As she describes the youth culture of Japan, Merry White draws comparisons with the interests and activities pursued by teenagers in the United States and the contrasting attitudes of adults in Japan and the U.S. towards adolescence. The result is both engrossing and enlightening.

Merry White is Associate Professor of Sociology at Boston University and research associate at the Reischauer Institute, Harvard. She is the author of The Japanese Educational Challenge: A Commitment to Children (1987).

"White examines mixed messages in the creation of adolescence; culture, history, and teens; families; school life; teens as consumers; friendships; sexuality; and hopes and fears for the future. The commonalities and differences of these young people shed some light on the emerging futures of Japan and America."—Kerri Kilbane, Booklist

"In this exemplary cross-cultural study of teenagers in the U.S. and Japan, White (The Japanese Educational Challenge) zeros in on the critical differences and similarities in the way these groups are socialized, contending that conflicting social mores cause much of the current perplexity in the two countries' relations. While some of the material has surface familiarity, White's in-depth examination of each group's schooling, friendships, family relations, sexuality, search for identity and feelings about their own and each others' countries is newly revealing."—Publishers Weekly