Japanese people are missing their hometowns and old days

A few days ago, the 92nd All-Japan Senior High School Baseball Championship Tournament ended. A team from Okinawa won the championship. The victory made Okinawans feel very happy not only because it was the first victory for an Okinawan team but also because Okinawans were greatly frustrated with the government's attitudes toward Okinawa.

The championship is held every August at the Koshien stadium/甲子園球場 in Hyogo prefecture/兵庫県 next to Osaka. In June and July, prefectural tournaments are held in every prefecture, and the winners (49 teams) can attend the championship. All the games in the championship are broadcast live on TV. Surprisingly, every year, many people pay attention to the championship; in fact, the stadium is packed with spectators throughout the 15-day period.

http://koukou-yosegaki.com
/izakaya/

The long time popularity of the championship seems to reflect how much people miss their hometowns and old days. In Japan, many people leave their hometowns to enroll in universities, or to start working. It's not easy to meet people who were born and raised in Tokyo. People from outside Tokyo tend to get tired of living in the spiritual desert, Tokyo. A few months ago, it was reported that the long term popularity of a Japanese restaurant in Shinbashi/新橋, Tokyo was because the restaurant had a way of reminding its customers of their old days in their hometowns. (Shinbashi/新橋 is popular with a lot of businessmen as an entertainment town). In the restaurant, there are shelves of notebooks; each notebook has the name of a high school written on its spine (click here). ts customers are free to read them. If you find one with the name of your high school, you can leave your comments in it. If there isn't one, you can add a new notebook for your high school. Many comments written by people from the same school or same town make you unwind, and encourage you to struggle on your life in Tokyo (click here).

Although I've moved many times since I was a little girl, I've never missed my hometown (I could say that Osaka is my hometown). However, I always feel closer to people from my high school than from my university when I first get to know them after graduation. I don't know why.

Unique companies' attitudes toward new graduates in Japan

In Japan, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced a few weeks ago that the employment rate for new graduates of four-year universities this March was 60.7%, down 7.6 points from last year (In Japan, the school term begins in April and ends in March).  It turned out that 16.7% of the graduates had neither enrolled in graduate schools et cetera nor started working. These graduates are most likely to find themselves in a serious situation since they will have great difficulty getting a job. This is becoming a social problem.

Until a decade ago, it was common in Japan that people worked many years for the same company. Changing jobs, especially in your 20s, was frowned upon, giving the impression that you were unable to overcome and adjust to obstacles in the workplace. Because of this, recruiters focused on hiring new graduates who had great potential to contribute to the company. In fact, corporations would hire a large number of new graduates in April every year. For the first few years after they joined companies, they were trained without being expected to show a performance equivalent to their salaries.

With the introduction of Western management systems and the Japanese economic downturn, however, more and more companies have reduced the investment in their new young employees and have come to seek for people having job experience and expertise. Job changes have more common, although frequent job changes in your 20s are still disadvantageous.

However, having said that, most of the companies, especially corporations, still interview large numbers of university juniors and seniors to secure capable human resources, and then officially promise some of them that they will be hired if they can graduate. This indicates that if university seniors don't get an offer before graduation, it will be very difficult for them to obtain a stable job after graduation. Because of this, when university seniors realize that they have no chance of obtaining an offer before graduation, they tend to fail classes purposely in order to stay in university since an undergraduate status gives them more opportunity to get a stable job.

It's been said that the issue of how society will increase employment opportunities for new and young graduates without job experience is a challenge in the current recession. However, the future of Japan depends on them. I've heard that this attitude toward new graduates is unique, although South Korea seems to have a similar attitude.

In your country, how do new university graduates get a job?

Graves remind me of an annoying tradition

As I mentioned in my previous post, there is a tradition of visiting family graves during the Bon period (If you are interested in finding more information about Bon, click here).  When I went to a cemetery a few days ago, the graves reminded me of a tradition I didn't want to follow. At the same time, I realized how many people don't like the tradition much, since I found more untraditional tombstones where one character words such as 心/heart and 愛/love were carved.

In Japan, family names are generally carved on tombstones like 田中家之墓/Tanaka family's grave. 田中/Tanaka is a one of very popular family name. 家/ke in this context means family. 墓/haka means grave. Since the rate of cremation in Japan is over 99%, your ashes are placed in a tomb. In addition, a few family members' remains are usually placed in a single tomb. The full names of all the family members are carved on the side of the tombstone or a small stone placed beside it. In other words, your ashes are supposed to be placed in the family grave to which you belong. If a woman marries a man and takes his family name, she will belong to her husband's family. If she unfortunately dies young before her husband does, and if he is conservative, her remains will be placed in his family grave where the ashes of his parents or grandparents are placed. Needless to say, you can have your own grave if you want and are allowed to do so.

It's tradition that families are considered more important than individuals. In the past, if a woman married a man named Taro Tanaka, for example, she culturally took his family name:Tanaka. She would be always referred to as a 田中家の嫁/a daughter given to Tanaka family. Actually, there isn't an English word equivalent to 嫁/yome. If I were referred to as ○○家の嫁, I would feel offended since the phrase often implies that I have to pay more attention to my parents-in-law than my parents or things like that.

Recently, individuals are emphasized more. More and more people don't stick to the traditional idea of which family you belong to. However, at wedding parties, the expression "○○家 と○○家の結婚披露宴/ a wedding party for ○○ family and ○○ family" is always used. Other than that, you can sometimes find the tradition in daily life.

Japan has become a tropical island

These days, the heat wave has been making headlines.The topic of which city reaches the highest temperature today in Japan is reported every day and catches public attention. This summer, all the cities throughout Japan can probably win this competition. Even some cities in Hokkaido/北海道 (which is located in the northern part of Japan and usually has relatively cool summers) sometimes reach 37 degrees C, so they are able to make the top 30. In Hokkaido, which is well known for dairy farming, the cows are suffering from a lack of appetite due to this abnormal heat. As a result, they yield less milk. The heat wave is expected to have an adverse effect on dairy production. Vegetable yields are also suffering from the heat. Prices are soaring. To be honest, I don't mind the summer heat. I used to play golf under the burning sun when I was living in Malaysia. However, this scorching summer heat is intolerable and discourages me from doing anything.

At Narita International Airport, which is currently crowded with Japanese travelers returning from foreign countries, this hot and muggy weather seems to make these travelers realize that their summer vacations are over. n the news, they are surprised to see how hot it is in Tokyo, realizing that it's hotter in Tokyo than in the tropical islands where they spent their vacations such as Phuket in Thailand and Hawaii.

I've heard that many places worldwide like Moscow have abnormal summer heat. Russia announced about a week ago that it would temporarily halt the export of wheat due to the drought. Since Japan is overly dependent on imported foods, it is expected to affect our lives. What is going on with the earth?

Please see the links below. These beautiful pictures make me determined to protect the earth.

http://twitpic.com/1a815x

残暑お見舞い申し上げます！
(This sentence is a typical expression used in greetings around between the 8th of August and the end of August)

Mrs Watanabe--Japanese housewives having a great influence on the foreign exchange market

As you might know, the declining birthrate is one of the big issues that Japan is facing. The public has realized that it will definitely put Japan into a serious situation. However, some of our social situations make people hesitate to have a child or more children and our government still hasn't taken effective measures against these situations. In addition, although the government requires companies to give their employees environments that encourage them to have more children, they haven't fully met the requirements. In my opinion, as long as companies keep requiring their employees, regardless of gender, to work long hours, the birthrate won't increase.  Given the fact that the workforce in Japan is shrinking, I think that companies should take advantage of capable mothers, although I know that it will compel companies to bear more cost.

