Job Discussion Forums

[nomadder]

How has Japan changed in the last 5 years? Culture,economy and job market. Or any other way you care to add.

[mapraopenrai]

I think it's getting a little more nationalistic here...

[markle]

.... and everywhere else.

[Glenski]

Having lived here in 1985-86, and from 1998 to present times, here is my perspective on this overly general question.

Politically, it has seen a couple of prime ministers, from a real loser (Mori) to a charged maverick (Koizumi) to the current idiot (Abe) who is trying to set things back decades with his (and his staff's) remarks on wartime crimes, women as baby-making machines, and English education. With any luck, Abe and his cronies will be out, so that all of those items will be put in their proper places, and we (as English teachers) can get back on the track we were on in March, 2006. Japan has maintained its "place" with the UN, yet continues to demand a seat on the security council despite any visible efforts to do more than pay its way in.

The country has a ways to go in recognizing what to do with English education here. The university entrance exams have made some changes, but by and large, as I see it, the system for us teachers is still a low-priority one that has us doing more edutainment than educating. The worst thing to happen in the past 5 years has been the rise of dispatch companies, which not only infiltrate the university system but which offers illegal business practices just to fill the pockets of the people who run the agencies.

Socially, Japan still needs to make headway with regards to discrimination against foreigners, but a few small improvements have been made. Things like the recent "gaijin crimes" magazine that was just published (and thankfully withdrawn) are a painful reminder that discrimination still exists deep in some people's minds.

Salaries for English teachers have gone down, especially for entry level work. Some headway has been made by the union(s) to get eikaiwas to put up copayments for shakai hoken, but it has also raised the question of whether they even should have fought for it, because it simply means more money out of a teacher's paycheck. Granted, one can collect a part of that as a lump sum pension refund, but overall it means less money to people, despite the health coverage that (in my opinion) the eikaiwas should have been copaying for in the first place.

Universities are drying up and/or merging, making jobs more competitive (along with the competition from the dispatch agencies). The drying up is due to the decline in birth rate, so unless things take a drastic turn in the opposite direction, there is very little one can do, and even if a sudden change takes place, it will take a long time (18 years or more) before we see any substantive effects.

Economy-wise? Daily reports of government officials involved in bid rigging, of corporate scandals (e.g., Live Door and building contractors) of similar nature, and of other sorts of scandals (food-poisonings at Snow Brand and Fujiya) have only brought to light what is probably the tip of the iceberg in underhanded dealings here, and more is probably on the way. Temp jobs for Japanese seem to be the way of business these days, and fewer young people believe in lifetime employment.

Culture-wise? More and more Korean dramas and actors/musicians are being recognized and adored here. Young men are dressing and looking more like women every day. SMAP is still as popular as ever (sadly). The Mega-Mac has been introduced at McDonalds, giving rise to an ever-increasing waistline to the younger generation. More Japanese are joining American professional baseball, but the broadcasting of the Olympics has not changed much here, depicting usually only the Japanese athletes, whether they win or not. Fortune tellers like Hosoki Kazuko and Ehara Hiroyuki have gained fame and widespread popularity.

Nutshell finished. Other people will likely contribute more (and should).

[markle]

seriously though 5 years is a far too short a time span, especially given the absence of any significant sudden event (9/11, stockmarket crash, etc). try 15, 20 years.

[JimDunlop2]

[nomadder]

So I'm envisioning for the future the Smap Old Timer Shuffle, the McSushi Burger, English by robot and hire an exec by the hour. Those capsules could come in handy as homes.

[canuck]

[southofreality]

[canuck]

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/archive/news/2007/03/20070303p2g00m0dm001000c.html

[fat_chris]

Sorry for the ignorance.

SMAP?

[Glenski]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMAP

[J.]

Glenski. I agree with everything you said. Even about SMAP. It was interesting to see that they have a wikipedia entry. If their faces had been there, maybe the person who didn't know them would have been nodding his/her head. One of the reasons I don't watch much Japanese TV anymore was that I got tired of seeing them about a hundred times a day on every ersatz game show, talk show, "special", and commercial, not to mention that "English lesson" with the one with the yellow bleached hair. The only thing just as bad is that "Morning Musume" group.

On the personal, not cultural front, I would say that one thing I notice is that products from North America or other countries are a bit more available than they used to be. Internet shopping has really taken off over the past few years, as has the Internet in general and broadband. It's much easier to keep in touch with the rest of the world than it used to be. Email alone keeps me in touch with my family regularly and a lot less cheaply than when I had to rely only on the telephone. And there're Skype and other voice options for cheap calling.

The internet is also a fantastic research tool for teachers, with its wealth of information in English available for the time it takes to hunt it up. I regularly print newspaper and other texts for my students, and it allows me to research everything from haiku to Shakespeare. If a student has a question I can't answer, I can usually find out something of use online.

For those craving the latest trends in exercise, try the "Slendaaaa Shapaaa", all over Sky TV ads. Even better than natto as a diet aid, apparently. My gym has at least 4 of the standing models and they're constantly in use.

[gaijinalways]

I would say the degree of nationalism has never changed, just how much of it the government promotes and tries to emphasize. Western products (or a variation of them) are more available. 5 years is a short time, I've been here almost ten, but some of the changes seem minimal, but there are a few.

One thing that is interesting is how 'low teched' up many of the universities are, especially for part-timers. One university I work at has one pc for part-timers to use, and if you want to use one in the classroom, you need to bring your own! This is worse at a 'technology' university I work at, where this is no pc for part-time lecturers to use. 1960s anyone? The squeeze on uni lecturers by dispatch companies continues, and this seems to be a shared trend with other industries of using even more disposable temporary part-timers. This is leading to a lot of social insecurity, which is part of the next problem.

A different danger point seems to be the increase in family attacks where members are killing other members in their family because if stressful living conditions. So much for group harmony .

[fat_chris]