So today will be the final day for me to write this blog. Well, starting back in February, I did write about all kinds of things quite randomly. When I couldn’t think of anything to write about I most times ended up writing about the weather, and when I was so focused and enthused about one topic I went on forever like the one on Okinawa.
Even though it was part of my job, it was truly a great experience for me. To tell you the truth, I didn’t really think I’d be able to keep it rolling five days a week.
It’s sort of sad to just quit this just because I switch jobs, and because there were some nice comments every now and then (are you there??), I hope to continue throwing in some entries say, at least once a month.
Starting tomorrow, I will be in my dream world, the Japanese filming industry. I know it’s going to be exciting as well as a lot of learning. I will report new stuff as soon as I get to know any!
Last but not least, thanks again for reading this blog and please do check back once in a while :-)
30 November, 2006
29 November, 2006
Surprise News
I know it’s kind of a super-short notice, but this blog will end tommorow.... or at least stop being updated for a little while. I’m changing my job. I hope to write about the details tomorrow, but anyway, thanks for reading this half-serious half-boring blog.
I don’t want to completely quit this, so if I have the time and energy to keep it up I promise I will. It’s just that I won’t be doing this as part of my job anymore. After I get used to my new job, I’ll try to keep you guys updates with my insightful new life.
Is it just me who feels like what I’m writing is sometimes really ambiguous...? Tells how “Japanese” I am, lol. Anyway, I will be here tomorrow so do check out my last entry!
I don’t want to completely quit this, so if I have the time and energy to keep it up I promise I will. It’s just that I won’t be doing this as part of my job anymore. After I get used to my new job, I’ll try to keep you guys updates with my insightful new life.
Is it just me who feels like what I’m writing is sometimes really ambiguous...? Tells how “Japanese” I am, lol. Anyway, I will be here tomorrow so do check out my last entry!
28 November, 2006
Japanese Economy and Women: Conclusion
I tried to tell the complicated characters and situations of women in the 21st centuries, but I couldn’t quite reach a conclusion even within myself so I’d like to wrap up with that.
One of the newest lifestyle fads is “petit-luxury”. An easy example of this can be a person who usually has a 500-yen-lunch for 6-days a week treating herself with a 2,000-yen-lunch for just once a week. Well, true, not many would have thought of spending 2,000 yen on mere lunch during the economic recession.
Like this example, the celeb-wannabe women whom I wrote about yesterday aren’t always rich and celeb but are in fact cutting expenses on some other parts of their lives. Their biggest dream of dream, though, is of course to become extremely rich so that they can have all the luxury without having to have to save money somewhere else. They want to become real rich celebrities.
That means that they demand high income in their future hubbies and this leads to their obsession with appearance from fashion, hair style, make-up and behaviors that men like – their short-term goal is to become attractive to men. Even though it probably requires a lot of effort I suppose that process is part of the fun for women anyways... but anyway, firstly they need to become able to expand their choices of men and then select the one that can provide their ideal lives.
I won’t say that this is the case for all Japanese women, of course not, but it is the reality and perhaps one of the conclusions the women who survived the Lost Decade reached.
Is it just me who feel like those gals have grown up a bit?
Oh, speaking of women, there’s a new female blogger on Japan Mode. She says she plans to write about things like Japanese stuff abroad and foreign-originated trends in Japan from a female point of view. It just started a day ago, but you’d better check that out too!!
http://japanmode.blogspot.com/
One of the newest lifestyle fads is “petit-luxury”. An easy example of this can be a person who usually has a 500-yen-lunch for 6-days a week treating herself with a 2,000-yen-lunch for just once a week. Well, true, not many would have thought of spending 2,000 yen on mere lunch during the economic recession.
Like this example, the celeb-wannabe women whom I wrote about yesterday aren’t always rich and celeb but are in fact cutting expenses on some other parts of their lives. Their biggest dream of dream, though, is of course to become extremely rich so that they can have all the luxury without having to have to save money somewhere else. They want to become real rich celebrities.
That means that they demand high income in their future hubbies and this leads to their obsession with appearance from fashion, hair style, make-up and behaviors that men like – their short-term goal is to become attractive to men. Even though it probably requires a lot of effort I suppose that process is part of the fun for women anyways... but anyway, firstly they need to become able to expand their choices of men and then select the one that can provide their ideal lives.
I won’t say that this is the case for all Japanese women, of course not, but it is the reality and perhaps one of the conclusions the women who survived the Lost Decade reached.
Is it just me who feel like those gals have grown up a bit?
Oh, speaking of women, there’s a new female blogger on Japan Mode. She says she plans to write about things like Japanese stuff abroad and foreign-originated trends in Japan from a female point of view. It just started a day ago, but you’d better check that out too!!
http://japanmode.blogspot.com/
27 November, 2006
Japanese Women and Economy
Let us start concluding the topic on Japanese women and recession. Today (and finally) we’ll get to 21st century. (Just a quick note: today’s entry may sound more or less biased, but I mean absolutely no offense to anyone)
Women in the past few years have clearly change quite dramatically as compared to the women before. If I describe it really short and simple, the high school gals who enjoyed their power and energy grew up without losing them. So um... you’ll see.
According to the Japanese government the country is slowly recovering from the economic slump she was stuck in for a decade. Indeed, employment rates are so much higher than the ice age in the latter half of 1990s, and numbers like several hundred millions and billions are heard more often.
So have our daily lives of common people changed? Not really. Like I wrote some days ago, the disparity is widening here and there. The reality of economic recovery isn’t so much about economy as a whole lifting up but only about portions of the population becoming extraordinarily rich. This is Japan today.
And the women... more and more women are attracted to the luxury that has become more reachable than even during the bubble economy, and they eventually start to behave like celebrities (well, some really are). The fashion trend, the food trend, cars, pets, etc.... women try to imitate so-called celebs and feel like they’re one of them.
