Japanese oddities that will surprise you (17 photos). The Six Creepiest and Strangest Features of Japanese Culture
The Russian press often likes to publish articles with stories about the perversions of the Japanese. Some of them are true, some are greatly embellished, and some are not true at all. How is it really?
Most likely, there really is something here for every taste. But, of course, this is illegal. And this is not considered the norm, the Japanese are just more relaxed about it. Just like homosexuality. Same-sex marriage is not legal here, although some areas have passed laws such as allowing people to rent an apartment together or visit a partner in hospital. And there is absolutely no persecution of gays here. There are a lot of them on TV, they have their own programs that they host, their problems are discussed. The percentage of the homophobic population in Japan is very low.
The same tolerant attitude towards transsexuals and those who have changed their gender. The reason for this relationship may be Buddhism. Because there is no prohibition on sexuality in general, or homosexuality in particular. Unlike Christianity and Islam. It was considered normal for samurai to have a wife, a mistress and a young friend-lover.
I think that in other countries there are no fewer perverts than in Japan, they are simply hidden more, for the same reasons - taboo. A comparison comes to my mind with Holland, where soft drugs are legalized, but this does not mean that there are no drug addicts in other countries, many more than in Holland.
The Japanese less crime on sexual grounds. There are a lot of divorces, but they probably have more arranged marriages. Often men marry for status and to get ahead in the world. career ladder, because in some companies it is believed that if a person does not have a family, he cannot occupy a high management position.
The most shocking thing for me so far is that it is considered normal when a wife and children live in one city, and the husband works in another, and they practically do not see each other. This often happens when, after getting married or buying a house, a man is transferred to another department - to another city, he has nowhere to go, most often he cannot refuse. But the woman does not want to leave either because of her children’s school, or because of her existing social circle, or because the house has already been taken out on a mortgage, and more often for all reasons together. So they live separately for years.
Regarding the love for anime and young girls– it’s just very popularized among them. Such people (most often, of course, men, but there are also girls among them) are called otaku. This word has a somewhat disparaging connotation... There are otakus different types: some people love anime and girl groups (the most popular is AKV 48 - there are 129 girls in it, who not all at once, of course, but in a huge crowd perform on stage and star in videos) - they are somehow socialized... go to concerts, communicate with each other, even meeting girls with similar interests.
And others are completely antisocial: they are into manga or anime, talk to themselves and are not interested in real girls at all, they are not good enough for them, they prefer virtual ones. There are such otakus (of the first type) in other countries! Once they showed a story about two young Germans who specially came to Japan for a concert by those same AKV 48. They differed from their Japanese counterparts only in appearance. In other countries there are simply no such groups, there is no such popularization of this whole “Lolita phenomenon”. This is one of the taboos. But here they treat it condescendingly and calmly.
Again, a maid cafe with girls in anime clothes... The Japanese have two definitions of attractiveness: kawaii and bijin. Kawaii means cute and pretty. A girl with protruding ears, crooked teeth and crooked legs may be kawaii and incredibly popular. And bijin is such an unapproachable, cold beauty... of models, for example. Kawaii also has a connotation of accessibility and childlike spontaneity. The average Japanese man is shy and indecisive... In general, I have heard the opinion that a Japanese man is confident and decisive only if he is very rich - then he can easily approach any beauty. And the rest prefer more accessible and light kawaii...
In Japan, love hotels, hostesses and host bars are everywhere... Host bars are establishments where women pay host boys for communication. I don't know if there are similar bars in other countries.
Especially for the Green Elephant - Irina Sato, Tokyo, Japan.
And in general, these Japanese are strange people. Although damn hardworking and talented. But now we are not talking about that, but about sexual fucking in Japan, which is becoming less and less common. It is being replaced by abuse and other sadism.
A couple of months ago, the European public was shocked by the news that young people in Japan are massively giving up sex - that is, altogether. She was shocked, however, not for long: they shook their heads at the phenomenon, as if at hentai, and forgot. Meanwhile, in the ruins of online porn produced in Japan, videos with scenes of violence against women are increasingly found. What’s even worse is that those who don’t always imitate it. We understand why sexual aggression is progressing in one of the most developed and well-mannered societies in the world, as well as how modern media and centuries-old traditions are to blame for this.
On January 8 this year, the entire Japanese police force caught Yuta Sugimoto, a 20-year-old suspect in the gang rape and robbery of a woman on the street of Kawasaki. According to police, Sugimoto escaped during interrogation, taking advantage of the carelessness of the officer supervising him. “It scares us terribly that he is still on the run,” said concerned mothers. “I’ll lock the doors tighter today,” echoed the father of two elementary school students in an interview with a local channel, which, like all other media, covered the chase around the clock. The case, which was not supposed to become public, like most cases of rape in Japan, this time attracted the attention of the entire press and the police themselves: 4,000 police officers, 850 police cars, helicopters and dogs were looking for one escaped criminal, and the next day they found him found. By official statistics, Japan has one of the lowest rates of sex crimes, and it seems that the widespread interest in the escaped rapist should confirm this. But that's not true.
Every culture defines sexual crimes in terms of what is outside the norm. So what is considered normal sex in Japan, a country of triumphant pornography and unbridled prostitution, which is still not legalized, but is not nearly as condemned as in other civilized countries?
“You know, it doesn’t seem normal to me to write an article about sex in other countries. I understand that many readers will be interested in this, but I believe that each individual has his own path and that this is a very personal story,” says a friend from Japan who, within a few minutes, unfriends me on Facebook. I get about the same answer from three other acquaintances who previously consistently laughed at all sexist jokes and discussed the most obscene hentai every day. Although it may seem like hypocrisy at first glance, this behavior is normal for the Japanese. Japanese women are a little more open, especially those who left the country about ten years ago. Satoko Asahi has lived in the United States since 2004 and says that “statistically, not all young people are interested in real sex, but this is not only the fault of technology. I believe it is controlled by the media and society. In our Japanese media, a new word has even appeared, “neutral”, denoting feminine men, as well as “herbivorous men” ( herbivore men ). Such definitions, of course, change the usual understanding of man and woman, as well as sex, and therefore lead to these oddities in love.”
