat and an entitled jerk to expect and demand subs within a few hours of a show\’s original airing. But . . . but . . . it\’s midnight and my show is only at 57% !!!!!!!!! #firstworldproblems #becausethisismyfirstlife

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The subbers at Viki seem to share my opinion on the pointlessness of blurring out Ji-ho’s Graduate poster. #thislifeisourfirst
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    Which is weird, because they show it without blurring it other times during the episodes …

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    Did they think it was some kind of PPL? Some weird logic lol

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      I don’t know? You would think blurring out your product placement would be counterintuitive, wouldn’t you? And it likely wasn’t blurred out in the original airing in Korea. Just specially for us international fans.

      There were two other times I’ve noticed something like this. In Nine, they blurred out the label on The Bodyguard OST LP. They also cut “And I Will Always Love You” from the soundtrack, which was annoying as it played a part in the plot.

      And then Answer Me 1988 blurred out almost everything from the 80s. Which was incredibly annoying as this is a nostalgia show, with long lingering camera pans over 80s paraphernalia that I was not allowed to see. This bothered me so much that I gave up on watching the show legally, and just started downloading it.

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You know, if this is the look on his face every single stinking time you are together, you may possibly want to rethink your plan to marry him at all costs.
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