THE MATERIAL CHILD: Coming of Age in...

THE MATERIAL CHILD: Coming of Age in Japan and America by Merry White (University of California Press: $12; 273 pp., illustrated). White argues that the image of teen-agers as a group with a distinct identity was created by advertisers and marketing groups in America and Japan. Teens in both countries are seen as materialistic, trend-conscious and rebellious. But Japanese youths rebel within carefully circumscribed limits: The girl with pink streaks in her hair dancing in a park on Sunday will wash the dye out of her hair and appear at school in a faultless uniform on Monday. White contrasts the strengths and shortcomings of the two cultures, stressing the ways in which children are perceived by their elders: “Being a teen in America today, according to popular belief, means being at risk: in Japan it means, most people imagine, being at promise.”