“Oddities in love,” as well as a noticeable decline in young people’s interest in sex, were documented in the newspaper The Guardian . An article entitled "Why did Japan's youth stop having sex?" made a lot of noise, because in it a former professional dominatrix who turned into a sex consultant talked about Japanese celibacy. Reasons given included financial (childcare is expensive), career (women have finally managed to build a career and want to secure their position) and technological (availability and prevalence of online pornography, sex toys and hentai). The article, however, barely mentions the high level of violence in Japanese media products, which, presumably, turns women away from sex, and gives men the opportunity to fantasize about dark things around the clock and, as a result, deprives them of the desire to have sex in real life. According to the data Associated Press , of the total amount of pornography available, approximately 20% contain themes of rape, and these numbers are growing every year. Pornography seems so normal that it is quite common for Japanese men to read porno manga on trains while sitting next to women.
In pornographic manga, sex (even by mutual consent of the parties) is usually an action towards the woman, rather than an act of all participants in the process. When female characters express sexual desires on their own, they are often "rewarded" by loss of interest or expressions of anger from male characters. Moreover, women in manga often enjoy pain and humiliation. Such a message to readers suggests that women should not express their sexual independence, but should enjoy the role of objects of aggressive male desire. Simply put, it is the man who gets pleasure from sex. By directly participating in the creation of society's ideas about sexuality, pornography and the prevalence of the sex industry convey the idea of “natural” male aggressiveness. As the Japanese saying goes, “a man’s character should not be judged below the navel.”
In a report published annually White Paper on Crime , which is freely available on the Internet, there are statistics for Japan. According to the report, the number of reported rape cases increased until 2003, but decreased steadily thereafter. According to alternative statistics from the research group of the Ministry of Justice of Japan, approximately 11% of women in Japan simply do not write a statement due to the traditional nature of Japanese society, in which the victim always provokes the rapist with her “loli” appearance. The reason lies in the Japanese legal system itself, in which there is an unspoken acceptance of one true story among all the stories of what happened.
"Individually, Japanese detectives are charming, loyal, hard-working, sincere and very decent people, but as an institution the Japanese police are arrogant and often incompetent," says Richard Perry, a British correspondent who has lived in Japan since 1995. Quite often, court decisions are made not on the basis of facts, but on the basis of the stories of the participants according to their own interpretation of events. When a subjective opinion is consistent with the prevailing ideology and beliefs, it is most often viewed as an objective truth. Stories that go against social conventions make storytellers outcasts. Therefore, there is more faith in the one who was the rapist than in the victim: she most likely enjoyed it.
It’s hard to believe, but there is one disgusting story to confirm the prevailing morals in Japan (there were no such precedents anywhere in the world). Shinichiro Wada, a student at Tokyo's prestigious Waseda University, created the club Super Free , one of the conditions for joining was participation in gang rapes. He allegedly raped about 500 women after plying them with alcohol. Wada studied political economy and turned gang rape into profitable business. He organized drunken parties in various clubs, attracting up to 2,000 participants, each of whom had to buy a ticket. After the party, about 100 attractive girls were transported to another club, where they got drunk. Then five or six drunk girls were selected: they were brought to the headquarters Super Free and raped, filming with a camera and forcing her to smile at the camera. One of the arrested rapists, Junichiro Kobayashi, advised the boyfriend of one of the victims to “look at these photographs” and make sure that “everything happened by mutual consent.” Similar "parties" spread to seven cities in Japan and included students from Keio, Meiji and Hosei universities. Although Wada's father expressed regret for his son's actions and advised him to "have courage and kill himself," Japanese officials initially made strange statements.
Yasuo Fukuda, at that time chief secretary Cabinet Minister and Minister for Gender Equality, said that "the problem is that many women dress provocatively" and are partly to blame for rape. Fukuda subsequently stated that his words were taken out of context and he “meant something completely different,” but did not specify what exactly. Waseda University responded in an interesting way: Super Free was dissolved, and a notice was posted for students - “Any sex without consent is rape, and this is a serious crime. Don't be fooled by stereotypical violence in dramas, comics and videos!
History with the club Super Free shook up Japanese society and slightly increased the rate of rape reports. For the first time in a hundred years, Japanese legislation, which has not been revised since 1907, included punishment for participation in mass rape. Japan, a leader in the world of technology and an aggregate of the world's main madness, is hopelessly behind the rest of the world in matters of gender equality. Violent comics have become a gateway to the real world: A 17-year-old student who raped 31 women told police he tried to recreate scenes he saw in pornographic magazines. Japanese youth en masse refuse to have sex. It seems that this is the first community in the world that just needs to read and watch less, and then, perhaps, sex will return to the country, in which no one is humiliated, and kind pink ponies rule the world. “Still, the blame for the lack of interest in sex lies entirely with the media. For example, can you explain why young Japanese women like to watch two gay men having sex? - asks Satoko. - I can’t, but the media spread it as a new trend, and the whole society, as a rule, clearly accepts it. It turns out that we just watch and fantasize too much instead of just living.”
Let us note that ferocity of character is not alien to the Japanese; the descendants of the Chinese who survived the massacre in Nanjing can tell about this. At the same time, the drug that causes aggression, which ISIS militants are pumped with, did not yet exist at that time, so everything came from within. But, apparently, after aggression directed to the outside world was forbidden to them, having previously been treated for violent militaristic madness with napalm, uranium and plutonium, they transferred it to the sphere of sexual life, and instead of caressing the one they naturalize ( Normally, it is pleasant not only for the recipient of the caress, but also for the caresser), they beat her.