Under these circumstances, capable stay-at-home mothers and housewives, many of whom were forced to quit their jobs, tend to start doing their own businesses or make extra money at home. Electronic financial transactions are particularly popular among these women since it's easy to start doing if they don't expect to make big profits. Many of them don't have a high level of expertise. Although the transaction amount with which each person deals is usually very small, the total amount is big enough to have a powerful impact especially on the foreign exchange market.

According to the news, some Western foreign exchange dealers found that transactions made by Japanese individual investors, particularly housewives, often affected the exchange rate when they examined factors for frequent dollar-buying that any technical analysis couldn't explain. Since a British newspaper referred to these Japanese housewives as Mrs. Watanabe, which is a common Japanese family names, the term "Mrs. Watanabe" has been used in Western countries. I don't know why Watanabe was chosen. I wonder if it's because a Japanese actor named Ken Watanabe is popular in Hollywood these days. Actually, I didn't know about the term until I watched a TV news program a few days ago. Have you heard of the term?

Is longevity good or bad? It depends on how you have led your life

About a week ago, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in Japan announced that the average life expectancy of Japanese women was 86.44 years old and that of Japanese men was 79.59 years old in 2009. The average life expectancies of both men and women reached the record high consecutively for the last four years. The average for women has ranked top for the last 25 years in the world.  Right after that announcement, it was reported that a 113-year-old woman who is the oldest in Tokyo was missing. She doesn't live where the resident registry data shows that she is supposed to be living. It turns out that 34 people over 100 are missing throughout Japan. These incidences reveal our social problems. It's a sad fact that nobody, including their children, know where such elderly people are. However, given the current social situation, it can happen.

I have a lot of relatives and longevity runs in those on my mother's side. My great-grandparents on my grandmother's side enjoyed their lives for over 100 years. Since both of them died of old age without struggling with diseases, I would say that they literally enjoyed their lives. Ironically, before my great-grandmother passed away, her daughter (my grandmother) started suffering from dementia of the Alzheimer type. A 92-year-old female relative still enjoys playing mahjong with her friends every day. According to her granddaughter, every time I lived in a foreign country, she tried to get to know about the country well. Actually, her strong curiosity often astonishes younger people. In contrast, some elderly relatives are so selfish and persistent that their families, friends, et cetera have a hard time taking care of them. As a result, their peers tend to drift away from them.

Every time I see these situations, I realize that your last life stage reflects how you have led your life, although some diseases are beyond your control.

Japanese people tired of pinching pennies

In Japan, it's believed that the spirits of our ancestors come back to see their descendants around the 15th of August, so there is a tradition of visiting family graves during that time. It is referred to as Obon/お盆. Because of this tradition, many factories temporarily suspend their production for a few weeks around the 13th to the 16th of August in order to give their employees a long holiday. Even people working for other companies still tend to take their summer holidays around this time, although recently more and more people take them during other periods in the summer to avoid the peak season crowds. 

Elderly parents, especially those living far from their children, expect them to come home during the Obon period. This is mostly because older generations consider it to be a traditional day of family gathering. In contrast, younger people tend not to want to go back in part because the return home costs them a lot more money than they would like to spend. In addition, many of them want to take advantage of their long holiday and travel overseas, since the summer holiday is the longest holiday for many workers.

According to the news, this year, a lot more people are expected to depart for foreign countries during the Obon period than last year because of the strong Japanese Yen and people being tired of pinching pennies（節約疲れ in Japanese). because of many people being tired of pinching pennies these days, プチ贅沢 is a catch phrase to appeal to consumers. プチ/puchi is from the French word "petit," and 贅沢/zeitaku means luxury, so the phrase means spending a little more money than usual to make yourself happy. Yesterday, McDonald's Japan announced that it had been very successful during the first half of this year due to high sales of new burgers costing four to five US dollars each. This is significantly more expensive than ordinary burgers, and the new burgers were introduced in order to meet the needs of customers desiring プチ贅沢. 

It's been said that many Japanese people try to save a high proportion of their disposable income, regardless of the state of the Japanese economy. As a matter of fact, the high propensity of the Japanese to save has enabled Japan to avert a critical crisis, as it is able to borrow locally to finance its budget deficit. On top of that, it's known that the number of suicides in Japan has been increasing for years. Some of the Japanese elite are suffering from depression.Given these circumstances, if people can afford it, they sometimes spend a little extra money to help ease their stress, not considering it extravagant.

It's said that Japan could get enmeshed in an irreversible situation like Greece if our government doesn't take action as soon as possible. Because of this, the hike in consumption tax from five percent to ten percent is being discussed. I'm sure that the hike will be enforced sooner or later.

Anyway, every time summer comes around, I start wanting to listen to the following song. I think that this song reminds many Japanese of the old days.

This is Japanese and universal hospitality

Japanese companies usually educate their employees on Japanese hospitality, and put much value on the idea that you should think about what your customers want, putting yourself in their position.It's based on a tradition that is referred to as おもてなしの心/omotenashino-kokoro in Japanese. If you wait on customers or offer hospitality at work, you will be required to offer a level of service above and beyond what is stipulated by the employee manual. In other words, responding to a variety of situations, you need to think about what to do and try to offer the best service and hospitality to your customers. This doesn't mean that you have to cater to any request made by your customers. If you encounter unreasonable requests, you will be required to decline them in the proper way. Needless to say, that's easier said than done. I think that it is important for you to try to decline unreasonable requests even though it is difficult.

As I mentioned in my previous post (click here), in Japan, visitors sometimes feel uncomfortable when they are served drinks and snacks without being asked if they'd like them. Given the aforementioned idea of Japanese hospitality, people should ask their visitors if they'd like anything before they serve drinks and snacks, although I've realized that more people do that than before. When the visitors don't want what is being offered, they should frankly reply, without hesitating, saying "no thanks". Actually, people still tend to consider it bad manners to decline an offer, and worry that it might offend people. The hosts, on the other hand, should readily accept both positive and negative answers. On top of that, you shouldn't expect others to give you the same level of hospitality as you usually offer.

To make matters worse, there is an awkward tradition in some areas, such as Kyoto. As far as I know, some conservative people in Kyoto still consider that when you are offered something, you should decline it out of politeness even if you really want it. Because of this, hosts in Kyoto strongly urge their visitors to accept their offers even when their visitors decline.

I don't know when the custom of offering a cup of Japanese tea with some snacks to your guests started, but I'm sure that at the time, water and Japanese tea were the only common drinks and you weren't able to buy drinks on the way to your destination. Because of this, visitors were most likely to be thirsty and hungry when arriving at your house, so even if you didn't ask in advance, the hospitality was always welcomed. Now that the times have changed, if you always offer the typical hospitality just out of custom, not thinking about what your visitors and guests want, it won't be hospitality. The idea that you should think about what others want, put yourself in their position, then think about what to do is the fundamental basis of human relationship.

