Ippoippo

Well, I’ve been here over 6 months, and I’ve finally got annoyed with one aspect of Japan. WORK!
Actually, my work isn’t so bad. It’s Yuko’s work that is annoying me.

I work for a British company, with a Japanese office. Therefore, I don’t work exceedingly long hours, all week, every week. Sure, sometimes I have to put in some extra time when required, but not all the time.
Yuko is a temporary staff member at a Japanese computer software firm. She is treated like shit! I don’t like that!
For the last two weeks, she’s been doing 12-14 hour days at the office (luckly no working on Saturday), and gets payed very little for it. Why can’t Japanese firms see that overworking their staff does not increase productivity!!!

The ‘funny’ thing is that both myself and her mum thinks she should quit………………………….. for completely different reasons.
I want her to quit because it’s making her stressed, and the weekends are not as fun because she’s too tired.
Her mum wants her to quit because she can’t be the old fashioned stereotypical good lady who has cooked the dinner for me when I come home.
Ahhh well, different motives but at least we agree on a course of action.

The tough thing is though is what will Yuko do if she quits. I would like her to carry on doing computer work. She’s always wanted to do that. The downside is that in all probability any other Japanese firm she worked for will be slave-houses too.

So, folks, back in the UK. If you ever feel the need to gripe about working in the UK for a British firm…. saying it would be much easier and stress free working for a European company…… you get it good compared to a Japanese worker in a Japanese company.

Hmmm, holiday soon as well. In a couple of weeks Yuko and I are off to Kyoto to see a friend. That is something we are both looking forward too.

Its been a relatively quiet couple of days. Yuko is pretty tired from her work (working in your typical Japanese company slave-shop), so we pretty much vegged out.
Saturday, got up really late. Ventured into town, looked around a bit. Did some food shopping. Came home, cleaned the house up. Dull ehhh?
Then I cooked a Pork Roast! Yuko likes traditional British Roast dinners. I’ve now found an online shopping place which has a British Shop section (its primarily for buying American products). Earlier in the week we got our big consignment through of stuff for making gravy, Yorkshire Puddings, and Stuffing. (I’m not that good a cook, so I have to use Paxo, Bisto etc).

Sunday was pretty lazy too. We travelled to see Yuko’s parents, and give them their consignment of British gravy etc etc (and some as well for Yuko’s older brother). After I cooked them Christmas dinner, they decided they wanted more!
Afterwards, we then ventured off to Yodabashi camera. I really, really want to get myself a nice photoprinter now. We had a play around on the massage machines as well. Some of them are so expensive. How about 2500 quid for a massage chair. Our conclusion afterwards was that they did give you a nice massage, BUT……….. getting a massage from your missus, or a properly trained person in a health spa is FAR better.
Afterward, we ventured off to have some food. We went to a place that Yuko’s parents are thinking of going when my parents arrive in Japan in December. They thought it would be a good idea for me to check the food out, to see if my folks could it eat it.

Its pretty cold here in Japan at the moment. It was snowing in Machida yesterday, though it was just cold rain where I live in Matsudo.

Anyway, with the long journey to Machida yesterday, I had some time to contemplate things.
1. Despite the fact that its freezing cold, why do a large number of young Japanese women and teenagers (14-28 years old) still wear their really short skirts!!!! I mean, they not even going out on the pull as it were. This is what they sometimes wear as their day to day clothing.
2. Why aren’t Japanese house’s properly decorated? The old buildings, with really traditional rooms are quite cool. They look very nice, in a minimalistic way. A lot of the very, very new designer (expensive) appartments are very nice too. However, the majority of contempory housing contains a complete mismatch of furniture with no attempt of co-ordinating the design of the room.
3. Why can’t Japanese people (usually the women) ‘drive’ shopping trolleys? I mean, the UK is pretty bad, but I find supermarkets quite agitating here.
4. Talking of supermarkets, why is it necessary in Japan for there to be TWO people operating a checkout? One to put the stuff through the scanner and into the basket. The second is the one who you pay. I guess it’s part of the Japanese tradition of pointless Job-Creation schemes.
5. Finally, when will Japan finally realise and DO something about it’s aging population? It’s probably one of the reasons why Yuko and I have been talking about not staying here after 10 years or so.

Last night I had another Japanese lesson, which was interesting. It was this morning I realised it would really great if I could study Japanese full time. Although a lot more logical than English and other European languages most of the time, it still is a difficult language to learn. However, I certainly find it a lot more interesting.

The whole problem with doing this full time is the slight issue of real life getting in the way. The need for money to support oneself and the missus. Work is pretty interesting, but I always get that nagging feeling that studying Japanese would be even more fun. Of course, I remember when I was a student (back in 1995-1998!!!) that I was always thinking …. “This is quite interesting, but I cant wait to start work”. Knowing me, if I did study Japanese full time, I would want to start working again I guess I’m just impossible to please.

Here in Japan, yesterday, it was the 10th Anniversary of the Kobe (or Great Hanshin) earthquake. Its certainly strange that the recent Tsunami almost coincided with this other great disaster anniversary. The BBC have some pictures as well.

Finally, the last couple of days, I’ve been on some pretty busy trains. I’ve experienced a few busy trains while I’ve been here. In the hot weather, they certainly were most uncomfortable. If you ask me, they are also a pretty big health and safety risk. Would you want to take your young children on a train like that.
But I console myself, when I realise that I haven’t been a train so packed that have to do this (see the video at this site) !

EDIT: Added Link to Dominic’s Journal as well. Dominic was a collegue of mine where I worked in the UK.

Cool support from my Web Hosting company .

I went to amend my blog this lunchtime, and noticed that all of my web content was non-viewable. Just raised a support call, and got it mostly fixed.
There’s still a minor glitch with the Gallery, but the photo’s are viewable at least, and the Blog section and static sections of the websiet all work now.

EDIT: The minor glitch was fixed about 15 minutes later. Top work!!!!

Thanks guys.