ONI WA SOTO, FUKU WA UCHI- DEMONS, OUT! LUCK, IN!

Happy Setsubun! February 3rd marks the day before the start of spring.  Given that February 2nd was the coldest day of the year at -1 degrees Celsius, spring still seems a long way off, particularly when I woke up this morning and the inside temperature registered 3 degrees Celsius, and the frozen pipes would not emit water.  [This article really captures the angst of winter.] Otherwise, setsubun is a great holiday.  Families put holly over their doors to ward off evil spirits, and someone (usually the father) puts on a demon mask, and runs around as the rest of the family throws roasted soybeans, yelling, "Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi!"- "Demons, out!  Luck, in!"  One teacher told me that even though her children have moved out, her husband still makes her chase him around, throwing soybeans at him.  At dinnertime everyone sits down to eat the soybeans (one for each year of their life) and maki (sushi rolls).  You're supposed to eat the roll while face a certain cardinal direction, although according to one Japanese person, this is a recent tradition "thought up by the people who make sushi.  Like candy on Valentine's Day."

From www.backpackers-miyajima.com

I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD

As the adage goes, "Americans live to work, Europeans work to live."  The former is true of the Japanese as well, to the point where it seems that for some people, work is interrupted only by death. Yes, this is really a thing here. The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare acknowledges the problem (and even tracks the statistics of it), and several studies focusing on causes, etc. have been commissioned.  This phenomenon is so common that the Japanese have coined a term for it: karoshi, which literally means "death from overwork."  The official cause of death is usually something cardiovascular-related, and the age of death can be as young as 29.

Many factors contribute to karoshi: stress, long hours, lack of sleep, poor nutrition, etc. Some people believe that the biggest contributing factor is tanshinhoni, wherein salarymen (a generic term to describe men who work for a base salary at big corporations) are transferred to another corporate branch, leaving their families behind so as not to uproot them.   Employees can be transferred as often as every 2-3 years, and refusal is not an option if they want to retain their jobs. The relocated men are jokingly referred to as "business bachelors," but the distance takes its toll on the families.  It's particularly difficult for women who live away from their extended families and are thus denied that support system.  Instead, many women are left virtual single mothers, raising multiple children.  There are repercussions for the children, too, some less serious than others.  One JET told me that when she would allow students to choose stickers as a reward in class, many of the boys surprised her by picking the most effeminate option.  When I asked why, she said, "Because their mothers raise them.  A lot of times that's why they wear their hair longer or wear less masculine clothing- their mothers dress them." 

Karoshi occurs in other countries as well, some of which are in Asia. NPR's "This American Life" did a podcast on this topic last month, and the topic was subsequently picked up by The New York Times.  The story was about Foxconn, a factory in Shenzhen, China that manufactures products for Apple.  An Apple devotee went to the factory as a sort of pilgrimage (think Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), only to find out how bleak the conditions were.  Many people were known to have died after several days of consecutive shifts, and the factory had to install nets across the buildings after workers started killing themselves by jumping off the roofs (in Japanese, overwork suicide is known as karojisatsu).   Some people, such as one journalist at the venerated Wall Street Journal, defend places like Foxconn as testimony to the imperfections of free markets.  Regardless of where you stand on the issue, I think it begs some important questions about the nature of Asia's future, particularly in light of the euro crisis.  If Asia rises to become the next economic powerhouse, what will that world look like?

If Asia does ascend to such lofty heights, I doubt Japan will play a significant role.  Plagued by a rapidly aging population, a need to import most everything, and still reeling from the Asian financial crisis of the 90s, the country already has a lot on its plate.  Moreover, I think the overly bureaucratic and incredibly conservative business ethos of Japan will hurt it.  Its rigid adherence to hierarchy, the prioritization of the collective over the individual, and the overriding importance of consensus will hold back Japan and make it unable to compete with more dynamic economic systems.  

And on that note, I'm going to have a drink after a long week.  You know, for health reasons.  No karoshi for this girl.    

AND SO AS NOT TO END ON A STODGY NOTE...

This happened this week: 

While discussing the meaning of "get on the subway" with my first years, one girl raised her hand and said, "Like the sandwich?" This is the same girl who played the word "double" in Scrabble last week. When asked by her partner how she knew that word, she replied, "Oh, you know- cheeseburgers."

and then...

  

One of my second years, prodding my nose with her finger, said that she liked my "tall" nose, and wished I would give her some of mine so that hers wouldn't be so small.  Later, as I was helping her and her friends with an English project, she said, "You speak very good English."  "Thanks," I replied, "I practice a lot."