Beautiful young women working as temporary bus tour guides / 美バス

In Japan, when you attend bus tours, bus tour guides will explain many things both on the buses and on the sightseeing sites. When your bus is about to pass through something interesting, they will let you know about it, and explain what it is and the history of it. In addition, when your bus gets stuck in traffic, they will try to entertain you. They often offer to play games to make the irritating time enjoyable. I think that all of the bus tour guides are female. As a matter of fact, I've never heard of male bus tour guides. They are usually the employees of bus companies offering sightseeing tours. In my experience, their speeches and hospitality can often determine customers' satisfaction with tours.

Bus tours have been very popular in the past few years in part because many of them are very cost-effective and in part because people have been paying more attention to domestic trips due to the recent recession. In contrast, these bus companies have been suffering from a lack of bus tour guides for many years. They seem to have difficulty hiring young women as bus tour guides, although I've heard that the recent economic crisis has slightly improved the situation.

This June, a temp staff agency started offering a new service called 美バス/bi-bus (click here). The agency trains certain women a little and sends them to bus tour companies as temporary bus tour guides. These certain women have experience of working as models, flight attendants, actresses and so on. They are relatively good-looking and are used to attracting people's attention and offering hospitality. Some of them want to improve themselves through the experience of working as bus tour guides and take advantage of the experience to grab better chances in their main jobs. Some try working as bus tour guides to see which job is the most suitable for them since they feel that it's a time to step into the next stage.

According to the news, bus tour companies consider the temporary, younger bus tour guides to be big helpers. Regular bus tour guides who are 37 years old on average seem to welcome them. As for participants in the bus tours, men and children are especially happy with them. Generally, you don't know who will be your bus tour guide when you apply for the tour. However, due to the appearance of the relatively good-looking bus tour guides, special bus tours with them have appeared. Personally, I prefer bus tour guides who can deliver interesting and informative speeches.

Cooking: there's always more to learn

A few days ago, an ordinary Japanese housewife with two small boys appeared in a TV show. Although I had never heard of her until I watched the show, it seems she is popular among Japanese women. In fact, both her blog(click here) and a recipe book in which her original recipes appear have recently gained popularity.

Her recipes can make ordinary housewives feel happy and fulfill their desire to prepare and enjoy meals while preventing waste and saving time and money. She explains how to make fine dishes with cheap ingredients and how to turn leftovers into other fine dishes that you wouldn't normally think of. In the aforementioned show, she demonstrated how to make some recipes using leftovers. What surprised me most was that she turned the traditional Japanese dish, pumpkin stewed in soy sauce, into sweet pumpkin pudding in no time at all. Some people on the show said that the pudding tasted very good and was just like pudding at an Italian restaurant, wondering why they didn't taste soy sauce.

Her amazing ideas remind me of my male friend who is a doctor. He loves experimenｔs which everybody can do at home. He often does simple experiments with his children. Also, he always tries to find time to cook because he thinks of cooking as an experiment. He makes up new recipes using his background knowledge of chemistry. There's always more to learn when it comes to cooking.

Cool men! イケメン/ikemen イクメン/ikumen

Have you heard of the Japanese word, イケメン/ikemen? This word was coined a decade ago and used only among the youth. In the past few years, the word has become very popular to the point where elderly people who always have difficulty catching up with new words often use the word. イケメン/ikemen means good looking men. イケ/ike comes from the slang word, イケてる/iketeru (being cool). メン/men comes from 面/men (faces) and the English word, men.

Nowadays, I often hear another new word ,イクメン/ikumen, which was coined recently and is becoming popular. イク/iku comes from 育児/ikuji (child rearing). イクメン/ikumen means men who are willing to or are active in taking care of their children. According to the news, more and more husbands, especially young ones, want to have more time to take care of their small children and spend with their children since they are wondering about a life like older generations are leading. Specifically, younger men think that it's meaningless that like older traditional men, they always work long hours and don't have time to spend with their families. A few months ago, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare launched the イクメン/ikumen project to encourage men to take paternity leave since the declining birthrate is a serious social problem in Japan.

Today, nobody is surprised to see suited businessmen holding their babies on the way to their offices in order to take them to baby-care centers. In the past decade, the idea that both a husband and wife should be involved in taking care of their children has become common. More and more young husbands don't want their wives to give up their careers, want them to bear some of the financial burdens, and are willing to share housework. Some young men believe that the great involvement of child rearing will improve themselves. It's reported that a major securities company requires all of their workers to finish their duties and leave their offices by 7p.m. so that their workers can have more time to spend with their families. As a result, the company has succeeded in boosting employee working efficiency.

However, it's still a reality that many men who want to become イクメン/ikumen are forced to work long hours or hesitate to ask their companies to take paternity leave since they feel under a great deal of peer pressure not to do that even though they have a right to do.

Young Australian models trying to dress in unique Japanese Kawaii clothing

According to the news, the Japanese word, Kawaii/かわいい, has appeared in the latest edition of Oxford Dictionary of English, although I think that the English explanation of the word in the dictionary doesn't cover all of the meanings and nuances that are used in Japan. However, it does show that the Japanese word, Kawaii, has become very popular throughout the world.

