Dec
28

Guessing The News In Japan

After enough time reading the news in Japan, you start to recognize a bit of a pattern. Perhaps the words “a bit” serve as somewhat of an understatement. More accurately, it gets to a point where you can semi-accurately guess the news in Japan in any given week.

A close friend told me that they hadn’t turned on a TV or read a newspaper in weeks, and were wondering what was going on. Although I hadn’t touched the Japanese news in a while myself, I was able to provide a surprisingly accurate update of the weeks-gone-by! Point by point, I was able to lay out the news in Japan for that week. Of course I didn’t cover every story, but what was covered was all magically in the news that week!

How? Well, as much as you might be inclined to believe that it is because I am psychic, such is not the case…
[Disclaimer: I am not outright stating that I am not psychic. But rather that it was not the use of psychic ability that enabled me to produce the following results. I leave all thoughts and assumptions on my psychic abilities up to the reader.]
Rather, I was able to guess the news to a certain degree of accuracy because this is Japan, and in Japan, certain things just seem to happen again and again~

And so without further adieu, I give you (about 50% of) my predictions for any given week in the Japanese news…

Somewhere in Japan, a police officer was caught doing something he shouldn’t have been doing.

Broad, yes. Yet surprisingly accurate. If you take a look at this post, or wait for my next post, it’s easy to see a very clear and consistent trend here in Japan; Nearly every single week, the police screw up and the media busts them for it. I don’t know if the police in Japan are actually that bad, or if the media in Japan really just love to make them look incompetent, but either way, there is never a shortage of Japanese police fails in the news.

There was another pointless update glorifying some minuscule “accomplishment” of AKB48 or one of its members.

AKB48… I don’t really need to say much more here. From accomplishments like promoting Christmas cake for 7/11 and releasing ‘music’ videos to being in controversial commercials (ie – “wanna have a baby with me?” and “girls kissing with candy”), AKB48 seem to make their way into the news week after week.
My personal favorite point about this, is the number of people who take the time to read the articles, log in, and post comments saying how much they hate AKB48… Seems like a lot of effort to go through if you ask me…
And if the regular news isn’t enough for you, you can always go out and pick up a copy of the AKB48 newspaper. Yes… They have their own newspaper for some reason.

Tensions between Japan and a neighboring country ran high for some reason.

Big surprise here right? Japan and conflict?! From island disputes, whaling, and trade disputes, to reaping the harvest that has grown from the actions and poor choices of previous generations, Japan finds themselves having troubles with their geographical neighbors on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis. Sometimes on the offensive, and sometimes making excuses, Japan just can’t seem to get enough conflict. Kinda makes one glad that the country only has a National Defense Force and not a formal Military…

A Japanese company that was once in great shape is now going through very hard times.

Sony, Olympus, Sharp, Panasonic, Toyota, Suzuki, and the list goes on…
Japanese companies that were once so strong seem to be struggling in both Japan and around the world. The companies that once brought Japan so much pride and glory, now seem to be the very companies featured in the business sections of the newspapers for their shortcomings rather than their accomplishments.

A Japanese politician apologized, resigned, or was removed from his post (most likely due to an “unfortunate” remark).

Politicians in Japan like to play fast and loose with their opinions, remarks, loyalties and apparently with common sense itself. In a country infamous for a turnover rate in politicians that can only be compared to the turnover rate of a Detroit McDonald’s, it is amazing that they haven’t figured out the age-old trick of learning from the mistakes of your predecessors.  I imagine that most of the prestigious short-lived careers of these attempted politicians were preceded by a lifetime repetition of touching the stove burner and wondering why their hands hurt afterward.

A Japanese car company had to recall a large number of automobiles.

It is amazing the 180 that Japanese automakers have taken in the past couple of years. Japan spent decades climbing to the top of the automotive ladder just to use their position for a proverbial base jump back to the ground. Only time will tell if they packed a parachute. Unfortunately my expectations don’t match my hopes on this one.

 There was some admission by TEPCO or finger pointing by the media of something that TEPCO didn’t do right or in a timely manner.

