3 things that I love and 3 things that I hate about Japan

So as you probably know, I went to Japan last year to study there, and I came back to the UK last month. Here are 3 things that I love about Japan and 3 that I hate. Let's start with the things I hate, so we can end this post on a positive note.

Things that I hate #3 - Work culture

Now this is something I didn't encounter directly, as I was a university student for my time in Japan, and in Japan university is undoubtedly the easiest stage of the school/university/work progression. However, I did come to understand a lot about the Japanese attitude to work and business, and it's something that really puts me off wanting to work there.

I'm making some generalisations here, but a lot of people work in office jobs in Japan, and the hours they work are extremely hard and extremely long. When I was returning home from karaoke on the train around 11 or 12 at night there would often still be businessmen and women returning home after just finishing at the office. You see, it's expected in Japan that everyone work overtime - it's just a normal part of the job, and basically everyone does it. And the emphasis for a worker in a Japanese business is not usually on results, but simply on time worked. So an employee could work extremely efficiently for 8 hours in a day and get all their work done and more, but it would be preferred that the employee works more hours, even if it means they get less work done.

From what I gather, Japan is moving away from their unique business practices, and towards a more Western way of working, but this kind of thing is still very prevalent in Japan, and results in things like death from overwork, which was a fairly big problem a few years ago.

It also creates a mindset where people become too focused on their work at the exclusion of all else, which means they barely have any time to see their family or spend as leisure time, which is very unhealthy. It can also contribute to creating a very homogenous society, which Japan definitely is, where there are few individuals, and just one massive workforce.

Of course this kind of system has its benefits. Japan are currently (although probably not for much longer) the 2nd largest economy in the world, and the Japanese population is very affluent, but it's something which I can't go along with myself, and would prevent me from wanting to work there.

Things that I hate #2 - Summer weather

The weather in Japan is really great for half of the year, namely spring and autumn. Both of these seasons are warm, with little rain, and could be compared to the British summer to be honest. And winter isn't all that bad. However, summer in Japan is horrible in every way. First the whole thing kicks off with a rainy season where you get torrential downpours and the possibility of typhoons. While I was in Japan the rainy season was apparently nowhere near as bad as usual, but it still wasn't enjoyable. Then it starts to get hot, really hot. Now being from the UK, you think I'd be happy of any kind of warm weather to come my way, but this isn't the kind of hot weather where you can get a suntan. This is the kind of heat that makes you sweat just sat in your room, meaning you have to have the air conditioner on full blast to make sure you don't end up in a melted puddle on the floor. The heat is so oppressive and muggy, that as soon as you walk outside you'll start to sweat, and about 30 minutes later be covered in sweat from head to toe. This climate was made ten times worse for me by the fact that my university was half-way up a massive mountain range, which meant I had to climb a huge hill every day to get to classes. One of my friends would take an extra change of clothes for when he reached uni because of the amount of sweat he would expend making the journey there. When you're in Japan you spend a lot of time on crowded trains too, which isn't fun in such weather.

You don't even get light nights in the summer in Japan, as it goes dark at the same time every night for the whole year. So it's safe to say I was relieved to come back to the UK and escape even just the tail-end of the Japanese summer. As soon as I got off the plane in England I noticed a difference, and the air felt so clean and cool. So while Japanese weather is quite nice most of the time, it's nearly unbearable in the summer.

Things that I hate #1 - Getting along with Japanese people

OK, that heading looks kinda bad, but let me explain. It's not that I hate Japanese people at all, but the biggest problem that I, and many of my foreign friends encountered in Japan, was getting along with Japanese people. Although I was warned about it before I went, and in a way even experienced it with some Japanese people I met before going to Japan, it took me a while to adjust to and understand the situation.

Now one of the big reasons I wanted to go to Japan was because it seemed so different to any other nation in the world. I once heard someone say something along the lines of "Japan is the most unique nation in the world, and is unlike any other", and after being there for a year I can agree with that. Even some of my Korean and Chinese friends who are from countries that are culturally close to Japan had a hard time getting along with Japanese people.