The difference from strong women during the bubble economy, is that even though they’re still very self-assertive they aren’t as aggressive but are more “feminine”. I don’t know if it’s because they’ve been shown too much of the luxurious gorgeous glittering and dazzling houses and dresses and lifestyles of the rich on TV and mags, but anyway I get the impression that women nowadays want attention from men and want to be looked up from the “normal” people. So the styles in trend are “girlish” “feminine” “graceful” rather than the sexy-hot kind of fashion that dominated the market until some years ago.
Sounds like all they have in their minds are attention from people (especially men) and luxury, but like any other case this isn’t true for every women and even for those who are really into celebrity-ism they say they have their own beliefs and borderlines they wouldn’t cross.
I think I need another day for this.. continues tomorrow.
Women in the past few years have clearly change quite dramatically as compared to the women before. If I describe it really short and simple, the high school gals who enjoyed their power and energy grew up without losing them. So um... you’ll see.
According to the Japanese government the country is slowly recovering from the economic slump she was stuck in for a decade. Indeed, employment rates are so much higher than the ice age in the latter half of 1990s, and numbers like several hundred millions and billions are heard more often.
So have our daily lives of common people changed? Not really. Like I wrote some days ago, the disparity is widening here and there. The reality of economic recovery isn’t so much about economy as a whole lifting up but only about portions of the population becoming extraordinarily rich. This is Japan today.
And the women... more and more women are attracted to the luxury that has become more reachable than even during the bubble economy, and they eventually start to behave like celebrities (well, some really are). The fashion trend, the food trend, cars, pets, etc.... women try to imitate so-called celebs and feel like they’re one of them.
The difference from strong women during the bubble economy, is that even though they’re still very self-assertive they aren’t as aggressive but are more “feminine”. I don’t know if it’s because they’ve been shown too much of the luxurious gorgeous glittering and dazzling houses and dresses and lifestyles of the rich on TV and mags, but anyway I get the impression that women nowadays want attention from men and want to be looked up from the “normal” people. So the styles in trend are “girlish” “feminine” “graceful” rather than the sexy-hot kind of fashion that dominated the market until some years ago.
Sounds like all they have in their minds are attention from people (especially men) and luxury, but like any other case this isn’t true for every women and even for those who are really into celebrity-ism they say they have their own beliefs and borderlines they wouldn’t cross.
I think I need another day for this.. continues tomorrow.
24 November, 2006
Recession and High School Gals
In the entry on Nov 21 I wrote about how the Japanese women were until the bubble economy in the early 90s, but hadn’t gone further yet. Sorry for the delay. I’m continuing with the topic today.
After the bubble burst, the tide of huge economic recession hit the entire country, which is also known as The Lost Decade. The number of suicides increased remarkably never dropping down, and no one was assured of his or her job the next day. University graduates – whom until then, didn’t even have to hunt for jobs – were left jobless and the entire country was just feeling miserable. According to our theory here, women should have lost their energy and social status, and should have chosen to depend on men rather than becoming active themselves –- supposedly.
But the people who were strong during this decade were not men. And they weren’t exactly women, too.
The rulers of The Lost Decade were high school gals.
Certainly, they are women but that is only to say gender-wise, but they were many times viewed as a completely different species when they were most active. That’s how... “interesting” they were.
The teenage years for girls especially, is said to be the phase of life when they become the most sensitive about everything about and around them, so in general high school gals are quite sensitive and self-assertive regardless the social background.
So then, why did these girls during the 90s so powerful as compared to the other generations?
This is only my observation, but I believe that the rapid development in communication means play a huge role in the rise of “joshikosei”.
Experiencing its social debut and fast spread in mid-1990s were the pagers which in Japanese is called pocket bells. It was a HUGE fad among the high school gals since the keenest and assertive beings on earth could communicate with someone some distance away without having their conversations overheard by their family members.
The pager fad played a huge role in spreading information extremely fast. Even without pagers, the speed of information spread among teenage girls is extraordinarily fast in almost any culture. The system of teenage word of mouth information transmission was thus quickly established. This was the beginning of the age where what went big among the teenage girls went big in the society.
With overwhelming energy only the teenage girls could have, the gal generation quickly out-powered the elder females and dominated the Japanese recession as if there was nothing for them to worry about. Of course, many things have gone wrong and there were many negative impact these new social rulers brought to the society, and these points become conspicuous as the cell phones develop and spread even more than the pagers. I also think that the weakened power of grown-ups had to do with the positive and negative sides of this phenomenon.
So this was until about 2002. From then, the economy starts to pick up power again and the mirage-like economy boost comes again, but I will stop here for today.
After the bubble burst, the tide of huge economic recession hit the entire country, which is also known as The Lost Decade. The number of suicides increased remarkably never dropping down, and no one was assured of his or her job the next day. University graduates – whom until then, didn’t even have to hunt for jobs – were left jobless and the entire country was just feeling miserable. According to our theory here, women should have lost their energy and social status, and should have chosen to depend on men rather than becoming active themselves –- supposedly.
But the people who were strong during this decade were not men. And they weren’t exactly women, too.
The rulers of The Lost Decade were high school gals.
Certainly, they are women but that is only to say gender-wise, but they were many times viewed as a completely different species when they were most active. That’s how... “interesting” they were.
The teenage years for girls especially, is said to be the phase of life when they become the most sensitive about everything about and around them, so in general high school gals are quite sensitive and self-assertive regardless the social background.
So then, why did these girls during the 90s so powerful as compared to the other generations?
This is only my observation, but I believe that the rapid development in communication means play a huge role in the rise of “joshikosei”.
Experiencing its social debut and fast spread in mid-1990s were the pagers which in Japanese is called pocket bells. It was a HUGE fad among the high school gals since the keenest and assertive beings on earth could communicate with someone some distance away without having their conversations overheard by their family members.
The pager fad played a huge role in spreading information extremely fast. Even without pagers, the speed of information spread among teenage girls is extraordinarily fast in almost any culture. The system of teenage word of mouth information transmission was thus quickly established. This was the beginning of the age where what went big among the teenage girls went big in the society.
With overwhelming energy only the teenage girls could have, the gal generation quickly out-powered the elder females and dominated the Japanese recession as if there was nothing for them to worry about. Of course, many things have gone wrong and there were many negative impact these new social rulers brought to the society, and these points become conspicuous as the cell phones develop and spread even more than the pagers. I also think that the weakened power of grown-ups had to do with the positive and negative sides of this phenomenon.