I might just be getting lazy at this point in the writing process, but I’m pretty sure this one explains itself. I’m just not sure how I feel about it. On one hand I sit thinking “yes… we know TEPCO screwed up… Bad. But we all know that no matter how much TEPCO failure gets brought to light, they will just brush it off and move forward unchanged“.
But the other side of me is glad that the media isn’t letting it go. That they are not letting people forget that TEPCO played a very large hand in the destruction that has occurred. I just worry that for many, it has become little more than background noise. It just goes to show how much the mind-set and culture of this country has changed that those original TEPCO officials continue their day-to-day lives.
Now, I’m going to go ahead and say that there are probably quite a few that I have missed or left out for one reason or another (i.e. Children getting injured or worse due to the failure of their guardians), but in the end it would seem that this serves to be a fairly accurate assessment of the news in Japan in any given week.

For good measure and a little fun, I have decided to include a few online news sources that you can use for news in Japan.

News On Japan – www.newsonjapan.com

Japan Times – www.japantimes.co.jp/news.html

Japan Today – www.japantoday.com

Asahi News – www.asahi.com/english

And when all else fails, apps and Japanese newspapers usually seem to do the trick!

But now that you can guess the news in Japan, I guess you don’t really need them anymore….

May
13

Sleepy Japanese People – Dont Sleep on Me

The Japanese sleep everywhere. It’s actually quite amazing and it was something I didn’t expect when I first came to Japan.

If I were to ask you what Japan is famous for, what would you say?

If you ask most people outside of Japan this question, you will most likely get answers like samurai, ninja, geisha, sumo, hello kitty, etc… If you ask people living in the country, someone is bound to bring up the incredible and undeniable ability that Japanese people have to sleep anywhere and in any position.

Japanese people seem to have no qualms with sleeping in public, and with even the most minimal amount of research, one can pull up countless blogs, articles, youtube videos and more….

In fact just for good measure, here is a list of a few of my favorite posts:

LoneleePlanet.com

http://www.loneleeplanet.com/2010/01/publicly-sleeping-salarymen/

A great post that not only features some very interesting photos,
but also breaks them down into interestingly named categories!

Kirainet.com
http://www.kirainet.com/english/japanese-sleeping/
An interesting post with some really good shots of J-Sleepers

JapanTalk.com
http://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/how-to-sleep-in-japan
A great set of photos with an opener that would almost encourage giving it a try~

OneInchPunch.net
http://www.oneinchpunch.net/2007/09/08/sleeping-japanese-people-in-public/
Another decent photo post of Japanese people sleeping in public
*Spoiler Alert* – Last pic is not for the weak-of-stomach…

All of these illustrate the point pretty well. And I have quite the collection of my own photos that I may get around to adding to this post in the near future.
As you can see, Japanese people have managed to do what they have done with so many other simple daily tasks and actions and get the whole sleeping in public skill down to an incomparable art form. We can try to mimic it, but we will never do it quite as well, or in such impressive numbers.

So a fair question to be asking at this point is, ‘if you’re so for Japanese people passing out in public, then where’s the problem?’
The problem lies in that while I may get a hoot out of seeing Japanese people passed out on the streets, trains, toilets, temples, and whatever other locations they choose for their one-man slumber parties, I have no patience for that ever so infamous moment when the person sitting beside me on the train passes out and figures it a good idea to utilize me as their pillow…

Simply put, I do not like when people fall asleep on me on the train.

Most Japanese people will tell you there are 3 common ways of reacting to this situation.
People either:
a) Act as if nothing is happening at all (or even accommodate the sleeper in some way)
b) Get uncomfortable and discreetly try and either get away, or move the sleeper
c) Move or wake-up the sleeper with little-to-no hesitation

I would safely fall under category (c).
Now don’t get me wrong… It’s not that I don’t appreciate the warm sentiment or that I hate human contact, but rather that I find it unbelievably rude and inconsiderate. I am shocked that in a country where it is custom that while riding a train, you speak in a quiet voice, and never use your cellphone, that people find it A-OK to just pass out on the people around them.