I don't like to make judgements on why a certain nationality of people behave in a certain way, but if I was to explain why I found it so hard to make good friends, I would say there are a couple of big reasons. First, Japanese people socialise in a different way compared to Western countries. It is common in Japan for your circle of friends to basically be the people in your class, or your office, and spontaneously making friends as we do in the West seems to happen much less. On top of that, many Japanese people have a mindset towards foreigners which means they view them as something very different and separate from Japan. Now every country in the world has this kind of view to some extent, but I believe Japan has it more-so than most other countries.

Also, I believe the concept of friendship in Japan is different to that in the West. For me, I can consider someone a friend if we get along well after just a few minutes, but in Japan it takes a long time to become good friends with someone. But even then, the method of becoming friends is different, and doesn't necessarily mean you have to spend much time with the person. It's a complicated process, and one I understand only a little of, which meant I didn't feel like I connected with a lot of Japanese people during my time there. Now don't get me wrong, I made some very good Japanese friends while I was there, but the number was very small compared to the amount I make back home in a year, for example.

This is a big over-simplification, but I think much of this problem comes from differences in personalities between me and the Japanese people, and it's a shame, because this is something else which puts me off living there long term. If I did, I know I'd need to have foreign friends there to hang out with.

OK, this got long, so we're gonna end on a downer :( I'll make the 'Things that I love about Japan' post next time.

Weird weather

The weather's been crazy recently. It's warm and sunny one moment, then raining really heavily the next. I think it even hailed yesterday. I do hope we start to get some prolonged sunshine sometime soon, but the forecast for the next few days doesn't look too promising. When we do get some nice weather though there's this massive area of hills and fields near my parents' house that I'd like to explore. I meant to do it last summer, but never got round to it. Maybe this year.

I got my phone back again the other day. Dial-a-Phone said they'd send us a new one, but they haven't - it's just my old one repaired. But as long as it doesn't break again I'll be happy, and it seems to be OK so far.

I got an email from StarWars.com today telling me that they've just redesigned their website, partly in preparation for the new TV series and movie based around the Clone Wars.

I used to be really, really into Star Wars, and I especially remember one summer only 3 years ago when I spent a lot of time on the message boards, debating about everything Star Wars related. I remember I knew so much about Star Wars, but I bet I've forgotten it all now 'cos I just haven't been paying attention to it recently. I suppose not that much has been happening, but I was surprised to see that The Clone Wars movie comes out in just over a month's time. I knew they were making a TV series about the Clone Wars, but I didn't know they were making a film. I'm not excited for it or anything though. I find the whole Clone Wars storyline pretty boring - just a load of politics. And they already made a cartoon series about it all. That was OK actually, but wasn't that enough? Also, the new TV series and movie are both fully computer animated, which isn't very fun, and then combine that with the fact that Lucas hasn't really produced anything that decent since 1983. I am looking forward to the live-action TV series they're making though. That should be good, although we're gonna have to wait at least a couple years more for that.

Finally, I just released the newest Gamewave Podcast episode. We recorded it using a Talkboy, and I'm guessing we're the first people to ever do that. Check it out at gamewavepodcast.com.

The Beat

It's only been five months since I last went to see Neville Staple of The Specials, but I went to see him again at Corporation last night, this time supporting another two-tone ska band from the Midlands, The Beat.

I didn't actually know any of The Beat's songs up until a few days ago, but I enjoyed their set, especially Mirror In The Bathroom. One thing that comes across about their music is that it's so feel-good. Even when their songs were dealing with some of the social problems of the 80s it was still always upbeat and positive.

I think there are actually two versions of The Beat around now. One is officially called The New English Beat (the band I went to see last night) and has two of the original members, and the other is called The English Beat and is based in the US with one original member.

And what's with all the snow lately? It's been snowing loads, which is kinda weird for this time of year. It's meant to be spring now.

Also, Happy Easter!