  

Japanese hospitality can annoy you

When I was a university student, I would give school kids private lessons to make money. I usually went to their house and gave them a two-hour lesson. When I started giving a student a lesson at 4 pm, for example, his/her mother would always came to the room around 6 pm. Can you guess why? The mother would bring a piece of cake and a cup of tea or things like that to me. Even though she paid enough money for the lesson to me, she would serve them every time I gave a lesson. Her attitude toward me is pretty common. As a matter of fact, when you visit a Japanese friend's house even without notice, you will be usually served a cup of tea and some snacks without being asked if you'd like them. Due to this custom, Japanese people often take some snacks or sweets with them when they visit someone's house. These are our customs based on our hospitality.

When I lived in Malaysia, I had an Australian friend who gave private lessons to Japanese people at their houses. She would sometimes get annoyed by being served a cup of tea without being asked. She told me that she would find it difficult to decline the offer under some circumstances. When I lived in China, I would sometimes ask a Chinese masseuse (or massage therapist) --who often visited Japanese client houses --to come to my house. One day, while massaging me, she asked me why Japanese people tried to serve a cup of tea or some snacks to her even though they paid for her massage. She wondered how she should deal with the offer and decline it when she didn't want it. When I have dinner with my non-Japanese, I often notice that they feel uncomfortable with being served by their Japanese friends. In ordinary Japanese restaurants, a dish is often served on a big plate and is placed on the center of a table. You can take some from the dish if you want. If you cannot reach the dish, you can ask someone to take some for you. However, some Japanese will　try to serve you food despite not being asked. They also would try to offer to pour beer into your glass.

To be honest, I'm sometimes annoyed by being served drinks and snacks insistently at someone's house even though I politely decline. When I notice that someone takes umbrage with me not accepting his/her offer, I'm reluctant to eat the snacks served. In restaurants, I often feel uncomfortable being served by my friends since I want to my enjoy meal at my own pace. It also can disturb my conversation with others. In my opinion, the hospitality that makes feel others uncomfortable is not real Japanese hospitality (click here) even though it's seemingly polite. These offers are intrusive and hypocritical even though people are doing it with good intention. People always offer such surface hospitality just to satisfy themselves, although some people believe that the hospitality will make everyone feel happy.

Is Japanese hospitality great or annoying??

Japan is known for offering good customer service at shops etc. As a matter of fact, I often hear that foreign tourists are surprised to be offered good service free of charge. For example, in any restaurant, a glass of water and Japanese tea are always served free of charge. In many restaurants, a piece of wet tissue or towel to wipe your hands comes with the free drink. Since Japanese people don't consider these things as service, they are surprised to see some people from other countries are impressed by these things. They are also surprised to know that the free drink isn't common in other countries when they go there. According to the news, a statistic has shown that Chinese tourists--the number of them has been sharply increasing in the last few years -- are impressed most by the good customer service.

The service is our tradition and it's based on our hospitality, which is referred to as おもてなしの心 in Japanese. It's said that the good service based on Japanese hospitality is key for Japanese companies to expand their businesses in the global market. From this perspective, in China and Taiwan, some Japanese companies are fiercely trying to educate local people on the Japanese customer service ethic.

My story so far might make you feel like our service and hospitality are really good. I think that if you are a customer and are offered good service or hospitality at shops, restaurants and hotels, you will be satisfied with them. However, if you are offered our standard hospitality by your Japanese friends when spending time with them, you might find it difficult to deal with the hospitality. It's more likely to annoy you. In fact, my non-Japanese friends had a hard time dealing with our standard hospitality offered by their Japanese friends. I'll talk about why in the next post. I think that it's very difficult even for Japanese people to understand what Japanese hospitality is. Because of this, some people offer regular service without considering the situation that is necessary to offer real Japanese hospitality. As a result, they sometimes annoy others.

People from Kyushu/九州 are open-minded

In my previous post (click here), I said that many people from Yamaguchi Prefecture/山口県 played important roles in transforming Japan into a modern nation about one hundred and fifty years ago. Other than them, many people from Kyusyu region/九州, which consists of seven prefectures, especially from Kagoshima Prefecture /鹿児島県, are listed as historical figures. Since Kyusyu region and Yamaguchi Prefecture are located near the Asian Continent, people there were more likely to be subjected to the influence of foreign countries at the time. They were the most sensitive to global situations and were relatively used to accepting different values during the period of national isolation.

The tendency of being open to new values still remains with people in Kyushu. Professor Robert Campbell of the University of Tokyo, who is a well-known American scholar of Japanese literature in Japan and often appears on TV, looked back on his life in Japan in a interview. According to the interview, he first came to Kyushu to study Japanese literature many years ago. As soon as he arrived at a university there, a Japanese professor treated him as if he had studied under that professor for a long time. The professor didn't care about his poor Japanese and his nationality:American. Local people also had an open-minded attitude toward him. He felt comfortable with that. He concluded the story, saying with feeling that the first experience in Japan made him feel like he wanted to study more in Japan. He's been in Japan for about 25 years since then.

I've heard an interesting story about school kids. Some statistics have shown that when transfer students come to a class, students in Kyushu have the most interest in them. Students in Kyushu always welcome transfer students warmly whereas ones in other areas tend to hesitate to speak to them. On top of that, many actors/actresses, singers and so on from Kyushu have succeeded.

I don't have many friends from Kyushu, so I have no first-hand experience of this. However, It's most likely to be true.

Could people from Yamaguchi Prefecture save Japan?

In Japan, more people lately have taken an interest in Japanese history, especially the late Edo Period. This might be in part because by examining the history, people are trying to find some hints for overcoming the difficulties caused by the prolonged economic stagnation. They really need to find a breakthrough.

The TV show, "Ryoma-den/龍馬伝", enjoys high ratings, although I think that the main actor, Masaharu Hukuyama/福山雅治", has contributed to it. The show depicts a historical figure in the late Edo Period named Ryoma Sakamoto/坂本龍馬. On top of this, the number of young women who like visiting historical sites has been increasing for the last few years. They are referred to as Rekijyo/歴女.

I watch the show on Sundays. I think it's interesting. It might be more interesting if you remember that incidents in the show happened only about one hundred and fifty years ago while you watch it. In the show, a man named Yataro Iwasaki / 岩崎弥太郎 from a poor family appeared as a friend of Ryoma Sakamoto/坂本龍馬. He is actually a founder of the Mitsubishi /三菱 business group. I think you might have heard of Japanese companies named Mitsubishi xxxx, such as the Mitsubishi Corporation/三菱商事.

Ryoma Sakamoto/坂本龍馬 is from Tosa Domain/土佐藩, which is currently Kochi Prefecture/高知県. In the late Edo Period, other than him, many people from Choshu Domain/長州藩, which is currently Yamaguchi Prefecture/山口県, played important roles in leading Japan to become a modern nation. Immediately after the show reminded me of that fact, I heard the news that UNIQLO, a well-known clothing retail chain in Japan, would adopt English as its official language since the company was going to compete in the competitive global market as a global company, not as a Japanese one. Actually, the company is from Yamaguchi Prefecture /山口県. Three decades ago, it was a very small company that did business only within the prefecture. Now, UNIQLO is a growing company and a leader in the market. The company has developed a new business model.

Our Prime Minster Naoto Kan/菅直人 was born and raised in Yamaguchi Prefecture /山口県. Although he is put in a difficult position, I hope that he is going to do well.

Korean actors fascinating Japanese women

When I visited my parents' house about five years ago, I was surprised to find a mug with a picture of a popular Korean actor, Bae Yong Joon, on it. I immediately asked my mother where and how she had got the mug while gazing at it with round eyes. She happily said that she had gone on a short trip to Korea and had bought it there since she was fascinated by the very popular Korean TV show, Winter Sonata, and its starring actor, Bae Yong Joon.

