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Daughter had started college intending to major in biology. During her first year she lost interest in science and math.

During the past year she has become obsessed with anime, Japanese pop music, and Japanese video games and has decided that she wants to major in Japanese. She is also making plans to spend her junior year in Japan. It seems to us that her major motivation is that she thinks Japanese pop culture is cool.

She is planning discontinue taking science and math and take only courses that interest her - Japanese language and Japanese movie classes.

We're concerned that she will graduate without any skill other than an ability to watch Japanese cartoons without turning on the English subtitles. Her interests in Japanese culture do not seem to extend beyond cartoons and comic books.

Should we be concerned? Are we misguided?

By Tufts08 (Tufts08) on Monday, April 12, 2004 - 01:14 am: Edit

LMFAO

By Athlonmj (Athlonmj) on Monday, April 12, 2004 - 01:17 am: Edit

Anime and manga are addicting but should be best kept a hobby :P

By Emcmom (Emcmom) on Monday, April 12, 2004 - 02:55 am: Edit

I have a blond, blue-eyed caucasian friend who has a degree in Japanese. He's now working for the CIA, spying on the Japanese! No one ever suspects that he's listening in on their conversations.. But with so many companies having offices in Japan, I'm sure she will be in demand. More high schools are also offering Japanese as a language now, she can also teach.

By Tiffstardiva (Tiffstardiva) on Monday, April 12, 2004 - 04:57 am: Edit

She could also make a great living working in the tourism industry in Hawaii. In Hawaii, a knowledge of the Japanese language and the Japanese culture is of very practical use. :-)

By Marite (Marite) on Monday, April 12, 2004 - 06:33 am: Edit

I know a young man who went to a LAC and studied something totally unrelated to Japan. He then went to Japan as an English teacher, learned the language, and returned to the US where he is now at an Ivy doing a Ph.D. in anthropology with a focus on Japan.
Not long ago, students majored in Japanese studies so as to get jobs in Japan. That may still happen. An instructor of Japanese told me that the students who want to learn the language cite anime as their reason for doing so.

By the way, my S just spent the weekend at an anime convention, and yes, he is learning some Japanese! In fact one of the panels was about learning Japanese through anime.

By Mom2003 (Mom2003) on Monday, April 12, 2004 - 07:13 am: Edit

Anime seems to be Japan's best cultural export ... at least for our kids' generation. I love Kurosawa but he never inspired me to study Japanese!

I know a terrific sociologist with Japan interests who spent time in Japan, speaks Japanese and came back to do a dissertation on Japan and has done very well in her career.

By Tropicanabanana (Tropicanabanana) on Monday, April 12, 2004 - 07:20 am: Edit

It seems like she's wasting your money..She's supposed to be learning to think critically, write well etc. If all she's doing is watching movies, make her pay for college herself. This seems harsh, but so many students really want to be able to go to school but can't..so if your daughter is wasting this opportunity, she should pay for it...Not saying that a Japanese major is a waste, but only taking language and anime classes are.

By Marite (Marite) on Monday, April 12, 2004 - 07:35 am: Edit

Medusa:

I doubt that colleges allow a student to study only what interest them unless there is a total absence of a core curriculum or distribution requirements. Furthermore, to major in Japanese studies, one would need to take more than language classes. One would need to take courses in Japanese history, literature, anthropology, etc... If that is what your D is doing, I see nothing wrong with this plan. Would it be any more upsetting if she majored in French or German?

Not long ago, a parent posted a message about her Harvard graduate son who'd studied computer science. Five years after graduating, he was laid off from his high tech job. However, when he was at Harvard, he'd started an anime club and learned Japanese. His old firm sent him to Japan to deal with customers who'd bought its product because he was the only (former) employee who could speak the language. Who knows what jobs will await graduates?

By Lalai26 (Lalai26) on Monday, April 12, 2004 - 12:16 pm: Edit

Coming from someone who loves and has loves Japanese culture inside and out since 6th grade:

Advise your daughter to look at other majors while keeping the Japanese on the back burner. At most she should minor in it. I say this because Japanese is a very hard language to learn and a difficult culture to adjust to. If you don't love it inside and out, you will fail.

I am always happy to hear of other people who love Japan the way I do, but its not just Anime and Manga that Japan has to offer... I get annoyed when people boil down the county's entire culture to those two things.

But yeah, perhaps she should just take the language because a major takes a lot more interst than what it takes to watch anime.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Monday, April 12, 2004 - 03:44 pm: Edit

Let your daughter study in Japan for a year. My daughter was also an anime addict --- but after spending three weeks in Japan two summers ago, she realized that real-world Japan bears very little resemblance to anime-world Japan.

Although it was very disappointing to my daughter to realize that her favorite Anime characters do not actually run Tokyo, she came away with a deep appreciation for the real culture, religions, and people of this fascinating country. I think that has helped make her a much more well-rounded person. (And, by the way, she is now much less obsessed with anime and magna).

By Medusa2003 (Medusa2003) on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 12:01 am: Edit

Thanks for all of the input. Tropicabanana: Actually we were primarily concerned about her wasting her own money since she is paying a substantial portion of the cost of college herself. She actually is taking courses that involve writing and critical thinking. Marite:
You are correct that she will need to take courses in Japanese literature, history, etc. I guess majoring in Japanese Studies is not much different than French studies although she was already fairly fluent in French when she started college but decided not to take any further coursework in that language.
Thanks again to everyone.

By Marite (Marite) on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 07:07 am: Edit

Medusa:

Many colleges have a major called East Asian Studies. Some graduates go on to careers in banking, law, etc... One young woman I knew many years ago studied Japanese. She went to work for Citibank right away. Her first task was to work on a loan restructuring for a major Brazilian firm. After two years, she left to do a combined MBA/MA degree at Wharton and the Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs. As in the case of most BAs, what made her attractive to Citibank (they would have dearly loved to keep her) was not her specific undergraduate major but her ability to digest information and write clearly. I short, her critical faculties. Your D's program of studies seems fine to me.

By Northstarmom (Northstarmom) on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 12:42 pm: Edit

Anyone who takes the time to learn in depth about a foreign country and its culture is not wasting their time. American companies in particular have a hard time finding Americans with the language skills and cross cultural knowledge to work in other countries and work effectively with people from other countries.

Your daughter is definitely not wasting her time or her money. IMO many of the students who attend college yet manage to learn no foreign languages and nothing about other cultures are wasting their time.

We are in a global economy. People with an international outlook and knowledgebase have the skills that will get them in the job market, advance them in the job market, and keep them there when those who know only about the US have been left in the dust.

By Medusa2003 (Medusa2003) on Saturday, April 24, 2004 - 08:39 pm: Edit

D has finally decided to major in history with a concentration in East Asian studies. Although the career path is little less certain than that of a research biologist, I find all of your comments encouraging. Actually it appears that her interests in Asian culture are starting to extend beyond anime and manga.