Except for Moye*, the Japanese/Japanese-American folks I know aren’t usually people who do much complaining. While that’s a pretty big generalization, we all know the stereotypes– both real and perceived– of the “quiet” Japanese men and women who don’t like to talk about or dwell on hardships. Those who work to document the Japanese American internment often report that many of the Issei and older Nisei wanted to leave those memories in the past– forcing a younger generation to push for Redress. But I digress.
Regardless of whether “not complaining” is a “traditionally Japanese trait,” there are reports that today’s Japanese have becoming increasingly vocal complainers. According to an article in Japan Today, the nation “…it seems, is fast becoming an “ichamon” [いちゃもん] society, where people don’t merely raise complaints, but make false charges and pick fights at the slightest pretext.”
Last July, Shinichi Sekine, author of “The Claimer Next Door,” (Chuokoron Shinsha, 2007) published a “White Paper on Complaints.” Of over 5,000 respondents to Sekine’s questionnaire, nearly 40% noted that complaints at their workplace have been increasing of late.
The highest response was among teachers and educators, of whom 53.7% of whom said they had been directly in the line of fire.
“Until 2008, I’d been an administrator at a university for three years,” a source from academia tells the magazine. “During that time, I constantly had to field claims by students’ parents. Their methods were hardly different from yakuza. They would latch on to the smallest problem and demand that I acknowledge it, and apologize to them. Whenever I conceded a point they would ratchet up their claims.”
The day after cream stew was served at the cafeteria of a Tokyo primary school, a parent called to confront a teacher, saying, “My kid hates stew, so yesterday he only ate bread. I want a refund for that day’s lunch.”
The author of the white paper believes this trend actually reflects a change in the temperament of Japanese people. “They are not just complaining; their methods are becoming increasingly spiteful, such as demanding money or an apology in writing,” says Sekine. “I think a key factor may be the declining sense of contentment.”
Maybe so. But a commenter suggests that this might be because Japanese people are just “spoiled.”
What do you think? Is Japan on its way to being a nation of chronic complainers? Or do Americans still have a lock on that?**
*Just kidding. I’m only picking on Moye ‘cuz it’s fun! She is not a complainer– though she does, however, make keen observations about things that truly suck!
**Ok, another big generalization. But am I wrong about that?!
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There’s one thing to love ramen, but it’s a whole separately issue when it comes to wanting to bathe in it. We’ve posted about the exclusive noodle bath at Yunessun Spa in Japan, but here’s an actual video of it. Makes you…kind of not want to ever eat ramen again.
Who in their right mind would think that a hot, oily and salty pork broth is actually good for your skin? If that’s true, then bathing myself with Tom Yuan soup or slathering my face with Si Racha should also do the trick. Maybe even the orange chicken from Panda Express to sooth puffy eyes?
Oh, Japan. Please don’t ever change. XOXO, Moye.
Edit: Actually, it seems like the bath water just smells/tastes like ramen broth and is not actually real broth. Japan, you disappoint me. Please change. XOXO, Moye.
Shopping With GASP!
The Toronto International Reel Asian Film Festival opens today with the Hong Kong film Overheard playing at the Bloor Cinema (Bathurst and Bloor). This is the last part to my 3 part mini review. Hope to see you there! Stop by the merchandise table!
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Earlier this year, a New Jersey dad fought to get his son back from Brazil from his ex-wife’s family. Now, a similarly heart-breaking scenario is playing out–this time, in Japan.
Christopher Savoie is sitting in jail right now because he went to Japan to reclaim his two children. Their mother, Noriko–a Japanese native–previously had this court-approved agreement with Christopher: She would take the children on vacation to Japan during summers, and bring them back to Franklin, Tennessee, in time for school. This August, Noriko kept them in Japan. Since she had violated the agreement, a judge awarded Christopher full custody of the children. A warrant went out for Noriko’s arrest.
Unfortunately for Christopher, Japan is not part of the 1980 Hague Convention on international child abduction, which finds a way to bring kids home across international borders. Instead, Japanese family law follows the tradition of sole custody divorces–that is, when a couple splits up, the children usually stay with one parent while the other leaves their lives permanently.
Knowing he might never see his kids again, Christopher flew out to Japan, grabbed his kids, and tried to bring them to the U.S. consulate. That’s where he was arrested by the Japanese police. Christopher now faces the charge of abducting minors, which carries a jail sentence of up to five years.
Can we get Bill Clinton over there to fix this?
Honda has developed a new personal mobility technology, U3-X. It is a compact experimental device that fits comfortably between the riders legs, to provide free movement in all directions just as in human walking forward, backward, side-to-side, and diagonally.
Lest one assumes that this is for lazy, fat-assed Americans, this prototype is actually addressing a coming need in Japan, one of the most rapidly aging countries in the world, and concerns about how the elderly get around. It can stand upright unaided and the rider sits on it as they would a stool, with their feet on footrests. The unicycle maintains its balance as it scoots around at (slow) speeds of up to 3.7mph.
The U3-X, shaped liked the number eight with a wheel at the bottom and seat at the top, was unveiled [Thursday] to reporters in Japan. The wheel comprises a series of smaller motorised wheels within a larger one, which enables the rider to manoeuvre sideways as well as forwards and backwards by leaning their body in the direction they want to go. [full story with another video]
Let’s face it. I love this thing because it’s shaped like the number 8! But unlike the Segway, which I thought was uber cool when I first saw it, I don’t feel like it’s a toy I’d buy for the fun of it. I guess if I had mobility issues, something like this would be a godsend, so Honda will continue research and development of the device including experiments in a real-world environment to verify the practicality of the device.
h/t: John
We brought you the news of dangerous Panda attacks in China, but this weekend we learned that Japan faces their own threat from four legged barbarian of their own.
