[Sara Newman]

During yesterday's lecture, I curious about why now 1/3 of all Japanese housholds consist of only one person. In Aziz Ansari's book, Modern Romance, he uses Japan as a case study for loneliness and largely attributed the decrease in dating, marriages, and childbirth to extreme work stress and business, so I wondered if these are in fact the primary casues of more people living alone than in the past, or if there are other factors that have led to this demographic change. For instance, does the fact that the population's aging and fewer people are choosing to live in three-generation households mean that more elderly Japanese are living on their own or in senior facilitites? Or is decreased romantic partnership among the younger generations the primary cause of this trend?

[Sara Newman]

The data around infant morality in Asia really interested me since lately I've heard so many stories about stillbirths and disporportionate rates of infant mortality among certain groups in the United States. I learned that of the top five countries with the lowest infant mortality rates, three of them are in Asia: Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong. These three places had a rate of 2-3 deaths per per 1,000 live births. The infant mortality rate in the U.S. is more than twice that with 6.2 deaths per live birth. This data made me really interested in what specifically accounts for the difference in outcomes for infants. Is the low infant mortality rate in Signapore, Japan, and Hong Kong due to better pre-birth care, better hospital deliverty practices, or something else? 

[Sara Newman]

I was really interested in the article about the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese voting rights activists working to boost awareness of representation issues in Japan. I thought it was especially interesting that Yuka Hamanaka--the one nationally Japanese woman of the trio-- wanted to align herself with the other women to speak out against the lack of political representation that people of other nationalities living in Japan experience. This article made me embarrassed to realize that beyond not being a voting rights’ activist in the U.S., I’ve never even thought about how people from maintain citizenship in their birth country instead of the U.S. must feel about their inability to participate in our political life.

[Sara Newman]

Hi seminar participants, 

As a USC alumna, I'm excited to be back on USC's campus and taking a history class-something I never got the chance to do during my time at USC. I teach 9th and 10th grade English at Fairfax High School. After three years of teaching in South L.A., this is my first year having Asian students, so I really want to work harder to include the history of Asia (along with the history of Europe) when I explore World War II as part of our unit on Night. I also want to ensure that I have a greater diversity of voices and experiences in my class represented, and I think this class will help me be able to do so. 

[Author]

Posts