The New English Beat MySpace page

Today

Today's been pretty decent. The new netlabel I've been working on for the past few weeks/months finally launched this morning. The label's called Pterodactyl Squad and you can find it at www.ptesquad.com. It's similar to what I'm doing with my podcast and the band.

In the afternoon I went home for a bit to see my family, and then I played drums in the band up at church in the evening. It was nice to play on a full kit again. At my place the room where I have my drums is really small, and so to make space for other people to practise I've removed the toms. And then the other week when I was playing, my ride cymbal STAND broke - the metal actually snapped - so I'm playing a heavily simplified kit at the moment. It means I've been concentrating on playing tight, simple beats recently, but it's not much fun.

It was good to have a break from all the revision for my upcoming tests I've been doing, and the weather was nice today too - no rain, all sunshine. That's what I like to see.

雨が降っている

I wish the rain would stop for a few days. It's really quite depressing. Rain every now and again is OK, but but not all day for a week. Otherwise everyone has to stay in their houses, and it's no fun.

Football in the snow

I've just got back from playing football at 10am on a Saturday morning in the snow! I'm finding it a little hard to type as my fingers still aren't moving properly. The match was between the Japan Societies of Sheffield University and Nottingham University, and the score in the end was 3-3, despite us leading 3-0 at one point. It was an 11-a-side game, and was more fun than the 6-a-side football I usually play.

Nintendo have recently been re-designing their websites around the world, and the UK version just launched this past week. Due to the success of the Wii and DS Nintendo seem to be taking everything a bit more seriously these days, and the new website looks nice, and is much more functional and efficient than the old one, although it is all white and doesn't have so much of that old Nintendo charm.

My account from the old site has been carried over, so I still have my balance of Stars, which are points earned by purchasing Nintendo systems and games. The Stars Catalogue has some nice collectables available - a while back I ordered a limited edition Mario Gamecube controller through the catalogue, which is pretty neat. There's also the opportunity to link your web account to your Wii and exchange Stars for Wii Points to use on things like the Virtual Console. But everything's quite expensive in terms of Stars. For example, I have just about enough for a t-shirt from the catalogue, although I've registered ten different products including two systems over the last two years.

Ah well, it's better than nothing I suppose.

Autumn

It's properly autumn now. There's loads of trees near me, so you really notice it when all the leaves change colour and stuff.

Not been up to that much lately. Went to this big communal bonfire thing for Bonfire Night last night. Watched fireworks and ate a toffee apple. Good fireworks are actually quite cool, one of those things which make you happy for some unknown reason. Quite life-affirming.

Going to see Bedouin Soundclash tomorrow. That should be cool.

Floods

Over the last few days you might have heard about the floods in the Yorkshire area of the UK. It's been pretty bad for a lot of people around here. Fortunately, my house has been fine. It's strange that some people are wildly affected just because of where their house is located.

I think the cause of the problem has just been extremely heavy rain, which caused a lot of local rivers to burst and flood low-lying areas. Apparently, the biggest clean-up operation in peacetime Britain is currently under way. Some houses and shops very near to the town centre have been ruined, Meadowhall has had to close and lots of people are saying they can't ever remember anything like this happening before.

It's weird that something like this hasn't really happened in recent times. It's also strange that with all our capabilities we couldn't accurately predict this, and do something about it. Or maybe this was unstoppable, and that's even weirder to think about. And it's summer. I hear there's even more rain to come at the weekend too. I hope it doesn't all get any worse.

BTTF

Recently I finished off watching the Back to the Future trilogy. I saw Part I a while back, but I watched II and III for the first time in the last few days. As usual, the sequels aren't quite as good as the original, but the stories are pretty interesting, if complicated at times. Back to the Future is cool as it involves two of my favourite eras - the 1980s and the 1950s. All the parallels and situations involved, as well as a great story in general, make the films fun. I find this site interesting, as it goes into quite a lot of detail with time travel in relation to different time travel films. If you're interested check it out.

