The Lost Art of Discipline Part VI.

Japanese women lead the way.



Greetings!

Before we talk about why good girls like bad boys, I'd like to share this intriguing Bloomberg article with you, my Valued Reader:

Japanese Women Hunt for Husbands as Refuge From Deepening Slump

March 18 (Bloomberg) -- When Yumiko Iwate’s pay was cut last year, she and her female colleagues all agreed there was only one thing to do: find a husband.

“I want to get married soon, hopefully by the end of this year,” said Iwate, a 36-year-old employee at a mail-order retailer in Tokyo. “The recession made me realize I’m not going to make as much money as I expected, and I’d be more stable financially if I had double income to fall back on.”

Women the Japanese call “marriage-hunters” are looking to tie the knot as companies from Toyota Motor Corp. to Sony Corp. fire thousands of workers and the nation heads for its biggest annual economic contraction since 1945. Marriages surged to a five-year high of 731,000 in 2008 as wages stagnated and the unemployment rate rose for the first time in six years.

“Financial concerns are a major reason for the increase in marriage-hunting,” said Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo. “Women are motivated more than ever to find a financially sound partner.”

The trend marks a reversal for women who put careers over families after Japan implemented equal labor rights 23 years ago. The number of marriages in the following decade slid 4.5 percent to an annual average of 746,000 compared with the decade before. Despite equal rights, women still make 43 percent less than men, giving them more reason to seek a partner during recessions.

‘As Good as Men’

“I know women before my generation worked so hard and pursued their careers so they could prove they’re just as good as men,” said Reiko Kubo, 25, who bought a good-luck charm at Tokyo Daijingu shrine. “They didn’t have to depend on men and that’s cool, but it’s not the path I want to follow.”

Tokyo Daijingu has come to be known as the marriage-hunters’ shrine, and the number of visitors has risen about 20 percent in the past year, said priest Yoshiyuki Karamatsu. For 5,000 yen, he will conduct a ritual to ward off bad spirits; the purification ceremony includes drinking sacred sake.

Recessions have encouraged the Japanese to wed before. Marriages rose when an asset-price bubble burst in the late 1980s and again after the technology crash in 2001. Analysts say the trend is gaining traction because the current slump is expected to spur record-high unemployment.

Economists at Dai-Ichi Life Research and JPMorgan Chase & Co. expect the jobless rate this year to surpass the postwar peak of 5.5 percent in 2003. Unemployment in January was 4.1 percent. Wages have slumped for three months, and the economy contracted an annualized 12.1 percent last quarter, the biggest drop since 1974.

Civil Weddings

Marriages are also increasing in other countries as recessions spread around the world. The number of civil weddings in London’s Westminster Register Office, the city’s most popular, rose 8.5 percent to 1,684 between April 2008 and February 2009 compared with a year earlier, according to Alison Cathcart, the superintendent registrar. “We certainly feel a lot busier,” she said.

Japan’s husband hunters are pursuing relationships the way they might search for jobs: They interview at agencies -- dating agencies, in this case. They attend networking parties or just let friends know they are ready for commitment.

Iwate started her quest in December by writing New Year’s cards to 170 acquaintances from junior high school classmates to fellow dancers at salsa lessons, asking for help finding an eligible bachelor. Her five co-workers are in on the hunt, introducing each other to potential partners and putting sticky notes on the most useful pages of the “Complete Guide to Marriage Hunting” from “an an” magazine, a weekly publication for women in their 20s and 30s.

‘Looks Shouldn’t Matter’

The issue included articles telling readers that, while it’s acceptable to choose a husband by occupation, “looks shouldn’t matter because they’re not essential to leading a married life. You need to consider men you normally wouldn’t date.”

It listed character traits by job type: “Traders tend to be adventurous and forward-looking; pharmacists conservative and stable; sushi chefs patient and creative.”

It also cautioned against playing hard to get: Being coy “is strictly forbidden; men want to seriously date women who act natural.”

Business is booming at Green, a marriage-hunting bar in Tokyo’s nightlife district of Roppongi. Men pay 11,340 yen ($115) per visit to have waiters set them up with women, who get in free. The bar is booked solid on weekends, and membership is up 26 percent this year, according to owner Yuta Honda.

Dating Agencies

Interest in O-Net, Japan’s largest dating agency, is also rising. The number of people requesting applications jumped 10 percent in the past year, according to spokesman Toshiaki Kato. Shares of Watabe Wedding Corp., a wedding-planning agency, are up 55 percent since September, while the broader Topix index has slumped 30 percent.

Marriage hunting has even attracted the attention of policy makers, who have been trying for years to increase Japan’s birthrate. Women give birth to only 1.34 children on average in their lifetimes, government data for 2007 show, well below the 2.07 required for a stable population.