January 27th, 2015
There are many oddities and inexplicable things in the traditions of every nation. How we have a tradition of getting completely drunk to celebrate the health of, for example, the birthday boy. But still, the number one nation in terms of strange traditions is the Japanese. To list and describe in detail all the strange Japanese traditions, you will need more than one book.
1. New Year's morning!
The Japanese do not celebrate New Year as we understand it. On New Year's Eve they go to bed peacefully, but wake up early in the morning and all go together to celebrate the dawn of the New Year. Of course, some of us also celebrate the New Year’s dawn, but in a completely different state.
2. Never say never
Residents of Japan try to never say the word NO, simply replacing it with a polite departure from the topic, or with an agreement that does not oblige anyone at all and, in the end, leads to nothing.
3. Humor
The Japanese have practically no jokes. It's hard to imagine, but it's true. But they have a very funny and interesting feeling humor.
The Japanese don't have jokes, but they have a very unique sense of humor.
4. Business cards
In Japan it is considered completely indecent if you do not have business card!!! That’s why the Japanese carry special waterproof small bags for business cards even when going to the pool. In addition, it is better to present the business card itself so that it can be read immediately!
5. Politeness
Politeness still goes to extremes in Japan. Instead of shaking hands, the Japanese use bows, and you need to bow as many times as they did before you. Situations reach the point of absurdity. For example, if a Japanese person decides to order sushi home, and if he encounters a very polite courier delivering sushi home, then such courtesy can take a lot of time! Guests will gather, and the courier will arrive very polite: then it may take more than one minute to say goodbye! There's nothing you can do about it - you'll have to “follow the protocol.” Politeness - distinguishing feature the Japanese, of which they are rightfully proud.
6. Transport
In the Japanese subway, there are specially trained pushers who push and compact people onto the train. To be objective, it must be said that such a “profession” of stuffing exists in many eastern metros, for example, in Singapore, etc.
Many Japanese people like to ride scooters to work.
7. these strange Japanese schoolchildren.
Japanese girls are absolutely NOT allowed to interact or talk with boys until they reach a certain age.
IN Lately Japanese schoolgirls wear sailor suits and pigtails, and many Japanese boys now often wear school uniforms for girls, since they are much brighter and prettier than school uniforms for boys. A Japanese schoolboy, in general, is no less strange than an adult Japanese. For example, if a girl offers her food to a boy during a school break, then this will almost mean love until death. That's why girls and boys can't eat together without blushing.
But an even stranger Japanese school tradition is this: children are not allowed to go to school alone, without girlfriends or friends, this is considered strange and immoral. Therefore, the larger the crowd, the better it is considered.
Kancho or Kancho is a strange Japanese game, mega-popular among Japanese schoolchildren junior classes. Players fold their palms and extend them forward index fingers, which try to thrust into another player’s anus at any moment, especially when the possible victim is busy or distracted with something. There were cases when even school teachers were caught playing the game, which was severely suppressed by Japanese school principals, but not all. And some teachers were accused of pedophilia. In the well-known international list of the most dangerous extreme gambling with an addictive effect, “Kancho” is listed at number 27.
Kancho Festival
8. Addresses
Most streets in Japanese cities do not have names. In these cases, houses are indicated descriptively (“the second house from the corner after the store”) or by numbering within the block. In addition, houses are numbered in the order in which they were built, which adds to the confusion.
9. Fear of Gemini
In the old days in Japan it was believed that one of the born twins conceived by a demon. And just in case, they got rid of both twins, without figuring out who was who, and at the same time from the mother. For example, in Japanese anime"When the Cicadas Cry" and "Shuffle" show that one of the twins must be killed!
10. Family finances
All finances Japanese family The wife gives the orders, and the husband has no right to question, much less challenge, his wife’s purchasing decisions. Moreover, the Japanese cannot be called ascetic and tight-fisted at all, it’s just that Japanese women are not spenders by nature.
11. Kofuns are Japan's mysterious closed parks.
Japan is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Every meter of land is important here, but even in Japan there are closed and almost untouched areas of land. Moreover, not a single person has set foot on them for several centuries. We are talking about kofuns - ancient burial places of local emperors. Translated from Japanese, “kofun” means “mound”. Most often, kofuns are made in the form of a keyhole and are surrounded by a deep moat filled to the brim with water.
Visiting kofuns, the imperial burial grounds, is not customary among the Japanese; moreover, it is under the strictest prohibition. Therefore, do not even dream of getting there with a tour or on your own.
12.There is a rockabilly renaissance in Japan.
This is an old Japanese tradition, but a new youth hobby. Some youth subcultures often experience revivals. This is exactly what happened with rockabilly and rock and roll, which were revived again in Tokyo, the capital of Japan. In Tokyo there is Yoyogi Park, where all the local fans of this cultural tradition gather and hang out.
These Japanese dress extremely unusually - they wear flashy biker jackets, vertically flowing bangs, long-forgotten updo hairstyles with a roller. Well, of course, they only listen to rock and roll. They have friends who are still living in the 60s, lady greasers. They dress in bright multi-colored dresses and worn, rolled-up jeans, as was fashionable 50 years ago. On the other hand, this newfangled Japanese tradition and youth subculture prove that rock and roll is alive!
13. Gyaru is another newfangled Japanese tradition for young women.
Gyaru is youth subculture teenage girls. Those who remember the movie "Wasabi" will understand what it's about. we're talking about. Teenage girls strive with all their might to achieve some strange and flashy ideal of beauty. Adherents of this youth Japanese tradition go to extreme lengths to achieve their (in their understanding) ideal of beauty.
