Japanese Boys Want to Be Scientists, Korean Boys Athletes
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Boys in Korean elementary schools want to be sports stars but in Japan they want to be scientists. And while teacher is the most popular future job for little girls in Korea, their Japanese counterparts want to run restaurants.
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Dai-ichi Life Insurance asked 1,100 kindergarteners and elementary schoolchildren in Japan what they want to be in the future. Scientist got the most votes from boys, up from eighth place in 2016 and second in 2017.
The reason seems to be that several Japanese scientists have won the Nobel Prize in recent years. In the past four years, there was at least one laureate of Japanese descent each year.
Dai-ichi Life has been carrying out the same survey since 1989, and this is the first time in 15 years that scientist topped the list.
But in Korea, the glamor of science is declining. According to the Education Ministry, scientist ranked 10th as a dream job among both boys and girls last year, down from ninth in the 2016 survey. Among boys alone it ranked sixth.
Professional gamer, which ranked fifth among boys in Korea, was not even on the list in Japan.
Japanese girls preferred caring roles like nurse and kindergarten teacher in second and third, while doctor and chef ranked second and third among girls in Korea.