About eight years ago, the show was broadcast and it ignited a Korean boom in Japan. Since then, the actor has been popular. Although I realized how popular some Korean actors and Korean TV shows were among Japanese women over 50, I didn't imagine that my mother was intrigued by that show and Bae Yong Joon.

Although I don't know Korean TV shows well, I think that many of them present platonic love and pure love in a romantic way. It's been said that such stories remind Japanese women over 60 of their bittersweet experiences. This is partly because many of them weren't allowed to marry the man whom they really loved because arranged marriage was common when they were young. In other words, these shows make them feel as if they could return to their youth when they were falling in love, since they can find similarities between the stories and their own experiences. The virtual romances seem to give them energy to deal with a harsh reality that they have to get along with their retired husbands who hadn't paid attention to them for many years until their retirement.

On the 30th of Jun, another popular Korean actor, Park Yongha, who was also in the public limelight in Japan when the aforementioned Korean TV show was broadcast, committed suicide. According to the news, the 32-year-old actor went to heaven, being watched by a large number of his female fans dressing in mourning. Surprisingly, 90 percent of them were Japanese women even though his funeral was held in Seoul only two days after his death. Most of them were seemingly middle-aged. They were collapsing into tears.

ご冥福をお祈りいたします。

the very popular Korean TV show, Winter Sonata

Why is the girl group, AKB48, popular in Japan?

In my previous post (click here), I wrote about a popular girl group called AKB48, which is produced by Yasushi Akimoto. Today, I'll talk about the reasons for its popularity.

According to a TV show I watched recently, AKB48, like Disneyland, always offers an original world in a single place. The group has an exclusive theater in Akihabara, Tokyo and puts on shows there almost every day. The members always wear the same original costumes. Because of this, if you go there, you can be part of their special world. In addition, since the group consists of over sixty girls, you might be able to find a favorite among them - just like you have a favorite Disney character.

The members' stage positions, the main vocal and so on are decided based on a fan ballot called "総選挙/the general election”. I guess that since the phrase 総選挙 is very popular in our society due to the recent political fuss, the phrase was chosen intentionally. The members announce their platforms for the so-called general election. You can get one vote for each CD you buy, although there are other ways to obtain votes as well. As you can easily imagine, some fans buy many CDs so that they can vote many times for their favorite girl to make her stand on the center of the stage.

All in all, this system enables the fans to feel as if they, themselves, could produce an idol. It's said that this has helped the group become popular. The members, on the other hand, need to improve their various skills and impress people to acquire more fans.

In my opinion, in Japan, men more or less like women who are dependent, immature, indecisive, dutiful or reserved because these women make them feel that they, the men, are superior. So, women often affect this kind of personality in front of men. This is one reason that girl groups like AKB48 are able to become popular. Give the fact that many wives wear the pants at home in Japan, girl groups like AKB48 make young men feel happy before they have to deal with the harsh realities of married life.

AKB48

Why are girl groups popular in Japan?

The day before yesterday, girl groups were discussed on a TV show.Since I found it interesting, I'll tell you about it.

In Japan, every ten years or so for the last thirty years, a girl group appears. Until now, three groups have appeared in total and all of them have become popular. These girls are cuter than average, but many of them aren't notably cute, which makes boys and young men feel as if the girls were their friends. It's been said that this sort of familiarity with the idols helps these three groups become popular.

In 1985, about fifty high school girls were selected in a popular TV show to form an idol group called Onyanko Club (おニャン子クラブ), which you can see in the first YouTube video. The group captured the hearts and minds of boys and young men. Although it broke up in 1987, some members are still popular now and appear on TV shows.

In 1997, another group called モーニング娘/morning-musume appeared, which you can see in the second YouTube video. First, the group received public attention because it was produced by a well-known musician named つんく/tsunku. The group consists of ten girls on average, and it changes members frequently. The frequent change of members is a strategy to capture public attention. Since elementary school girls sometimes become members, during the peak of the group's popularity, many young girls used to pay close attention to it, dreaming of joining it. I would say that the group is still popular, but it is much less popular now than it was up until five years ago.

About five years ago, a third group called AKB48 (the third You Tube video) was formed by a Yasushi Akimoto/秋元康, who is well known as a songwriter, music producer and so on. As a songwriter, he has written the lyrics of a wide range of many popular and great songs. His strategy for making the group popular is unique and noteworthy. Even though I'm not interested in the group itself at all, I follow it as a businesswoman. I think that you can find useful hints to develop new business models if you see why the group is very popular lately.

The AKB of AKB48 is from Akiba. Akiba is the abbreviated form of Akihabara/秋葉原, which is well known as an area where there are many Otaku and costume maids. Since the group has an exclusive theater as their home base in Akihabara and consists of around forty-eight girls, it was named AKB48. In the TV show that I mentioned at the beginning of the entry, AKB48's popularity was discussed, and they were compared with Disneyland (I might talk about this in a future post).  

I wonder if such groups consisting of many girls could be popular in other countries.

Again, again. I can't help but sigh a heavy sigh.

Twelve hours ago, our Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, resigned. His government lasted only about eight months. It's really disappointing. Given that he insisted just a few days ago that he wasn't going to resign, saying that it was't his way to take responsibility for what he had done, his resignation was surprising and weird. So, it's fueling the speculation. He repeatedly claims that he himself made the decision, but I can't help but wonder whether or not that's true. Also, I suppose his resignation was the only way to drag down Mr. Ozawa, who is considered a power broker. In fact, the PM's resignation forced Mr. Ozawa to resign from his high position in the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). In a press conference, the PM said that the DPJ really needed to eliminate problems related to money and politics, so he forced Mr. Ozawa to resign because it has been suspected that both the PM and Mr.Ozawa had most likely been receiving money illegally since before their terms started last September.

Admittedly, the PM has disappointed the public. His government has failed to convince the public that it will implement the platform issued in the August election. He has shown particular lack of leadership with regards to the controversial issue of the relocation of the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture, which led to a sharp decline in his approval rating. However, I didn't want him to resign. I've been really fed up with the frequent changes of our PM and cabinet members during the last 25 years. In the last election, many people didn't support the Liberal Democratic Party, which had been in power for about 50 years, because of the frequent changes, which actually contributed to the DPJ's victory.

Given that there aren't any reliable and capable politicians, that change is meaningless. There is no time for this. We have been struggling with too many issues.

These things reflect our society. Please enjoy our sense of humor.

I talked about Senryu /川柳 in my previous entries. Senryu started catching public attention during the Edo era in the 1800s. Since it enables you to express yourself and to make satirical commentary on society with a sense of humor, Japanese people have been enjoying composing Senryu.

Today, I'll introduce two senryu that appeared in the top 20 in a popular Senryu contest. These two really reflect our society. If you are interested in finding more information about Senryu and the contest, please click here and here.


★Ninth place
70歳
オラの村では
青年部

【Background and Interpretations 】
-オラ is equal to 俺 and means "I". Today, オラ is used by men and makes people think of old men in the countryside.
-There are local or neighborhood communities throughout Japan. Each community has some groups, such as a women's group/婦人部 and a young men's group/青年部.
-This senryu represents that although I'm 70 years old, I still belong to a young men's group of my local community in my village. It implies how many old people there are in the village and how many young people have left there. Since Japan has been encountering the aging society, 70-year-old people tend not to be considered as old people. In fact, it's common for around 70-year-old people to take care of their parents who are in their 90s, especially in the countryside.