Interestingly, this movement does not wither, and has existed for several decades. It is believed that gyaru girls must adhere to a certain style in fashion, hairstyle and makeup. And here fashion and trends change periodically, but some characteristics still remain unchanged.
Gyaru is very high heels, very short skirts and very large and expressive eyes. As in other movements, there are their own, smaller directions. The strangest and most unusual movement in gyaru is yamamba, a subspecies of ganguro. The name of this small subculture literally translates as “black face.” These young Japanese women rub as much sunblock into their faces as possible, bleach their hair white, and then apply even larger circles of white eye shadow around their eyes. The must-have look is complemented by flashy neon bright clothes or bright hair extensions. True, in last years This tradition is becoming less and less popular among girls. The traditional Gyaru movement is being revived. True now Japanese girls try to have fair skin and make their eyes multi-colored using contact lenses. As a result, regardless of the fashion that is present in Japan, the Gyaru tradition is very exotic even for this unusual country.
14. TO araoke!
Today, karaoke has already conquered the whole world; it is difficult to find a country in which there are no lovers of this art and entertainment. There are even world karaoke championships! Meanwhile, karaoke traditions vary greatly in different countries.
In Japan, as throughout East Asia The most popular karaoke format is a small room equipped with karaoke equipment, which is rented by a small company on an hourly basis. That is, Asians prefer to sing for their own, and listen to their own (how can one not recall “Lost in Translation”).
Among the high-tech Japanese, karaoke applications for mobile devices are becoming increasingly popular - as they say, “a song that is always with you.”
There are various strange traditions of brightly decorating cars, buses and trucks. The website turupupu.ru already described this when writing about Sri Lanka. But the captivating Japanese surpassed many here too. In Japan, there is a separate group of fans of trucks and more, who easily overshadow all the exploits of other modifiers.
The name Dekotora translates to trucks decorated with lighting. Skillful Japanese turn ordinary long-distance trucks into real works of art. Everything is used, including dazzling neon lighting and special car paint. So in Japan it appeared relatively new tradition- “super-pumped” trucks, which sometimes resemble famous transformers.
And the reason for the appearance of this strange Japanese tradition was cult series 1970s "Trucker". Interesting fact, that for several decades this tradition developed extremely slowly and suddenly suddenly began to develop rapidly in the last few years.
So now driving along the expressways of Japan is absolutely not boring - there is something to see!
They sleep in meetings, refer to others in the third person, and wear special slippers when going to the restroom. How else do Japanese customs differ from ours?
They use a barker
It is better not to go to the shopping streets of Japan without earplugs. Owners of local shops and cafes are still very active in using cheap advertising power - barkers. Nice girls and boys, standing at the entrance to the establishment, shout loudly and almost continuously: “Irrashyaimashe! Gorankudasaimaseee!" which can be translated as "Welcome! Come visit us! It’s quite difficult to bear when you’re not used to it, and, on the contrary, it often scares off foreigners.
They don't understand what sin is
There is a culture of shame in Japan, but in religions (both Shinto, the traditional Japanese religion, and Buddhism) the concept of sin does not exist as such. Of course, bad deeds are condemned, but only out of fear of losing face and being dishonored. In particular, foreigners from Christian countries are extremely surprised by the Japanese attitude towards suicide as a way of salvation, and not as a fall from grace, which is common in Orthodoxy or Catholicism. By the way, Japan has the highest suicide rate among developed countries.
They use special toilet slippers
In hotels and homes, the Japanese use separate plastic or rubber slippers for the toilet and bathroom. They usually stand at the entrance to the bathroom. When you go out, the flip-flops should be taken off and left in the same place. This strange tradition has two purposes: firstly, the Japanese believe that it is more hygienic, and secondly, it is immediately clear that the toilet is occupied. This rule often confuses foreigners, who, of course, always forget to change their shoes.
By the way, visiting street toilets is also often surprising. They look unusual in appearance, and inside they are equipped with the latest technology. For example, here you can turn on music so that others certainly cannot hear what you are doing there. There is also a special button to call the security service in case the client becomes ill.
They sleep at work
Falling asleep during a meeting with colleagues or right at your workplace will not be considered an embarrassment. Some Japanese practice inemuri, which literally translates to “being present during sleep.” The descendants of the samurai understand that a person needs sleep to work effectively, and therefore are not ashamed to devote half an hour to an hour of working time to dozing. At the same time, taking into account several important rules: you need to sleep directly at the table, with your head resting on your hands or the tabletop; if you fall asleep during a meeting but are addressed, you must wake up and respond; If you are new to the company and are expected to be actively involved in the work process, then inemuri will be perceived as bad manners.
They refer to each other in the third person
Don’t be surprised if a Japanese person asks you: “How is Vasily-san’s family doing?” It is not customary to pronounce personal pronouns here, although in the local language there are 15 variants of the word “I” alone. Residents of the Land of the Rising Sun are accustomed to addressing each other in the third person: by surname (in official communication) with the addition of politeness suffixes (-san, -sama) or by name (among friends) also with suffixes (-kun, -chan).
They consider tipping an insult
In Japan, tipping is seen as an insult, a sign that the waiter is not doing his job well and therefore needs a monetary incentive.
They paint the trucks
On the roads of Japan you can see extravagant looking trucks, looking like Philip Kirkorov on the stage of the Kremlin Palace. They are always bright, often chrome-plated, with neon lighting and bright drawings all over the body. Such trucks are called “dekotora”; they appeared after the release of the cult truck in the 1970s. Japanese TV series"Trucker." Drivers of such trucks organize meetings and exhibitions of their multi-ton friends.
