Quote Originally Posted by Mikawa Ossan
I suppose it depends on how you define maturity and naivetee. I felt similar to you a long time ago. Now I have a different outlook. You might want to consider that in certain aspects, maturity is defined differently in Japan than in the US.

Yeah, I know that having spent only a limited amount of time there, that I probably am wrong in certain areas or left before I could fully accept certain things. However I got the idea of me being more mature than alot of Japanese people from a Japanese college friend of mind. She kept mistaking me as someone in her age group or older. As a japanese person she has her own standards of what being mature means and it seemed I fit the bill in that sense. Alot of times I felt like I was the adult in the relationship and I had to be the one to play the role of sempai.

However you are right that maturity is defined differently in Japan than in the U.S. My outward actions aren't what makes me mature. Instead it is my thoughts and viewpoints on certain things that matters. In Japan, it was the opposite. The cover defined the individual.

Also in America most everyone has a dream already for their future. We have our goals and our plans for it. That's when we become mature as high school students. My American classmates usually have this conviction of what they want to do with their lives or what purpose they what to gear their future towards. I didn't get that feeling in Japan and I know that the lack of intellectual pursuits of those I met did affect my opinion on their maturity level.

The lack of decision making skills alot of them have also made them seem less mature to me. In America, one's ability to decide for themselves and live on their own are pivotal to their growth. It's what defines us and me. Since these ideas of maturity are so essential in my own self-definition, I can't help but apply it on others as a standard.

And yeah I know it is different for all cultures, but that will be something I will learn and not just know after I grow more mature in my own culture's eyes.