Month: August 2022 (page 1 of 1)

The next morning I went shopping in the grocery store. There were a lot of elderly people milling around, which made me feel out of place. And then suddenly a moment came back to me from the travel I had completed. It was when I arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand. Just as I walked out the exit, a very lively hubbub engulfed me. The airport was filled with young people as if I was in a recess in a college. It felt like a start of something new and I felt so right to be here. In the jolly big place were smiles, happiness, and tremendous energy.

I recalled I had been working for elderly people and accommodating their stubbornness that made my energy evaporate―like I felt myself fading away with them. I sensed Japan would have a punishing future, which would relate to us. Imagine that in ten years the baby-boomer generation called Dankai in Japan will be in their eighties. Surely they will be dominating most of Japan except for the downtown.

When I was a child, Dankai generation was in prime of life. I spent hours at my good friend’s house everyday after school, never having seen his father. He was not even on Sunday. I did not ask him about his father because there must be a serious circumstance like divorce. One day we were playing video game―then out of nowhere his father came home like a thunder when it was sunny.

“You should go home,” my friend said. “Why?” I asked. “Maybe he vexes, because he works late every day. Sunday, he plays golf. You know, a man works everyday for a family.” Since that time I had observed adult men going to work. There seemed no choice but to work; they were in no good spirits. Some adults had told me that “you can only hang out till you are in college.” That meant the rest of my life is work and work and work, which scared me.

The adults at that time are now elderly people, who worked for one company until retirement. Rooted in their mind is seniority system: your wage based on how many years you work at one company not the performance appraisal. Inside the grocery store, there was a profound sense of dignity deriving from the conviction that maturity is superior to youth, as if we young people did not have a right to disagree with them.

I studied the selection of Japanese grits for the first time in two years; prices were a lot cheeper than developed countries. Which brought home to me the reality Japan’s economy has been stagnant for more than thirty years after the collapse of the bubble economy. As a child, I was told me that Sony, which invented WALKMAN, is secure for life. The next thing you know we play with iPhone and googling on internet and shopping Amazon. Those American things are prevalent in Japan.

Learning my way inside the store, I saw a portly old man with haughty face throwing instant noodles into his cart like, “Why do I do to deserve this?” Behavior is to the personality what food is to the appearance. At the sight of him, it made sense that he had not taken care of his health. Unlike him, I had admired the old gentleman, who is formed like an aura of confidence, straight and elegant. who goes to a gym and eats a lot of vegetables to stay fit. It is really cool.

Before long I came upon a few old women huddled together, their carts piled with sweets that cause sugar addiction. Like it is natural thing for them to be a couch potato. I knew that the more you like sweets, the older you look; I work out, run, and consume protein and good quality oils every single day. And that was really what it came down to. You should know that if your appearance reach a certain standard level, you will get close to a nice guy or lady who never looked at you before. It is said that it’s what’s inside that counts. That is right, but the first appearance.

AlI at once I heard an old man talking loudly. Turning to his voice, I could see a young clerk saying “I’m truly sorry, they are out of stock,” he bowed. “I apologize for that,” he put his hands on his knee, bowing and bowing. The old man seemed to have nowhere for all his energy to go, continuing to tell the young man off from one rank higher. Most of Japanese can not know that a customer and a clark is in the same position overseas: it is just that stores provide goods and receive payment for them.

I waited in a checkout line. No wonder Japanese stores still offered plastic bags for free, for the Mister of the Environment had eaten steak just before. However, I fretted that I saw the clarks give them to customers, who took it for granted, and that Japan is always behind in something. What was unique about the cashers was that although Japan promotes cashless this store introduced cash machines not self-checkout ones: the clarks read the bar-codes of products and the customers pay with them. I recognized that Japan is a country that invests heavily for elderly people who is money-worshiper. Cash is everything they are.