Epson employee says
There is a stereotype that Japan is a good place to work. This stereotype comes from our compatriots who work by invitation in foreign companies, where the Japanese try to adapt to the level and style of foreigners. Meanwhile, in the Country itself Rising Sun The traditional work system is structured in a very unique way, and it is quite difficult to exist in it. That is why there are not many foreigners building a career in classic Japanese companies. About what it's like for the average office worker in Japan, says an employee Epson Marina Matsumoto.
Dress code
Of course, the conditions depend on the specific company, but in principle the dress code in Japan is much stricter than in Russia. Failure to comply with its rules has serious consequences for the employee, including immediate dismissal.
In a traditional Japanese company, a mandatory black suit is worn regardless of the weather, even if it is +40 outside. The Japanese tolerate both heat and cold calmly, as they go through a very harsh school of hardening the body in childhood. Recently, a new law was passed allowing people to wear short-sleeved shirts to work. This is due to the forced saving of electricity, in which even in extreme heat air conditioners are no longer always used in offices.
In some companies, women are not allowed to wear fitted suits - they must be completely straight. The skirt must cover the knees.
Women's accessories are also prohibited. I have a large, serious company, it is known internationally. But I work where mostly Japanese work. At the workplace I was only allowed to wear a cross - under my clothes so that it would not be visible - and a wedding ring.
Makeup should be invisible. Japanese women love to wear bright makeup, their cheeks are very rosy, and almost all of them have false eyelashes. But at work, a woman should be as unattractive as possible to men.
In some places women are only required to wear short hair, not covering the ears. Hair color must be black. If you are naturally blonde, for example, you will have to dye your hair.
For men, except long hair You cannot wear a beard or mustache. This is an unspoken rule that everyone knows. The persistent image of the Yakuza (this is a traditional form of organized crime in Japan) gets in the way.
Subordination
When I got a job, I signed a bunch of documents, where I assured that I would not discuss anything with clients and colleagues except work: neither the weather, nor nature. I don’t have the right to share my “personal data” at work - who is my husband, how are I doing... At home I don’t have the right to talk about my work. My job is not secret, but it is customary and stated in my contract.
At work they only work
They only take to the workplace what they need for work: for me, these are documents and a pen. I can’t take my bag, wallet or phone; it remains at the checkpoint.
In Russia there is a favorite saying: if you have done your job, go for a walk. In the Russian workplace, the main thing is that you complete the plan for today. In Japan, no one is interested in “plans for today”. You come to work and have to work at it.
How the Japanese slow down the work process
In Russia, we all know that your salary depends on the results of your work. If you work poorly, you get nothing. If you work well, you receive bonuses and promotions. You’ve done everything - you can leave early or ask for an additional task to earn more.
In Japan you pay by the hour. Almost all Japanese people take overtime. But this often results in them stretching out one task that can be completed in two hours over a week. The deadlines set by the company also do not always correspond to the level of complexity of the work. The Japanese will poke around for hours, it seems to us that they work like sleepy flies, but they think that they do the job “thoroughly”. They incredibly slow down the workflow, so it’s difficult for us to work with them.
And this, by the way, is one of the main reasons why their economy was not in the best condition. They have trapped themselves with this hourly payment system. After all, in essence, work is designed not for quality, but for the number of hours spent in the office.
Long, lengthy conversations
We all know that brevity is the sister of talent, but in Japan, brevity is narrow-mindedness. The Japanese cannot speak briefly and to the point. They launch into long and extensive explanations, which are aimed at ensuring that even a narrow-minded person understands what they are talking about. Meetings can last an incredible number of hours. The Japanese believe that if they talk for a long time and in excessive detail about the same thing, then they respect the interlocutor.
Stratification of society
Growing rice requires a lot of work and organization. Therefore, historically, Japan has developed a system with a very narrow specialization of labor and strict stratification of society. Everyone has their own responsibilities and their place in the life and production process.
Japanese communities have always been clearly organized. For example, a samurai never prepared food for himself; he could easily have died of hunger if the peasantry had not helped him out.
As a result of this mentality, it is very difficult for any Japanese to make an independent decision that is not inherent in his status. They cannot take upon themselves basic responsibility that somehow goes beyond the scope of their everyday routine. To put a comma or not to put it is a problem for half a day. Preparing basic documents is a series of endless, very slow consultations. Moreover, the mandatory nature of such consultations is amazing. If an employee nevertheless takes it upon himself to make a decision that is not based on his status, then everyone in the hierarchical chain associated with him will receive a reprimand. This is eastern despotism in action: “I am a small man, I am a simple peasant, and I should only do the work assigned to me.”
Again, everything is understandable: Japan is a small country with a large overpopulation, it needs strict frameworks and rules. To survive in Japan, you need to clearly know: my border is here, and this is the border of another person, I must respect it. No one goes beyond their limits. If a Japanese man marries them, he will literally be lost.
Russia has a huge territory, vastness, and open spaces. We are not constrained. We are free. A Russian person can do whatever he wants. And the Swede, and the reaper, and the player on the pipe - this is primarily about us, Russians!
Same as everyone else
Interestingly, in Japan you are not supposed to demonstrate your difference or superiority in mind. You cannot show your uniqueness, specialness. This is not welcome. Everyone should be the same. From childhood, uniqueness is burned out there with a hot iron, so Japan will not give the world either Einstein or Mendeleev.
Famous Japanese technology is a myth. As a rule, these are ideas that were not created by the Japanese. What they are good at is deftly picking up and improving on time. But we, on the contrary, can brilliantly create and forget...
To survive in Japanese society, you have to be just like everyone else. In Russia it’s the other way around: if you’re the same as everyone else, you’ll get lost. New ideas are constantly needed to master and fill a large space.
In a classic Japanese company, it takes a long time to build a career. Career advancement depends on age, not merit. A young specialist, even a very talented one, will occupy an insignificant position, work a lot and for a low salary, because he has just arrived. Due to this organization of the work process, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Japanese companies to compete in the international market. Yes, there is the concept of “Japanese quality,” but this no longer saves them, because business is conducted too much in the Japanese way.