★Twelfth place
地デジ買い　
財布の中も　
薄型に

Each phrase in the senryu would be translated into the following ordinary Japanese sentences.
地デジ買い→地上デジタル放送対応のテレビを買ったので　
財布の中も→財布の中身も　
薄型に→買った薄型テレビ同様、薄くなってしまった

【Background and Interpretations 】
In Japan, analog broadcasting services are due to be terminated in July, 2011. Instead, only terrestrial digital media broadcasting services will be provided. Because of this, all people in Japan are required to get ready for the switch. People usually buy flat-screen televisions that can receive the digital broadcasting, which represents that these televisions are replacing thick, CRT-based televisions. Since a flat-screen television isn't cheap, purchasing it makes a thick wallet filled with notes flat. The senryu is describing this situation. So, this senryu indicates that when I purchased a flat-screen television, my wallet filled with notes has inevitably become flat, too.

http://event.dai-ichi-life.co.jp/company/senryu/23th/best_10.html

I 'd like to wrap this topic up for today.Anyway, iPads are going to hit the Japanese market about 8 hours later. According to the news, there is currently a long queue in front of the Apple Store at Ginza. iPads have been catching considerable public attention here, too.

Do you understand our innuendo and dark humor ?

In my previous entry, I talked about how popular Senryu/ 川柳 has become recently. Today, I'll introduce some of the top ten Senryu in a popular contest. They were announced a few days ago. I hope you can understand why they are very funny and enjoy our innuendo and dark humor. If you are interested in finding more information about Senryu and the contest, please click here. The senryu that I'll introduce reflects our society.

★Second place in the contest.
「先を読め！」
言った先輩
リストラに

「先を読め！」："You have to look ahead"
言った先輩： My senior co-worker who told that.
リストラに：In the Japanese language, リストラ / restructuring often means being forced to resign due to corporate restructuring.

【Background】
-In Japan, because of the economic downturn, we've been struggling to survive at work. Workers are always afraid of being laid off or being compelled to resign since many businesses are forced to restructure.
-In Japan, workers are expected to perform their duties while looking ahead. The phrase" look or think ahead" is often heard at work.

【Ｉnterpretations】
-My senior co-worker who was taking care of me gave me a pep talk, saying that I had to look ahead. Despite that, he was forced to quit his job due to corporate restructuring. This shows that he was't able to look ahead. How ironic!!

★Third place
ただいまは
犬に言うなよ
オレに言え

ただいまは：In Japan, when we come home, we say ただいま/ I'm home.
犬に言うなよ：Don't say ただいま to the dogs.
オレに言え：Say ただいま to me.

【Background】
-In Japan, when husbands approach their mandatory retirement age, many of them realize that they don't belong to any communities other than their companies whereas their wives have many friends. After retiring, they spend a lot of time alone at home. In contrast, their wives often go out with their friends. They often wait for their wives to come home.
-Many husbands over 55 didn't care much about their wives before they retired. As a result, their wives has a stronger bond with their pets than them when they retire.
-Husbands tend to complain about this situation.

【Interpretations】
-Every time my wife comes home, she says "I'm home" to her dear dog. She should say it to me.
-Readers can understand how much the writer has been suffering from the situation where he is hardly paid attention and he has nowhere to go .

★Fourth place
「離さない！」
10年経つと
話さない

「離さない！」：I'll never let your go.
10年経つと：After ten years have passed
話さない：I don't want to talk with you.

【Interpretations】
-When we got married, my spouse told me that he/she would never let me go. It's been ten years since then. My spouse is even unwilling to talk with me.
-In the Japanese language, 離さない and 話さない are homophones, which makes this senryu funny.

Do Japanese people love innuendo? How popular Senryu / 川柳 is.

I recently read an English blog written by a British woman. She underscored the fact that many people in the UK loved innuendo and black humor. I believe that in many Western countries, a sense of humor is very important in human relationships.

In Japan, Senryu /川柳 has been very popular recently. Have you heard of it? Senryu is similar to Haiku /俳句 in construction. It's a form of short poetry that consists of 17 moras /syllables in three phrases of 5, 7 and 5 moras. Roughly speaking, 17 moras are equivalent to 17 Hiragana characters. Senryu has flexibility whereas Haiku is formal and has rules. Basically, other than the form, there aren't any specific rules of Senryu. People enjoy composing Senryu to describe their honest feelings or make satirical commentary on society. The number of words are so limited that your wit, sense of humor and ability to deliver are tested.

Businessmen/women Senryu Contest is a popular Senryu contest that is held by Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance company every year. The entry period ends in October, and top 100 Senryu are announced in January. After that, everyone can cast a ballot for his or her favorite senryu among them. A few days ago, the top 10 Senryu in the 23rd contest were announced. So, I'd like to introduce some of them.

The Senryu that took first place is below. It's very hard for me to explain to non-Japanese why it's very funny. However, I'll try to do that because it won the contest.

仕分け人
妻に比べりゃ
まだ甘い

It means that a certain well-known woman (*note 1) is still more indulgent and softer than my wife. To put it briefly, this Senryu implies a husband is under the control of his domineering wife. Many people seem to sympathize with the situation, which made the Senryu win the contest.

*note 1
Last year, right after our new government started in September, in order to review the entire national budget, it held an open meeting called 事業仕分け/project classification. Many taxpayer-financed projects were discussed at the meeting. Bureaucrats and other people in charge of the projects answered questions asked by members who had been chosen by the government. These members were called 仕分け人/Shiwake nin. Among them, a female member caught considerable public attention. She asked pointed, insightful questions in a forceful tone. She often put the male bureaucrats in a difficult position. She is the well-known woman referred to in the Senryu.

I'll introduce the others in my future entries.

Things in which young Japanese people are less interested

Today, a TV program introduced some social trends. According to it, young Japanese people tend to have no interest in some things that older generations have been eager to get. Although I've written about similar things before, I'll introduce some of their tendencies.

Compared with older generations, young Japanese people are not or less interested in the following things.

1.Cars
As I often wrote about it in my previous posts, many young men aren't interested in buying a own car. They prefer to rent cars when they really want to enjoy driving or need them. The number of new car sales in 2009 in Japan fell below 5 million for the first time in 31 years. It was caused by not only the current economic crisis but also this tendency. Surprisingly, about a quarter of young people have never been interested in cars.

2. Alcohol
Older generations sometime need liquid encouragement. They like talking with their friends while drinking to release their stress. In contrast, many young people basically don't like alcohol. Even young men prefer to talk with their friends at cafes instead of bars.

3.Going out for meal

4.Going on trips

5.Watching TV

6.Going to department stores.
When I was a little girl many years ago, department stores were sort of symbol of affluence. Many people were looking forward to buying something there. Today, shopping malls are everywhere. Some of them are original and have been fascinating younger generations. So, some major department stores were already forced to close. Also, It was announced that a few long-running department stores in Tokyo and Kyoto would close this year.

7.Expensive big-name brand goods.

I think these are enough, so I'll stop listing.
As I wrote in my previous post (please click here), since young Japanese people were born and raised in the affluent Japan, they basically have no desire for purchase.