Actually, there was an exact moment that triggered this post.
It was a short while ago, and I was on the morning train with one of my Japanese co-workers. We had been on the train for about 10 minutes when the girl beside me started to lean my way. She was a young girl, probably in her mid-20′s. She had the big hair, the fake eyelashes, the platform heels, and that smell that usually only comes from someone who has been out all-night and is making an early-morning return to their 1-room apartment after.
As she started to slowly lean my way, I knew I was in an undesirable position…

In any normal situation, I would have just nudged her and woken her up. Or maybe even changed seats. But this day was different.
I had a Japanese co-worker with me, and if you have read my post about working with Japanese people, you can understand that the last thing I wanted was to lose face.
And so… I let her sleep.

But at what cost? Really… What could the danger be… right?
Well, it turns out that the danger was that this wonderful young lady, was kind enough to share some of her make-up. With my suit.

But it’s ok right? Because I managed to save face with this Japanese co-worker.
Or at least that’s how I tried to view it.
Until we got to work and the rest of the Japanese staff spent the day staring at the make-up stain…
Did anyone say anything to me about it? – No.
Did my morning comrade have the decency to explain about it? – No.
So I’m pretty sure we can all guess what they were thinking….

All of this undue stress combined with the cleaning bill for my jacket, and you have to wonder,

How has this become a social norm in a country where people typically go out of their way to avoid bothering others?!

You have to stop and wonder at some point whether or not it is all really an accident.

I watched to strangers fall asleep on each other just the other night, and as the train ride went on, they seemed to be getting more and more comfortable with each other. It was a Tuesday night, it was fairly early, and neither one of them seemed to be intoxicated…
The girl fell asleep first. Her head slowly fell to the guys shoulder. And then, magically the guy started to fall asleep as well. Within seconds, her head was on his shoulder, and his head was resting on hers.
They stayed like this for a good 20 minutes or more, and the longer they stayed in that position, the more suspicious the whole thing became…

If you think about it. Even when people do fall asleep on the train, they usually wake up (or at least half wake up) at each station. Right?

So how is it that neither one of these 2 woke up even once in the span of over 10 stations…?

When I first released this post, there was a lot of comments by people who said that they didn’t mind as long as the person who fell asleep on them in the train was both, of the opposite gender, and attractive. So I talked to a few of my friends and co-workers and found that a large majority of people here in Japan feel this way.

“it’s not crazy to imagine that some people might actually enjoy the physical contact. Even if it IS from a stranger“, Said one of my co-workers.

But in the end, it’s still not for me. So Dear Japan, please don’t sleep on me.

 

May
12

Working With Japanese People

I work for a Japanese company. And this means working with Japanese people. Not an easy task.

I still remember the day that I got the news that I would become a full-time worker in a Japanese company. I remember where I was sitting, who I was with, and even what I was drinking. It was a significant moment and one that marked a major change in my life here in Japan. I was excited. Very excited.
But this was a double edged sword…

While working for a Japanese company and working with Japanese people can be a great experience in more ways than I can count, it can also be one of the most crushing and stressful experiences that a non-Japanese person can experience.

Note:
I sat on this post for a while, really on the fence as to whether or not I wanted to post it.
Most of my experiences working with Japanese people have been good, if not great.
And I have a great deal of respect for every single person that I work with.
But that is not to say that it has been without its hard times.
And after hearing some horror stories from other people,
I realized it was time to put this post together…

I had always heard stories from friends of mine who worked in Japan as ALTs, programmers, consultants, etc.., that working along side Japanese people can be terribly stressful and more often than not feels like walking a tight rope above a fire pit while juggling chainsaws. There’s just so much that can go wrong…

But I never thought it would affect me. I have been living side-by-side with Japanese people for over 10 years and have been speaking the language just as long. I picked up on Japanese language and culture when I was young and was surrounded with people who I could speak and grow with. I studied Japanese business culture and Japanese business etiquette in anticipation of working in Japan, and got into a Japanese company at an early, but reasonable age.