Nine tourists at a rest stop in Nyukawa, a small mountain town, were seriously injured by a hungry black bear yesterday. The animal terrorized visitors on a bus until a hunter managed to shoot it dead in a souvenir shop.
No one suffered life-threatening injuries in the attack, which lasted about an hour, reports said.
A photograph from the scene showed the bear mauling a prone person in a parking lot while a man attempted to scare it off.
Thanks to the advancement of 21st century technology, footage of the BEAR ATTACK (caps required) were soon found online (posted above). And yes, the bear was only 4 feet tall. Cue jokes about how short Asian people are….here.
Though bear attacks are rare, we hope that future tourists will understand the importance of being prepared for crazy animal onslaughts when traveling to the Land of the Rising Sun. With ninjas all over the place, it’s scary to think how quickly and dangerously these deadly animals approach to their enemies.
Crazy weight loss gimmicks are certainly not unique to Japan, but I’m trying to figure out why anyone would use this “Boneless Belt” underneath their clothes. An anonymous commenter says that “the name supposedly comes from the term “boneless ham,” which is basically the japanese version of calling somebody a ‘muffin top.’ Imagine a big fat ham with that net around it, and the meat pushing out through the net.”
Yuck. So why would you do this on purpose? Supposedly, the belt actually helps you lose weight!
From Inventor Spot:
In effect, the structure of the rubber belt is a large mesh grid that splits the dieter’s belly, side and back fat into easily manageable blobs. This allows for increased metabolic consumption of calories and raises the propensity for increased blood flow values. More blood flow = more heat = more burning of fat. Got it? Good… What’s NOT good is that a multitude of fat blobs are squeezed out in a manner that disturbingly resembles mini-boobs.
If you really want to buy one, check out the Japanese Yahoo store which offers them.
Or, you can save yourself 4,000 yen and the trauma of seeing yourself as a blobular mess by just hopping on a treadmill, instead.
Maybe you’ve seen the video of a border collie doing squats alongside a Japanese guy. No?
Is this a fluke? No! Check them out– outdoors work out!
Even though you’ll see this video out there “from” other sources, these videos were originally uploaded by Japanese YouTube user sararingosaki and this dog is crazy awesome! Check out the videos of the doggie agility runs, doggie balance ball routine, and of course, doing doggie squats sans Japanese sidekick.
I don’t know about you, but I’m totally subscribing to this.
*Statistics could be a little off
h/t: Japanator
Tak is so cool that he raps about how cool he is. And he’s backed by a gaggle of (semi) scantily-clad Japanese girls who chant about how cool he is.
Daito Manabe is an “Artist, Designer, Programmer, DJ, VJ, Composer” based in Tokyo, Japan. Evidently, he composed some electronic music but wasn’t content with his friends just listening or dancing to it.
Instead, he convinces four of his friends to be videotaped as they have electrodes attached to their faces which is then synced up to his music. Talk about some stimulating music! (A video is above; it becomes more interesting after the first minute.)
Credits and behind the scenes of Daito’s “Face Visualizer” , “Face Instrument”
(Hat tip: LT Goto)
Special thanks to Sam Dunn and Scot McFayden for taking the time to speak with me about their upcoming documentary, GLOBAL METAL.
GLOBAL METAL is the sequel to the successful documentary METAL: A Headbanger’s Journey about the evolution of Heavy Metal music. GLOBAL METAL is about the effect globalization has had on heavy metal music. I strongly recommend watching both documentaries regardless if you’re fan of the music or not.
GLOBAL METAL opens in Toronto and Vancouver June 20th and in Montreal June 27th. Look out for it at a film festival near you.
For comments, suggestions, feedbacks and requests, please leave a comment over at POP 88 or send an email to christine [at] popcast88.com.
Also, for anyone who has ever sent me an email – I just upgraded my computer and ended up wiping out all my POP 88 email – it would be greatly appreciated if you could resend – especially those whose requests I haven’t played yet!
As always, if you want to support the podcast, I ask that you support the artists by buying their CDs through the links provided. Continue Reading »
China Expat makes some interesting observations in comparing the latest Chinese growth to current day Japan. It’s interesting the perspectives taken are a very westernized look at how China compares up with the rest of the world. Westerners seem to view China as Japan’s successor in economics, with the stock markets to burst at any day now and their technology being inferior to anything in the West. Even with the latest move by the United States to strongarm China due to manufacturing practices and safety regulations alongside the whole “environmental” factor that China Expat had no problems mentioning.
However, on the flip side, I personally find that the communist government and the piracy and other types of “hinders” are what makes China powerful. What’s taken the West to bring about advances in the last fifty years, China is doing in ten. The growth is a controlled explosion all the while playing on other nation’s greed to drive their economic growth forward. For example, no one bothers to point out that the manufacturing practices have been going on the same fashion for the last two decades yet, suddenly in 2007, the American government mysteriously finds out? Screams of a political play to me. Stock market ready to burst? Not on your life. Someone will get executed for corruption before that happens. And when people point the finger overseas at the corruption in the Chinese government, perhaps they should take a look at what’s under our own roof with the Abramoff scandal.
In my opinion, China is far from where Japan fell economically and in a different environment entirely. Growth is controlled, yet much of the reins have been let go for sake of capitalism. It’s amazing the things that greed can foster, eh? In any case, the Chinese won’t have the same blowout recession as Japan. Not by a long shot.
(Photo credit: Charles Chan)
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