So this was until about 2002. From then, the economy starts to pick up power again and the mirage-like economy boost comes again, but I will stop here for today.
22 November, 2006
Olympics in Tokyo?
I was going to continue with the economy and women thing from yesterday, but again it started to become a bit complicated in my mind so I think I’ll let my mind rest for a little bit (yay, tomorrow’s a holiday!).
Anyway, so I was looking for some lighter news to write about today and was asking around my colleagues, and one of them told me that a bid committee for 2016 Olympics has been established in Japan to bid the Games to Tokyo. Come to think of it, the governor of Tokyo was talking about it for a long time. I’m not so interested in how much economic impact it brings to the city but am secretly anticipating more access to my website LOL cuz I remember a lot of travelers coming over to Japan when the 2002 FIFA World Cup had been held in Japan.
Putting my secret hopes aside, how high is the possibility of succeeding in bidding it? There may be a lot of venues and transportation means, but perhaps not enough accommodation. Besides, the 2008 Olympics are going to be held in Beijing so I doubt that the 2016 Games would come to a city so close in only 8 years.
Well, I’ve got a Labor Day holiday tomorrow!!
I’ll stop here for today and continue (and hopefully finish up) the topic I started yesterday.
Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it :-)
Anyway, so I was looking for some lighter news to write about today and was asking around my colleagues, and one of them told me that a bid committee for 2016 Olympics has been established in Japan to bid the Games to Tokyo. Come to think of it, the governor of Tokyo was talking about it for a long time. I’m not so interested in how much economic impact it brings to the city but am secretly anticipating more access to my website LOL cuz I remember a lot of travelers coming over to Japan when the 2002 FIFA World Cup had been held in Japan.
Putting my secret hopes aside, how high is the possibility of succeeding in bidding it? There may be a lot of venues and transportation means, but perhaps not enough accommodation. Besides, the 2008 Olympics are going to be held in Beijing so I doubt that the 2016 Games would come to a city so close in only 8 years.
Well, I’ve got a Labor Day holiday tomorrow!!
I’ll stop here for today and continue (and hopefully finish up) the topic I started yesterday.
Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it :-)
21 November, 2006
Japanese Women and Social Economy
Here I would like to write about things that I intentionally (for good reasons) didn’t write in the article on J-POP for Japan Mode.
What it is about: it is about the relationship between Japanese economy and the performances of Japanese women. I have touched upon it a little bit in the article, but here I would like to go into the actual mechanism.
But first, let me get started with my personal experience from my earlier days.
When I was small, cute and charming yet somewhat independent and intelligent girl(s) called “The Madonna of the class (year)” were popular among the boys. As the economy started to become better (getting closer to bubble economy which is late 80s to early 90s) strong independent women were starred even in TV programs for kids and people admired women with strong character.
The peak of strong and active women came during the bubble economy, when ladies in short tight skirts stood on the stages of discos and danced as they swung their feathery fans. Men they desired to marry had to fulfill the three “high” conditions, 1) height (tall), 2) education (elite) and 3) income (elite) and there was clearly a structure established in which strong women could choose men who could make their lives even richer. Another aspect of strong women during this time period is represented in the increase in working women, and this is also the time when single mothers and unmarried women increased.
Ok, let me make my point very briefly. During times when the domestic economy is suffering, it is hard for women to keep their jobs even though their equal working status and opportunities are supposed to be protected legally, and instead more women choose to find a husband who can support their lives instead. Staying home were their means for survival.
But as the economy turns better, it becomes easier for women to earn their own livings in the society. In such social circumstance, their urge to find a man to marry fades and as a result more and more independent women who do not try to fawn upon men increases.
This is about up till the bubble economy. I’ll continue with how the situations shifted in the late 90s up until now.
What it is about: it is about the relationship between Japanese economy and the performances of Japanese women. I have touched upon it a little bit in the article, but here I would like to go into the actual mechanism.
But first, let me get started with my personal experience from my earlier days.
When I was small, cute and charming yet somewhat independent and intelligent girl(s) called “The Madonna of the class (year)” were popular among the boys. As the economy started to become better (getting closer to bubble economy which is late 80s to early 90s) strong independent women were starred even in TV programs for kids and people admired women with strong character.
The peak of strong and active women came during the bubble economy, when ladies in short tight skirts stood on the stages of discos and danced as they swung their feathery fans. Men they desired to marry had to fulfill the three “high” conditions, 1) height (tall), 2) education (elite) and 3) income (elite) and there was clearly a structure established in which strong women could choose men who could make their lives even richer. Another aspect of strong women during this time period is represented in the increase in working women, and this is also the time when single mothers and unmarried women increased.
Ok, let me make my point very briefly. During times when the domestic economy is suffering, it is hard for women to keep their jobs even though their equal working status and opportunities are supposed to be protected legally, and instead more women choose to find a husband who can support their lives instead. Staying home were their means for survival.
But as the economy turns better, it becomes easier for women to earn their own livings in the society. In such social circumstance, their urge to find a man to marry fades and as a result more and more independent women who do not try to fawn upon men increases.
This is about up till the bubble economy. I’ll continue with how the situations shifted in the late 90s up until now.
20 November, 2006
Japanese in the Mirror
First of all, thank you for your comment Rachel. I hope to keep up with thought-provoking entries although I have to say, I won’t be able to write as much from next month. Still I wish to tell the big stuff and little stuff about Japan, as a resident of Japan. Comments always gives me energy to keep writing :)
Since I had been writing about very serious heavy stuff for the past month, I thought I’d write about something easy today.
It seems like NINTENDO’s new game machine Wii has been released in the States a bit earlier than in Japan, and even though it’s not sold in Japan yet, the release of Wii marked rounded up the release of the so-called next-generation video game machines (XBOX360, PS3, Wii).
Well, it’s not about Wii itself that I want to write about today, but the TV commercial that has been aired in USA. As a Japanese I found it both interesting and entertaining so I’ll write how I felt.
