in article be6k2j$1n7at$1@ID-169501.news.dfncis.de, John Yamamoto-Wilson at
john@rarebooksinjapan.com wrote on 7/5/03 10:26 PM:

> Eric, I'm sure there are many Japanese people - male and female - who on the
> one hand think that Mori's comment was crass, but who, on the other hand do
> not think exactly the same as politically-correct Westerners on this issue.
> My basic point is that Western notions of political correctness are not the
> be-all-and-end-all of "maturity".

John, you use the term political correctness in a way that makes me wonder
if you know what the term means.  Political correctness refers to the use of
euphemisms and failing to discuss real issues in order to avoid offending
the feelings of specific minority groups. For instance, it is not
politically correct to say that fat people are often fat because they are
always stuffing their faces with food. Instead, one who is "PC" would either
say that the weight-challenged have issues with food intake or would ignore
the whole topic altogether.

> I don't think that a society which has looked at these issues and come to a
> different conclusion is therefore "immature". I lived in the south of Spain
> for many years in a society that explicitly and specifically rejected
> political correctness to a far greater extent than the Japanese do, but
> there was no denying the sophisticated nature of that society.

As to the maturity issue, I was discussing the trend of social behavior away
from a paternal, condescending view of women to a view of equality of the
sexes. It isn't that Japanese, as a whole, are rejecting that trend. Instead
they are less advanced (less mature) in the development in sexual equality.