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blacklillyI have mentioned to various people that fact that I have had trouble shaking off references to dystopia since being in Japan. Having not read the books for a few years I’ve had a sudden desire to re-read “Brave New World” and “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” I tracked down a copy of the latter in Tokyo this week so have added it to the pile.
On the way from Narita airport to Tokyo, back in November, we passed through Chiba with its futuristic looking monorail and I was suddenly in a Dickian reality (I also suspect this had a lot to do with stress, sleep deprivation, and jet lag). The neon glare of Tokyo in the darkness dazzled me. I admit that my view of Japan has been seriously warped by science-fiction and Takashi Miike, so I look for subversion everywhere and am sometimes bemused to find that life is less about “Visitor Q” and “Brave New World” and more… well, normal.
What is quite unsettling is the prominence of The Company in the lives of most people. The British, mostly, have a very skeptical and tongue-in-cheek attitude towards their employers, frequently finding faults in them and deriding them accordingly. I guess this is in part to the evolution of the British Company. We had corporations back in the mid 1800s whilst Amerika was still finding its feet and Japan was only just coming out of isolation. Though I am no business historian I would assume that a length of time such as that would see an evolution in its way of thinking.
What am getting at? Well, for example, during my training this week I was asked to kick off proceedings by leading the room in the Shaze Shakun, or the company “prayer”. Motto does not seem fitting here, whereas the idea of this being a religious action is. Tongue-firmly in cheek I introduced myself as the company minister for that morning and led the room through a series of statements I’m not sure anyone in the room understood, nor particularly cared for. The room was thick with discomfort and embarrassment. Part of the Shakun includes a section in which the concept of credibility is key. Part of this pretty much says that the way you dress is key to your credibility. Having been one for kicking against the concept of “uniform” for many a year I find this part difficult to swallow (or should that be “mouth silently”). To my mind credibility is not about what you look like but what you do. The quality and consequences of your actions determine your reputation and credibility, not what you are wearing.
No man ever stood the lower in my estimation for having a patch in his clothes; yet I am sure that there is a greater anxiety, commonly, to have fashionable, or at least clean and unpatched clothes, than to have a sound conscience.
Henry D Thoreau, Walden
It was also pointed out to me that I was wearing a nose stud. Like I didn’t know that. “ You do know that it’s against company dress code?” Of course, but that’s no reason not to wear it. I might start claiming it as part of my religion (whatever my religion is – Chaotic-Pagan-Buddhism?) and try to find something in the Declaration of Human Rights to back me up. However, I’ve mentioned it to my students (who are also aware that I have tattoos, though I’ve never shown them) and they seem quite relaxed about it. I do a good job; my students enjoy themselves and learn something in the process. It has been said twice now that I am very popular with the students here, so the metal in my face doesn’t seem to putting them off.
…the principal object is, not that mankind may be well and honestly clad, but, unquestionably, that the corporations may be enriched.
As above
Back in 2005 I saw a film called “The Corporation” which diagnosed the Corporation as psychotic, based on criteria in the DSM-IV. Whilst the poor managers are worked to near death for peanuts, and the native teachers drowned by restrictions, certain high-ranking members of the Company (rumour has it) are investing in more private jets.
I sound like I’m moaning. I was well aware that I was coming to work for The Company when I signed up, but perhaps I underestimated just how much I would disagree with their work ethic. I don’t begrudge work so long as I enjoy what I’m doing, which I do. However, the ‘herd mentality’ I have issues with.
My personal opinion is that by acting and dressing the same as everyone else you are shielding yourself from accountability, responsibility and the ability to think for yourself. However, such a mind-set pervades mainstream Japanese society. On the plus side the “Wa” creates a harmonious working environment from the outside, though I suspect from the inside the stress must be immense. It must also relieve a lot of anxiety. No one person is culpable. As ‘our Ford’ says in his monthly missives – it is everyone’s fault and nobody’s fault. Yet, I believe such an attitude hides the more inept members of a workforce, and places more pressure on those who are already doing a good job to compensate for it.
On a less “damn the man” note, I’m enjoying my time in Japan. My job is good (apart from the killer kiddies) and I am making slow inroads into the language, which should also help with trying to figure out the vagaries of the culture – so familiar yet totally alien. It also appears I have another ‘admirer’. Sam told me as much on Saturday night, bemoaning the situation. According to some source, and a fair degree of evidence, Western men have more luck with Japanese women than vice versa. Yet, says Sam, no one has paid any attention to him, whilst I seem to be popular amongst the men folk. Is this due to the fact that I can drink most of them under the table? My kawaii power? Anyway, Sam refuses to tell me who it is, claiming that the person asked him not to tell me. However, this could be an alcohol-induced hallucination on Sam’s part, so I shouldn’t give it too much credence.
Earlier I mentioned books. Whilst in Tokyo I went to Takodanababa (say that when you’re just woken up) to find a second-hand English language bookshop someone had recommended to me. Having not been in a bookshop in over three months I nearly licked all the books with delight. This was my haul:
Philip K Dick – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Arthur Conan Doyle – The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes
Carlos Castaneda – The Teachings of Don Juan (the bit with the lizards is something I’ve never forgotten)
Charles Dickens – Bleak House
Angela Carter – Saints and Sinners
Angela Carter – The Bloody Chamber
Virginia Woolf – Orlando
Apart from Sherlock Holmes and Bleak House these are all books I’ve read before or have in England. Which is partly why I bought them. Familiar reading that I can return and trade in at a future date for more books/money, thus reducing the need to lug them about with me.
