|
Are there any good books that discuss the keiretsu system and how that all functions? Or any good books in Japanese business practices in general? As I find their business culture fascinating.
|
#
?
May 1, 2014 17:05
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 12, 2024 14:43 |
|
|
TheHeadSage posted:Are there any good books that discuss the keiretsu system and how that all functions? Or any good books in Japanese business practices in general? As I find their business culture fascinating. Akio Morita's autobiography is a good place to start, has lots of amusing stories on the different business culture. http://www.amazon.com/Made-Japan-Akio-Morita-Signet/dp/0451151712
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2014 02:58
|
|
|
icantfindaname posted:On another topic, is there any political will in Japan at all to make immigration easier? Is the demographic situation sustainable politically or will they be forced to do something about it? There was a program a few years back (possibly still ongoing) to get a bunch of Indonesian and Filipino women in to work as aged care nurses. The idea was that they would undergo intensive training for a year, and then take the nursing exam at the end of that year. Most flunked out due to language issues. quote:Indonesian and Filipino workers who come to care for a vast and growing elderly population cannot stay for good without passing a certification test. And that test's reliance on high-level Japanese -- whose characters these nurses cram to memorize -- has turned the test into a de facto language exam. That's from a 2010 article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/27/AR2010072706053.html?wprss=rss_print
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2014 07:33
|
|
|
I've noticed that staff at conbini and coin operated eateries are largely mainlanders these days.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2014 12:04
|
|
|
shrike82 posted:I've noticed that staff at conbini and coin operated eateries are largely mainlanders these days. Did one of them piss on your or something?
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2014 13:36
|
|
|
How is Japan's welfare state? Is it as generous as Europe? A bit less like America? Or even tighter?
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 01:48
|
|
|
punk rebel ecks posted:How is Japan's welfare state? Is it as generous as Europe? A bit less like America? Or even tighter? It at least has UHC and a national pension system.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 04:37
|
|
|
punk rebel ecks posted:How is Japan's welfare state? Is it as generous as Europe? A bit less like America? Or even tighter? http://ssjj.oxfordjournals.org/content/13/1/53.full That will help explain a whole bunch.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 05:41
|
|
|
punk rebel ecks posted:How is Japan's welfare state? Is it as generous as Europe? A bit less like America? Or even tighter? I spent close to a month fighting for unemployment benefits as I had (been forced to) pay into unemployment insurance for over half a decade and never saw a single yen of it despite the fact that I was legally eligible to do so the day my employment ended, so what the law says and and what actually occurs in Japan are often two wildly different things. I'm sure if I had actually applied for welfare or something it would have been Edit: welfare for permanent residents is no longer a thing, says Japanese Supreme Court. Sheep fucked around with this message at 23:51 on Aug 22, 2014 |
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 12:38
|
|
|
what the law says and and what actually occurs in Japan are often two wildly different things. Next Thread Title
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 13:26
|
|
|
Sheep posted:I spent close to a month fighting for unemployment benefits as I had (been forced to) pay into unemployment insurance for over half a decade and never saw a single yen of it despite the fact that I was legally eligible to do so the day my employment ended, so what the law says and and what actually occurs in Japan are often two wildly different things. So for Japanese natives they get reasonable welfare state but for foreigners it's "lol gently caress you!"? Shinobo posted:http://ssjj.oxfordjournals.org/content/13/1/53.full This is amazing thank you.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 16:40
|
|
|
punk rebel ecks posted:So for Japanese natives they get reasonable welfare state but for foreigners it's "lol gently caress you!"? Another anecdote, but I know of at least one foreigner that collected on unemployment insurance. As for my personal experience, I'm covered just fine by the healthcare scheme, and I'm fully enrolled in the pension system.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 16:51
|
|
|
punk rebel ecks posted:So for Japanese natives they get reasonable welfare state but for foreigners it's "lol gently caress you!"? edit: when on the phone with Japanese people about official stuff, I had a game for myself, see how long I could go before they found out I wasn't Japanese. I'd know instantly when they found out because their speaking speed would go way down and they'd start stuttering and stuff. Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 17:07 on May 10, 2014 |
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 17:01
|
|
|
Samurai Sanders posted:I dunno if its so much "lol gently caress you" but rather you come in to their office or whatever and even though you're asking, in Japanese, for the same things a Japanese person would, they get all weird and have to think about everything five times through. Is that because they expect no matter how well you speak Japanese the second they know you're foreign they assume you have difficulties understanding them?