A few days ago, I was watching TV, and the NHK TV program called Tokyo Kawaii TV/東京カワイイTV happened to come on. Four fresh, young Australian models who were selected in the popular Australian TV program, Australia's Next Top Model, appeared on the Japanese TV program as a part of the Australian TV program. They came to Japan to see how they could dress in unique and popular clothes that girls in Tokyo love yet can't be obtained in Australia. A producer of the Australian TV program said that she wanted to see how well they could do as fashion models for the unique Japanese fashion styles.

The Japanese TV program picked up four types of original Japanese Kawaii fashion styles: the high school uniform fashion style /制服ファッション, the Lolita fashion style / ロリータファッション, a fashion that girls in Shibuya love /渋谷ギャル系ファッション, and a new fashion style in Harajyuku/フェアリーファッション. Then, each of the four Australian models tried one of the four styles, although they all are far from being the kawaii type defined by many Japanese people, as they are beautiful and sexy. Four Japanese models from each of the four styles advised the Australasia models.

Contrary to my expectation, all of them looked good. The video of the TV program is in the link (click here).  I hope you can access it from outside Japan. The program is 30 minutes. If you don't have time, I think that just watching it from 3:00 to 25:30 is fine.

Other reference sites:

http://www.nhk.or.jp/kawaii/locaspot/spot_101002.html

http://youtubeowaraitv.blog32.fc2.com/blog-entry-5604.html

The 25-year-old woman who is better than our government

Have you heard of the 25-year-old Japanese professional golf player competing on the LPGA tour, Ai Miyazato/宮里藍? When she was a high school student, she won a Japanese professional tournament as an amateur, which enabled her to become a professional player. After that, she won twelve tournaments during the 2004 and 2005 Japan LPGA seasons. In 2006, she moved to Los Angeles and started competing on the LPGA Tour. In the first year of LPGA, she did well, as many Japanese people expected. c However, in the second and third year, she was in a terrible slump, making people wonder if she would be able to get out of it. It wasn't until last year that she finally earned her first LPGA tour win. This season, she has already won five LPGA tournaments and is currently ranked No.1 in the Rolex Rankings.

A few days ago, in a Japanese news program, she was asked what she thought had made her get out of the slump. She listed a few reasons and said: "This season, even if she misses a shot, she can calmly accept the miss as a fact, quickly move on and think about what to do next".  Her words convinced me that she had become a strong player.

 
Actually, it's not easy to accept terrible things as facts. When you need to take responsibility for them, you tend to feel like you want to shun the responsibility, or you get stuck with remorse and questioning what to do next. When you don't need to take responsibility but are affected by terrible things, you tend to blame them on others, not thinking about what to do next in order to pull through.

I think that the recent political conflict between Japan and China shows this tendency. I was angry that they just blamed each other, without trying to understand the other. I was disappointed by both the Japanese government and the Chinese government. It seems to me that the Japanese government doesn't have strategies, and gets stuck with thinking about what to do, and the Chinese government pays more attention to saving face and unifying China.

http://www.ai-miyazato54.com/

People making a respectable showing in foreign countries

A few days ago, a Japanese baseball player on the Seattle Mariners, Suzuki Ichiro, obtained 200 hits for 10 straight years.Immediately after he hit his 200th hit of this season, he didn't react on the first base, seemingly hesitating to express his happiness. When he saw his teammates in the bench urging him to response to his fans' cheers, he finally tipped his helmet and smiled. The reason of his hesitation was that he had a traumatic experience in 2008: Some local newspapers criticized him, saying that he was likely to pay more attention to himself than his team. Some said that he had too many infield hits. A lot of Japanese people were angry about these kinds of reports.

Today, I suddenly remembered the story above, then I was wondering why Ichiro was criticized, remembering the following story.

About a year ago, a Mongolian Sumo wrestler in the highest rank (横綱/Yokozuna), Asashoryu / 朝青龍, was finally forced to retire. Traditionally, Sumo wrestlers in the highest rank are required to become good wrestlers who can be respected by wrestlers in lower ranks, and they are expected to make social contributions. Despite that, Asashoryu frequently broke the rules. Then, a scandal eventually forced him to retire from Sumo, even though he was still strong and very popular among Japanese people. When it was reported in Mongolia, a lot of Mongolians criticized the Sumo Association, saying that Japanese people and the Sumo Association discriminated against Mongolian wrestlers.

After Asashoryu retired, another Mongolian wrestler in the highest rank, Hakuho/白鵬 was expected to play a leading role. So far, he has been doing well and seems to be respected by both common people and even very well-known retired Sumo wrestlers, even though the Sumo Association has been having difficulty dealing with serious problems in the past year. His words and behaviors/actions are often impressive and moving, making people feel that he really loves Sumo and that he knows what to do. It's said that he always studies the history of Sumo, Japanese culture and things like that.

These days, Sumo, the national sport of Japan, is supported by many wrestlers from foreign countries. because of this, Japanese people want Japanese Sumo wrestlers to do better. Likewise, Americans might want American baseball players to accomplish great feats in MLB. I think that these kinds of feelings is natural. I hope that Ichiro will catch the hearts and minds of more Americans like the Mongolian Sumo wrestler, Hakuho, does.

The impact of recent political conflict between Japan and China.