That is funny, but that worked well enough. “Will you be paying by cash?” “Yes.” “Go. No.1.” “Will you be paying by cash?” “Yes.” “Go. No.2.” “Will you be paying by cash?” “Yes.” “Go. No.3.”

Maybe elderly people would hoard money that was sleeping. I wondered if they spend their hard-earned money satisfactorily. It is easy to say “I should have done this or that when I was young.” Before you say that, get on with it. Money is for challenge, for fun, and for investment in our youth, who have bright futures.

It was midnight when I arrived at Kurume in the south of Fukuoka. I loved this town, neither urban nor rural. The air was clean and cool and it felt like the beginning of autumn. I walked to my house. Anyway I was so glad to be set free from that agency, where Japanese value unity and a lot of rules, that I would never participate in what they call “International cooperation.”

Why did I join in the first place? I knew that working there did not make a real contribution to society because it was a public sector, a stability-oriented environment. I knew that the private sector, the tech behemoth like GAFAM brought real value to the world. It is indispensable in our life. Plus TESLA led by Elon Musk. He is a workaholic and people around the world look forward to self-driving cars, Hyperloop and space travel.

The agency was very boring. The staff’s first priority was to protect their own life and position. Basically, public servants or those who have a national qualification believe their future is secure, therefore no ambition, no business perspective, and information poor.

Before being dispatched oversea, I had a 70-day training period. There were an incredible amount of document to submit: “This is handwriting.” “Put this in a mailbox.” “Email is okay.” And fax, this super outdated machine is too widespread to be cool: “Fax it and call me to make sure you did that.”

They never thought that they tried to streamline their work and take the easy way out. They do not have the energy to try new ways and prefer the old ways, or might fear that increasing productivity that make you lazy will lead a reduction in workforce. I supposed if you could spare time, all you have to do is think something useful for the world.

For them, more significant than outcomes is showing off how hard they work. You would see Japanese business men facing their laptop with their back straight during a day. That is basic manners as a member of Japanese society, which do not tolerate the way Westerners work―leaning against couch, crossing his legs and having a refreshment―and which regard it as laziness, even though relaxing is the only way to come up with excellent ideas.

You would think like this: “What are they doing?” “ Why make this document?” “What’s the meeting for?” To put it bluntly, there is no meaning. But, Japanese have the answers to the questions: “It is important because my boss told me to do that,” or “It’s the rule to do so.” Most of Japanese do not recognize the true nature of what they are doing; they are obedient to authority and obey the rules properly. Do they make sense? No. I assert that they only trade their time for money. But you are better not to have such a question. You would are seen as nuisance and burden. Of course I just do as I was told, even if that never made any sense. 

For the above reasons, in Japanese organization it was difficult to move myself forward and it was a waste of time, but I had the reason I chose this agency. Looking back a year or so before belonging this agency, I was a backpacker, who respects a diversity of lifestyle. The year I enjoyed traveling all over the world was the year that I did not work. For which I felt guilty as if I received strong criticism from society―relatives, friends, especially Japanese working people.

In short, because I was “mushoku.” It says “I’m not working now.” It implies even further “I am a shady person,” “I don’t contribute to society,” and “I have no social credibility.” It sounds so embarrass that the great pressure had built up urging me to work. One day, I found by chance that this agency had the slogan like a mere masquerade, “International cooperation.” It was a perfect title as a member of society and I needed to gain it.

Sometimes I found myself recalling Dentsu employee’s suicide(overwork led up to her death). What brought her to this company? Of course I knew it was the largest advertising agency in Japan where highly educated people work.

Not only social problem is overwork, I did focus the reason she could not quit. She graduates from Tokyo University. She must have studied very hard where some tend to take a competitive attitude to each other, wishing to formulate her life on a big company everyone appreciates. That is what she undertook for and that is what she won. I believe that something she can strive meaningfully for throughout her life is so much responsibility with pride that ultimately lies with herself toward those who are expecting her. However I wish she could have imagined another life other than working there.

