Toddlers forced to wear heavy backpacks (for our amusement)

That is an event to pray for the healthy growth of babies. In many districts in Japan, people make their one-year-old babies to bear rice-cakes of 1 syou (Syou is an old unit for volume; one syou corresponds to about 1.8 liter). It is believed that babies grow healthily if they bear 1 syou of rice-cakes when they are one year old.

If you read Japanese, try to google “一升餅” (issyou-mochi). You’ll find many companies that sell rice cakes of 1 syou that is specially made for the event.

haha, this was actually kinda funny. minus the fact that the kids didn’t know what was going on. but hey, that exercise would build up their strength a little anyways.

P.S. don’t bring your American culture into everyone else’s view, not everyone is an American…

thank you, Aki. It’s nice when someone who actually knows what they are talking about posts…

This isn’t “for our amusement”. This is usually done in the home on the child’s first birthday, instead of the group thing, and with a piece of cloth instead of a backpack. Other than that, everything else is the same.

Yeah, they cry. They’re 1 year olds. They get over it. (my daughters and nephews all have, anyway)

I’m all for the continuation of tradition, when tradition serves a purpose, has religious significance, or is not at the expense of the discomfort of others, at least, others who actively choose whether to participate themselves. Bizarre coming-of-age rituals, odd events like the UK cheese-rolling, things like that, usually have willing participants and/or serve an important purpose. Supercoolmanchu, you are right, circumcision in the modern household is a questionable action, and the kids dont have a choice, and that is worth raising. So is this silly show of events where kids get weights strapped to them. Both should be held up in equal light. Both are questionable, outdated activities that serve little or no purpose. So, why are we ‘conservative’ when we see one event that has little practical real world purpose that is shown to the obvious discomfort of someone who doesnt choose to participate? Its not necessarily thinking in, or out of a ‘box’, or being blind to cultural difference. It just doesnt look like much fun for the poor kids. If thats a ‘conservative’ attitude, then brand me a conservative any day.

blah, blah, blah, cultural sensitivity!

WAY too much is overlooked on both sides of the ocean for what passes as “culture.” I don’t hear anyone defending the FIJI practices of canibalism or Aztec human sacrifices. Sure these practices are farther down the spectrum, but…

Once you begin to justify the anachronistic, ignorant, superstitious and possibly detrimental actions of a group on the grounds of “culture” its a slippery slope. And lets not forget the wonderful Japanese “cultural” events of Obasteyama (where you dump your hard-to-care-for elders in the woods), or how about “Buraku” those wonderful cultural environments of Japan where “undesireables” are forced to live. You can still stumble upon in Kansai.

Fact is every culture has its “cultural” aspects which would be best left for the history books and scholars, it just seems that some are more fanatical about their protection, regardless of their present relevance.

No, I’m not American. But if I was I’d be proud of a country whose limited history and checkered past is not a deterrent to continuously striving for a more perfect union. Lest not forget their founding fathers proclaimed the “pursuit of happiness” as a fundamental right. What intelligent men to realize the journey is the destination.