Recently in Japan, the news has been filled with the political conflict between Japan and China over the vessel accident that occurred near the island in Okinawa, Japan. This statement is based on the Japanese perspective, but I know that China and Taiwan have different perspectives. The conflict is arousing controversy and leading to various speculations. Many people assume there are agendas and ulterior motives, but ordinary people don't have any way of getting to know the truth. As far as I know, national interests among China, Japan, Taiwan and America are complexly intertwined.

This conflict inevitably and strongly makes Japanese people realize that they seriously have to think through how to protect Japan, as it has made them feel like China is likely to do anything, including the use of force, in order to achieve its goals. Some people say, "Through this conflict, our government exposed its lack of ability to conduct diplomacy, disappointing people. However, the conflict made people feel that Japan needs to enhance its defense strategy. It might be convenient for our government since it has been having a very hard time dealing with the issue about the Futenma US Force in Okinawa in the past year." I hope that the public objectively and unemotionally discusses Japan's defense policy.

The impact of various countermeasures taken by China is expected to be so serious that many people have finally realized that over dependence on China is very dangerous and that they need to build new business models. Speaking of over dependence on China, I was told by some Westerners that it was ridiculous that many Japanese companies invested a lot of money in China to open their businesses there. Even I sometimes wondered whether or not Japanese companies were thinking about diversifying risks. Recently, foreign companies have tended to shift their factories from China to other countries due to frequent strikes by workers, whereas Japanese companies are still having difficulty acquiring sites in other countries.

This conflict shows that now is the time for Japanese people to think through what Japan will be like, and decide polices based on our vision. Both Japanese people and our government haven't done that since Japan became a developed country.

Needless to say, our government needs to improve its ability to conduct diplomacy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11341139

Younger people trying to revitalize their hometowns--the 5th contest for grade-B local dishes

As I mentioned in my previous post (click here ), some younger people are doing something in order to revitalize their hometowns which are suffering from the shrinking population and poor economic conditions.

With the economic downturn in Japan, people who used to have an interest in traveling abroad came to pay more attention to domestic travel, although now, the super strong Yen is encouraging people to go abroad. As a matter of fact, for the past few years, bus tours have been enjoying great popularity especially among women and retired couples since these tours are cost-effective and easy to attend. In part because the tendency of people to pay more attention to domestic travel, a lot of areas are trying to attract people by popularizing street food (grade-B local dishes) that locals love such as たこ焼き/Takoyaki in Osaka.

A few days ago, the 5th B-1 Grand Prix/B-1 グランプリ, a street food competition, was held in Kanagawa Prefecture next to Tokyo. Forty-six teams from various areas throughout Japan attended the contest. Each team cooked its local dish at an outdoor site and sold it for 300 to 500 Yen (around 3 to 5 US$). Visitors bought the local dishes they wanted to try. After they ate the dish called ABC, for example, if they were sure that the dish was good, they could throw their pair of disposable chopsticks provided into a rubbish box that had a name plate for ABC. The team that was able to obtain the heaviest rubbish box was the winner.

In the contest, all of the teams were able to let many people know about their local dishes, in hope that their dishes can make people have an interest in their towns at the very least and inspire people to visit there. Should one win the contest, the positive economic impact on the winner's hometown will be surely generated mainly because the winner would be widely reported in the news. In fact, some areas that ranked in the top 10 in the past contests successfully boosted their local economy.

During the recession period, people can pay attention to what they usually don't pay attention to when the economy is strong, and they may find something they shouldn't have neglected. This sometimes leads to create new businesses. In addition, looking back at the past, new businesses often started in local areas. I hope that something that can help us reform our ailing economy will be generated.

Young Japanese people tend to remain in their hometowns

In Japan, up until two decades ago, many young people were fascinated by large cities. They were willing to study or work there. In fact, a lot of young people came to large cities, especially Tokyo. Exciting city lives were really appealing to them. As a matter of fact, at the time, there were a lot of things that you could obtain only in Tokyo. As a result, Tokyo came to have more population, and more things and information have naturally concentrated in Tokyo.

Today, young people, in contrast, tend to remain in their hometowns, saying that Tokyo has nothing to attract them. Tokyo appears to give them negative impressions like hectic lives, a high cost of living and unfriendly people. It's been said that the great popularity of the internet has contributed to create this tendency since the internet enables people anywhere to get anything they want. I've heard that more university graduates who studied in large cities want to work in their hometowns or in mid-sized cities near their hometowns.

These days, some of the younger people try to do something in order to revitalize their hometowns which are suffering from shrinking population and poor economic conditions. Under these circumstances, a few days ago, the 5th contest for grade-Blocal dishes called B1 Grand Prix/B1 グランプリ was held. This contest caught considerable public attention and was widely reported in the news. Actually, winning the contest is an effective way to boost the local economy and attract people throughout Japan. I'll talk more about the contest in the next post.

A very impressive 102-year-old woman !!

In Japan, yesterday was the Respect for Senior Citizen Day /敬老の日, so some senior citizens were reported in the news. A 102-year-old woman was the most impressive among them (click here). In the news, she looked like around 70. Her compelling and reasonable statements really made me doubt her age, making me wonder what was the secret to becoming an impressive elderly person like her. When she was asked for a comment on the Respect for Senior Citizen Day by a reporter, she insisted that elderly people should make efforts to be respected, saying that it was wrong to assume that elderly people should be respected only because of age. This statement convinced me that she deserved to enjoy longevity.

