Eric Takabayashi wrote:

> You still don't get that just you is not the "real" Japan.

Eric, we *all* have to process the objective world through our own
subjective data-procesing units - our eyes, our ears, our brains. I can
accept evidence that fits with what I observe going on around me, but this
issue we are discussing is highly problematic. The problems stem partly from
the fact that we are talking about something that is done, by its nature,
secretively, partly from the fact that newspapers sell copies precisely by
giving their readership vicarious kicks with stories about subjects like
this, and partly from the fact that victims will often not speak out.

I'm not shrinking from any particular conclusion. I have nothing to win or
lose here, no vested interests. On the contrary, as a husband and father I
have every reason to want to get to the bottom of this. But I can't simply
make a leap of faith and accept that the stories in the newspapers are truer
than the evidence of my senses. I do realise that there is more going on in
Japan than I have yet witnessed, but that doesn't mean I'm going to give
full and unreflected credence to everything I read in the newspapers.

Now, you, Eric, keep referring to a questionnaire which purports to prove
that over three quarters of Japanese women have been sexually assaulted, and
doing some checking I find this figure is endorsed by the Asian Human Rights
Associaton (http://www.ipsnews.net/alert/countries/japan1.html), but I'm
deeply suspicious of statistics. The same source claims that "Statistics
show that almost all high school girls engage in some form of sexual
titillation with older men for money or promises of presents". Now, I'd be
crazy to deny that this kind of thing goes on, though I'd be the first to
admit that I have even less first-hand evidence of it than I do of chikan
behaviour. But *almost all*? Can I seriously believe that almost all my
female students (who have all been through high school) have engaged in this
kind of behaviour?

No, I stick to what I said before. If these kinds of things are true, Japan
is no place to be raising a female child. But it's still an *if* in my mind.
I'm still not quite ready to accept all this as the unqualified truth, will
all that that implies.

--
John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com