13 Sep Japan way to do things
Japan as we know it...
:”Japan is like another planet” “They weird” “Japan is a dream land” “The best place ever” “Comfortable and highly developed place” ” Very humble and polite people”.
Soars my ears: “They ARE CRAZY” “OMG very safe and secured” ,” so welcoming and helpful”, “people are just too kind and sweet”….Yeah, this all solely from tourists who shortly flip through the most known cultural heritage places and more likely never come across stressful side of this “another planet” country. Those reviews win many hearts to put this country in brackets for “visit again” , “return and stay”, “the place to be at for life”.
Not to sell the tickets to this sunrise&volcano land but rather play on those statements to either confirm or debunk them. But again, not standing for Japan in whatever way.
However, this time — in this decade — might be the cheapest time to go to Japan for dollar’s holders. Dollar $ is too strong against the Japanese Yen in todays value.
For 2024th year (August)
1 Japanese Yen = 0,0069 $ US
1 JPY = 0,59 Russian Ruble
In comparison to Russian Ruble : 1 Russian Ruble = 0,012 $ US
50 $ US = 7,120.00 JPY. 50 $ US = 4,261.66 Ruble
100 $ US = 14,240.00 JPY. 100$ US = 8,523.32 Ruble
LAnd to END...?
Why Japan is seen polite, kind, secure, disciplined, filled with culture and social values that are often put many young folks in total despair. So act and do in Japan’s way might not be the best thing, also looking back in their history.
Roughly, through different periods in Japan especially at times of Samurai warriors (Edo Period : 1603 -1868): strong will, highly trained, disciplined, emotionless,…blah blah, basically a perfect solders — war machines — to have. They were real, indeed, — not into conspiracy theory — but most of their ‘spotless’ characteristics went overboard and are likely to be created as a cultural belief, made up image that serve as a role model for the whole nation to be proud of, likewise Russia’s Bogatyri (men warriors in fairytales) — a part of “mentsu” — plus given a scary, intimidated look to pose against other countries.
Um, would go straight to the issues…
Issues are:
- Demanding Work Culture
- Lack of psychological help
- High price on housing and child care
- Hikikomori trend ( isolated, live alone)
Very weak connections with community. Constant feel of risking to be ashamed, exhausted to catch up with social values. Surrounded and oppressed by society rules that always ahead of personal needs.
- Employment: One try and no way out.
“Shushoku Katsudo”– Once a year hiring freshly graduates for life-time employment (“Shushin Koyo”). So if you miss this chance right after your graduation you are more likely to be doomed for life, take the Hikikomori life style. Thats scary to even think, me with my ‘gypsy’ work background (changed 7 or more jobs after graduation).
- Lost Generation
Those who graduated in 1990s — Japan’s economic stagnation (companies were not hiring anyone). Roughly, 3 decades fell into that non-recruitment gap, they are still figuratively zoned out from the society.
- Investments are flowing out of Japan since 1990.
- Ageing population
- Cautious stance on immigration ( not enough of foreign talents)
Chance to revitalise — Out of deflation! Well this was mentioned by the Former PM of Japan ( Shinzo Abe), the strategy that he listed for Japan to overcome this crisis:
- Aggressive government spending
- Negative interest rates
- Quantitative easing
He is out of the PM office since 2021 and pass that task to a PM Fumio Kishida, who is now also out of office. So far I don’t have a big pros to backup those bullet points for Japan.
More and more Japanese young adults chose “online” love relationship, with cyber girlfriend/ boyfriend, robots, coded program as a lifetime partner…well maybe its a good idea but I would wonder how they… um, and do they??Ah better to skip that.
"MENTSU"
TOTALY… TOTALY into personal reputation?
All about the “face” and it goes to extreme level — total control of own emotions or basic wants… Not about physical outset: how you dress, what make-up you put on, or how your face skin looks like, and… Rather, the personal deeds, morals, behaviour, background, the taking orders and follow commands.
All has a strong odour to your status in the society that could pierce your position in life with NO WAY OUT.
Society as whole is the chief of your fate, basically. And if you think that it is hard to ruin your reputation, you are SO WRONG! Welcome to Japan — daily walking on the edge of “from HERO to ZERO”.
In Japan even a simple arguing, would irrevocably hurt your image. And surely more in a negative slant. Accordingly, its too big of embracement to argue or debate with someone in public, enough to lose the face, and be isolated by default…
Yeah, I know sounds pretty rough and silly, why such a simple act of arguing, telling your point about something, would be outrageous to witness. When I heard that, I smirk making a sarcastic comment, like “Japan is defo the champ of patience… no wonder they befriended those who dropped nukes on ’em”.
Happiness in Suit
Expectations are hight + the work drive at the highest… but after you got in, you dreams change: no longer about a house, or a fancy car, or some Merlin by ur side…
After work all you want is…warm shower, snuggle with the pillow, a bungalow gateway, rip the suit off, eat , smash work’s computer…punch your boss… and leave for good!
Pick your favourite!
Success that lays with job. In my words, Japanese men and women are more than happy to sit in the suit, from school till they retire. The culture where “freelancer” is like an insult and unemployment right after graduation = poverty for life: Constant begging for help and beat the corners of low-pay part-time jobs. This society set a high plank on the “performance” point to everyone that have to fit in. Oh, very scary to compete with such culture on economic field, and they only could lose by making their own errors. And that’s what happed in 1989 – the bubble burst of their economy.
Personal qualification of each individual means everything and no one even want to think about daring to step out of this non-stop rivalry knowing how easily they could be replaced. And spending hours at school and at work, champing one test after another, giving life to one company as early as possible seems to be the key for happiness in life there.