Her husband died young. She doesn't have children. Although she had lived with her sister for some time until her sister died, she has been living on her own for many years. She always cooks meals by herself, believing that it's important for her to eat anything she wants. She teaches some people Japanese calligraphy (書道/shodo in Japanese) which she started studying when she was around 50. When she was 92, she first went on a trip abroad and fully enjoyed the trip to Italy.

Generally speaking, elderly people tend not to listen to others, sticking with traditional ideas and insisting that younger people should listen to them. Needless to say, we need to respect elderly people. However, as the 102-year-old woman said, regardless of age, we should try to improve ourselves, listening to others.

In Japanese society, people over 65 are often considered as senior citizens. According to the newspaper below, senior citizens comprise 23.1% of the entire Japanese population.

A few months are long enough for that area to change

The day before yesterday, I went to Omotesando/表参道 in Tokyo, which is well-known as an area where many shops offer notable items (we often describe them using the following adjectives: designer-brand, outrageous, original, fresh, and innovative). Until then, although I sometimes passed through the area, I hadn't looked around it for more than a few months. When I was hanging out there, I could usually find something new here and there.

Up until a few years ago, the area always made me realize how many Westerners were in Tokyo because the area is popular among both Western tourists and Westerners living in Japan. In fact, when the economy wasn't that bad, many Westerners who had been transferred to Japan by their companies lived in areas near Omotesando. Before the Lehman Shock, since the Euro was very strong against the Yen, the area would be filled with European tourists. I remember that I would always hear the German language there. The day before yesterday, there weren't that many Westerners. Instead, I heard the Chinese language everywhere in the area. Before I went there, I already noticed that more and more Chinese people are visiting Japan since our government relaxed the personal tourist visa requirements for them in July. Yet the change still surprised me.

The shops and the flow of people have also changed. The main streets that used to be the highlight of the area are now fading. Instead, more side streets have become more appealing and are attracting more people. Anyway, a Snoopy Town Shop in the area made me feel very happy as always.

Japanese women being like men/ オス化女子

Have you heard of the Japanese phrase 草食系男子/sousyoku-kei-danshi (herbivorous men) ? When I first talked about the coined　phrase here more than a year ago (click here), it just started gaining popularity. Now, the phrase is very popular to the point where even elderly people who always have a hard time catching up with new words often use the phrase in daily conversation. Everybody has realized that the number of men categorized as 草食系男子/sousyoku-kei-danshi (herbivorous men) are increasing, although the definition is ambiguous. Some young men are willing to refer to themselves as 草食系男子/sousyoku-kei-danshi (herbivorous men).

http://zexy.net/contents/lovenews/
article.php?d=20100915

As 草食系男子/sousyoku-kei-danshi (herbivorous men) has become popular, Japanese phrases: 男前女子/otokomae-jyoshi and オス化女子/osu-ka-jyoshi have been often heard of. These two phrases represent Japanese women who act or think like men typically do. These women often make people feel that they are more masculine (mentally) than 草食系男子/sousyoku-kei-danshi (herbivorous men). Also, it's said that these women are increasing in number.

According to a survey on these women in their 20s and 30s conducted by a major magazine, the following things make them realize that they are like men.
-Using male words subconsciously (In the Japanese language, some words are used mainly by men; some words are used mainly by women. In addition, suffix forms make your sentences sound masculine, feminine and things like that )
-Always expressing oneself very clearly. Disliking women who sneakily bitch about others. 　
-Disliking all of the things that are generally considered to be feminine.
-Disliking typical Japanese women's behavior: always doing something and going somewhere with the same close friends. Preferring going to a movie and on a trip alone.
-Loving drinking alcohol very much. Stopping by male-dominated bars alone without hesitation.
-Not wearing skirts. Sitting in a chair with your legs open.

In addition, the survey describes that people consider the following women to be オス化女子/osu-ka-jyoshi.
- Women who are frank, have a positive way of thinking, can move on quickly and never linger on things unnecessarily. Their behaviors always stun men. -Women who can make quick decisions at work and always express themselves clearly.

In the survey, other examples are also introduced. From these descriptions alone, I would say that I'm a オス化女子/ /osu-ka-jyoshi.

No more power games!!

Our Prime Minister, Naoto Kan,/菅直人, managed to survive the political fuss created by a power-broker named Ichiro Ozawa /小沢一郎 and averted another disaster: the change of our PM in three months (click here). PM Kan prevailed because he was greatly supported by the public opinion that the frequent change of our PM doesn't make sense. The public really wants our government to spend time reforming our ailing economy, wondering if the politicians understand how fiercely people are struggling to get through life, even though the cabinet members insist that they've realized that Japan is in a critical situation.

One day after that big day, the Bank of Japan finally but unexpectedly intervened in the foreign exchange market to stem the soaring Yen, as if PM Kan tried to dispel the impression that he has a lack of leadership. Some experts project that this intervention has temporarily worked, but the super strong Yen will continue since many developed countries struggling with the recession want to accept the super strong Yen in order to climb out of the recession.

Now, PM Kan is selecting new cabinet members.I hope that all of the politicians will be able to cooperate closely with one another in order to overcome this crisis.

These days, many things make us feel gloomy. Precisely because of that, I always try to fully enjoy my life.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/world/asia/15japan.html?_r=1&ref=asia

If women start being fascinated only with men younger than they are.....

