Japan's population is not in crisis yet but there many anticipate that because an inordinate number of people over the age of 65 and many fewer under 21, disproportionately so. One aspect that is feeling this acutely already is the university system of Japan. There has been some speculation in the English language Japanese news media that the university system may even bankrupt. Further compounding this situation is the large number of Japanese people with PhDs that simply cannot find work in academia. The situation is not too dissimilar to that in Europe where PhDs tend to do increasingly-longer post-doctoral positions and so continue to experience diminished returns on their time investment.
To combat this, the Japanese government has been quietly pushing to get more and more foreigners to come study in Japan. Here's an article from the Japan Times discussing the situation a little.
I'd like to share also an article from the Mainichi Daily News that discusses the differences between the internet in South Korea and that in Japan. Apparently South Koreans have yet to feel the wrath of internet trolls like we in the U.S. have come to know it (a South Korean actress recently committed suicide in what some speculate was a revenge suicide - killing herself to show those that angered her).
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Being Homeless in Japan: Netcafes, video parlors
I've been writing a lot at my other blog, KudzuKongzi, lately and noticed that I've been writing a little about Japan as well as the other things I'm concerned with at that blog.
As I've written, Japan's homeless population is a little hard to see in part because they're not faced with only sleeping outside - some may also be net cafe refugees.
Another possibility is that those with minimal family ties in Japan and some amount of savings are taking their money to Southeast Asia where the cost of living is lower and their pensions would go further.
All of this is to say that Labor as practiced in Japan is different from what I'm used to in the U.S. (which is to say, in the U.S. organized labor is a lame duck movement now).
Today, the Japan Times offers a nice explanation about netcafes, 24 hour karaoke boxes, and video parlors.
As I've written, Japan's homeless population is a little hard to see in part because they're not faced with only sleeping outside - some may also be net cafe refugees.
Another possibility is that those with minimal family ties in Japan and some amount of savings are taking their money to Southeast Asia where the cost of living is lower and their pensions would go further.
All of this is to say that Labor as practiced in Japan is different from what I'm used to in the U.S. (which is to say, in the U.S. organized labor is a lame duck movement now).
Today, the Japan Times offers a nice explanation about netcafes, 24 hour karaoke boxes, and video parlors.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Rice!
Rice is central to Japanese life. Even so here in Okinawa, where it's too hot to grow rice (and it takes so much water that it's not realistic to cultivate much rice here).
How central?
The word for rice is the same word for meal. That's how important.
Wanna know what rice looks like when it's harvested?
and it smells AWESOME! It's sweet and kinda nutty smelling.
My labmate recently visited her family in Tokyo and participated in a harvest there, so I have had the pleasure of learning more about rice.
Here's what rice looks like before it's, I dunno, husked? Then the rice is polished until it is super white. I prefer the less refined brown rice 玄前(genmae) but it is more expensive because so many rice distributors manufacture the highly-polished white rice (which is necessary for ritual life here in Japan).
Wanna see what happens when the American military occupies (I mean protects) your island for over 60 years?
You get delicious Taco Rice!
Taco rice is basically a taco from taco bell unfurled from it's shell onto a bed of rice. When I read that before I came to Okinawa I thought, "Really?" as in, "Really, people will eat that?" But I am now a convert: taco rice is oishii (delicious).
Particularly from this place in Onna - Kijimuna きじむな where they have letters patent on taco rice.
How central?
The word for rice is the same word for meal. That's how important.
Wanna know what rice looks like when it's harvested?
and it smells AWESOME! It's sweet and kinda nutty smelling.
My labmate recently visited her family in Tokyo and participated in a harvest there, so I have had the pleasure of learning more about rice.
Here's what rice looks like before it's, I dunno, husked? Then the rice is polished until it is super white. I prefer the less refined brown rice 玄前(genmae) but it is more expensive because so many rice distributors manufacture the highly-polished white rice (which is necessary for ritual life here in Japan).
Wanna see what happens when the American military occupies (I mean protects) your island for over 60 years?
You get delicious Taco Rice!
Taco rice is basically a taco from taco bell unfurled from it's shell onto a bed of rice. When I read that before I came to Okinawa I thought, "Really?" as in, "Really, people will eat that?" But I am now a convert: taco rice is oishii (delicious).
Particularly from this place in Onna - Kijimuna きじむな where they have letters patent on taco rice.
Halloween in Japan
There aren't many American holidays that the Japanese follow, naturally, but they are interested in some.
There's Christmas - apparently this is a popular date night in Japan, supposedly it's romantic
There's Valentine's Day - but this is a holiday where women give men things, and it's really a holiday for men. Because the men have one month to prepare for White Day, where men must give women things and it's a holiday only for women.
Some families go to KFC on Thanksgiving, but it's not really a holiday.
And then there's Halloween:
A time of year when all should remember to carve their pumpkins with the following:
There's Christmas - apparently this is a popular date night in Japan, supposedly it's romantic
There's Valentine's Day - but this is a holiday where women give men things, and it's really a holiday for men. Because the men have one month to prepare for White Day, where men must give women things and it's a holiday only for women.
Some families go to KFC on Thanksgiving, but it's not really a holiday.
And then there's Halloween:
A time of year when all should remember to carve their pumpkins with the following:
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