Global Voices » Tomomi Sasaki

Japan: Web and Mobile Trends in 2011

Tomomi Sasaki — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:48:56 +0000

Serkan Toto rounds up key trends that shaped Japan's web, mobile, and gaming industries in 2011.

Japan: Cultural Misunderstandings and the Olympus Fraud Scandal

Tomomi Sasaki — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:01:01 +0000

Sophie Knight explores how business culture misunderstandings between Michael Woodford and Olympus might have played a role in the happenings around the fraud exposure.

Japan: Year 2011 for the Art World

Tomomi Sasaki — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 06:53:21 +0000

“It’s been a traumatic year for Japan and the Tokyo art world” - William Andrews rounds up what the art world went through in the year 2011 on the Tokyo Art Beat blog.

Japan: Life Decisions in the Face of Radiation Fear

Tomomi Sasaki — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 07:25:40 +0000

Fearing long-term health effects of radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, some residents in mainland Japan have made the decision to uproot their families and move to other prefectures or countries. Actual numbers are unclear and multiple reasons factor in on these life decisions, but these moves differ in nature from the more reactive evacuations that occurred in the following weeks of the initial disasters.

Blogger Taku Nakajima was one of those who decided to stay. He articulated his thoughts in a post titled I want to be able to respect those who made a different decision (自分と違う決断をした人に敬意を持てるようになれたらいいな) [jp], calling for a more logical understanding of the nuanced undercurrents of our emotional struggles.

Note: This blog post was translated in its entirety with permission from the blogger.

Moving boxes by Flickr user bao_bao (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Let’s say that a friend moved away due to fear of radiation while I stayed, and we ran into each other twenty years down the line. If my family wasn’t facing any health hazards, it means I had “won”. I would probably feel superior and say something like, “It must have been so difficult for you, then!”. On the other hand, if any of my loved ones were sick, that would be “losing”. I'd most likely spend time thinking about this excuse and that. Either way, it’s a sad situation.

Even though our decisions ended up taking us down different roads, both were very difficult choices made after much deliberation. I want us to genuinely rejoice in our reunion and say to each other, “That was such a difficult time but I’m so happy that we both did our best.” I want to be somebody who can respect others that chose a different path. Right now, I can only imagine my future self stoically holding back any real emotions and giving lip service. Somehow, I want to be in a place where I can be positive about both of our situations, in either of the possible cases.

Him moving away causes my fear of radiation to grow twofold. Of course, there is no reason for me to be afraid - I have very high information literacy and I believe the information from my research to be accurate. Still, no matter how absurd and ignorant I think my friend is being, his was a life changing decision that required overcoming multiple risks. Just the fact that there’s someone like that close by is quite shocking, and I abhor him for causing this distress in me. And, this emotion will cause a dark shadow to fall upon us, when we meet again in the future.

I believe I am a person that can push down that animosity and act in a gentlemanly way - unless something extreme happens - but that doesn’t mean I can stop myself from hating and worrying. Why is it necessary to have such thoughts when others interpret situations differently? Is it useful in any way?

The question should be this - has each of us done our very best with what we know at that point? I want to communicate my understanding of the situation to my friend, as reference, before he moves away. I also want to listen carefully to what he has to say. I want to do my very best in that. And, if that leads to different actions… well, that would have been based on whatever decision we both thought best. Isn’t that all we can hope for?

Whatever action my friend takes, some bit of fear in me existed from the beginning. That can’t be helped but his moving away shouldn’t be increasing my fear. I want to do away with that added negativity. I certainly don’t want it to be aimed towards him. That’s the kind of person that I want to be.

Low level radiation is a really subtle issue. Moving is an all or nothing discussion but there are a lot of disparities in how to interpret things, such as what to do for foodstuff. Each of these decisions that must be made in daily life create complex chasms.