What makes you realize that you are no longer young? What behaviors make you realize that someone is no longer young? There are a variety of actions can make you realize that you or somebody is no longer young. 

I often hear that if women start becoming fascinated by men or celebrities younger than they are, it shows that they are no longer young. I think that it's most likely true. Many female friends of mine and I used to be attracted mainly to men older than we were when we were in our 20s; in contrast, when we were around 30, we suddenly started having a great interest in dating men younger than we were. One of my friends would always be fascinated with men over 35 while in her early 20s; however, during her early 30s, she would always stick with having a boyfriend in his 20s, saying that men in their 30s and 40s were not attractive. Eventually, she married a man who is six years younger than her. As for male celebrities, in Japan, very popular actors and male singers in their 20s and 30s are supported by many female fans over 40. 

This is just an observation; however, from a biological perspective, it can be true.

Doctors, Doctors, Doctors!

In Japan, the shortage of doctors is a serious problem. Many doctors working in hospitals, especially pediatricians, obstetricians and anesthetists, are forced to work extraordinarily long hours. They are so busy that they always have difficulty finding time to have a meal. Many of them don't have time to spend with their families, or even have a good sleep. Countless local hospitals were forced to close for not being able to recruit enough doctors. As a result, areas where there isn't a nearby hospital are increasing.

Despite the harsh working environment, many doctors are doing their best to save as many lives as they can. I really appreciate them. On the other hand, I often hear of terrible doctors who make patients feel like these doctors just want to earn money. My friends who are nurses or pharmacists always complain about doctors, saying that there are some doctors who don't have enough knowledge or don't try to examine patients seriously. My friends who are doctors working in hospitals often feel disappointed with the young residents at the hospital, saying that some of them are half-hearted about becoming doctors and don't have a passion for saving lives.

These days, I often hear that students who are doing very well in prestigious high schools generally head for medical schools (strictly speaking, in Japan, the medical department in universities) just because their academic results are high enough to challenge the most difficult entrance examinations for medical schools. They and their parents think that a doctor is just a stable job with a higher salary, not thinking about whether or not they really want to become doctors or about the fact that doctors deal with human lives. Although I can't explain it very well, every time I hear of these kinds of things, I feel like there is something wrong with it.

When you are sick in Japan, you can go to any hospital and clinic you want, which means that if the medical service provided is the same, the fee you have to pay at the hospital is the almost the same as the fee for clinics. In my experience, the fee that I paid for treatment at a university hospital was cheaper than that of a clinic even though the hospital provided a little better medical service. Today, although hospitals that are designated as advanced treatment hospitals require you to hand in a reference written by a doctor, you can still receive medical treatments there if you pay an extra 5000 Yen. (around 50 US$).

Let's try to obtain an attractive face!

When my friend was working for a well-known cosmetic company, a make-up artist who was working forseveral popular Japanese actresses came to the company and gave a demonstration to the employees. First, two of the female employees--a good-looking woman and an ordinary-looking one(to be honest, a rather bad looking)--took off the makeup that they had put on themselves. Then, as the rest of the employees watched, the artist started putting makeup on them, demonstrating her skill and turning these two into enchanting women. The unattractive woman changed to the point where the other employees hardly recognized her, which really stunned them. The make-up artist found out the most charming part of her face, highlighted it to create an appealing face. On the way home, the unattractive woman was finally able to enjoy the experience of having men look at her. She was surprised that even young men were trying to hit on her, and it made her happy.

Usually when people apply makeup on themselves, they tend to put heavy makeup on parts with which they aren't satisfied with, like how Japanese women try to make their eyes look bigger and more impressive. However, as you can see, experts insist that this way will make your face less attractive since the heavy makeup can end up highlighting your weak points.

It's generally held that facial expressions are important in social life. As expressions gain in importance, makeup plays the more important role of helping you achieve impressive facial expressions. Upon seeing makeup from these perspectives, I really feel like I cannot neglect makeup, although I know that your face and facial expressions often come from within.

Speaking of makeup, it reminds me of a funny story: If a woman is taking a bath, and her male friends accidentally appear in front of her...If she is in her 10s or 20s, she subconsciously hides her boobs and her crotch with her hands. If she is over 30, she subconsciously covers her bare face with her hands. I can't deny it.

What kind of town will Ginza/銀座 in Tokyo become ??

Have you heard of the very popular downtown area in Tokyo, Ginza/銀座? Until a few years ago, the downtown was well known for a town filled with luxury goods, and used to be creating a fun atmosphere that made people want to dress up there. The town could fulfill your material desires and satisfy your vanity.

When the Japanese economy was good, during the day, the town would be always jazzed up with many women wearing stunning outfits and enjoying shopping. As the sun went down, businessmen/women would appear from nowhere. They fully enjoyed having luxurious dinners and drinking. Even after midnight, the town was still bustling with people who didn't care about spending a lot of money. Tough battles to grab a taxi would happen here and there.

Before the Lehman Shock, foreign luxury brand shops were trying to open a flagship shop in Ginza. Some of them succeeded in their plans. In contrast, after the shock ran through world, casual brand shops which wouldn't be allowed to enter the town some years ago started occupying the prime locations. Now, Zara, H&M, UNIQLO and Abercrombie & Fitch are playing an important role of luring people into Ginza (an Apple store is playing this role, too). As the mainstream is changing, regular visitors to Ginza are inevitably changing. All in all, the times are forcing Ginza to change.