Japanese young people having no desire for purchase

In Japan, people in their 40s and 50s tend to work hard in order to fulfill their extravagant desires. Since they were raised in the times when Japan wasn't affluent enough for them to easily buy ordinary things they wanted, it's been said that they have a relatively strong desire to lead a better life along with their favourite good-quality products. High on their list of desirables is trips abroad. Especially when they were young, these desires inspired them to work hard and helped them endure long working hours. High-end, quality cars always attracted them. Many of them preferred to wear brand-named outfits. Until recently, it was apparent that young people had been driving domestic consumption.

Today, young people no longer fulfil this role, which has resulted in the Japanese market being deprived of the driving forces of the domestic economy. They basically aren't interested in making new purchases. They consider it foolish that people spend a lot of money on extravagant things that some middle-aged people are still willing to buy. They don't want to have unnecessary things and prefer to lead a simple life. Overseas trips don't provoke their interest, either.

Many of them were born in houses that were full of material products acquired in Japan's affluent times. Also, I think that they haven't developed a strong desire to purchase material items since they have been able to acquire the things that they want with family assistance, such as from their grandparents. Due to fewer children being born into families, they have more opportunities to be given things. In addition, the prolonged economic stagnation has been discouraging them to spend money on things that they consider extra and has contributed towards their prudent attitude to product consumption.

Under these circumstances, companies here have been struggling not only with the current economic crisis but also to establish their new business models. Also, the critical challenge of environmental conservation has affected young people's buying habits.

Recently, companies that have accurately fulfilled young people's needs and adjusted itself to the times have been enjoying its rapid growth and receiving a lot of attention.

Very popular Japanese male groups "SMAP"and 嵐/Arashi.

In Japan, there is a top talent agency that is well known for managing only good-looking men and boys. This agency selects potentialidols at its auditions and trains them. They receive training in singing, dancing, acting performances, comedy performances and others. After that, the agency picks out prominent, talented ones among these trained boys and officially makes them debut.

Up to about 25 years ago, the agency successfully had many boysdebut on TV as idol singers, since music TV programs were very popular here. With the fade-out of these programs, the way these boys at the agency make their debut and gain popularity was forced to change. I think that a group called "SMAP", which consists of five men now in their 30s, developed a new way (the first video, SMAP in New York, this is a cell phone's TV commercial). Although they made their debut as a singer group two decades ago, they became popular mainly through their performances on TV comedy shows. Two decades ago, it was actually surprising that good-looking guys wore funny costumes and did stand-up comedy. They have been enjoying their super popularity for more than 10 years. They have been supported especially by women of all ages and have gained a national superstar status.

After SMAP became popular, other boys at the agency have achieved great success in the same way that SMAP did. Among them, one group is very hot lately. They are called 嵐/Arashi and they consist of five men in their 20s. Since they seem to have been gaining a lot of momentum, I frequently see them on TV.

I think that some differences between SMAP and 嵐/Arashi reflect the ones between two generations; the middle 30s and the middle 20s. From the time the members of SMAP were young, they have frequently said they don't know about the other members' private lives. Some of them even don't know some others' numbers. They appear to consider the others as business partners or coworkers. They sometimes argue. In contrast, when you see 嵐 on TV, you might notice that all the members of the group are close. In fact, they have had a few short trips together. They try to share private time even though each of them has his own busy schedule. They are surely friends. I don't know if my observations are right. However, I can see some similar differences between the two generations I mentioned above.

The disaster revealed people's true nature??

As I mentioned in my last post, 15 years ago, a huge earthquake struck the Osaka area in Japan while I was in Sydney on vacation. When I returned to work in Osaka, a coworker of mine greeted me, saying "Welcome to hell". Since I was young and my house wasn't damaged, coworkers expected the sunburned, refreshed woman to work hard.

At the time, my office was really messed up. My team members went to their urban-development project sites in the devastated area by bike in order to examine how to deal with the serious damage. To make matters worse, many workers at my company were the victims. Some of them got out of their houses that had been flattened out by the quake. Many of them didn't know where to start even though they really had to tidy up their rooms.One thing that helped me feel relieved was that all of my coworkers were alive and they didn't lose their families.

This disaster revealed people's true nature. Many coworkers were very impressed by the brave, kind actions that a manager took, partly because they had considered him unreliable before the quake. On the other hand, they were disappointed in some people who had had good reputations. Some victims at my company tried to do something to help others even though they didn't have any regular places to sleep. In contrast, some victims always asked someone to do something for them, insisting that they weren't able to do anything because they were victims. 

Everybody had their own circumstance, so I can't say who was right or wrong. However, we saw something that we hadn't found before the quake. On top of that, a few secret office love affairs were also revealed. 

I found out about that disaster while I was in Sydney

15 years ago yesterday (on the 17th of January), I was at my boyfriend's house in Sydney on my holidays. He is Japanese and now my husband. When I was drinking my morning coffee at around 9 A.M., the phone rang. Since my boyfriend had already left for his office, I picked it up. It was his Australian friend who worked at a bank. He said that according to the latest world news at his office, something terrible was going on in Osaka, Japan, and perhaps a big earthquake had struck there. He strongly advised me to turn on a TV immediately, check the situation, and call my parents there.

The TV news televised places that I was supposed to be familiar with, but I hardly recognized them. The highway where I would drive nearly everyday was partly laid on its side. The familiar railway track was heaved up. The news was filled with inconceivable sights. I was numb with shock.

When my mother answered my international call, she was surprised because she had been unable to make any calls since the disaster occurred. Emotionally, she told me it was the strongest quake she had seen in her life. According to her story, the devastating quake, which struck around a quarter to six at dawn, woke my parents up. She felt as if she had been strongly lifted. My father held back a large tottering cupboard and managed to prevent it from hitting the floor. My mother tried to head for the the gas main to make sure it was turned off, but couldn't reach it because of the powerful quake.

I think that since my house was located at some distance from the earthquake epicenter, they were able to take those actions. In fact, my friend who lived in the focal region said that all she had been able to do was flap away at objects falling onto her bed. She felt as if she had been inside a washing machine. Even though the first floor of her condo was flattened out during the quake, she didn't realize when this happened, despite the fact that she was on the 5th floor. Although schools conduct earthquake response drills to educate children, many of the victims said that it was impossible to follow the instruction that they were taught when the powerful quake occurred. At the time, nobody expected such a severe earthquake to strike the Osaka area, although other places were warned as potential sites where major earthquakes could hit.

When I returned to work several days later, various unbelievable things were waiting for me.

Photo Gallery : the 1/17 earthquake happening in 1995
http://www.jiji.com/jc/d2?p=hds00101-4995608&d=004soc

Christmas Boots Filled with Snacks!

During the Christmas season in Japan, Christmas boots filled with snacks appear at general supermarkets. Special spaces for them are set up near the entrances of these supermarkets. Various boots are stacked in piles. Actually, they've been popular since I was little many many years ago, although apart from standard boots, the cartoon characters that are put on them often change. Every time I see them, I wonder how well they sell. However, given the long popularity, they are attractive to children and convenient for mothers when they have Christmas parties for children.

This year, these boots appear to be less luxurious. The piles of them are smaller. The current recession has greatlyinfluenced everything.

Unique ? Weird? Christmas in Japan --part 2: Christmas for unmarried young people

In Japan, Christmas is a special event for young unmarried people. Many of them really want to spend their romantic Christmas with their boy/girlfriends. Some of them fiercely look for someone to date for it if they don’t have boy/girlfriends. They appear to feel unbearably lonely if they spend Christmas Day without a lover. When the economy was good, many young couples had an excellent Christmas dinner and spent their romantic nights at high-class hotels. Many young women received expensive gifts from their boyfriends. Some couples went on short skiing or snow boarding trips. Some couples spent Christmas at Disneyland in Tokyo. Although few young people can afford such luxurious Christmas celebrations these days (thanks to the economic downturn), they seem to enjoy their romantic Christmas in various ways based on their incomes.

