On Thu, 31 Aug 1995, Kevin Lew -- 'The Lai-Lai Boy' wrote:

> Here's what I don't understand then.  My Nihongo sensei is a true-blue
> Nihonjin and she says that she finds nudity to be no big deal.  She still
> takes baths with her family at home.  The concept of modesty implies that
> there's something "dirty" about nudity.  I can understand this, but then,
> WHY do they show so much of it in manga/anime?  Basically, if nudity *is*
> a big deal, then why do cast members drop their clothes in even
> kid-oriented stuff? 

	Modesty doesn't necessarily imply 'dirtiness.'  A person could be 
modest about, for example, his or her level of achivement, but that 
wouldn't in any way imply that it was somehow ill-gotten, or 'dirty.'  
What modesty might imply, however, is some affectation of conformity.  As 
for why there are so much nudity in kids' anime, it's probably because 
nudity is no big deal in a normal context (as in non-sexual context), I 
think although I could be very wrong.  It's sometimes hard to divorce 
sexual context from nudity in some cultures, and US happens to be one of 
those cultures.

> Another culture question:  I was told that you NEVER bring a rice bowl to 
> your face to scoop rice into your mouth directly.  Why does Ranma and the 
> others do this all the time?  Is it an inside joke, to show that Ranma 
> and company are total slobs?

	I wondered about this too, and I noted general absence of 
spoons.  I think it's usually easier to eat rice with spoons, and I do 
handle a mean pair of chopsticks too. :)  Probably something cultura;.

> Kevin "Grouchy Bear" Lew -- The Idiot/Savant of the Ranma 1/2 Mailing List


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