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 18:08
|
|
|
pentyne posted:Is that because they expect no matter how well you speak Japanese the second they know you're foreign they assume you have difficulties understanding them? I try to think of most as Japan as like central Oklahoma or something. As far as in-person interactions with people from far elsewhere, there's the guy who runs the Chinese restaurant in town and that's about it. The rest is just images from TV and movies. edit: But then, I lived far away from Kanto. Maybe in Kanto, interacting with Westerners is something everyone has significant experience with by the time they are an adult. Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 20:55 on May 10, 2014 |
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 18:17
|
|
|
punk rebel ecks posted:So for Japanese natives they get reasonable welfare state but for foreigners it's "lol gently caress you!"? As with most things Japan it is generally up to the whims of whatever bureaucrat you're dealing with. Some are fine others not so much, but yes some things are just more difficult because you're obviously different. Sheep fucked around with this message at 20:28 on May 10, 2014 |
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 20:21
|
|
|
Sheep posted:As with most things Japan it is generally up to the whims of whatever bureaucrat you're dealing with. Some are fine others not so much, but yes some things are just more difficult because you're obviously different. also from what i understand alot of the social safety nets build off of the social networks that japanese government assumes to be pervasive. its why you never see any help for homeless people from the government, its always assumed they would move back in with their parents/grandparents/etc. if youre connected to that social network then japan is pretty progressive in taking care of its citizens. if you are outside that then you are pretty drat hosed
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 22:45
|
|
|
Japan spends a lot of money to make people think it's modern and progressive but after the shine comes off the turd you get a fax telling you to get the gently caress out.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 00:07
|
|
|
One of the reasons why I am interested in Japan is that despite it having the most educated and hardworking population in the world it still has one of the highest poverty rates in the first world. To me it pretty much proves that the existence of (relative) poverty in the first world can't be dismissed as the population just being lazy like it is so often here in the States.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 00:20
|
|
|
punk rebel ecks posted:One of the reasons why I am interested in Japan is that despite it having the most educated and hardworking population in the world it still has one of the highest poverty rates in the first world. To me it pretty much proves that the existence of (relative) poverty in the first world can't be dismissed as the population just being lazy like it is so often here in the States. Long hours does not necessarily mean hardworking, the Japanese are quite underproductive per hour worked compared to other similarly advanced (G7) nations. For extra fun try figuring out why the Japanese reported average yearly hours worked (1745, 33.5 hrs/week) is so low despite the fact that so many people are doing unpaid overtime - is it bullshit number padding? Unpaid overtime not being counted? A result of so much of the workforce being involved in unstable part-time only/dispatch work? Look at South Korea (2163, 41.59 hrs/week) for a number closer to reality.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 00:37
|
|
|
punk rebel ecks posted:One of the reasons why I am interested in Japan is that despite it having the most educated and hardworking population in the world I can see you have never been to Japan, and if you did you never worked here.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 00:46
|
|
|
I've been reading about the work conditions in Japan and it's really interesting. It looks like there's a clash between the current young generation of workers entering into the job market and the bosses from the previous generation. Recently I saw a news of the Watami group(company?) reporting losses, followed by responses of cheers. I read up on the company on Wikipedia and apparently they have a cult-like work culture that had lead some of their employees to suicide. Reading of the Watami had lead me to more details of the "black company" that I've heard the term here and there. Now apparently employers are complaining about newly hires that quit within a day or a week, calling them "monster employees". I'm somewhat hoping the younger generation of Japanese will take more actions as they grow more aware of how messed up the work culture they have over there. I also recently learned that the right-wingers calls left-wingers "Sasori", which I believe means scorpions? Are there any sites in English or Japanese to read good editorials on current events in Japan? The ones I've found are mostly right-leaning sites that spend 40% of their content mocking Koreans and China.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 01:48
|
|
|
Revalis Enai posted:Are there any sites in English or Japanese to read good editorials on current events in Japan? The ones I've found are mostly right-leaning sites that spend 40% of their content mocking Koreans and China. edit: Yeah, I've heard about the Watami hate, via parodies including this free game. But it sure sounds to me like the average Japanese company is still really lovely to its employees, of any age or generation (only, the older ones have learned to put up with it more). And if you're a woman then get the hell out, unless you like filing papers and serving tea even though you have a PhD from Georgetown (true story I have heard). Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 02:17 on May 11, 2014 |
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 01:54
|
|
|
Sheep posted:Long hours does not necessarily mean hardworking, the Japanese are quite underproductive per hour worked compared to other similarly advanced (G7) nations. Interestingly enough, the 33.5 hours is the exact amount mandated by the Japan government.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 02:03
|
|
|
If you're a well(foreign)-educated Japanese, you'd probably want to work for a 外資系 anyway. I can't think of a single reason why you'd want to work for a local company over a foreign one.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 02:28
|
|
|
Madd0g11 posted:Japan spends a lot of money to make people think it's modern and progressive but after the shine comes off the turd you get a fax telling you to get the gently caress out. And that sums it up pretty nicely.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 02:32
|
|
|
pentyne posted:Interestingly enough, the 33.5 hours is the exact amount mandated by the Japan government. Funny how that works out, huh.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 02:48
|
|
|
Can you guys tell me anything about he Brazilian Japanese community? How are they? How do native Japanese see them?