Under these circumstances, yesterday, a long-established department store in Ginza, Mitsukoshi/三越, was renovated, and started a fight for survival with a new strategy. The department store keeps its traditional image:a luxury image, highlighting a luxury atmosphere. On the other hand, it newly provides a large bike parking lot to attract ordinary people living in a newly developed bay area near Ginza. As I mentioned above, since Ginza itself used to be where people could put themselves into a luxurious atmosphere, it's said that this attempt, the bike lot, is notable. Many people are paying attention to what kind of town Ginza will become.

By the way,
I pray for the victims of the 9.11 attack and world peace. I happened to see the airplane crashing into the World Trade Center on live TV. When I saw the moment, I was glued to the TV, wondering if Hollywood was doing something surprising. The TV news casters seemed to be wondering how to manage the program. They just said over and over that they didn't know what was going on there and they were waiting for the new information from New York. I'll never forget that moment.

The story makes me realize that the traditional idea is still ingrained in younger generations.

A few days ago, my friend told me the story below:
Her friend has a son who is a senior in University of Tokyo, the most prestigious university in Japan. He has a　girlfriend from the same university. He used to spend a lot of time doing a sport after school, and had struggled for some time to make a good team as a captain. Every time he had difficulties in his sport team, his girlfriend supported him and helped him overcome them. Thus, they have already built a good and strong relationship, and started thinking about marriage after graduation. When his parents noticed that, his father frowned on the marriage despite being sure that she is a very nice person. Can you guess why?

His father believes that he has a huge potential for the future mainly because he will be given a big title: a graduate of the University of Tokyo. As a matter of fact, this title is still effective in Japanese society, so many parents with children attending the University of Tokyo put their hopes on the children. In addition, the parents tend to want their children with the big title to marry someone who really can support their careers. Like these parents, his father wants that, but wants that in a very traditional way. In other words, his father wants him to marry a woman who is willing to stay at home and devote a large part of her life to supporting him and his family. However, his girlfriend is intelligent enough to enroll in the University of Tokyo, so his father assumes that she wants to purse her own career. At the same time, his father objectively thinks that she should do that. Because of these reasons, his father doesn't view her as eligible or the right person for the son's wife. Actually, his father's attitude toward marriage is based on a traditional idea.

With the economic downturn and social change, more husbands, especially young husbands, expect their wives to earn money. These days, if wives don't work, it will be very difficult to make ends meet. It's common for married couples to share housework and financial burdens. Workers have realized that everybody, regardless of educational background, is subjected to the risk of getting fired due to corporate restructuring. Thus, I'm surprised to see that the traditional idea is still ingrained in the father despite him being around 50 ( if he were over 70, I wouldn't be surprised).

Male graduates of prestigious universities are still likely to play important roles in our society. I have to admit that their parents still tend to take a conservative attitude toward marriage. This attitude can have a influence on the sons: the male graduates. Under these circumstances, it will take some time for our society to change to the point where women can pursue a career path without hesitation if they want.

Impressive Japanese TV commercials. If you study Japanese, please try to enjoy the wordings.

Every time I move back to Japan from a foreign country, I realized that TV commercials in Japan are creative and interesting, although I don't know very much about TV commercials in Western countries.

A very popular series of cellphone commercials is so funny and interesting that I always look forward to the next one (The first video). This series has a storyline that revolves around a family. The father is a white Japanese dog. The mother is being played by a popular middle-aged Japanese actress. A young popular actress, Aya Ueto/上戸彩, is playing the daughter's role. An American is playing the son's role. This portrays our social trends sarcastically and humorously , so the commercials can always catch the public attention.

Speaking of a popular series of TV commercials, the series of a canned coffee commercial where Tommy Lee Jones appears are still continuing. Surprisingly, he has been playing an alien role in the commercials for more than four years.

Although this kind of TV commercials usually catches my attention, sometimes other serious commercials resonate with me and makes me think a lot. An organization , AC Japan, examines our society and the world, and decides every year what it should advocate through its advertising campaigns. The Japanese phrases that are used in this newest TV commercial, created by this organization are impressive, so I want to introduce them. The phrases are below. I hope you can enjoy the wordings.

「こころ」はだれにも見えないけれど
「こころづかい」は見える
No strangers can see your heart (it implies that no strangers know what you are thinking), but every stranger can see your kindness/thoughtfulness/consideration.

「思い」は見えないけれど
「思いやり」はだれにでも見える

The meaning of this phrase is almost the same as the one from the phrase above, although nuances of these two phrases conveyed are slightly different.

The cellphone commercial

The canned coffee commercial series where Tommy Lee Jones appears

The AC commercial

Japan has no future !?

In Japan, it's said that the total cost of raising a child from birth to university graduation is ten to twenty million Yen (one to two hundred thousand US dollars, 1USD= 100 JPY. For the sake of simplicity, I use this rate). These days, it's not easy for 35-year-olds to earn five million Yen yearly even if they work full time (This is before taxes and insurances deductions.) , so the cost is too expensive. 