Salary
Officially, salaries in Japan are high. But with the deduction of all taxes, which amount to almost 30%, they receive an average of a thousand dollars. Young people receive even less. At 60 years old, the salary is already a very decent amount.
Vacations and weekends
There are no holidays in Japan. Weekends are Saturday or Sunday. And, depending on the company, you are entitled to a few extra days off per year. Let’s say it’s 10 days, but you can’t take them all at once, you need to split them up. It happens that you need to take one day off during the week and go somewhere on business. In my company, I have to give a month’s notice about this so that everyone can cooperate and replace me. In some companies these terms are even longer. Taking time away from work due to an unexpected incident is problematic.
If you are sick on Monday and are thinking of not going to work, then they will not understand you. Everyone goes to work with a fever.
Weekends may include holidays, All Souls Day - Obon, in mid-August. But a young specialist does not have such an opportunity; he will work for the first two years without extra days off.
For the New Year, 1-3 days are given. If they fall on Saturday-Sunday, then no one, like in Russia, will move them to Monday-Tuesday.
There is also a “golden week” in May, when several public and religious holidays occur in a row. My husband worked all days, I had 3 days off.
Working day
Standard working hours are from 9 am to 7 pm. But the main thing you must keep in mind: if it is indicated that the working day is from nine, then you cannot come directly to this time. Even if you arrived at 8:45, you are considered late. You have to arrive to work at least half an hour before, some people come an hour before. It is believed that a person needs time to get into a working mood and prepare for work.
The end of the official workday does not mean you can go home. It is not customary to leave before your boss. If he is late in the office for two hours, then you are late too, and this will not be considered overtime. Your personal circumstances are your personal problems, which, as I already mentioned, according to the agreement I signed, are not discussed with colleagues.
Informal communication
In Japan there is the concept of “nomikai” - “drinking together”, reminiscent of a Russian corporate party. Somewhere "nomikai" takes place every day, in my company - twice a week. Of course, you can refuse, but they will look at you askance. Why drink? Because in Japan there is a positive attitude towards alcohol. Shintoism involves offerings to certain gods in the form of alcohol. Japanese doctors believe that drinking alcohol every day is beneficial. Nobody talks about doses.
The Japanese do not know how to drink and, as a rule, get very drunk. The drink itself will not cost you anything; either your boss or the company always pays for it.
Now, to further encourage visiting bars with colleagues, workers are even being paid for “nomikai.” This is part Japanese culture- work together and drink together. It turns out that you spend almost 24 hours a day, 365 days a year only with your work colleagues.
In addition to "nomikai", you need to drink with clients, with partners, with officials with whom the company is connected.
Yes, there is something similar in Russia, but it is incomparable to the Japanese alcoholic scale. And besides, in Russia the attitude towards alcohol is much more negative.
Now you can imagine the whole picture. A Japanese man leaves his house at 7 am. At work, he exists within the strict confines of his status. After the end of the official working day, he takes extra hours because he has to feed his family. He then goes out drinking with colleagues and returns home at 2 a.m., most likely drunk. He works on Saturdays. Sees his family only on Sundays. Moreover, until the evening, he can either sleep or drink all day off, because he is under terrible stress from such a cruel regime.
In Japan there is a special concept: “death by overwork.” This is a very common case when people die at their desks or, unable to withstand the workload, commit suicide. For Japan, this is par for the course, an event to which there is practically no reaction. People will even be outraged if someone's suicide interferes with their work. Everyone thinks: “Why didn’t you do this in a quiet, inconspicuous place, because of you I won’t come to work on time!”
We must understand that the Japanese did not sit and invent these rules for themselves. Everything has evolved over the centuries due to the geographical and historical uniqueness of Japan. Probably everyone will agree that they had good reasons for such a mobilization of society, constant readiness for something. Small territory, many people, wars, earthquakes, tsunamis - everything can collapse at any moment. Therefore, from childhood, the Japanese learn to work in a group, learn to survive on their own piece of land. In essence, all Japanese education is not built on teaching a person something, developing him - it teaches him to be a real Japanese, to be competitive in Japanese society. Not everyone can bear this kind of life because it is really hard.
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1 . In Japan, girls show affection and give gifts on Valentine's Day. I won’t tell you what this tradition is connected with, but today it fulfills an important social function: Allows girls to say “yes” without waiting for a Japanese man to work up the courage to approach her.
2 . In Japan, fish and meat are cheap, but fruits are very expensive. One apple costs two dollars, a bunch of bananas costs five. The most expensive fruit, melon, a variety like our “torpedo”, will cost two hundred dollars in Tokyo.
3 . In Japan, pornography is sold absolutely everywhere. In every konbini (grocery store), there is always a separate shelf with hentai on the press counter. In small bookstores hentai makes up a third of the total assortment; in large bookstores, 2-3 floors are allocated for pornography.
4 . Hentai is allowed to be freely sold to minors.
5 . The two most popular subgenres of hentai are violence and underage sex.
6 . Wrapped in a cover, hentai can be easily read on the subway.
7 . The Japan Subway and JR have women-only cars. They are added in the mornings so that during rush hour no one harasses the girls. The Japanese are voyeurs, and groping girls on crowded trains is something of a national sport.
8 . At the same time, Japan has one of the lowest rape rates in the world. Five times less than in Russia. It seemed important to me to note this, after everything I said above.
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. Majority Japanese characters consist of 2-4 syllables, but there are surprising exceptions. For example, the character 砉 is read as “hanetokawatogahanareruoto”, that’s thirteen syllables! Describes the sound made when flesh is separated from bone.
10 . The issue of honor still plays a central role in Japan, even in politics. The last Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, resigned after failing to fulfill his campaign promise (sic!). Two of his predecessors too.