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 02:48
|
|
|
There's a lot of them in Nagoya because of Toyota. I think there was a big push to bring them in for labor because being descended from Japanes people made immigration easier from somewhere. I'm pretty sure an average Japanese person would still just see them as foreigners, but I could be wrong. Sorry I don't know much.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 03:08
|
|
|
Sheep posted:Look at South Korea (2163, 41.59 hrs/week) for a number closer to reality. If you think that's anywhere near true for either SK or Japan you're nuts. Either that or the average is being weighed down by part-time workers or something. A lot of companies will have their workers in the office for 60-70 hours a weeks.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 03:34
|
|
|
You guys are forgetting that although office workers spend most of their life at the office, young people are massively underemployed and company jobs get less common every year. Think about the 900 tiny restaurants and bars in your neighborhood, staffed by thousands of young people doing 40 hours a week only if they're lucky. In addition, blue collar workers don't generally work huge amounts of unpaid overtime. Not everyone is a salaryman, so shock at that number is mostly a reflection of the white-collar Tokyo-centric nature of the Japan expats. Gabriel Grub fucked around with this message at 03:41 on May 11, 2014 |
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 03:38
|
|
|
punk rebel ecks posted:Can you guys tell me anything about he Brazilian Japanese community? How are they? How do native Japanese see them? Even a cursory Google search would give you what you're looking for, but there is a particular kind of disdain for them (not hate), because since they're Japanese by blood they're sort of seen as like... backstabbers? for their families leaving Japan in the first place. And of course they're culturally brazilian so they don't fit in at all. Mostly I think the onus is on Japanese here for thinking they could bring in immigrants who had Japanese ethnicity and expect them to perfectly fall in line when they got Brazilians instead.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 03:40
|
|
|
punk rebel ecks posted:Can you guys tell me anything about he Brazilian Japanese community? How are they? How do native Japanese see them? Tainted by foreignness, not real Japanese. There was a thing to bring them back to Japan a while ago because they wouldn't really be immigrants, they're Japanese and all. Now the Japanese government pays them to leave and go back to Brazil.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 03:44
|
|
|
I've met lots of Brazilians, Japanese and Japanese-Brazilians in my work and Japanese-Brazilians sure seem to be just any other Brazilian other than their name and how they look. edit: not Brazilian, but Japan sheltered deposed Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori just because of his name/blood. Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 04:20 on May 11, 2014 |
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 04:13
|
|
|
The Japanese government was in for a shock when it turned out that people from Brazil are Brazilian, not Japanese.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 04:16
|
|
|
LimburgLimbo posted:If you think that's anywhere near true for either SK or Japan you're nuts. Either that or the average is being weighed down by part-time workers or something. A lot of companies will have their workers in the office for 60-70 hours a weeks. The keyword there is closer. In my opinion both countries are probably averaging closer to 50/week, and it's only that low because, as Lemmi pointed out, so many people are underemployed and so much time spent at work is unreported. And because the numbers used as sources (OECD national accounts) are all self-reported, there's almost certainly an amount of number fudging going on, which is probably why we arrive at the magical 33.5 hours/week for Japan that no one but the most uninformed would accept as accurate.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 04:19
|
|
|
Grand Fromage posted:The Japanese government was in for a shock when it turned out that people from Brazil are Brazilian, not Japanese. There's a great article by Takeyuki Tsuda about the thinking behind encouraging migration of Japanese-Brazilians. Because I have it handy, here are a few quotes: quote:Japanese government officials were able to justify this side door policy [of allowing nikkeijin into Japan] by claiming that the nikkeijin were not unskilled immigrant workers per se, but ancestral returneees who were being invited back to their ethnic homeland to explore their Japanese heritage. In addition, because of an essentialized racial ideology in which those of Japanese decent are expected to be culturally Japanese to a certain extent, even if they were born and raised abroad, government policymakers assumed that the nikkeijin would be culturally similar and would assimilate smoothly to Japanese society - in contrast to racially and culturally different foreigners. Even though the Brazilian-Japanese were ultimately regarded by Japanese society as 'foreigners', they are still regarded as 'more Japanese' than Zainichi Koreans - who are born in Japan, often speak only Japanese and are probably indistinguishable from 'Japanese Japanese' by most people. From the same article: quote:One local city official in Oizumi expressed a common sentiment among my Japanese informants when he said: Guess the Zainichi just need some of that precious Japanese blood. What if they got transfusions?
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 05:15
|
|
|
Another way to get a glimpse into this aspect of Japan is asking a local about burakumin. I was once astonished to hear an Oxford educated Japanese friend of mine tell me with a straight face that such and such a politician was a shitbird and that it wasn't surprising because he had burakumin blood or something along those lines.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 05:20
|
|
|
ozza posted:Guess the Zainichi just need some of that precious Japanese blood. What if they got transfusions? That wouldn't work, foreigner blood is thick and can't mix with Japanese blood. Different species and all. 
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 05:20
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 12, 2024 14:43 |
|
|
ozza posted:
Fuckin country is hopeless
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 05:21
|
|