Even if it looks like your worries increased because someone made a different decision, that anxiety was probably inside you from the start, so we shouldn’t blame them. Of course, if someone believes something that is obviously incorrect, we should tell them. If all of us were more conscious of the fear that we carry inside of us, it will make for better communication all around.

Japan: Lifestyle and Awareness Changes after the Earthquake

Tomomi Sasaki — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 02:15:02 +0000

The Japan for Sustainability blog summarized results of various questionnaires that indicate how Japanese lifestyles and awareness have changed after the Great East Japan Earthquake. Subjects include energy, nature, inter-personal relationships, careers, and marriage.

Japan: 311 in a Visual Anthropology Class

Tomomi Sasaki — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:14:36 +0000

Anthropologist Steven C. Fedorowicz summarizes a recent Contemporary Japan and Globalization class that he taught on the triple disasters following March 11th.

Japan: Néojaponisme on Marginal Subcultures

Tomomi Sasaki — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 14:19:31 +0000

Néojaponisme has finished posting five installments for a series on “how marginal subcultures took over a Japanese pop culture with no central core nor leading-edge“, providing a review of the ecosystem for the consumption and production of mainstream and subcultures.

Japan: I am Isolated in My Workplace

Tomomi Sasaki — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:55:28 +0000

“The Internet can be a saving grace if you’re isolated in your school or workplace.” - This was a remark from my recent interview with Izumi Mihashi from Lingua Japanese. I was reminded of it when chancing upon a poignant cry in the form of an anonymous blog entry [ja].

Bullying doesn’t stop at the schoolyard.

by Flickr user maciejgruszecki.com

Note: This post was translated in its entirety. Please note that the original text does not give any indication of gender for any of the characters, but the translation assumes that the blogger and colleague are male for brevity's sake.

Today, I realized yet again that the treatment I receive at my workplace is really acrimonious. I went to work in the morning, checked my e-mail, and got chewed out by four people for four different things within the first hour. When I was alone, I couldn’t help but quietly laugh with bitterness.

I feel that if I can just find one positive thing to latch onto, I can work out some of these issues as long as I apply myself to it. The thing is, I can’t help but think that I’m just being cut off completely.

After the troubles that morning, I ended up with some free time on my hands. I went up to one of the people that had gotten angry at me and quietly asked, “Is there anything I can help with?”. He replied “No”, with a very tired face. That he couldn’t trust me with anything was written all over his face.

I felt extremely sorry, embarrassed, and so many other emotions mixed together. From the bottom of my heart, I wanted to say, “I’m so sorry for making you feel this way.” It was all I could do to force a smile and say, “Please let me know if there’s anything I can help you with.” After going back to my seat, I reviewed my past work to see if there was anything to do. There were many errors, so I went to work on fixing them.

It’s cold at my window seat so I got some hot tea from the vending machine and sat back down, trying to warm myself. The person next to me furiously shouted, “Don’t bring anything that smells to your seat. What are you thinking!?”. I begged forgiveness - almost on my knees - and escaped to the coffee room.

Feeling depressed, I looked out the window from the coffee room and thought about ways that I might improve myself. The only plan that I could come up with in my current state was very general - there’s nothing that I can do except take extra care with my actions and do my best.

This kind of life has been going on for more than three months. In all honesty, I want to quit this company. I think it’s time.

Sometimes, I think I shouldn’t be here. Still, quitting without making personal improvements feels like running away. I can’t do that. Me breaking down mentally, or my colleagues’ patience reaching the limit… which will come first?

I’m so sorry that I’m such a miserable person. I’m just so sorry.
And, I’ve caught a cold. But I can’t take a day off.

Japan: Coworking Magazine Launched

Tomomi Sasaki — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 11:52:19 +0000

Cowarp [ja]: There's been a surge of interest around coworking spaces and its culture, and now there's a brand new online magazine for it.