A government panel charged with increasing the population met last month and invited academics to discuss the trend. Until now, efforts were focused on people with children, said Yuko Obuchi, 35, the minister in charge of the project, who is expecting her second child in September. “Marriage hunting underscores the importance of addressing unmarried people as well.”

Meanwhile, Natsuko Ono, 25, is sparing no expense to find a man. She said she’s spent 370,000 yen so far, mostly for a professional portrait and registration at a matchmaking agency.

“It sounds like a lot of money, but if you consider that it’s a way to find a husband, it’s a reasonable investment,” she said while scoping men at Green.

To contact the reporter for this story: Toru Fujioka in Tokyo at tfujioka1@bloomberg.net

Ladies and gents, this article is interesting for a number of reasons.

1) Once again, I am awed at the pragmatism of the Japanese in general, and of Japanese women in particular. Ladies from the Jp are light years ahead of their Western sisters, as usual. Instead of waiting for Depression era unemployment levels to take action, they are doing what they gotta do to secure their futures, as well as advance the interests of their men and the Japanese nation in the process.




(Adam Smith)



Adam Smith, the father of Modern Economics, wrote that "The Invisible Hand", driven by the selfish actions of millions of market participants, would lead to society being better off in the long run.

And, in Japan, the Free Marriage Marketplace is doing its job as Marriage Hunters prepare themselves for the hard economic times to come. They have not structured their society around feminist ideals to the extent that America and other Western cultures have done. And because of this fact, they will be flexible enough to survive whatever events may come, foreign imports such as feminism and "women-first" ideologies be damned.


2) American women had better take heed and emulate their Asian sisters. Unfortunately for them, the Western Marriage Market has been destroyed by the influence of Political Feminism, a massive regime of immoral and unjust government regulations, widespread cultural ignorance [1][2], and a fiat financed credit bubble of epic proportions.

Western women, encumbered by the psychobabble of feminism, Western governments, encumbered by the idiocy of feminist public policy, and Western men, brainwashed by feminism, caustic misandry, and terrified of the cultural and legal dangers of marriage, are not in a position to make the familial changes that the Japanese are making to deal with the coming global downturn.

In order for us to do what the Japanese are doing, that is, pool incomes, increase economies of scale, realize efficiencies from the division of labor that marriage tends to produce, and so forth, we would have to repeal a massive number of laws, overturn a mind numbing amount of court precedent, move heaven and earth to establish a more man and marriage friendly public policy, and reverse 40+ years of feminist mind control.

Needless to say, America and other Matriarchal nations will not and cannot change until we are DEEP into the calamity. By that time, Political Feminism, and all of its attendants and hangers on, will collapse under their own bulk. As for Western women, they will find themselves destitute and desperate as Big Daddy Government becomes increasingly unwilling to support them, by direct and indirect means, economically and politically as it has done during the fiat financed good times.

When I say that fiat financing is the root of all immorality, I'm not kidding. The truth of this assertion will become apparent to all as the American credit bubble bursts, and all of the cultural excesses that depend on such financing for sustainability will literally die on the vine. Feminism will share in this fate, as it produces economic, political, and social outcomes that will be too costly for the nation to subsidize any further.

3) Those who are doubtful that our present economic difficulties will lead to significant changes to our personal lives should pick up Michael Panzer's book When Giants Fall [3][4].

I would urge you to pick this up and take heed to the advice given therein. The book contains page after chilling page of reasons why Political Feminism, as well as many other uneconomical practices our society is engaged in, are simply doomed.

In a perfect world, the enlightened would take action to head off the many difficulties our nation faces. Unfortunately, only a small minority will know what is really going on, and will prepare accordingly. The vast majority, which includes the 85% of women whose minds have been thoroughly corrupted by feminism, are going to find themselves in a world of suffering. And worse yet, many of these, by their own thoughts, words, and deeds, will find themselves without a strong shoulder to cry on. They alone will reap the bitter harvest to come.



Why Good Girls like Bad Boys.


Picking up where we left off, we shall begin our analysis as to why the typical feminine woman chooses the Bad Boy over the Nice Guy.

Unless you have been living in a cave in Siberia, you have probably heard about the Rihanna & Chris Brown controversy.

The Smoking Gun has part of the official police report here, and internet site Ace Show Biz tells us that:

On Thursday, March 5, the same day Chris Brown appeared before Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner for a hearing in his battery case that involves Rihanna, TMZ made public a copy of the LAPD detectives' legal documents that give detail description on the assault he allegedly did to the "Umbrella" hit maker during their major argument on February 8. According to a search warrant in the case, text message from another woman that Rihanna found on Chris' phone was the trigger of the couple's blow-up.

It is claimed in the search warrants that Chris and Rihanna were driving in his rented Lamborghini when she read him a three-page text message from an unidentified woman. An argument reportedly was quick to ensue, during when Chris tried to force Rihanna out of the vehicle, but failed because she was wearing a seat belt.