But before getting my comments, have a look at this (see below) if you haven’t had a chance to see the TV commercial I’m am going to write about (it’s safe).
A couple of agent-looking Japanese men (I think they’re Japanese) get on this tiny tiny car, knocking around the doors of the houses, and bow as they present the controller for Wii – which I believe is the biggest characteristic about Wii – and suggest these people to actually play with the machine.
I suppose that the mild expressions they wear and the humble attitude that can be seen in bowing shows how Japanese people are viewed from others. The ad is finished with the two [ ii ] of “Wii” bowing.
I think it’s pretty funny. The two Asians (from my point of view) look a bit more like Chinese (there’s absolutely no offense in this, and I apologize if they’re Japanese), but anyway, as I was thinking “so this is how Japanese people are portrayed in other peoples’ eyes” I suddenly remembered this other news article that elephants have been proved to recognize their figure in mirrors.
So my point is, I realized that when seen through a mirror called “non-Japanese”, Japanese people could be illustrated as something quite different from what we (=Japanese) usually believe us to be, and both are probably our true characters.
It’s not that I’m trying to express complaint like “we aren’t like that” or “we never do things like that”, but just found it interesting. I’m sure that we too see non-Japanese people in “mistaken” perceptions.
As for this commercial, Japanese people are perceived in a favorable (nice) way so I don’t feel bad (um, is the small car supposed to portray our car technology or the smallness of the country and houses?) – it’s a Japanese company to begin with so I guess there’s nothing for us to complain about.
Watching this commercial, I even became to think that Japanese people should have more pride in ourselves. So that we can be welcomed everywhere with a round of applause, we need to improve ourselves through these “mirrors”.
Since I had been writing about very serious heavy stuff for the past month, I thought I’d write about something easy today.
It seems like NINTENDO’s new game machine Wii has been released in the States a bit earlier than in Japan, and even though it’s not sold in Japan yet, the release of Wii marked rounded up the release of the so-called next-generation video game machines (XBOX360, PS3, Wii).
Well, it’s not about Wii itself that I want to write about today, but the TV commercial that has been aired in USA. As a Japanese I found it both interesting and entertaining so I’ll write how I felt.
But before getting my comments, have a look at this (see below) if you haven’t had a chance to see the TV commercial I’m am going to write about (it’s safe).
A couple of agent-looking Japanese men (I think they’re Japanese) get on this tiny tiny car, knocking around the doors of the houses, and bow as they present the controller for Wii – which I believe is the biggest characteristic about Wii – and suggest these people to actually play with the machine.
I suppose that the mild expressions they wear and the humble attitude that can be seen in bowing shows how Japanese people are viewed from others. The ad is finished with the two [ ii ] of “Wii” bowing.
I think it’s pretty funny. The two Asians (from my point of view) look a bit more like Chinese (there’s absolutely no offense in this, and I apologize if they’re Japanese), but anyway, as I was thinking “so this is how Japanese people are portrayed in other peoples’ eyes” I suddenly remembered this other news article that elephants have been proved to recognize their figure in mirrors.
So my point is, I realized that when seen through a mirror called “non-Japanese”, Japanese people could be illustrated as something quite different from what we (=Japanese) usually believe us to be, and both are probably our true characters.
It’s not that I’m trying to express complaint like “we aren’t like that” or “we never do things like that”, but just found it interesting. I’m sure that we too see non-Japanese people in “mistaken” perceptions.
As for this commercial, Japanese people are perceived in a favorable (nice) way so I don’t feel bad (um, is the small car supposed to portray our car technology or the smallness of the country and houses?) – it’s a Japanese company to begin with so I guess there’s nothing for us to complain about.
Watching this commercial, I even became to think that Japanese people should have more pride in ourselves. So that we can be welcomed everywhere with a round of applause, we need to improve ourselves through these “mirrors”.
17 November, 2006
Think Nationally, Act Locally?
Sorry ‘bout yesterday. I couldn’t “move”... :p
I think I’ll be fine today... who knows?
Anyway, let’s get going with how the government is seeing this problem.
Some of the governmental policies for urban-rural disparity include such as synoecism and “IT-izing”, but there hasn’t been enough attention given to the desertification or decline in population in these areas that we have been discussing about.
Why not? Well, when shopping malls pop up in these places consumption goes higher and local economy boosts up... maybe not so much as to say, “boost up” but it gets richer more or less. When the economy of the local area as a whole, in numbers, is good, there is no need for the national government to cast their eyes upon.
But it is a severe issue for the rural and suburb areas, as the provincial cities for a long time in postwar Japanese society served as the center of a large society including industry, commerce and agriculture. Not only that, it was also the center of education, culture, health and welfare as well as other administrative services. Therefore when this very center loses its balance, the entire society supporting each other loses it balance. Moreover, because little things, history and tradition cultivate people’s identities and prides, so the fall of the center eventually leads to the loss of identity and the area soon becomes to look as though it is dead.
So, as a result, despite the obsession of the national government with revitalizing local economy, it doesn’t or cannot take any effective action to improve the situation.
However, situations seem to be changing slightly recently. It looks like the government realized that from the aspects of declining birth rates and aging of the population as well as financial aspects, politics have to seriously focus on switching from urban politics to local politics. Also, if they keep turning their eyes from the reality of local cities they will be too late to stop the increase of hollowing towns and villages.
So now what?
The new policy that the government came up with is called the “Compact City Plan”.
I learned that some of the EU member countries got their hands on this policy already so some of you readers may know what it’s about: it’s basically a city designing plan to make one community very small, small enough for a resident to be able walk around his neighborhood and still get everything he needs for a living.
Sadly though, it’s not functioning too well at the moment for the local communities have stretched out quite large, so large that it’s hard to even think of shrinking it again.
So is this issue ever going to be solved? Or am I ever going to reach a personal conclusion?
I guess I can’t really get to any point when it comes to huge issued like this you know, like the education stuff and suicide and disparity and all these... too big for me to even touch upon.
The future is nothing without children, the country is nothing without towns and people.
This too has become pretty long, but I think this is about the right place to stop. If I come up with some more I’ll write, but from next week I’ll get myself to something different, yeah?