11 . Japan is a small country, but there are many big things here. It is home to the world's most expensive amusement park, Disney Sea, and four of the ten tallest roller coasters. Tokyo has the most developed subway system in the world, the largest railway hub and the largest mixed pedestrian intersection.
12 . In Japan, it is customary to make snowmen strictly from two balls, and not three, as in the rest of the world. And then the Japanese distinguished themselves.
13. Colonel Sanders is one of the main symbols of Christmas in Japan, like Coca-Cola in the USA. On Christmas Eve, the Japanese like to go to KFC with the whole family and eat a large portion of chicken wings.
14. In Japan, 30% of weddings still take place as a result of matchmaking and viewing parties (お見合い) (omiai) organized by parents.
15 . In all northern cities of Japan, where snow falls in winter, sidewalks and streets are heated. There is no ice, and there is no need to remove snow. Very comfortably!
16. However, in Japan there is no central heating. Everyone heats the apartment as best they can.
17 . IN Japanese There is a word called 過労死 (Karoshi) which means “death from overwork.” On average, ten thousand people die every year with this diagnosis. Studio Ghibli director Yoshifumi Kondo, the author of my favorite The Whisper of the Heart, died with this diagnosis.
18 . Japan has one of the most liberal tobacco laws. Smoking is allowed everywhere except on railway platforms and airports.
19 . Japan - last country in the world, formally retaining the title of Empire.
20 . The Japanese imperial dynasty was never interrupted. The current Emperor Akihito is a direct descendant of the first Emperor Jimmu, who founded Japan in 711 BC.
21 . Japan turned 2671 this year.
22 . The Japanese talk about food all the time, and when they eat, they discuss how they like the food. Having dinner without saying “oishii” (delicious) several times is very impolite.
23. In general, the Japanese love repetition. When girls do this, it is considered kawaii.
24 . The Japanese language uses three types of writing simultaneously: Hiragana (a syllabary system for writing Japanese words), Katakana (a syllabary system for writing borrowed words) and Kanji (hieroglyphic writing). It's crazy, yes.
25 . There are no guest workers in Japan. This has been achieved simple law: minimum wage, for which it is allowed to hire a foreign worker in Japan, exceeds the average salary of a Japanese worker. Thus, the path to the country remains open for highly paid specialists, and unskilled migrant labor does not dump wages local residents. Solomon's solution.
26. More than a half railways private in Japan. Non-state carriers are responsible for 68% of the country's total rail traffic.
27 . Hirohito was never removed from power; after the war, he led the reformation and ruled until 1989. Hirohito's birthday National holiday and is celebrated every April 29th.
28. Mount Fuji is privately owned. In the Shinta shrine Hongyu Sengen, a deed of 1609 has been preserved, with which the Shogun transferred the mountain into the possession of the temple. In 1974, the authenticity of the deed of gift was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Japan, after which there was no other choice but to transfer the ownership of the mountain to the temple. Because property rights in Japan are inviolable.
29 . The Japanese language has several levels of politeness: colloquial, respectful, polite, and very polite. Women almost always speak a respectful form of the language, men a colloquial one.
30 . Seven percent of Japan's male population is Hikkikomori. Seven!!!
31 . In Japanese, months do not have names, but are instead referred to as serial numbers. For example, September is 九月 (kugatsu), which means “ninth month.”
32. Before Japan opened up to the West, the only word to describe romantic attraction was 恋 (koi), literally meaning “an irresistible attraction to something unattainable.”
33 . Japan is a mono-ethnic country, 98.4% of the total population are ethnic Japanese.
34 . In Japan, prisoners do not have the right to vote in elections.
35. In Japan they eat dolphins. They are used to make soup, cook kushiyaki (Japanese kebab), and even eat them raw. Dolphin has quite tasty meat, with a distinct taste and is completely different from fish.
36. There are practically no personal pronouns in Japanese, and those words that are sometimes used as pronouns have at least one other meaning. In Russian, for example, the pronoun “ya” means nothing other than “I”, and in Japanese 私 (watashi, ya) also means “private, personal”; 貴方 (anata, you) - “my master.” It is polite to use “anat” only when meeting for the first time; then it is customary to address the interlocutor by name or position.
37 . Tokyo is the safest metropolis in the world. Tokyo is so safe that children as young as six can use public transport on their own. This is fantastic indeed.
38 . External world The Japanese consider it very dangerous and are afraid to travel. So a Japanese friend once asked me whether it would be too dangerous for her to stay alone in the Kensington Gardens area of London. They consider the United States to be the most dangerous country.
39. The ninth article of the Japanese constitution prohibits the country from having its own army and participating in wars.
40. In Japan academic year begins on the first of April and is divided into trimesters. Schoolchildren study from April to July, then September to December and from January to March.
41. There are no trash cans in Japan because all garbage is recycled. Waste is divided into four types: glass, incinerable, recyclable and non-incinerable waste. Each type of waste is removed on a certain day and can be thrown away only on strictly designated dates. For violating the procedure there is a large fine, in my house it is one hundred thousand yen (about a thousand dollars).
42. There are also no garbage bins on the streets, only special bins for collecting bottles. Case in point that which is clean where they do not spoil.
43 . Japan has very low pensions. The maximum social benefit for poor old people is 30,000 yen, which is about three hundred dollars. There is also no compulsory pension insurance; it is assumed that every Japanese person must take care of his own old age.
44 . Godzilla (Gojira in Japanese) is not random name. This is a portmonteau of the words “Gorilla” and “Kujira” (whale). One can only guess how they crossed so that they got a reptile.
45 . Transport in Japan is very expensive; the cheapest metro ticket costs 140 yen (50 rubles).