“Let Us Dream”: Demonstrating Against Unified Job Hunting in Japan

Tomomi Sasaki — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:25:55 +0000

Each spring, the job hunting season starts and Japanese students in their third year of university start preparing by suiting up, attending seminars and job fairs, and having bouts of soul searching. They apply to dozens of companies, each with multiple rounds of examinations and interviews, until they receive one or several job offers.

The process can take up a large chunk of the last two years of school; a mentally and physically draining time that eats into one’s self-confidence.

"Job Hunting Seminar for Sophomore Students" by Flickr user shinyai (CC BY-NC 2.0).

On Labor Day, students held demonstrations in Tokyo and Kyoto to rally against this system, expressing anger towards the irrational hoops and hurdles that impede on studying time. The demonstration also criticized the commercialization of job hunting, pointing fingers to several major online student/company matching services that play a big part in the ecosystem of the practice.

The organizers used blogs and Twitter (@syukatsu_tokyo and @S_demo_Kyoto) to call for support, and eventually round up more than a hundred demonstrators.

@syukatsu_tokyo: 【拡散願】とうとう後2日！就活ぶっこわせデモ、水曜日13時半アルタ前集合です！！行こうか行くまいか迷っているそこのあなた！！遠目に見てるだけでも構わない！ぜひ新宿アルタ前に！ #就活デモ

[Please RT] Two more days to go! We will be gathering for the demonstration to abolish university graduate job recruitment practices in front of the Shinjuku Alta building at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday! Still undecided? Just come to watch, then. Meet up in front of Shinjuku Alta!

This is one of their messages:

@hosyukakumei: 競争はあってもいいと思うんんだけど、共生を目指したいんです。同じ日本人通しで勝ち組とか負け組とかいうレッテルを貼りあうのはもういい加減やめませんか？少なくとも私はそういう不毛な争いに疲れました。 #就活デモ

Competition is fine, but we'd like to aim for peaceful coexistence. Couldn’t we just stop the cavalier labels of “winners” and “losers” among ourselves? I, at least, am tired of such unproductive conflicts.

The Tokyo organizers report that more than 1,000 people watched the live stream, while the archived footage garnered over 6,000 views.

The demonstration gathered attention in the online sphere. Many commented that the intent of the demonstration was unclear, although there were some that supported the act of having a demonstration.

@yatabe_: 就活ぶっこわせデモを傍観してきたけど（参加はしてない）主張がなくて何が言いたいのかわかんなかった。試みは面白いだけに非常に残念。「就活くたばれ」「○○ナビ潰れろ」「ゆとりにゆとりを」「夢を見させろ」って叫びながら歩いてたけど、わがまま言ってるようにしか聞こえなかった。　#就活デモ

I went to watch the demonstration against graduate job recruitment practices from the sidelines (I did not participate in it), but there was no emphasis on any particular point. I couldn’t figure out what they were trying to say and it’s too bad, because the initiative itself is interesting. Demonstrators were chanting “Down with the graduate job recruitment process,” “Crush the _ _navi [an online match service for students and companies]”, “Make room for the Yutori Generation” and “Let us dream”. This just sounded selfish.

@hgkent: でも個人的にはやる意味は十分あると思う　頭の良い人は就活が労働全般の構造問題だってわかってるし、それを変えるにはデモだけじゃ足りないってことも　だから生半可に考えてるならやめろってことかもしれない　でもでも、気づいてない人のほうがたくさんいるんだよ　それが問題なんだよ　#就活デモ

Still, I personally think the act of demonstrating against it has plenty of meaning. Intelligent people understand that the simultaneous recruitment of university graduates is a structural issue and that a demo alone is not sufficient to change this practice. Maybe that is why there’s a need for people to stop treating this issue in a superficial manner…. but many people lack this kind of awareness. This is where the problem lies!

@kobayashiokamu: 明日の就活デモ、思ったより議論が深まってなくてちょっと残念なところもあるけど、とりあえず今の就活はシステムだけじゃなく独特な習慣や作法的な部分がキモすぎるからそこはぶっ壊し希望。

I was a bit let down that the discussions surrounding tomorrow’s demonstration did not deepen as I expected. Some of the unique social practices and rules of behavior are so esoteric though, so I agree with the premise of crushing the system!