I think I’ll be fine today... who knows?
Anyway, let’s get going with how the government is seeing this problem.
Some of the governmental policies for urban-rural disparity include such as synoecism and “IT-izing”, but there hasn’t been enough attention given to the desertification or decline in population in these areas that we have been discussing about.
Why not? Well, when shopping malls pop up in these places consumption goes higher and local economy boosts up... maybe not so much as to say, “boost up” but it gets richer more or less. When the economy of the local area as a whole, in numbers, is good, there is no need for the national government to cast their eyes upon.
But it is a severe issue for the rural and suburb areas, as the provincial cities for a long time in postwar Japanese society served as the center of a large society including industry, commerce and agriculture. Not only that, it was also the center of education, culture, health and welfare as well as other administrative services. Therefore when this very center loses its balance, the entire society supporting each other loses it balance. Moreover, because little things, history and tradition cultivate people’s identities and prides, so the fall of the center eventually leads to the loss of identity and the area soon becomes to look as though it is dead.
So, as a result, despite the obsession of the national government with revitalizing local economy, it doesn’t or cannot take any effective action to improve the situation.
However, situations seem to be changing slightly recently. It looks like the government realized that from the aspects of declining birth rates and aging of the population as well as financial aspects, politics have to seriously focus on switching from urban politics to local politics. Also, if they keep turning their eyes from the reality of local cities they will be too late to stop the increase of hollowing towns and villages.
So now what?
The new policy that the government came up with is called the “Compact City Plan”.
I learned that some of the EU member countries got their hands on this policy already so some of you readers may know what it’s about: it’s basically a city designing plan to make one community very small, small enough for a resident to be able walk around his neighborhood and still get everything he needs for a living.
Sadly though, it’s not functioning too well at the moment for the local communities have stretched out quite large, so large that it’s hard to even think of shrinking it again.
So is this issue ever going to be solved? Or am I ever going to reach a personal conclusion?
I guess I can’t really get to any point when it comes to huge issued like this you know, like the education stuff and suicide and disparity and all these... too big for me to even touch upon.
The future is nothing without children, the country is nothing without towns and people.
This too has become pretty long, but I think this is about the right place to stop. If I come up with some more I’ll write, but from next week I’ll get myself to something different, yeah?
16 November, 2006
" Busy Busy Bizzie "
I have to confess that I can't spare much - or actually no - time to this part of my daily task!!!
Why should I be so busy at this time of year!!?
See ye guys tomorrow!
Why should I be so busy at this time of year!!?
See ye guys tomorrow!
15 November, 2006
The Reality of Disparity
Today I’d like to really go into the current situation of the local economy and disparity. First of all, however, I need to note that though I say “countryside” or “rural” economy, the actual value of currency is more and more lost the further you go from the urban areas. The traditional style of self-sufficiency is still fairly strong in these areas, where they grow fresh healthy vegetables and catch lively fish. What one cannot get or grow by himself are often bartered. So even though I say disparity in terms of money digits, the weight of the same money isn’t exactly the same.
Going on – the biggest point about a lifestyle like this is that very few of them if not none consider themselves to be poor. Many of them – again, if not all – actually live happier than many of us in the urban areas so deeply drowned in materialism. If you can have good food and live slowly and relaxingly in the grand nature where materialistic stress won’t bother you, you can be happy even if your income isn’t that big.
But, the local economy that I have been writing about lately is more about the suburbs, or the local cities as we call them. It isn’t about the remote peaceful villages. It is about the cities that aren’t quite even a tenth big as Tokyo but has a fair size of population with modern buildings.
Yes, long preface. From this point on is the real writing.
As I have written a little while ago, my family runs a cafe on one of the commercial streets (we call these “shoutengai”) located in the center of one of these suburban cities. The huge shopping mall built along the national route nurtured the car society, tearing away consumers of the “shoutengai” because the shops can’t accommodate enough cars. Also, because there is no train station located close by the shopping street there is no way but to drive to enjoy shopping there – which means that more people will merely pass through or never even get close to the local “shoutengai”.
In such shift in the social mainstream, younger generations may enjoy the same sense of shopping as in urban areas but not the senior citizens. For many of them don’t have cars they have hard times shopping. Some retail stores adopt a business system called “goyoukiki”, which in fact is an old neighborhood system, asking around such citizens what they need and delivering their needs. As far as we can see, there have been efforts made. But then there are always people who take advantage of such systems, and in this case these hyenas are called convenience stores.
They are like small versions of shopping malls because they have a wide selection of goods and fresh food nowadays. It is always the big chain businesses that take advantage of everything... not that I am whining.
Of course, it is a good service for those users and is indeed proving itself to be popular. The weight of capitals these big businesses have, have so much more – devastating – impact in the suburbs. It seems like more and more shutters are being closed in the “shoutengais” and the vicious circle is growing larger and larger.
So is the national government working on this issue? That, I will dig into in the following entries.
Going on – the biggest point about a lifestyle like this is that very few of them if not none consider themselves to be poor. Many of them – again, if not all – actually live happier than many of us in the urban areas so deeply drowned in materialism. If you can have good food and live slowly and relaxingly in the grand nature where materialistic stress won’t bother you, you can be happy even if your income isn’t that big.
But, the local economy that I have been writing about lately is more about the suburbs, or the local cities as we call them. It isn’t about the remote peaceful villages. It is about the cities that aren’t quite even a tenth big as Tokyo but has a fair size of population with modern buildings.
Yes, long preface. From this point on is the real writing.
As I have written a little while ago, my family runs a cafe on one of the commercial streets (we call these “shoutengai”) located in the center of one of these suburban cities. The huge shopping mall built along the national route nurtured the car society, tearing away consumers of the “shoutengai” because the shops can’t accommodate enough cars. Also, because there is no train station located close by the shopping street there is no way but to drive to enjoy shopping there – which means that more people will merely pass through or never even get close to the local “shoutengai”.
