Comments on: Reader Education in Japanese Magazines https://www.thesimplyrefined.com/reader-education-japanese-magazines/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=reader-education-japanese-magazines Simply Refined Wed, 09 Jan 2013 09:01:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5 By: Stephen https://www.thesimplyrefined.com/reader-education-japanese-magazines/#comment-1089 Stephen Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:51:07 +0000 http://www.thesimplyrefined.com/?p=3977#comment-1089 I think your comments are spot on Derek. Additionally, I think American culture is generally less supportive of connoisseur culture. There is an inherent suspicion associated with those sorts of impulses, the source of which we could probably have a very interesting conversation about. For whatever reason, Japan doesn’t seem burdened by the same stigma. At least that is how it looks to me as an outsider.

The grad student paradox – knowing too much and earning too little.

]]> By: Derek Guy https://www.thesimplyrefined.com/reader-education-japanese-magazines/#comment-1088 Derek Guy Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:46:19 +0000 http://www.thesimplyrefined.com/?p=3977#comment-1088 Regarding why Japanese magazines are more sophisticated than American ones, I think a lot of it has to do with the demand. The Japanese market is just more interested in fashion and style, and things such as construction and quality happen to be la mode. In the 1990s, the Japanese market was obsessed with streetwear, so there were a few magazines catering to that (and, similarly, none here). It’s a much more fashion/ style obsessed country.

I’ve sometimes wondered why. I think part of it is that they have a higher standard of living for the middle class, and many people don’t have to pay for things such as cars, gas, and mortgage. This probably translates to more disposable income, and that income has to go somewhere.

Plus, I imagine most of them don’t make the mistake of majoring in the humanities or social science. Or making the double mistake of going to grad school for it (like us).

Ah, to be poor …

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