Here are some voices that question the futility of tearing down this system.

@chakist: 新卒採用枠をなくしたところで既卒の採用枠が広がるとは思えないし、広がったとしても何の経験もない新卒者の門戸がさらに狭まると思うけどね。既卒として経験者募集の求人ばかり見てる身としては。 #就活デモ

Getting rid of the specific window for fresh graduates wouldn't increase opportunities for non-fresh graduates. Additionally, fresh graduates would have an even harder time finding a job if they had to compete with everyone else, since they don't have any working experience. That's how I feel, as someone who's NOT a fresh graduate and is looking his next job.

@Harnyan726: 就職できない人、社会のシステムからこぼれ落ちる人がいるので生活保護なり何なりで野垂れ死にを防止しましょう、というなら分かるのだが、就職できない人がいなくなるような就活システムってそれ社会主義だから

I would understand if the message was promoting a helping hand via welfare benefits or some such measures to people who can’t find jobs or who slip through the cracks of our society. Come on! The kind of employment system in which everyone has a job is called socialism.

Photo of the demonstration from the official blog

It’s a catch 22 situation for students. Rebelling against the system - no matter how wrong you think it is - is probably not going to help your chances of getting a job. And if you've managed to secure a job, would you be so passionate about this cause? It makes people curious and dubious about who exactly is participating.

@sankakutyuu: 「高学歴の俺様に相応しいクリエイティブでファッショナブルな仕事寄越せ」なんつー無理筋な話じゃなくって「一生居酒屋バイトでも所帯を持って幸福の内に生命を終えることができる世の中にしろ！」と声を挙げることが何故できないの？ #就活デモ

Why can’t the demonstrators raise their voices to say, “Create a world a place where I can have a family and lead a happy life even though I only have a temporary job working in a pub,” instead of something clearly unreasonable to the tune of “Give me a creative and cool-sounding job that is worthy of my high level of education”?

@hatiue46: 就活システムに関しても、変えられるのはこの就活システムによって職を得た人たちなわけだが、いざ就職できてしまうと就活時に理不尽さを感じていても、変えようという気がなくなってしまうのだと思う。こういったのを変えられるのはベンチャーくらい？

The only people who can change things are those who have obtained employment through this very system. However, I think that people lose their motivation for change once they’ve started working, even if they felt during the process that it was highly unjust. Perhaps startups are the only ones who can shake things up?!

Thanks to Ian McKenzie for helping with the translation.

Japan: WordCamp Tokyo is Tomorrow

Tomomi Sasaki — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 11:58:28 +0000

WordCamp Tokyo 2011 will be held November 27th. The organizers are running a relay blog [ja] that describes why you should go and what's happening behind the scenes.

Japan: A Blogger's Top 5 WWII Literary Works

Tomomi Sasaki — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:11:44 +0000

The Reading Life blog share their experience in exploring Japanese WWII literature, for people who want to go beyond Haruki Murakami and read more Japanese literary work.

Japan: Clouds over Tokyo

Tomomi Sasaki — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 16:47:25 +0000

@yoisin compiled [ja] a list of over 70 tweets with photographs that capture the ominous clouds that drifter over Tokyo today.

Interview with Izumi Mihashi from GV Lingua Japanese

Tomomi Sasaki — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 06:43:58 +0000

Izumi Mihashi has been a profilic member of the Japanese Lingua team since early 2009 and currently splits editor duties with Hanako Tokita. With “Japan: a case of an exposed online pseudonym”, she published her first English post on Global Voices this September. Izumi tweets in English at @en_izumi.

In this interview, we learn about Izumi, her success in leading recruitment and team building at Lingua Japanese, its next steps, and thoughts on the Internet landscape in Japan.