Compulsory education in Japan consists of six years in elementary school and three years in junior high school. If you go to public schools, you don't have to pay tuition, although you have to pay some monthly fees and deal with back-to-school shopping needs. As for public high schools, the tuition finally became free of charge this April because of a policy established by the new government that took power a year ago. However, the tuition at public universities remains high. The tuition started increasing sharply about twenty years ago and reached the current level about ten years ago. Even if you can enroll in a public university, you will have to pay about eight hundred thousand Yen for the first year, as the cost of the first year is higher than those of other years.

When I was a public university student many years ago, the tuition was not that high, and the Japanese economy was not that bad. Therefore, it was not difficult for "public" university students to earn money for tuition with part-time jobs. In addition, many parents could afford to pay the tuition. In contrast, these days, many university students are forced to take out low-interest student loans due to high tuition costs and the bad economy. To make matters worse, interest-free student loans were abolished a few years ago. According to the news, about 40% students now take out loans, and many graduates are struggling to pay off their loans since they have difficulty getting a stable job (They are required to start paying off their loans as soon as they graduate).

I've heard that many students who enrolled in the University of Tokyo this April are from relatively affluent families. Many of the students are graduates of prestigious private junior high and high schools. Almost all of them have had the experience of going to expensive cram schools. Due to this reality, bright or gifted children from families that are struggling financially are unlikely to have the opportunity to cultivate their talents.  

The declining birthrate is a serious social problem. We do know that we have to improve the situation, but those circumstances are discouraging us from having a child or from having more children.

Again, again. I can't help but sigh a heavy sigh--part 2

Ryoma Sakamoto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Sakamoto_Ry%C5%8Dma

These days, a historical figure named Ryoma Sakamato/坂本龍馬 (1836-1867) is very popular in Japan.　Not only the popular TV drama, Ryoma-den/龍馬伝, but also his policies, have boosted his popularity since now is a good time for us to adopt his policies.

Ryoma played important roles at the end of the Edo Era when Japan was being forced by some Western countries to give up its long-term national isolation policy.At the time, even though Japan was subject to the danger of foreign incursions, many key people paid a lot of attention to the struggle for supremacy. Ryoma insisted that Japan didn't have time to compete for power, and warned the key people to cooperate closely with one another in order to overcome the crisis and protect Japan from attacks by foreign countries.

Two days ago, a big political fuss was created again by a power-broker named Ichiro Ozawa /小沢一郎. I don't want to explain the details here since it's a long story. Speaking briefly, we are suffering from the possibility that our Prime Minister will change "again". As a result, even though many Japanese people want our government to take effective measures against the strong Yen immediately, the government will most likely spend about two weeks competing for power.

About a year ago, we selected the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) as the governing political party since the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had disappointed us for many years. Thus, we bore responsibility for this situation. However, I didn't expect the frequent competitions for power. A year ago, I was ready to wait a few years for visible results made by the new government, but I now feel like my patience will be more likely be in vain. We need Ryoma now.

http://www.asahi.com/special/minshudaihyo/TKY201009020477.html

Again, again. I can't help but sigh a heavy sigh-part 1
http://japan-through-my-eyes.blogspot.com/2010/06/again-again-i-cant-help-but-sigh-heavy.html

Plastic surgery

In Japan, South Korean singers have become very popular in the last few years.　According to the news, music sales in South Korea are less than one thirtieth of those in Japan because of the popularity of illegal music downloads and low-priced music CDs. Thus, Japan is a necessary and attractive market for South Korean music agencies. Under these circumstances, well-selected young South Koreans study not only singing and dancing but also the Japanese language before their debuts.

Speaking of South Korea, it's well-known in Japan for plastic surgery. Many Japanese people assume that minor plastic surgery is so popular among South Korean women that it doesn't a convey negative image there. I've head that it's partly because South Korean women place great value on beauty. As a matter of fact, they seem to make great effort to be as beautiful as possible. In a TV program, it was reported that South Korean actors/actresses tried to improve their acting skills to survive in the competitive show business there since it is thought that any actor/actress could obtain good looks through plastic surgery.

In Japan, minor plastic surgery has become common recently. Some people reckon that if plastic surgery can get rid of their complexes and change their lives in a positive way, there's nothing wrong with it. However, plastic surgery still conveys both positive and negative images in Japan.Personally, I don't want to risk looking even worse and complications, although it's said that the risk of minor plastic surgery is low.

Career-minded women exploited by companies.

About 15 years ago, despite many women still working at traditional assistant positions without promotion potential, well-known companies would take every chance to advertise themselves by showing what a good environment and opportunities they gave their capable female employees. Since the times and the law required companies to offer career paths to more women, major companies took advantage of a tiny number of their female employees working on the same level as men in order to improve their images. Unsurprisingly, this helped companies improve their image.

Contrary to good images conveyed by companies, I would often hear various complaints and about terrible situations from these career women. When a large company was introduced as a good workplace for career-minded women in a TV program, my friend working on the same level as men in the company sighed about the introduction, saying that the information in the TV program was far from the reality. She added that she had realized her company's ulterior motive behind the advertising campaign. Sadly, it's just one example.

As for my company where I was working in a male-dominated position, it didn't try to use their female employees in order to improve its image. Rather, my company didn't pay attention to doing that. However, I was sometimes requested to deliver a speech as a part of the recruitment activity of my company.

Today, women working on the same level as men have become much more common. However, many companies still try to show what a good working environment they give their female employees and what important roles their female workers are playing in their businesses. I think that these appeals imply companies have many problems solved.