The weather has been good over the last few days. I'm starting to notice that the weather affects how good I feel. Sun and light just seem to make me happier in general. I can't wait for summer to come around, I'm getting tired of cold.

Here's an interesting story I just read at the Nintendo Europe site - Sonic and Mario to feature in their first game together. It's been coming for a while, and while it's a good thing that we're getting a lot of Sega games on Nintendo platforms, I'm not totally for the two characters in the same game together. To me, it makes the characters and their worlds less special, and reminds me of bland games such as Mario Party, which aren't always that good. The concept of this new game does sound slightly strange, I guess it'll be pretty big when it does get released this Christmas. Read the article to see Miyamoto ask a silly question about Mario and Sonic.

Related to Miyamoto and questions, I found this pretty interesting - Miyamoto posing a question on Yahoo! Answers. I'm glad Nintendo are doing this kind of thing at the moment.

Snow and stuff

Finally, I looked out of my window this morning and the ground was covered. It's the first day of proper snow we've had this winter. But now the initial surprise has worn off I'm left wondering why snow makes people so happy. Obviously there's now the possibility for snowball fights or building snowmen or snow dens, but I have stuff to do and don't have all day to spend playing in the snow. Maybe there'll be the odd snowball fight at university today.

I just received an album in the mail, the self-titled release from a band called Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster. They're a really cool combination of hard rock and southern rock, so it ends up sounding like some hillbillys playing metal. But it's really cool, the two styles work well together. I recently saw them at a show supporting Norma Jean and was pretty impressed. I would have bought an album at the show if they hadn't been £15! They put on a good show, and there was one especially cool band member - this guy wore a Hawaiian shirt (in a metal band) and performed some pretty out-of-fashion dancing for most of the set, but I've never laughed so much at a show before.

I watched The Breakfast Club last night. My friend had told me it was really good and I really like 80s films so I made a point to tune in. It was pretty strange. The whole film took place in one location and much of the communication between characters was largely pointless arguments. But by the end of the film these 5 wildly different characters had all changed and become good friends. In one way it was quite simple and trivial, but on the other hand it was quite realistic and true to life. I've never really seen a film like it before, but I enjoyed it.

Further reading: The Breakfast Club IMDb page

Summer

I have been looking forward to this summer for a long time. It is the time in between the end of my school career and the start of (hopefully) university - a fairly long gap. There are certain things I have been planning to do in this space. These tasks include finishing a certain video game I have been playing for a while, playing some shows with my band and getting my podcast off the ground. I have also been looking forward to simply doing relatively nothing for 2 or 3 months. Now the break is here I am not so sure whether I want to just spend my summer doing not very much, as I can see I will get quite bored.

I am currently looking for a job that will enable me to use my time constructively by earning some money. Also, some income will be necessary to enjoy the summer, which I didn't really consider up until recently. I have realised that many of the things I wish to do this summer will not require me to do nothing for most of the break; a job will be feasible as there will still be space left to complete whatever other tasks I have planned. I am quite a task-oriented person and I see the summer as a time when other commitments are gone, allowing space to enjoy yourself as well as getting things done which might not have been possible before.

I am very grateful for the weather. The sunshine really does make you feel different and often makes things such as walking more enjoyable. By the end of the summer I will have probably had enough sunshine though.

A big event which will occur this summer is the day when I receive my A level results. If I get the grades I need I will be taking Japanese Studies in the autumn at Sheffield University. If I do go to university I may have to start acting slightly more like an adult. I don't fully know what to expect though as many past students say that the work isn't too hard and that it will be the best time of your life (isn't that what they said about being in school?). Even so, I am going to try and enjoy this summer, perhaps my last as a child?

Summer is often the time you remember most as a child I suppose - it's the time when you leave the house and do things. You can stay up late and not worry about the next day, night-time falls later than any other time of the year and you get to wear shorts - it's the time you look forward to for the whole of the year.

Hopefully during this summer I will combine having fun, with a job, with getting done some of the tasks I've been saving up all year, with relaxing.

Further reading: Wikipedia article on Summer