And in my first couple of years working with Japanese people I came to understand exactly what everyone meant.
It was a totally different world than what I was prepared for.

Now, there are a large number of factors that contribute to the complexity and the difficulties one may have when working with Japanese people. And to save time, space, and your eyes, I have decided to put a few of these points in a list (which will probably be updated as time goes on), for easy reading and convenience:

The List

  • No matter how good your Japanese is or how long you have been in Japan. Unless you are a native-Japanese speaker raised in Japanese culture, you will be seen as a foreigner / outsider
  • Japanese people tend to form cliques or small groups (remember high school? Japanese people do!). Even Japanese people who are not a part of the clique or group are viewed as outsiders.
  • Most (if not all) Japanese people have 2 faces – one for work, social interactions, etc and one for family and very close friends (they will almost never show you the later)
    • Note: This is not a dishonesty thing as much as it is a working in harmony thing
  • Most foreigners do not understand the concept of ‘wa‘ (harmony) as it applies in Japanese social and work culture
  • Japanese co-workers or colleagues may not fully understand your job, and definitely assume that you understand nothing of theirs
  • Japanese people are not relaxed at work. If you are, you will stand out in a negative way
  • Your Japanese co-workers or colleagues may not completely understand what you are trying to say
  • You may not completely understand what your Japanese co-workers or colleagues are trying to say
  • Attempting to rectify either of the preceding 2 points can easily lead to getting stuck between a rock and a hard place in the sense that:
    • a) If you try to simplify your communication to make things more clear, you may end up being too direct
    • b) Trying to be indirect in English can lead to confusing Japanese staff even more
    • c) Trying to be indirect in Japanese if it is not your native language, can easily lead to dangerous mis-communications
  • Japanese tend not to forgive. Therefore, if any of the following happen,
    you are potentially in hot water for a while:
    • You’re caught being lazy, taking personal calls, etc (basically if you’re caught doing anything… you’re in the dog house)
    • You show up late even once
    • You allow yourself to get and or show frustration, stress, or anger
    • You argue with or make any negative comment to someone
    • You fail at an attempt to indirectly say something negative
    • You fail to follow the silent chain of command
    • You fail to communicate information in the proper format
    • You don’t have an answer ready when you are asked a question
    • You say that a request that has been made of you is impossible
    • You say “no” or “sorry, I can’t” to almost anything
    • You give your honest opinion rather than the acceptable shared opinion
    • You show up for work or leave work On Time
    • You converse with your Japanese co-workers either too much or too little

This list could probably get a lot longer, but for everyone’s sake, I will limit it to its current contents.

And trust me when I say that if you’re doing good, they will test you. It is far from uncommon for a Japanese person to suddenly say something direct and aggressive (this is usually done in a compact, brief comment that passes as soon as it came), simply for the point of getting a reaction.
Sounds childish? It is.
And for many people this tends to set them over the edge. They allow themselves to get flustered, or react, or even go and complain to the wrong person in the chain of command. And then you’re up the creek without a paddle…

So, it’s at this point that you’re probably wondering either what you can do to make working with Japanese people easier, or if it’s even worth it at all…

Some people will tell you that it will help you to learn the language. Others will tell you that having a strong understanding of Japanese business etiquette or Japanese business culture will be the key. And some people will try to sell you the idea that if you work long, hard hours, that even as a foreigner, you will surely be accepted in the Japanese workplace.

I am here to tell you that while each of those may hold some merit, it is my experience that none of them are worth a grain of sand in comparison to just not caring.
Sure, at first glance this may seem counterproductive to the cause, but in the end, just going in to work, doing your job to the best of your ability, being polite and considerate, putting in overtime every now and then, and simply not giving a s*** what your Japanese co-workers think of you is the only sure-fire way to get through the day with your sanity intact.

Maybe this is already you! And perhaps you haven’t had a single negative experience working with Japanese people. And if that’s the case, good for you!
But if not, then this is something to keep in mind.
It took me a while to learn this, and since I have, every day at the office has been a lot better.
Yes, they will still test you every now and then, but just put on a smile, comply and at the end of the day, detach!

