Author: Aurelia Chase

I'm a European girl living in Japan, trying to understand various social phenomena and share my observations.
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Studying English in Japan, or Indisputable ‘You Must’

Aurelia Chase

If you have lived in Japan, you may have noticed how often in the presence of a foreigner conversation gradually drifts to how the speaker knows someone who’s studying English or how they want to master it, and how English is so important nowadays? If you haven’t, try listening to a casual conversation of people sitting close to you in a bar or an eatery shortly after you come in.  When I came to Japan, I noticed something about learning English here. First, it’s everywhere. You are surrounded by the commercials of language schools, people talk about it on TV and in … Continue reading Studying English in Japan, or Indisputable ‘You Must’

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Japan’s Search for Girl Power, or How Should We Call It?

Aurelia Chase

Japan is all over Girl Power. Celebrities talk about it in mass media, women of all ages use it to compliment their female friends, it is used in advertisements, usually for products aimed at women. In the West, when we hear this word, we think about women rocking their careers, being more integrated in the society, having the same opportunities as men, but in Japan it has a drastically different meaning. In Japanese it’s called 女子力, or ”Joshiryoku”, where 女子 stands for a girl, and 力 means power. Translated directly, we get Girl Power. This term is also used in articles … Continue reading Japan’s Search for Girl Power, or How Should We Call It?

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What’s Wrong With Tattoos?

Aurelia Chase

I have been thinking of getting a tattoo for a long time. I have thought through the design and location, I know exactly what it means to me and why I want to do this. And the more I think that tattoos have a very negative image in our society, the less I stop myself from getting it. The main reason is, well, in the end it’s my body and who are all those self-proclaimed deciders of people’s worth to tell me I become trash immediately I have some ink on my body? Somehow (at least where I live) we think it’s acceptable … Continue reading What’s Wrong With Tattoos?

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Baby Steps to Owning Myself

Aurelia Chase

Before trying to understand people, one needs to understand themselves. One of the ways to understand yourself is doing what you want to be defined by, not things environment expects you to do. When feeling that life you’re living now isn’t what you enjoy and it doesn’t inspire you (to even get up in the morning), then it’s useful to distance from the current lifestyle. Especially if you have all the damn opportunities to do so. I was in this situation until 3 years ago, when I was still living in a society where gender roles are predetermined, and to escape them you’re going to need balls of steel, so to speak. Obviously, at … Continue reading Baby Steps to Owning Myself