One thing I can bet for sure is that no matter what, she should have left. In Japan, leaving a company easily is shameful and foolish. Giving up once you have started is a failure. People who cling a company will definitely say “she can’t stick with anything.” I used to think so, but not anymore, because I was consumed with regret for the things I could not quit. “What if I left the company much earlier … ” “If only I had dropped out of such a third-rate college … ” I had been patient where I should not have been, so I had lost the opportunities to try new things, which develop myself.

The world is big. If Japanese society had seen diverse lifestyles positively as something natural, I might had been released from working, and she might still be alive.

September 26, 2019

I got to Fukuoka by flying from Tokyo, and taking a subway and a train from there to Kurume, the south of Fukuoka, where I lived for long. Every time I climbed up the stairs lifting my heavy trunk, so many overtook me. This was Japan.

It was not that I needed help, I am a man, but if someone supported it from below, I would feel light. Basically, most of Japanese do not help a person who was not related to him to avoid getting into trouble. He fears that people think he is strange and that he is stand out from crowd―from shyness, timidity and embarrassment. That is similar to bully in that Japanese dose not help a victim: if you save him, you might be a victim too. They seemed to serve advantage rather than the goodness and justice prevailing in the world. There is no benefit to say “may I help you?” so it is better to pretend not to see anything.

In all the chaos of the days I traveled in the world, I knew that some people committed a kind of emotional justice―no one can take away from them―to the vulnerable. If someone is treated unfairly, they protect him at the cost of themselves. You might lose your castle that you built over the years. You might lose your job. You might lose your money. Still they fight for their beliefs that they have to do so.

In Japan, there is a lot of pressure to conform what the majority or the influential persons thought; if what is called black is put into what is called white, even if it is not logical, most Japanese who want to stay in a company will assume that is the right thing.

When my company was acquired in 2016, I had a new boss and colleagues, so one in power promoted a new system―a tremendous setback―to consolidate her position. I was completely shocked to find that she started to shift from a digitalized process to a “paper-based” one. 

Which is ridiculous, but it had happened. She was the stereotype of the middle-aged and did not know the world, but she knew enough if she left here, no one would hire her. For Japanese companies, more important than experience is youth. This big woman thought she was an ace at doing paper work and was so proud of it.  Although the world accelerated digitization, she worked diligently to let “paper-based” process penetrate; believing that doing overtime or on holidays is an excellent example of the good worker.

One day, the big woman gathered the executives and my team member in a room. My intuition told me of conspiracy against me. She shouted at me. “I’ve been working so hard, but you’re talking all kinds of shit about me.” This monster kept shouting and shouting, the executives nodding like they understood, the goddam chickenheads. Almost simultaneously, I realized that my existence had annoyed her because I was an old-timer and had earned the trust from my colleagues, and that this was not where I belonged anymore. “Tomorrow, I’ll give notice,” I said and left the room, deep down I fooled them. The rumor that I was punished as a warning to others flew around.  

Pity she does anything she can to build her castle. However I felt sad that everyone behaved as if nothing had happened. Interestingly, most of the eighty employee obeyed her way because they came to learn that it was the right thing. They were always at something.

Japanese live in a narrow circle of acquaintances, not society as a whole. They are willing to take care of insiders who share the same values, however, and ostracize outsiders who try not to assimilate into their world. It had taught me that in Japan it is easier to do the same thing as everyone does. I just wonder what it is good for.

When disasters such as earthquakes occur, Japanese unite and help victims with a kind of virtue or hypocrisy that everyone is doing good things. Either way, it is just that people copy what the other do. It is like a woman likes “ARASHI” because everyone around her likes it. Also, celebrities, to get “likes” on Instagram, post some photos of their visit to the stricken area. The real man never thinks of it that way because there is nothing special. A catastrophe never experienced in the past would reveal the true nature of the Japanese, which they had been protecting them from.