Here comes the question: Is there a second chance for anyone who failed once? Im not from Japan and its hard for me to comment on it, BUT as far as media and statistics on depression rate and suicides (worldwide) show, Japanese people are going through enormous stress, daily, and when fail they just simply being left out on their own, put on the shelves in the box for “waste”, silently ‘erased’ from the society full of ‘perfect’ human beings.
This all could be counted as like the height of the external purging, natural selection in a way, but at the same time it mostly led to the robotic, limited, and senseless crowd that has a little confidence in their deeds and prefer to stay away from others fearing that they could risk their reputation. That’s why there are many costume, anime, and more quirky entertainments where you need to wear a mask or put a heavy make-up that no one would recognise you — its the only way to be yourself, do what you are normally ashamed of doing, to experience other reality that has more personal freedom.
Everything links to fear of failing: not to be accepted in the society, lose all respect, love, and prospects in life, drown into despair, and see only one way out — death.
No-no Im not turning the subject into philosophical mean…
It’s just sad and shocking that there are many cases when an employee of whatever company, can just kill himself/herself just because they did not preform on the needed level or were blamed for some insufficient technical issue that could be fixed in a few hours.
would it change?
Would it ever be changed? Unfortunately, it pulls many strings, touching the big businesses in the country. Huge corporations as monopoles that give the most % of GDP in Japan and pay the biggest salary to their workers, too powerful to go against and too reluctant to loom over the basic needs of each worker. Huh, folks do whatever it takes to get there, settle in one of these big companies and continue this rivalry till retirement.
Long story short — Hiring culture is very intense. First, let’s mention “Shushoku Kaatsudo” ( Job hunting ) hiring only fresh graduates that come to a special venue where they pass through some job rituals with those who interview them for the career that they aimed to have for life (Shuhin Koyo). Yeah, once again, as I keep repeating this — they keep that job till they retire… till the last nail would go into their coffin.
Biggest corporations (Keretzuhire) only looking for fresh graduates, who would pass the job hunting rituals with group interviewees, where thousands of people dressed in identical black and white suit and at the end of it, all of the participants get jobs in a company (lifetime employment).
The full-time corporate employment is the only form of respectful carrier, perhaps, admiring and assumed-to-have for life.
BUT NOT SO QUICK thinking that this job hunting venues work smoothly and everyone gets the job, paying tribute to the society, and live happily ever after! Naaah.
Some who ever been in Japan might heard this “Economic tiger to a Sick man” — the boom, the drop, the pduuush to the dust of the economic system in 1990s. You would understand why Im talking about it in a sec.
Well, many Japanese thought of this case like ” I lost that Pachinko so let’s get it back with Majong”. Yeah, you might have guessed this is from…ah, classics –Japanese manga( Kaiji), many ideas how to deal with hard-time cases are borrowed from there.
Lost Generations ! No matter how smart you are and how much money you put into the education, companies just stopped actively hiring in 1990 to…for prior to 2010 year. Economic stagnation caused irrevocable consequences — young folks after graduation were placed in the gap of personal bankruptcy– as I call it –, government, perhaps economic turbulence that was caused by government decisions, just stole their future. Well, some were employed but only in a small %…
Economic tiger to a sick man
Unlucky students 1993
The rapid growth after the smart — at that time seemed very clever method to hold on to — way to spur the life quality in Japan:
- invest and spread businesses abroad
- lock the importers/foregn companies to Japan’s market and therefore give more help to domestic businesses
- hiring employees just after their graduation and for a lifelong term
Yeah, in one of those “fast rapid light-speed… growth” methods was the “lifelong term employment” right after graduation. Ok, indeed, good idea quite convenient for employers and employees, on so many levels, and worked well. If not the 1990 year’s corporate bankruptcies, arrest of bankers, scandals at Securities Companies, and so forth. The economic stagnation slashed the prosperous future outset that JAPAN was looking into, and so far it was coming their way if not that money crash.
And what exactly happened? CHAOS, if to say nothing. Relief puff-out and smirking of Soviet folks, who were going through the Union collapse (1991), knowing that Japanese juggernaut is going down as well. Kinda soothing own pain. In Russia the phrase ” what cant be better to know that someone is doing worst than you” — comic and pathetic, but surely often the only a reason to keep on living “someone is in more pain than you, so suck it up”.
Well, knowing that the newly graduates in Japan have had only one chance to be hired, this period was more than a nightmare for them. They were just robbed, and not like money-wise, but their lives were dumped, diminishing all the non-sleep nights of being a bookworm. The life meaning path which was set to guarantee the placement in society for the rest of their life was twisted. State just simply turned back on them and couldn’t care less what they would do now after studying so much and dreaming to devote their lives to a nation.
Writing about it, trying to catch on this feeling of LOST GENERATION, is already heartbreaking.
In 1990 the historical downturn had devastating effect. The culture of “one chance, one shot” destroyed 3 decades of graduates — lost generations. As a more delicate term for the “unlucky” er “loosers”. They struggle to afford their basic living, woking for low-pay part-time jobs and mostly sponsored by their parents.
But the positive note Japan does feel responsible for those generations and trying to help them.
Japanese style of following orders
Ahem, to put more bitter leafs in a pot…and get a strong scent tea…talking metaphorically, you might be guessing “what’s going on here? “. Well, the tea it’s the Japan and the leafs are flaws. And yessss, thats one of my favourite thing to do — to find the counter side of the positive feature.
Familiar with Japanese history or at least knowing some data from the WWII, then you would reckon how this hardworking culture in Japan brought a shadow on the country’s image. Total flip of what we see now as peaceful and friendly land.
Japan’s controversial reputation briefly.
Quick remark: Everything in life is cyclical, especially when the past is interpreted differently. As like the cliche saying ” who doest remember the past is condemned to repeat it…”, I would add — who change the past is doomed to fail.
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