46 . In Japan, men are always served first. In a restaurant, the man is the first to place an order, and the drink is brought to him first. In stores they always greet the man first.
47 . The Japanese drive big cars. It is impossible to find city cars even in cramped Tokyo, but there are a lot of jeeps.
48 . In all my time in Japan, I have not seen a single toilet without a heated toilet seat and with fewer than 10 buttons. And recently I discovered that the toilet in my house can make the sound of running water in order to hide, um, its own sounds.
49. In Japan, everyone knows that Hello Kitty comes from England.
50. Tipping is strictly not accepted in Japan. It is believed that as long as the client pays the prescribed price for the service, he remains on an equal footing with the seller. If the buyer tries to leave extra money, he thereby depreciates the service/product provided to him, reducing equal exchange to a handout.
51 . During the year of living in Japan, I never encountered any manifestations of racism against me. I think this is very cool.
52. Japan is the best country in the world.
53. On Japanese MTV there is a popular series Usavich, a cartoon about two birds with one stone, Putin and Kiriyenko, trying to survive in a police state.
54 . The age of consent in Japan is 13 years old.
55 . Japan is three times the size of England. The area of Japan is 374,744 km², England is 130,410 km².
56 . Japan is often cited as an example of an overpopulated country. In fact, Japan's population density is only 360 people per square kilometer. This is less than in England, where there are 383 people per square kilometer.
57 . In Japanese, the words “irregular” and “different” are represented by the same word 違う (chigau).
58. In Japan, things have taken root that twenty years ago seemed like the future, but today leave a strange retro-futuristic impression. Automatic doors in taxis, vending machines that sell everything from fruit, to soups, to used underpants. Trains fantastic shape and funny fashion. This is all very cool.
59 . The Japanese word 御来光 (goraiko) describes the sunrise seen from Mount Fuji. Japanese has a lot of meaningful words.
60 . Hitler admired the integrity of the Japanese nation and called them “honorary Aryans.” In apartheid-era South Africa, the Japanese were the only ones who were not disenfranchised, as they were considered “honorary whites.”
61 . Japanese phones have a built-in national emergency notification system. When some kind of cataclysm occurs, a loud beep sounds on all phones (even if the sound was turned off) and a message appears explaining what happened and how to behave.
62. There is no looting in Japan. If you type “looting in japan” into Google, you will only find tens of thousands of surprised foreigners who cannot understand why empty houses are not looted in Japan.
63. The Japanese speak almost no English, but use a fantastic number of Anglicisms. Alex Case tried to make a list, counted over 5000 words and got tired of continuing (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) That being said Japanese pronunciation they are so distorted that you cannot hope to understand them, or that you will be understood if you pronounce the word with the original accent. 64 . Few people know that the words “cotton wool”, “pollock” and “ivashi” are borrowed from Japanese. I think everyone knows about “tsunami” and “typhoon”.
65 . Japanese also has borrowings from Russian. The words イクラ “ikura; caviar” and ノルマ “noruma; norm". There is also funny expression“ヴ・ナロード” “wu people; to the people,” it was inherited from Alexander II.
66 . Japan has the death penalty. Last year, eight criminals were executed in Japan. The last two executions were attended by the Japanese Minister of Justice.
67 . Japan has the lowest murder rate and the lowest violent crime rate per 100 thousand population of all countries analyzed. It has the highest average life expectancy in the world.
68 . Tokyo is home to one of the largest gay districts in the world, Shinjuku-Ni-Chome. It has the largest concentration of gay bars in the world.
69 . Japanese and Chinese characters are one and the same. There are regional differences: in Chinese characters more and in a simplified form they are written differently. But knowing Japanese, you can understand general meaning Chinese signs.
70 . Instead of a signature, in Japan they put a special personalized hanko stamp. Every Japanese has such a seal and it is used many, many times a day. You can also buy it at any store.
71 . Japan is the only country in the world where the criterion for a train being late is the minute mark.
72 . In Japan, it is considered impolite to open a gift in the presence of the giver. They thank him for it, and then put it aside to open it in private.
73 . The Japanese believe that a person should be able to hide suffering behind a smile. There is even a saying 顔で笑って心で泣く (Kao de waratte kokoro de naku; smile while you suffer inside).
74 . The Japanese are a nation of very passionate people. If they do something, they strive for complete authenticity. Thus, in all French bakeries, Japanese inscriptions are duplicated in French. An Italian gelateria will have ice cream labeled in Italian, and a Spanish restaurant will have a menu in Spanish. However, there will be nothing in English. Sometimes it seems that for them it is just “another European language.” Interesting posts
75. In Japan, property rights are strictly observed, so there are dozens of companies with a history of more than a thousand years. For example, the Hoshi Ryokan Hotel has been continuously operating since 718. It has been run by the same family for 46 generations (sic!).
76 . Tanuki are wayward Japanese werewolf animals that bring happiness and prosperity. Their eggs are a traditional symbol of good luck. For the canonical happiest tanuki, the area of the eggs should be 8 tatami, which is 12 meters. In case of trouble, they take retribution with them. Studio Ghibli has a wonderful cartoon about them, Pom Poko, check it out.
77 . Two-thirds of Japan is covered in forests. Japan prohibits commercial logging of its own forests, but it consumes 40% of all the wood that is mined in tropical forests.
78 . For 10 years, from 1992 to 2002, Japan was the largest donor of international aid in the world. This is a word for everyone who is now gloating over the Japanese disaster.
79. When the conductor enters the next carriage of a high-speed train, he must take off his headdress and bow, and only then begins to check tickets.
80. In Japan, the third way has been successful, which we have been looking for for a long time and cannot find. There is a unique organization of society here: on the one hand, a completely Western legal state, on the other, an original culture that lives not only by traditions, but is constantly evolving.
I don’t understand why no one in Russia studies the Japanese experience.