Global Voices (GV): Please tell us about yourself!

Izumi Mihashi (IM): I recently quit my job of two years at a major electronic manufacturing company, which I had started after getting my master’s in mathematical engineering. I plan to go back to school next April to research the world of human perception.

Izumi Mihashi

GV: How did you get involved with GV?

IM: I graduated from university in September but had a bit of time until I started my job in April. I was working on a translation job for a book on mathematics, but was looking for another project. I saw an entry on the Uncategorizable Blog [a popular Japanese blog by GV contributor Taku Nakajima] that introduced Global Voices, and was attracted by its concept.

GV: What is your current role?

IM: I used to be in charge of the communication with new volunteers [Note: The Lingua Japanese team has a trial process to screen for quality.], but I’ve passed that role to someone else now. I guess you could call me a cheerleader for our team now!

I have a lot of ideas for improving operations for the Lingua Japanese team, but haven’t had a lot of time to execute them. So that’s what I’m working on right now - implementing the improvements.

GV: Can you share some of your reform ideas?

IM: I have lots of ideas! They can be split into two categories: promotion and sharing tasks.

We’re not very good at promotion at the moment, and I think we’re missing out on readership even though the content is compelling. For example, it’s a bit difficult to tell on the Lingua sites that Global Voices is amplifying voices that are not picked up by traditional media… maybe it looks like a translation site for foreign media sources? I’m always thinking about how we can improve the presentation so that we can effectively communicate GV’s concept.

I also feel that the content can be a bit “distance” from our Japanese audience. In the Japanese blogosphere, there are a lot of articles concerning accessible topics that heavily feature the author’s opinion. GV is the opposite, in that the author is neutral and introduces many facets of the discussion. Also, many of the happenings covered in GV articles occur in a place that’s physically distant from Japan. I believe that Lingua translators can play a bigger role in bridging Global Voices and our Japanese audience.

Last but not least is how to split tasks within the team. We tweaked our messaging to bring the call for volunteers upfront and as a result, our team welcomed a sharp increase in numbers. Management becomes more complicated though, so the Japanese Lingua team is testing out new processes.

A recent meetup in Tokyo

GV: What do you enjoy most about GV?

IM: What makes me happiest is for the members of Lingua Japanese to enjoy translating articles! Recently, we started doing translation reviews on the internal mailing list. In the beginning, people were more interested in translating than reviewing, but now we have a good rhythm. Everyone can follow the communication between the translator and review on the mailing list, and I think people have started to enjoy this part of the work as well.

In September, I made my author debut on GV and look forward to exploring this road, too.

GV: Here’s a crazy question for you - if GV Lingua won the lottery, what would you do?

IM: Hmmm, actually I don’t think that the Lingua project and money really go well together. I’m especially against financial aspects having a place in the translation work itself.

It might be nice to have a bit of cash and have someone handle the administrative work such as responding to inquiries, tending to Facebook, starting a newsletter etc. but that’s not really an issue of money. I’m also interested in doing a comparison analysis of GV and other media to explore future opportunities for Lingua Japanese but this is also more a matter of time!

There’s something I’d love to do with the web in general, though.

Japan is an affluent country, at least in terms of materialistic wealth. Even if someone can’t afford Internet access at home, they can get it for free at the public library. The Internet can be a saving grace if you’re isolated in your school or workplace. On the other hand, it can be a dangerous place, with flame wars and personal information leakage.

I believe that we can change many lives by creating a safe place for people with lower Internet literacy skills to get together online. The system would need to be designed to preempt problems and have community managers that can intervene and facilitate. It’s a very complex problem to tackle but it would be fantastic if we could accomplish this!

Thank you, Izumi!

Japan: Top 60 buzzwords this year

Tomomi Sasaki — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 04:42:03 +0000

Gakuranman explains (translation+context) to each of the words that made it into the annual list of top 60 Japanese buzzwords from the publisher Jiyu Kokuminsha.