When I was a college student many years ago, young couples already considered Christmas special. I don’t know how or when it became special to young people, but I can think of a few possible reasons. The first one is that in order to boost their sales, many businesses created enough of an special atmosphere to convince young people that Christmas was special. Actually, it has been highly commercialized here. In addition, young people used to be the most attractive target, although these days, they are not the driving force of consumption anymore. The next one is that you are free to arrange your own Christmas plan however you want since it is neither a traditional nor a religious event for the majority of Japanese. The final reason is that the 23rd of December became a national holiday when our current emperor ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne 20 years ago because that day is his birthday. Since then, it has been easier to take a few days off around Christmas although we don’t have any Christmas holidays. This has made people pay more attention to Christmas.

Finally, I’ll introduce the TV commercials that had great influence on young people. These were broadcast from 1988 to1992 by JR Central (JR 東海) in order to boost the number of passengers on bullet trains (Shinkansens/新幹線) between Tokyo and Osaka. The song in this commercial is still very popular as a Christmas song. The second version was the most impressive to me (there are five different versions in the YouTube video). Incidentally, the Japanese economy was good from 1988 to 1992.

Unique ? Weird? Christmas in Japan --part 1

Christmas in Japan is probably unique. Since the majority of Japanese people are not Christians, we don’t celebrate it. Christmas is highly commercialized and seen as an enjoyable event. In this sense, Christmas has firmly rooted in the Japanese society, and we have been familiar with it. However, I don’t know exactly how and when Christmas was introduced to Japan.

Within the last 10 days, as a part of their holiday decorations、big Christmas trees have appeared everywhere, mainly in shopping malls. Many of these trees appear to be less gorgeous and bright than usual. When I saw them, I wondered if the economic downturn has probably influenced these trees. I think that for Japanese people, Christmas means enjoying Christmas decorations, romantic illuminations and atmosphere. During December, when you enter any stores or restaurants, you will immediately put you in a Christmas mood. Many people put up Christmas decorations in their houses. In the last decade, lighting up your house has become popular, although it's still not a common occurrence.

In Japan, around Christmas Day, we don't enjoy family gatherings and don't exchange Christmas gifts. Speaking of Christmas gifts, many people may think of gifts given by Santa Clause. Almost all the small children believe that Santa Claus exists. They usually find their gifts from Santa Clause beside their beds when they wake up on the 25th of December. 

From the beginning of November, mothers start asking their small children what they want Santa Claus to bring to them, and they prepare the Christmas gifts. During this period, I often hear mothers telling their children that if they don’t study hard enough (or something like that), Santa clause won’t bring gifts to them. Needless to say, once the children realize that Santa Clause doesn’t exist, they cannot receive their Christmas gifts from Santa Clause any more.

The Top 10 Words Describing the Japan of 2009

There is less than a month left this year. In Western courtiers, many people are already busy preparing for Christmas. In Japan, we don’t have the custom of celebrating Christmas since the majority of Japanese people are not Christians. In December, we are busy preparing for our most important, traditional event/festival the “New Year’s Holidays”, and there are various events through which we look back on the year that is coming to an end.

Yesterday, the top 10 winners of the 2009 buzzwords and new words of the year contest were announced. Since these words reflect the social conditions of the year, many people pay attention to the contest. The grand prize was awarded to “政権交代/ Change of administration/government" which was used over and over by our current Prime Minister until the last election in August. Unlike the results in previous years, this year, there were three words relating to politics in the top 10 words, which shows that we cannot talk about the Japan of 2009 without discussing the change of administration and the policies of the new government.

http://www.47news.jp/47topics/e/135935.php

The other two words relating to politics were 脱官僚/debureaucratizing or debureaucratization and 事業仕分け/project classification. The former was a campaign slogan used by a remarkable politician. The latter is a very hot phrase. The new government, in order to review the entire national budget, held an open meeting for 9 days, and the meeting ended only a few days ago. Among about 3000 taxpayer-financed projects, the government first picked out 477 projects in which there were uncertainties and the need to review their budgets. The 477 projects were discussed in the meeting. Only an hour was allocated to each project. The bureaucrats and other people in charge of projects answered questions asked by members of the meeting, who had been chosen by the government. They also had to deliver effective presentations within that hour to persuade the members to approve their budgets. Anyone was able to watch the meeting at the meeting place and through live blogs. Although the meeting is controversial among specialists, politicians and the other people involved, it’s been reported that the majority of the public shows afavorable attitude toward the open meeting. It’s true that the meeting led to many people becoming more interested in how and for what their taxes have been used.

The Reasons why the Movie are Receiving Public Attention

In this post, I’d like to supplement the information relating to my last two posts.

In the 1980s, Japan became affluent enough for ordinary people to travel overseas. At the time, apart from foreign airlines, only Japan Airlines (JAL) covered international routes. I suppose that many people, especially those who went abroad for the first time, somehow felt relieved when seeing JAL’s “red crane" logo at the airport in other countries. Many Japanese believed that JAL was the most reliable and safest. Until about 15years ago, many educated women aspired to work for JAL as flight attendants. Partly because of this fierce competition, JAL’s flight attendants were beautiful.

In the evening in August 1985, JAL betrayed the public’s trust. A JAL’s airplane crashed into Osutaka Mountain on the way from Tokyo to Osaka. This evening flight between major two cities was very popular for businessmen/women. A president and board members of major companies died. 坂本九/Kyu Sakamoto, who was well known for the singer of Sukiyaki songs in Western countries, lost his life. Additionally, it was during summer school holidays. The flight was full and many children were on board. Although only four people miraculously survived, the death toll rose to over 500. Some passengers wrote letters to their families on the plane snaking between mountains when realizing that they were going to die.These remains moved people to tears.

Both JAL and the government announced the findings of their investigations on the crash, but there were so many inconsistencies in their reports. Their explanations never satisfied people, especially the families of the victims. About ten years after the crash occurred, the novel” 沈まぬ太陽/shizumanu-taiyou” written by a famous author 山崎豊子/Toyoko Yamasaki was published. This novel drew public attention back to the crash. Right after its publication, the novel became controversial. JAL insisted that the novel would lead to misunderstandings. Although some TV and film companies announced that they would attempt to adapt the novel for the screen, they weren’t able to make it happen. It's been said that they were forced to give up producing it because of great pressure and harassment by JAL and the big names involved.

With the times changing, today, the movie “沈まぬ太陽/shizumanu-taiyou” was finally released. It’s been about ten years since the novel was published. In my opinion, if JAL had seriously examined their problems at that time, it wouldn't be standing on the edge of precipice now.

A Remarkable Japanese Movie is going to Be Released Today

A remarkable movie “沈まぬ太陽/shizumanu-taiyou” is going to be released today, on the 24th of October. The movie is based on a best selling novel written by 山崎豊子/Toyoko Yamasaki. She used to be a journalist/writer at a major newspaper. Since she became an author, she has been known for writing her novels based on her years of investigations on some questionable incidents. These investigations include a lot of interviews conducted by her with some of the people involved. Although her novels are categorized as fictions, everyone knows that her stories contain some facts and truths that were never revealed to the public. On top of that, politicians and major corporations often appear in her novels. Although their real names aren’t used, their assumed names are so similar to their real ones that you can easily guess and identify who or what they are.

