Comments on: Japanese 18-Year-Olds: Are They Adults?

By: Ippoippo

Ippoippo — Wed, 23 May 2007 12:47:27 +0000

[...] In more Japan related findings on the net, Japan Probe has dug up some comments regarding ‘how adult like’ are Japanese 18 year olds. (In Japan, there is dicussion about lowering the voting age from 20 to 18). Some of the comments from foreigners interviewed on Japanese TV were a little harsh. [...]

By: Benon

Benon — Tue, 22 May 2007 13:27:44 +0000

Japanese 18 year old, hmmm, I though I’ve seen Japanese kid or teenagers. Japanese ppl need to build their body bit, I think they are bit small.

Eat some more fatty food with alots of protein, I remember, I used to tease Japanese kid at high school.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 22 May 2007 07:34:03 +0000

Oh I meant:

“…like Swedish junior high school students.”

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 22 May 2007 07:28:21 +0000

Having spent a year in a Japanese university and beeing Swedish I must agree with the Swedish guy in the video clip. I felt that the 1st and 2nd year students were very immature, like Swedish high school students.

By: madne0

madne0 — Mon, 21 May 2007 23:17:25 +0000

So, i take it that the voting age in Japan is 21? Good! It should be 25! Same thing in the West, imo.

By: Alec

Alec — Mon, 21 May 2007 18:59:52 +0000

Hmm, interesting. I’m 18 years-old and definitely feel ready to vote now that I’ve studied Economics in school and am more aware of the world around me.

I think there’s truth in saying that when one knows one’s going to be able to vote soon, one makes some more of an effort to learn about politics and whatnot.

I think my Japanese 18 year-olds are about as mature as British teenagers. Now Australian teenagers on the other hand, they are immature!! Australian teenagers have little interest in politics and growing up. (Lived in Australia for 4 years.)

By: Martin F

Martin F — Mon, 21 May 2007 13:52:27 +0000

If you give the 18 year olds more responsibility, they will respond to it. If you treat them like kids and don’t let them vote, then what do you expect. Frankly, that Swedish guy looks really immature too. Swedish kids can also be pretty immature!

By: Jamie

Jamie — Mon, 21 May 2007 09:50:53 +0000

I don’t think they are any more immature. Teenagers are idiots everywhere and everywhen. I know because I was one.

By: Peter Pan

Peter Pan — Mon, 21 May 2007 09:31:51 +0000

I find it hard to believe that Japanese 18-year olds are any more immature than say, American 18-year olds.

Many of us who have been to Japan either as adults or young adults will look at those around us and think they are immature, but that’s because we are comparing them to ourselves. The moment you go to a foreign country, you mature a few years. If you’re doing it alone and away from your own family, you mature even more. (As apposed to coming here with your family and living in a little-America.)

I personally think people my age in Japan are more immature than me, but no more immature than any of my friends from High School in America. The one’s that are immature in America or don’t care about politics don’t vote anyways, so it’s not even an issue. The real issue is does a 18-year old kid that chops his mothers head off and carries it to a police station get tried as a minor because he’s not 20, or does he get the death penalty because the legal age for an adult is now 18.

By: epicurus

epicurus — Mon, 21 May 2007 09:06:53 +0000

I spent a year in a Japanese high school (as a student) and would have to agree with the Swedish guy. Japanese kids are pretty naive. Of course that isn’t necessarily a bad thing: it probably means they’re insulated from a lot of bad things that American (and Swedish) kids are exposed to. They also tend to be less cynical as a whole.

By: Ken

Ken — Mon, 21 May 2007 08:58:22 +0000

I saw a program the other day where a few Japanese 18 year olds said almost the same thing to what the Swedish guy said. There were also two male high school students who basically said, “There are HS students who are interested in politics and want to vote.”

I’m not sure it’s much different from anywhere else in the OECD. If they want 18 year olds to be adults, make them legal adults. Then they don’t have much of a choice, do they?