In such shift in the social mainstream, younger generations may enjoy the same sense of shopping as in urban areas but not the senior citizens. For many of them don’t have cars they have hard times shopping. Some retail stores adopt a business system called “goyoukiki”, which in fact is an old neighborhood system, asking around such citizens what they need and delivering their needs. As far as we can see, there have been efforts made. But then there are always people who take advantage of such systems, and in this case these hyenas are called convenience stores.
They are like small versions of shopping malls because they have a wide selection of goods and fresh food nowadays. It is always the big chain businesses that take advantage of everything... not that I am whining.
Of course, it is a good service for those users and is indeed proving itself to be popular. The weight of capitals these big businesses have, have so much more – devastating – impact in the suburbs. It seems like more and more shutters are being closed in the “shoutengais” and the vicious circle is growing larger and larger.
So is the national government working on this issue? That, I will dig into in the following entries.
14 November, 2006
The Cold Thoughts
My series essay in working poor is getting long. Hmm.
I know it’s because of the busy-ness of my work and also because of the virus that’s been tormenting my body for two months now... ;p
Right now I am feeling like I need more pills... like, I need more medicine. The one my doctor prescribed for me is only for mornings and evenings twice a day, so at around five o’clock I can feel the medicine losing effect and I feel really dull and weary. At such times all that’s in my mind is what to drink or eat in order to keep myself from fainting, or if I should eat something and take the pill for the evening so that I can work for another several hours, or to stay up just a little longer and go home early and take the pill and go to bed... if I soothe it now, I know I would keep myself busy for another few hours and as a result, delays full recovery.
Wow, I just realized that pretty much the same thing can be said for the working poor issue!
The industry I am in, the IT, is said to be one of the industries in which the workers can most easily fall into workaholocism. I bet the actual structure is something universal, but some academics analyze the issue relating it to the long-lived feudal system in Japanese history.
I was going to write about shopping malls and local economy, but I now I have my mind on several little components of the same big issue.
Going back to my medicine dilemma, I decided to choose the latter choice and go home early.
See ye tomorrow :-)
I know it’s because of the busy-ness of my work and also because of the virus that’s been tormenting my body for two months now... ;p
Right now I am feeling like I need more pills... like, I need more medicine. The one my doctor prescribed for me is only for mornings and evenings twice a day, so at around five o’clock I can feel the medicine losing effect and I feel really dull and weary. At such times all that’s in my mind is what to drink or eat in order to keep myself from fainting, or if I should eat something and take the pill for the evening so that I can work for another several hours, or to stay up just a little longer and go home early and take the pill and go to bed... if I soothe it now, I know I would keep myself busy for another few hours and as a result, delays full recovery.
Wow, I just realized that pretty much the same thing can be said for the working poor issue!
The industry I am in, the IT, is said to be one of the industries in which the workers can most easily fall into workaholocism. I bet the actual structure is something universal, but some academics analyze the issue relating it to the long-lived feudal system in Japanese history.
I was going to write about shopping malls and local economy, but I now I have my mind on several little components of the same big issue.
Going back to my medicine dilemma, I decided to choose the latter choice and go home early.
See ye tomorrow :-)
13 November, 2006
Working Poor 4
No wonder my so-thought cold wouldn’t heal: I finally passed out and went to the hospital last week and found out that my body was and still is invaded by a very rare virus to be found in Japan. My throat is still sore, but is so much better than the past few days.
Anyway, getting back to the working poor issue, I think I ended last entry by telling you how hollow and sad I felt. Everything at one big place with a huge selection of goods and parking lot – yes it is indeed more convenient to go shopping in a shopping mall. I think it is the same for other countries too, but in rural areas where the population is spread out public transportation doesn’t develop so much and people’s lives are really dependent on cars. When you’re in Tokyo you don’t really have the urge to get a car but when you go into the suburbs and rural areas, you really need a car to get around. Plus, if you go shopping with a car you don’t have to carry heavy or big bags yourself and the weather can’t affect you too badly. How convenient. So this is how the local economy becomes immensely centralized on huge shopping complexes in these areas and how the little shops disappear.
You may think, and there are actually voices criticizing these little local shops for not working hard enough to face the issue, but seriously, this is not an issue that can be easily solved by effort.
Okay, I’m feeling pretty sick again so I’ll stop here for today and continue on tomorrow.
Anyway, getting back to the working poor issue, I think I ended last entry by telling you how hollow and sad I felt. Everything at one big place with a huge selection of goods and parking lot – yes it is indeed more convenient to go shopping in a shopping mall. I think it is the same for other countries too, but in rural areas where the population is spread out public transportation doesn’t develop so much and people’s lives are really dependent on cars. When you’re in Tokyo you don’t really have the urge to get a car but when you go into the suburbs and rural areas, you really need a car to get around. Plus, if you go shopping with a car you don’t have to carry heavy or big bags yourself and the weather can’t affect you too badly. How convenient. So this is how the local economy becomes immensely centralized on huge shopping complexes in these areas and how the little shops disappear.
You may think, and there are actually voices criticizing these little local shops for not working hard enough to face the issue, but seriously, this is not an issue that can be easily solved by effort.
Okay, I’m feeling pretty sick again so I’ll stop here for today and continue on tomorrow.
09 November, 2006
Working Poor 3
Sorry, I’m sort of running out of time for I’m again caught up with work. I do want to continue with the discussion and it will next week. Topics cover: minimum wage; the reality of the protected powers; revitalization of poverty... so on so forth.
08 November, 2006
Working Poor 2
So now we’re discussing the issue of working poor in the countryside regions.
As a matter of fact, I am one of those coming from the suburbs. My hometown is Takamatsu City, a city in a rather unknown prefecture of Kagawa. My parents run a cafe on a local shopping street in Takamatsu. It has been ten years since I left my hometown, and every time I go back to see my family, I can’t help but notice lesser and lesser shops keeping their business as compared to ten years ago.
At first, it seemed to me that the cause was mere economic stagnation. It was at least in the beginning, and my parents blamed the recession believing the wind would blow for them again.
But as I come to think of it, I remembered that big suburb-type shopping malls opened in Takamatsu just around the same time as I left home. Now I know that those took away the customers of the shopping street. Having said that though, I must admit that we ourselves are part of those consumers half switching from our shopping street to the shopping mall. By the time we noticed, the malls were always packed with people and the street that we came back to was almost deserted.