Chris then allegedly shoved Rihanna's head against the passenger window and struck her several times when she turned to face him as he continued to drive. The alleged assault resulted in Rihanna's blood splattering on the interior of the car and her dress. "I'm going to beat the s--- out of you when we get home. You wait and see!" Chris reportedly threatened Rihanna...

The alleged acts of violence Mr. Brown is accused of committing, if true and in response to angry words only, are illegal, immoral, and unreasonable. If he did inflict the pain and suffering on his girlfriend that he is accused of, then he should be charged, tried by a jury of his peers, given all of the Constitutional rights defendants are entitled to in criminal cases, and if convicted, he should receive the appropriate amount of jail time based on the totality of the circumstances.

It is my personal opinion that since Chris Brown and Rihanna were only dating, and not married, neither person should be in the business of trying to control the other. Boyfriend/girlfriend relationships (just as the words boyfriend and girlfriend imply), should be casual associations between two consenting adults. If there are problems in the pairing that could potentially lead to violence, then its better for all parties involved to walk away from the relationship and move on with their lives.

No girlfriend is worth going to jail over. If she is acting bad, toss her to tha muthafuckin' curb and start over.

In the whirlwind and firestorm of media coverage concerning this incident, one very important detail has been under reported.

Rihanna might have started the conflict, and may have landed the first blow. If this is true, then circumstances change significantly.

(I wonder if Oprah and Tyra mentioned this obscure report?)

According to Mirror.co.uk:

Rihanna 'hit Chris Brown with her shoes' before his alleged assault, it's claimed

Chris Brown attacked Rihanna after she hit him with her shoes, it was claimed last night.

Welford Hart - who lives with Brown's mother - told an American newspaper that the singer was allegedly provoked by the Umbrella star.

Mr Hart told the New York Post: "When you take off your shoes and beat someone with high heels, that's going to hurt. He reacted and tried to get her to stop hitting him, but she kept screaming."

Brown, 19, has been charged with assault and making criminal threats after an attack on his 21-year-old girlfriend last month.

Details revealed in court alleged that the pair got into a fight after Rihanna found a text message from another woman. Brown allegedly then banged her head against the passenger window and repeatedly hit her in the face.

(I bet these wouldn't hurt at all...)


Let's assume for a moment that this report is true, as all of the details of intimate partner violence tend not to come to light, especially if it makes the woman look bad. And we should always remember that there are at least two sides to every story.

If the above story is true, and a grown woman did indeed beat Chris Brown in the face with Stiletto shoes, in close quarters with no easy means of escape, would not Rihanna also share part of the blame for the injuries she sustained? Would Mr. Brown not be justified in using an appropriate degree of force to stop the attack?

Would the knowledge that Rihanna was partly at fault, that she initiated the violent encounter that led to her injuries and her beloved's arrest not influence her decision to take her "Bad Boy" lover back? Would the fact that Mr. Brown defended himself against her vicious assault lead the singer to believe that attacking a grown man with pointed high heels is not an appropriate thing to do?

Would it be reasonable to assume that, based on everything that happened to her, Rihanna would think twice about attacking a grown man in a similar manner in the future?

In my personal opinion, I don't think that punching a woman repeatedly in the face or slamming her head into a dashboard is the appropriate way to deal with such an assault. However, in the heat of combat, your objective is to stop the assault before you sustain serious and permanent injury. Rihanna is in good physical condition, and could easily generate enough power, in her fury, to put an eye out, rupture an eardrum, or pierce the soft skin of the throat or face.

If I were a person who had little training or ability to stop such an attack without injuring the aggressor, I would do whatever I had to do to get her to stop, even if such counteroffensive actions would be very distasteful to society at large.

Perhaps both parities were simply out of control and took their respective actions without thinking about the consequences. While we may never know all of the details, we should slow down and analyze the situation, find out what mistakes were made, and use this incident as a teaching lesson on how not to act towards other people.

The complete facts surrounding this incident are murky. However, one thing is crystal clear: This young couple did not have the skills, training, and knowledge to properly resolve their relationship conflicts, and the lack of such skills can easily lead to violent outbursts, as we discussed previously. These two individuals acted and reacted in such a manner that reputations, bodies, and careers have been greatly damaged. We also know that Rihanna went back to her man, beatings and all. And while the relationship will probably not survive the intense public scrutiny it is now undergoing, the fact remains that she forgave Chris Brown for what he did to her that night.

The question is why? Why do so many women seek out that Thug lovin?

This is the main question... and one that we will deal with in future posts. While I have already touched on why women might seek out abusive, destructive, and life threatening relationships here; I want to focus on why most women seek out bad boys in the context of "normal" relationships, with all of their ups and downs.

What qualities make such men attractive to the typical woman? Why do nice guys lose out to "thugs" so often?

Ponder that, and I'll see you next week,

Gyokko aka "Pretty Boy Gyo."