Needless to say, all of these problems aren't attributed to companies. Our economic structure that is overly dependent on working long hours and some traditional ideas are the fundamental problems.

Career women supporting male co-workers after work

As I mentioned in my previous post (click here), when I was looking for a job in male-dominated positions with career paths while I was a senior in university many years ago, assistant positions without career paths were still common for women, although the law required companies to give women the same opportunity for promotion as men. Under these circumstances, in job interviews, some companies tried to make sure if I was used to male-dominated environments. The fact that I studied at a male-dominated economics department in a male-dominated public university was  often helpful. On top of that, my frankness and relatively male-like character (男っぽい性格), which might be have been developed mostly in such a male-dominated environment, unexpectedly gave a good impression to companies.

When I was in my mid-20s, like me, many women working on the same level as men were more frank, more independent, and stronger than the average Japanese woman, even if they looked cute. Thus, these career women were less popular among Japanese men since many of them culturally wanted to catch less intelligent, dependent and adorable women. Nonetheless, these career women, including myself, would be often asked to go out for dinner and a drink after work by their male co-workers. In my experience, when male workers wanted to grumble about their jobs and their families/girlfriends, they viewed career women as the best fellows. They reckoned that career women were still women and had enough knowledge about businesses to make conversations with them exciting and constructive. When I was forced to be a listener during conversations with my male co-workers at restaurants, I felt like I was a hostess at a bar (Note 1).

Today, the situation has changed. However, independent and solid women are still playing this role. I think they are still not popular among Japanese men, although I've noticed that more and more young men like independent and solid women.

Note 1:
In Japan, there are many bars called スナック(sunakke, this word is from snack bars in English) and clubs. In these bars, women called hostess/ホステス sit beside customers whether they are men or women and talk with them. No physical contact is allowed. Some men go there just to get the hostesses to listen to their stories while drinking.

Female workers struggling with the idea that women should be かわいい/Kawaii

When women are evaluated or described, being かわいい/kawaii（cute, pretty, adorable and so on) both in appearance and in characters is highly valued in Japanese society. I would say that being かわいい/kawaii is an important element for women to attract men. Despite that, the concept of かわいい/kawaii is so ambiguous that I can't clearly define it. However, I can say that men still tend to view immature or less intelligent women to be かわいい/kawaii, although more and more young men don't do that. 

I started working at male-dominated positions with career paths immediately after graduation (It was many years ago). At the time, assistant positions without career paths were still common for women, even female university graduates, I would often be forced to struggle with the idea that women should be かわいい. The fact that some women were working on the same level as men was annoying for conservative men, although they understood that the times required it. Companies expected these women to perform better than the men. This was because companies need to convince their conservative male workers that they had made the right decision to employ these women since their conservative male workers were against hiring these women. However, the better these women performed, the more negative attention they attracted. Both male and female co-workers gossiped about them, saying that 女のくせに. I don't know how I translate the typical phrase into English, but the translation might be that you shouldn't do it because you are a woman or it's unbelievable that women do it. The phrase is used when women exhibited behaviors go against the stereotype.

Women working on the same level as men sometimes suffered from the feeling that the more highly they were appreciated at work, the less value they had as women. In fact, it was not easy for these women to find a boyfriend who appreciated and supported their careers. 

Today, more and more people, regardless of gender, keep an open mind. However, I sometime find that some men still stick with the idea that women should be かわいい/kawaii. As a matter of fact, some men don't want to work under female managers. Some male managers don't want to hire capable women because these women seem to be smarter or older than they are. I think that these attitudes are based on this idea. However, as far as I know, men who can manage capable women well and take advantage of their abilities tend to succeed.

Come to think of my first job hunting when I was a senior student

When I was writing about the recruitment of new graduates here a few days ago (click here), I thought of the old days when I was struggling with job hunting as a senior student.

First, ridiculous interview questions asked by companies such as "do you want to get married and have a child in your 20s?" came to my mind. These were not just questions to break the ice. Companies seriously asked these questions; in fact, a board member of a major corporation spent some time asking me in the final interview whether or not my parents would mind if I were transferred since I'm a only child. I had a hard time convincing him that my parents wouldn't.

When I was a senior in university, companies offered positions with career paths to male university graduates, expecting them to work many years; in contrast, companies still tended to offer traditional assistant positions without career paths to female university graduates, expecting them to support the male workers. Thus, when female university graduates applied for the male-dominated positions, they were always forced to deal with such questions since companies tried to make sure that their female candidates were suitable to the positions in every aspect.

Next, these tough circumstances reminded me of a male friend with whom I studied economics in my university. During a conversation with him, when I blurted out that I felt like I wanted to give up pursuing the male-dominated positions since I had great difficulty obtaining a job offer for the positions, he asserted that I should work on the same level as men, saying that taking an assistant job was meaningless to me. His strong words got rid of my wavering mind, making me feel like I was qualified, and encouraged me to keep struggling to obtain an offer.

After that, I imagined what my life would be like if I had accepted an offer from a company at the time. The company liked me and gave me an offer, expecting me to work in Europe five years later after joining the company. When I was a senior, I neither had an interest in English nor working abroad, and my TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) score was not good. Despite that, people of the company insisted that I was cut out for working abroad and tried to convince me that I would be able to improve my English if I took the English courses provided by the company. Although I didn't join the company, now come to think of it, the people judged me well.

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