The most shocking moment was when a traditional department store deeply rooted to the local shopping street disappeared from our neighborhood. The once dazzling block transformed into a dark hollow lot, and it really gave me a huge sense of loss.
Okay, my story will continue on to tomorrow.
As a matter of fact, I am one of those coming from the suburbs. My hometown is Takamatsu City, a city in a rather unknown prefecture of Kagawa. My parents run a cafe on a local shopping street in Takamatsu. It has been ten years since I left my hometown, and every time I go back to see my family, I can’t help but notice lesser and lesser shops keeping their business as compared to ten years ago.
At first, it seemed to me that the cause was mere economic stagnation. It was at least in the beginning, and my parents blamed the recession believing the wind would blow for them again.
But as I come to think of it, I remembered that big suburb-type shopping malls opened in Takamatsu just around the same time as I left home. Now I know that those took away the customers of the shopping street. Having said that though, I must admit that we ourselves are part of those consumers half switching from our shopping street to the shopping mall. By the time we noticed, the malls were always packed with people and the street that we came back to was almost deserted.
The most shocking moment was when a traditional department store deeply rooted to the local shopping street disappeared from our neighborhood. The once dazzling block transformed into a dark hollow lot, and it really gave me a huge sense of loss.
Okay, my story will continue on to tomorrow.
07 November, 2006
Working Poor 1
Before I start, let me apologize my rough explanations for I’m trying to make this concise as I can (I don’t want to be pulling the topic forever).
The reason for feeling this issue so personal – one of them is the problems arising in suburbs and the countryside towns.
Actually, I think that there are two kinds to this problem making it sophisticated.
Firstly, the problem of underpopulation in countryside regions... which is not a new thing. Each year more serious than the previous, the younger generation which is unneeded to say the precious labor force drifts away to seek their dream lives in large cities like Tokyo. As much as they are needed labor force, they are precious consumers. Thus the drift and consequently the aging of the population in the countryside regions create a vicious cycle of low production and low consumption.
The other one is the emergence of large shopping malls and wholesale stores. When the huge boom of shopping malls and department stores hit the Japanese society, it crushed down the local shopping communities practically to death. More and more people were attracted to larger malls for their convenience (even clinics and hospitals are incorporated in the latest ones) and stopped shopping at their local shops.
Regarding this aspect, I’d like to talk a bit about my family, but that’s for tomorrow.
The reason for feeling this issue so personal – one of them is the problems arising in suburbs and the countryside towns.
Actually, I think that there are two kinds to this problem making it sophisticated.
Firstly, the problem of underpopulation in countryside regions... which is not a new thing. Each year more serious than the previous, the younger generation which is unneeded to say the precious labor force drifts away to seek their dream lives in large cities like Tokyo. As much as they are needed labor force, they are precious consumers. Thus the drift and consequently the aging of the population in the countryside regions create a vicious cycle of low production and low consumption.
The other one is the emergence of large shopping malls and wholesale stores. When the huge boom of shopping malls and department stores hit the Japanese society, it crushed down the local shopping communities practically to death. More and more people were attracted to larger malls for their convenience (even clinics and hospitals are incorporated in the latest ones) and stopped shopping at their local shops.
Regarding this aspect, I’d like to talk a bit about my family, but that’s for tomorrow.
06 November, 2006
Series: Japan and Workaholics
Alright. Since I realized that I stepped into a rather grave social issue but don’t want to turn my eyes from it, I decided to go little by little taking up the entire week. Well... maybe longer, who knows?
As I went on with my research and learning about workaholics and Japanese youth, I found myself facing a larger social issue in the background of workaholicism which is “disparity” – in all aspects of the society – a huge, serious, and a next-generation kind of issue for the entire country to face.
Do keep in mind that I am only expressing my personal view, but to some people outside of Japan “disparity” may not be a familiar term to associate Japan with, and for those Japanese people living in Japan – at least for those who claim to belong to the “middle class” as is the case with the majority of the population – a word rather unacceptable. –- Even more so, the term “working poor”.
WORKING POOR
People who cannot become wealthy no matter how much and how hard they work. In another word, those people in the labor force except for the so-called (in Japan) salarymen who work full time as much as regular workers (salarymen) do but cannot earn enough living and have to be heavily dependent on welfare benefits. Even in a country that is said to have escaped poverty and economic stagnation, the number of working poor households is estimated to be around seven million. I’m pretty sure the term working poor and the problem is not unique to Japan, but as much as I observe the problem I feel the problem close to me and as not something just going on out there. I’ll start going into the details tomorrow.
As I went on with my research and learning about workaholics and Japanese youth, I found myself facing a larger social issue in the background of workaholicism which is “disparity” – in all aspects of the society – a huge, serious, and a next-generation kind of issue for the entire country to face.
Do keep in mind that I am only expressing my personal view, but to some people outside of Japan “disparity” may not be a familiar term to associate Japan with, and for those Japanese people living in Japan – at least for those who claim to belong to the “middle class” as is the case with the majority of the population – a word rather unacceptable. –- Even more so, the term “working poor”.
WORKING POOR
People who cannot become wealthy no matter how much and how hard they work. In another word, those people in the labor force except for the so-called (in Japan) salarymen who work full time as much as regular workers (salarymen) do but cannot earn enough living and have to be heavily dependent on welfare benefits. Even in a country that is said to have escaped poverty and economic stagnation, the number of working poor households is estimated to be around seven million. I’m pretty sure the term working poor and the problem is not unique to Japan, but as much as I observe the problem I feel the problem close to me and as not something just going on out there. I’ll start going into the details tomorrow.
02 November, 2006
Workaholics and Japanese Youth
As I surf on the internet lately, I notice this particular book comes up in quite a number of blogs and forums. Its name (in my personal literal translation) is The Exploited Youth – the motorbike messenger has witnessed! and is a social analysis written by a post graduate student at the University of Tokyo, who took a year off and worked as motorbike messenger.