There is a lot more that I was planning to add to this post…
I was originally going to make it more about racism in the Japanese workplace but it would seem that we will cover that in a separate post.

For now, I hope this helps.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts, anecdotes, stories, and opinions in the comments section~

Apr
02

No ID? No Problem! It’s Japan!

For those of you living in Japan, allow me to ask you a question…

When was the last time you were ID’d for something?
And when I ask this, I mean being ID’d for alcohol or tobacco, not being ID’d for just being foreign (^_-) 

In a land where alcohol and cigarettes are served up in vending machine format (mind you the cigarette machines have been ID’ing people lately…), it’s not entirely rare to see a group of 17-19 year-olds sitting in an Izakaya (Japanese-style… bar/restaurant), yelling out ‘Kanpai!” (Cheers!) as they raise their beer glasses in the air. [Just a note... The Japanese legal age of drinking is 20]

And while this isn’t something that particularly bugs me, I couldn’t help but be taken back last night when I went to the local, Konbini (Convenience Store) to grab some alcoholic beverages and was asked by the store clerk (who was about 15) to touch the ‘Yes’ button on a digital screen confirming that I am old enough to drink.
And that was it.
The screen asked me “Are you old enough to drink?”,  I push the button for “Yes”, and I’m on my way.
And while there is slim chance that I look younger than 20 years old, I still cant help but feel that the whole setup nothing more than an exercise in futility…

Now, if I were to think of this from the perspective of an 18-year-old university student living on my own in a city that prompts people to write “ranting” blogs, I would think this to be a wonderful feature of the city and culture that I live in. But sadly, not everyone is going to see it that way..

Now… I have additional anecdotes, and photos that I WILL be adding within the next week or so… But, were off to a start at least!
And so once again I open up the floor to you. What are your thoughts?

Apr
02

Japanese People and Spatial Awareness

I’ll start by admitting that the name for this post technically should read “Japanese People and Their Complete and Absolute Lack of Spatial Awareness”.
And if Japan (especially Tokyo) were a place filled with wide open spaces and plenty of room to frolic, I probably wouldn’t be writing this post. Yet alas, it is not.
And by this point, you probably already have a fairly good idea of what this post is about, so I’ll jump right into it…

Two Words: Excuse Me (or sumimasen in Japanese … technically.. one word in this case).
The words you will very rarely hear and soon give up on saying when walking the streets, train stations, hallways, or even bathrooms of Japan’s ever-so-crowded Tokyo.

I challenge you. Each and every one of you here in the city of Tokyo to go out for a day and take a count at the number of people who bump into you, or would bump into you if you didn’t make a point of getting out of their way.
Heck, if you want a real spatial awareness in Japan challenge, try running around the imperial palace in Tokyo!
Or at the very least, take some time to sit down almost anywhere in the core of the city and watch the number of people who bump into each other.

And while on one hand, Japanese people’s complete and utter lack of spatial awareness seems to fade into the background and become something that you may not even take not of, on the other hand it can really get on your nerves after a while. When I first came to Japan, I thought for sure that this was something that I was either imagining or something that I would get used to with time. Most Japanese people don’t even seem to notice.

I have seen cameras and cellphones broken, elderly people knocked down, and children hit in the face on more occasions that I can count. It’s downright dangerous.
In fact the other day I was talking to one of my Japanese friends, and while talking to me he backed right into some poor old woman and nearly knocked her over.

The problem is so tied into the Japanese lifestyle (at least in Tokyo), that major train lines such as Tokyo Metro, even put up posters reminding people to be a little more careful.

Tokyo Metro Poster - Japanese Spacial Awareness

Tokyo Metro Poster - Japanese Spatial Awareness

This particular poster (above), comes from a fairly common issue of people with rolling bags. If you have ever been to Tokyo station, you will be able to relate to this pretty easily.

One of my personal favorite examples of this lack of spatial awareness has always been the people who stand beside the seats on the train. Whether it be their arm, their jacket, their back, or simply their a$$, they are usually hitting the person sitting on the corner seat, in the head with something…

On account of all of this, trains can be a pretty unsafe place if you really think about it.