I read her long novel “沈まぬ太陽/shizumanu-taiyou” right after it was published many years ago. This novel is well known as the semi-fictional tale of the terrible JAL(Japan Airlines) crash in 1985. However, as far as I remember, rather than focusing on this crash itself, the story focuses on bringing out deep problems hidden within JAL. Moreover, through laying bare the reality of the big corporation, the story makes you think about human essence. (If you want to know more about JAL, please see click here).

The main character of the novel is an employee of 国民航空 (This is an assumed name that indicates JAL). He was transferred to various countries in Africa and the Middle East. Through his over ten-year working in these countries, he came to realize how ruthless, absurd and greed his company（国民航空） was and began to question his company. When his company had a devastating plane crash, he was assigned to handle and support the crash-bereaved families. Through this assignment, he noticed that his company always gave priority to their profits and they ignored the safety of their flights. He thought that this crash was an accident waiting to happen. On top of that, he became aware of corruption, cozy relationships among politicians, bureaucrats and businesses. Although he received constant harassment from his company, he kept on fighting his company.

Since JAL is currently being required to restructure in order to receive a taxpayer-financed bailout, I’m wondering what JAL will think about this movie. On top of that, there is a phrase in this novel that has stuck in my head. The main character loves animals. One day, he went to a zoo. When he reached the exit of the zoo, there was a big mirror on a wall. The phrase “No animal in the zoo is more awful than the one in the mirror, mankind is the most awful animal on earth” was beside the mirror.

Japan Airlines Receiving Public Attention

My first trip abroad was to San Diego when I was a college student many years ago. I went there by myself. On top of that, it was my first time taking an airplane. Because of this, I was very nervous. I vividly remember how I got a little panicked when I was trying to figure out how and where to take my connecting flight at an airport in Los Angeles. This was because I was overwhelmed by how big LA international airport was and I didn't know how to get to the domestic terminal from the international one. Although an American lady at the information desk told me that I had to take the free shuttle bus, I assumed that she couldn’t understand my terrible English, since it didn't make sense to me that I had to take a shuttle bus. It was actually the first time that I realized how different things are between the US and Japan. I also remember how relieved I was when I saw Japan Airlines’red crane" logo ( the attached picture). When I asked a Japanese woman at the Japan airlines (JAL) counter how to get to the domestic terminal, the ensuring conversation with her calmed me down.

Speaking of which, JAL (it was a government-run corporation until 1987) has been struggling with its poor performance for a long time. Recently, JAL announced that it was going to start negotiating with Delta Air lines to form a capital alliance. Since it seems unlikely that JAL could successfully turn around its business without government aid, it's projected that it will receive taxpayer-financed bailouts.

During this time when JAL has been receiving public attention, a remarkable movie is going to be released in a week. The title of the movie is 沈まぬ太陽. The film is based on a novel written by 山崎豊子/Toyoko Yamasaki. Since the novel is the semi fictional tale about the terrible JAL crash in 1985, every time a film company attempted to adapt the novel for the big screen in the past, they gave into strong objections made by JAL.

In Japan, everything is inside train stations.

In Japan, there are many rail lines. This is especially true in the big cities. Generally, workers in central cities are not allowed to commute by car. In cities, people mainly use trains and subways for transportation. They are very familiar with the trains and their train stations. Thus, people tend to prefer to find their house located within a 15 minute walk from the nearest train station. It seems that houses located within 10 minutes by bicycle are their second choice. Needless to say, there are many people who have to take a bus from the station to their house. At any rate, train stations are the center of cities and towns. Inevitably, there are shopping malls around major train stations.

Recently, the places inside train stations have been catching the public attention. The word “inside” here means the places that you can get into with train tickets. A few years ago, an excellent shopping mall opened inside Tokyo Station which I’m very familiar with. The mall consists mainly of many grocery shops, cafés and casual restaurants. There are various prepared meals at reasonable prices. When you are tired after work, you’ll feel compelled to purchase them on the way home. You also can get high-quality sweets and unique products that you rarely get in other places. In Japan, the companies pay train fares for their regular employees. Workers usually buy commuter train passes that offer discounts. The pass holders are free to get into and out of any stations between their office and their house.

Even inside local train stations, there are many shops that satisfy passengers. Inside Ueno station in Tokyo, there is a sport club. I’ve heard that it's welcomed by busy commuters. The nurseries for children that many people are always waiting for a vacancy of are located inside or in front of train stations, since busy working parents, who are often required to work long hours, can save time.

The pictures are of a shopping mall inside Tokyo Station.

Is Tommy Lee Jones Interested in Appearing in Comedy Shows ?

You've probably heard that many Hollywood stars appear in Japanese TV commercials. I've heard that they usually dare not to appear in TV commercials in the west, especially in the US, even when they are offered a good deal. I don’t know for the fact if they don’t appear in TV commercials there though. I guess that they want to avoid their images being affected or blemished by their commercial appearances in the US. In Japan, in contrast, there is a low risk of that if the broadcast is limited to inside Japan only. On top of that, I suppose that many Japanese corporations offer lucrative endorsement contracts to them and accept their many requests. For them, Japan might be an attractive place to make extra money.

Brad Pitt has appeared in the Softbank (a mobile phone company) TV commercials since 2006. The commercials aren't often broadcast, and are intensively broadcast during a certain time of a year. This winter and spring, George Cloone appeared in the Honda TV commercials. I think that these commercials are ordinary and predictable, which means that they are made based on their own images in movies. The Suntory canned coffee commercials that Tommy Lee Jones has been appearing in for more than three years, in comparison, are surprising. In these storyline commercials, he is an alien. The alien came to the earth in order to see what is going on there. The commercials with him have been frequently broadcast for such a long time. Additionally, they are kind of comedies. He has been doing a comedy in the commercials. I started assuming that he is really interested in doing a comedy. Otherwise, why has he been doing that? Just for money?

Tommy Lee Jones

George Cloone

Surprising behavior in safe Japan

Although security in Japan has been getting worse recently, I think that Japan is still relatively safe. There's a good example to prove it. When my Chinese friend who just moved to Japan a few months ago went to an electric retail store, she put her purse somewhere and left the store. A few hours later, she realized that she had forgotten it. She immediately went back to the store and asked a shop staff whether or not the store had her purse. Against her expectation that it would not have been found, the store had her purse. Despite being valuable things in her purse, she got it back without anything being stolen. This incident actually astonished her.

I'm proud of the safety in Japan, and hope that the safety will continue to be preserved. However, I'm sometimes surprised by Japanese people's careless behavior toward their personal belongings. This may be because my experiences when living abroad have made me accustomed to always keeping my eyes on my personal belongings whenever I go out.

When I went to a self-service cafe with my Slovak friend in Tokyo, some behavior of Japanese women stunned her. To reserve seats for themselves, they first left their personal belongings on the table and the chair, and then went to a counter to buy a cup of coffee. Some of them even left their cell-phones on the table. They seemed to be fully confident that their personal belongings left on the table wouldn't be stolen, even though it was impossible for them to keep their personal belongings in sight. It actually took them some time to return to their reserved seats because of a long line in front of the counter. My friend was surprised and asked me whether or not anybody would intend to steal their personal belongings.

I think that behavior is not acceptable any more even in Japan.