What is written there is the system and the structure of how the youth who has decided and committed to earn profit from their hobbies become drugged into work, which is in another word, an antithesis to all the structure that can naturally emerge in the industries supported by the idea of “Love comes around while doing things you like”.
For instance, most of the youngsters coming into the motorbike business initially do so because of their passion for Harley and BigScooter. But as they work with the senior staffs, their passion gradually shifts to skinnier ones that are usually regarded as tacky in terms of hobby. The author named this the “renewal of taste due to labor”, and I believe this can be applied to so many other kinds of occupation. A designer I once worked with converted from and Mac follower to that of Windows and I was watching the process right next to him all the time.
It’s probably a universal phenomenon too. I heard somewhere that a similar book writing about the working class sold off really well in the States and other books elsewhere.
Then, what kind of characteristics can be seen in Japanese youth? I can’t put my thoughts together right now, so I think I’ll take more time on this topic.
By the way, chapter 3 of Charmy Nurse M is updated today. Perhaps you can see an aspect of youth life in comics like this.
What is written there is the system and the structure of how the youth who has decided and committed to earn profit from their hobbies become drugged into work, which is in another word, an antithesis to all the structure that can naturally emerge in the industries supported by the idea of “Love comes around while doing things you like”.
For instance, most of the youngsters coming into the motorbike business initially do so because of their passion for Harley and BigScooter. But as they work with the senior staffs, their passion gradually shifts to skinnier ones that are usually regarded as tacky in terms of hobby. The author named this the “renewal of taste due to labor”, and I believe this can be applied to so many other kinds of occupation. A designer I once worked with converted from and Mac follower to that of Windows and I was watching the process right next to him all the time.
It’s probably a universal phenomenon too. I heard somewhere that a similar book writing about the working class sold off really well in the States and other books elsewhere.
Then, what kind of characteristics can be seen in Japanese youth? I can’t put my thoughts together right now, so I think I’ll take more time on this topic.
By the way, chapter 3 of Charmy Nurse M is updated today. Perhaps you can see an aspect of youth life in comics like this.
01 November, 2006
Series: Downside of Japanese Education 2
The Ministry of Education announced its solutions to the educational issue – the already-graduated will not be questioned about their credits in high school, and as for the current students are to take make-up classes worth 70 hours, and for those who still cannot fulfill the requirement just by make-up classes will have to turn in papers. As a result the burden on the students have been lightened but still, the 12th graders this year are sure to suffer hard situations this winter preparing for not only collage entrance but also graduation.
The answer to the questions of whom to be blamed, where the responsibility lies yet remain blurry. First of all, the nation (or the government) is accountable for suggesting this relaxed education policy in the first place. The universities too, for still having enrollment exams stressing academic grades. Then the high schools for cheating their curriculums in order to maintain their fame, status and reputation, the educational board for probably acknowledging the corruption yet dismissing them, and last but not least the students and their parents for accepting it – since it is also their responsibilities to know what kind of education they are supposed to and are receiving in reality – or perhaps, hoping it.
Of course, the responsibility varies in size and kinds so it’s probably impossible to blame just one actor in this situation.
I’m sure (or hope not) that the government did not intend these issues to arise, and it is natural to think that the universities want to maintain their “quality of students” as well as the high schools. It may have been from inevitable goodwill that the high schools faked the truth so that the students can concentrate on their exam studies, and the students must have tried to come up with the most effective and efficient way to form their glorious futures.
Seems like what was supposed to form a comfortable system is falling apart.
So what exactly is it that this sickman relaxed educational policy is supposed to achieve?
”As opposed to the ‘stuffing-type’ education stressing the amount of knowledge and facts, the relaxed educational policy aims to provide education in which enables children to cultivate humanity and identity, the ‘ability to live’ in a relaxed environment at the same time as obtaining basic knowledge and skills”
Something like that is claimed to be the idea of relaxed education.
But what it really brought was harsher “stuffing”. It is also undeniable that this policy is bringing about a serious dumbing down of basic scholastic abilities.
Alright, this time they’re going to add another 70 hours of class, but what are they going to do if something similar happens again? The very core of the issue is left unsolved, untouched.
I haven’t been able to discuss the bullies because of the credit issue, but since this will become long as it can be if I don’t stop. I’ll discuss educational issues every now and then, and try to throw in some other interesting topics.
The answer to the questions of whom to be blamed, where the responsibility lies yet remain blurry. First of all, the nation (or the government) is accountable for suggesting this relaxed education policy in the first place. The universities too, for still having enrollment exams stressing academic grades. Then the high schools for cheating their curriculums in order to maintain their fame, status and reputation, the educational board for probably acknowledging the corruption yet dismissing them, and last but not least the students and their parents for accepting it – since it is also their responsibilities to know what kind of education they are supposed to and are receiving in reality – or perhaps, hoping it.
Of course, the responsibility varies in size and kinds so it’s probably impossible to blame just one actor in this situation.
I’m sure (or hope not) that the government did not intend these issues to arise, and it is natural to think that the universities want to maintain their “quality of students” as well as the high schools. It may have been from inevitable goodwill that the high schools faked the truth so that the students can concentrate on their exam studies, and the students must have tried to come up with the most effective and efficient way to form their glorious futures.
Seems like what was supposed to form a comfortable system is falling apart.
So what exactly is it that this sickman relaxed educational policy is supposed to achieve?
”As opposed to the ‘stuffing-type’ education stressing the amount of knowledge and facts, the relaxed educational policy aims to provide education in which enables children to cultivate humanity and identity, the ‘ability to live’ in a relaxed environment at the same time as obtaining basic knowledge and skills”
Something like that is claimed to be the idea of relaxed education.
But what it really brought was harsher “stuffing”. It is also undeniable that this policy is bringing about a serious dumbing down of basic scholastic abilities.
Alright, this time they’re going to add another 70 hours of class, but what are they going to do if something similar happens again? The very core of the issue is left unsolved, untouched.
I haven’t been able to discuss the bullies because of the credit issue, but since this will become long as it can be if I don’t stop. I’ll discuss educational issues every now and then, and try to throw in some other interesting topics.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)