More often than not I stop to think about how difficult, not to mention outright dangerous it must be for pregnant women to simply go out or even get on a train…

I originally believed that living in a place surrounded with people at all times would heighten one’s spatial awareness and strengthen the use of their peripheral vision and the senses that they use to monitor their surroundings… But Nope.

Now, I’m not going to go into this big long post about cultural and psychological elements that factor into this (although I do possess both the necessary knowledge and linguistic capabilities to do so…), but rather open up the floor to you, the readers to give me your thoughts, opinions and experiences on this.

Or… I’ll go ahead and do an..

————-
UPDATE!:
————-

Ok, so I decided to do what I should have done in the first place, and actually looked online for peoples thoughts on this. And of course, with absolute minimal searching I manage to find several forums with people posting and ranting about just this issue~
You can find a few of them here:
http://www.outpostnine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6782
http://forum.gaijinpot.com/showthread.php?64631-Utter-lack-of-spatial-awareness-in-Japanese-people

In addition to this, I was able to find a video that got me laughing pretty good.
It’s worth watching clear through till the end (the last 2 are probably the best)

But the video really got me thinking…

A video like this shows a perfect and quite interesting point: There IS a lighter side to everything that bothers us. (^-^)

In this case, the lighter side is that people can be used to conduct a modern-day pavlov’s dog experiment with surprisingly definitive results!

But this video also brings up a point that I have thought to be true for quite some time. It’s not so much that Japanese people have a lack of spatial awareness as it is that Japanese people (primarily in Tokyo) just don’t care anymore.

Have you ever tried to apologize every time you bump into someone, step on someones foot, lightly knock someones bag, etc…? When I first came to Japan, I did! For about a week…
And by the end of that week, I started to think of how incredibly senseless it was to apologize for everything.
In anticipation of updating this post, I searched through my things this morning and pulled out my old journal…
In the last 3 days of my apologetic week, I had roughly kept track of how many times I apologized per day… and it was… well, a lot.
And this got me to thinking,
Let’s say on average, each person in Tokyo, bumps into people or makes accidental physical contact a minimum of 5-10 times a day.
And now, let’s imagine that each and every one of these people apologizes for this each and every time…
Can you imagine how noisy this would get?! Or how tired you would get of hearing and making apologies?!?

And so… we give up. We stop apologizing.
In fact, most of us gaijin gave up on this in the first month (if not the first week).
But I think that the difference lies in one point: Most of us… still care.
Most foreigners I know, will go out of their way to make sure that they don’t bump into people, or take up too much space on a train seat.
But you get people who have lived in Tokyo since birth, and bumping into people becomes a part of daily life. They become desensitized, and bumping becomes much more than just bumping…
In fact, a few of the other gaijin I have spoken to, say that they make a very clear effort not to bump into anyone, simply so they don’t end up in a koban with a Japanese person claiming the foreigner hurt them..

I could honestly sit here and keep writing about this for pages and pages, but more than anything, I would love to get your thoughts on this. So please take the time to drop in a comment below!

 

Feb
20

Hello from Japan

Hello to all of you in and outside of the land of Japan.

Allow me to start by making one thing clear. I Love Japan. I always have and I always will.
But like anyone who has spent any amount of time in Japan will tell you, there are things that bug, bother, annoy, shock, disturb, and enrage those who hold this country dear to their hearts (this includes Japanese and non-Japanese alike).

Like many, I have been in love with this land of mystery and beauty for pretty much as long as I can remember, and not for a single day has that changed.

But…
From time to time… stuff… well.. bugs me.

And so I introduce you to The Japan Rants.

I cant promise they will always be pretty, and I cant promise you will like or agree with every post.
But I can promise they will be honest, often controversial, and full of heart!

Chances are, as time goes by, posts will be edited, updated, changed, and injected with additional anecdotes, photos, and videos.

So sit back, grab a snack and join the fun.

Subscribe to The Japan Rants and be the first to know about new posts as soon as they come out.

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