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity.
Right, now to play darts.
On the way from Narita airport to Tokyo, back in November, we passed through Chiba with its futuristic looking monorail and I was suddenly in a Dickian reality (I also suspect this had a lot to do with stress, sleep deprivation, and jet lag). The neon glare of Tokyo in the darkness dazzled me. I admit that my view of Japan has been seriously warped by science-fiction and Takashi Miike, so I look for subversion everywhere and am sometimes bemused to find that life is less about “Visitor Q” and “Brave New World” and more… well, normal.
What is quite unsettling is the prominence of The Company in the lives of most people. The British, mostly, have a very skeptical and tongue-in-cheek attitude towards their employers, frequently finding faults in them and deriding them accordingly. I guess this is in part to the evolution of the British Company. We had corporations back in the mid 1800s whilst Amerika was still finding its feet and Japan was only just coming out of isolation. Though I am no business historian I would assume that a length of time such as that would see an evolution in its way of thinking.
What am getting at? Well, for example, during my training this week I was asked to kick off proceedings by leading the room in the Shaze Shakun, or the company “prayer”. Motto does not seem fitting here, whereas the idea of this being a religious action is. Tongue-firmly in cheek I introduced myself as the company minister for that morning and led the room through a series of statements I’m not sure anyone in the room understood, nor particularly cared for. The room was thick with discomfort and embarrassment. Part of the Shakun includes a section in which the concept of credibility is key. Part of this pretty much says that the way you dress is key to your credibility. Having been one for kicking against the concept of “uniform” for many a year I find this part difficult to swallow (or should that be “mouth silently”). To my mind credibility is not about what you look like but what you do. The quality and consequences of your actions determine your reputation and credibility, not what you are wearing.
Henry D Thoreau, Walden
It was also pointed out to me that I was wearing a nose stud. Like I didn’t know that. “ You do know that it’s against company dress code?” Of course, but that’s no reason not to wear it. I might start claiming it as part of my religion (whatever my religion is – Chaotic-Pagan-Buddhism?) and try to find something in the Declaration of Human Rights to back me up. However, I’ve mentioned it to my students (who are also aware that I have tattoos, though I’ve never shown them) and they seem quite relaxed about it. I do a good job; my students enjoy themselves and learn something in the process. It has been said twice now that I am very popular with the students here, so the metal in my face doesn’t seem to putting them off.
As above
Back in 2005 I saw a film called “The Corporation” which diagnosed the Corporation as psychotic, based on criteria in the DSM-IV. Whilst the poor managers are worked to near death for peanuts, and the native teachers drowned by restrictions, certain high-ranking members of the Company (rumour has it) are investing in more private jets.
I sound like I’m moaning. I was well aware that I was coming to work for The Company when I signed up, but perhaps I underestimated just how much I would disagree with their work ethic. I don’t begrudge work so long as I enjoy what I’m doing, which I do. However, the ‘herd mentality’ I have issues with.
My personal opinion is that by acting and dressing the same as everyone else you are shielding yourself from accountability, responsibility and the ability to think for yourself. However, such a mind-set pervades mainstream Japanese society. On the plus side the “Wa” creates a harmonious working environment from the outside, though I suspect from the inside the stress must be immense. It must also relieve a lot of anxiety. No one person is culpable. As ‘our Ford’ says in his monthly missives – it is everyone’s fault and nobody’s fault. Yet, I believe such an attitude hides the more inept members of a workforce, and places more pressure on those who are already doing a good job to compensate for it.
On a less “damn the man” note, I’m enjoying my time in Japan. My job is good (apart from the killer kiddies) and I am making slow inroads into the language, which should also help with trying to figure out the vagaries of the culture – so familiar yet totally alien. It also appears I have another ‘admirer’. Sam told me as much on Saturday night, bemoaning the situation. According to some source, and a fair degree of evidence, Western men have more luck with Japanese women than vice versa. Yet, says Sam, no one has paid any attention to him, whilst I seem to be popular amongst the men folk. Is this due to the fact that I can drink most of them under the table? My kawaii power? Anyway, Sam refuses to tell me who it is, claiming that the person asked him not to tell me. However, this could be an alcohol-induced hallucination on Sam’s part, so I shouldn’t give it too much credence.
Earlier I mentioned books. Whilst in Tokyo I went to Takodanababa (say that when you’re just woken up) to find a second-hand English language bookshop someone had recommended to me. Having not been in a bookshop in over three months I nearly licked all the books with delight. This was my haul:
Philip K Dick – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Arthur Conan Doyle – The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes
Carlos Castaneda – The Teachings of Don Juan (the bit with the lizards is something I’ve never forgotten)
Charles Dickens – Bleak House
Angela Carter – Saints and Sinners
Angela Carter – The Bloody Chamber
Virginia Woolf – Orlando
Apart from Sherlock Holmes and Bleak House these are all books I’ve read before or have in England. Which is partly why I bought them. Familiar reading that I can return and trade in at a future date for more books/money, thus reducing the need to lug them about with me.
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity.
Right, now to play darts.
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no subject
on 2007-01-29 12:32 pm (UTC)Good Question
on 2007-01-30 02:14 pm (UTC)Re: Good Question
on 2007-01-30 05:13 pm (UTC)