Closely related to the gakubatsu I talked about this month over here is the phenomenon of amakudari. Amakudari—meaning descent from heaven—is an institutional practice where senior Japanese bureaucrats are plucked from the civil service and installed in cushy executive positions within the public or private sector. Where gakubatsu perhaps specialize in controlling entry into the bureaucracy, amakudari comes into play when the bureaucrats approach retirement age and must be compensated for all their ‘hard’ work. Try not to snicker.

What might not be as well known is that amakudari isn’t limited to the bureaucracy—amakudari-like processes exist between large firms and small firms, amongst businesses within a keiretsu, amongst banks, and even amongst educational institutions. So although it’s important to acknowledge amakudari's existence, it’s more important to realize the magnitude and stupefying reach of this supercilious practice which has, via collusion with other societal institutions, built itself up into a veritable fortress.

Read more...

One news item that has gone relatively unnoticed: Japan recently provided Alabama with an aid package that included 8,000 blankets and 150 units of plastic sheeting. The supplies were donated to help Alabama recover from deadly tornadoes that razed parts of the southern United States on April 27. Online at least, the Japanese move has been characterized as a selfless and heart-warming gesture, especially considering the nation recently suffered its own massive devastation. I wonder, though, whether the gesture was made just for genuine humanitarian reasons, or if it was instead made out of a sense of giri, or obligation.

Japan generally has no qualms about giving aid, and regularly contributes to humanitarian initiatives. It also contributes generously to the United Nations regular budget— it’s the second-largest contributor after the United States and pays roughly double the percentage paid by France and Britain. This is a reflection of the nation's ardent support of peace in the aftermath of World War II. On the other hand, Japan still has problems accepting aid, as seen during the Kobe earthquake in 1995, for example, when foreign aid offers were largely rejected for no good reason other than that Japan was too proud.

It was better this time around, though, following the Tohoku earthquake. Foreign aid in all its forms—from supplies to financial contributions, manpower and equipment—were graciously accepted. The consensus is that the country unduly delayed acceptance of the aid, but the widespread acceptance of foreign aid is something to be celebrated as it’s a marked difference from the Kobe aftermath.

To me, this is a step forward for Japan—reflecting a realization that it’s not alone in the world, and that there are times to help and times to be helped. But when looking at Japan's recent donation to Alabama, I can't help but be reminded of giri. I picture government officials sitting in an office somewhere, tossing ideas back and forth about how to pay back Japan's obligation to the United States for its help as news of the tornadoes streamed across a nearby TV.

What's particularly curious is that Japanese officials took the step of  indicating that the donations represented Japan’s appreciation for aid provided by the United States after the March 11 earthquake. Of course, I might be being unfair with all this, but given the pervasiveness of giri, even today, I don’t think I’m that far from the truth.

In contrast with the maladroit fumbling of TEPCO's and the government, the Japanese public has been largely helpful to survivors and evacuees of areas affected by the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, providing accommodation for those displaced, as well as food and other supplies. Even Japan's infamous organized crime syndicates, the yakuza, have helped out with relief efforts. This, of course, is in addition to the outpouring of sympathy from the international community.

So it’s both heartbreaking and jarring to read about discrimination against, and harassment of, some evacuees. There are incidents such as this one in Chiba Prefecture, where a young evacuee from near Fukushima was bullied and taunted by other children because he could ‘infect’ others with radiation. There was another incident in Niigata, where an elementary school boy—also a Fukushima evacuee—had to be hospitalized after he was kicked in the stomach by a classmate (although the school board has denied that there was any connection with the Fukushima crisis).

Read more...

Despite the scaled-back coverage of the Fukushima crisis (both domestically, and internationally), last week was actually quite eventful, with three significant developments.

Meltdown Confirmed

Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant confirmed the meltdown of a ‘large part’ of the fuel in reactor number one. Their suspicions were aroused after a post-adjustment reading on water level gauges came back lower than expected. Fortunately, water in a reservoir at the bottom of the pressure vessel seems to have halted the meltdown. The situation remains precarious though, as the further meltdown of the fuel—past the pressure vessel and through the concrete base—remains highly possible.  

Read more...

In accordance with changes in Ministry of Education standards made back in 2008, Japanese students in the fifth and sixth grade last month began mandatory weekly English lessons. The objective of the programme, dubbed Gaikokugo Katsudo or Foreign Language Activities, is to foster an interest in other languages and cultures generally, although English remains the priority.

But the programme is also a response to international and domestic factors. For one, there's TOEFL score data from 2004-2005, which placed Japan second to last in Asia in terms of English language skills with 191 points—only one point higher than North Korea. There's also the fact that other countries in the region have introduced mandatory English lessons in their elementary schools, and Japan is therefore keen not to be left behind. The programme even has the support of top business federation Nippon Keidanren, which sees it as a means of increasing the competitiveness of future Japanese knowledge workers internationally.

Yet looking at the specifics of the programme, and some of the critiques it has received, the effort strikes me as a little superficial, and gives the impression that the Ministry is treating learning English as an end in itself.

Japan-based online shopping mall operator Rakuten made international headlines in 2010 when it announced it would make English its official company language by 2012. At the time, President Hiroshi Mikitani even stated that board members who aren’t able to speak fluent English within the following two years would be fired.

Such a move is still considered highly unconventional for a large Japanese corporation, but it seems alternative policies are often what make this company tick. And Rakuten’s exceptionally quick response to the earthquake and tsunami that struck the country on March 11 was impressive, to say the least.

Within days of the disaster, the Rakuten Group announced that it would donate close to $4 million toward recovery efforts in the affected areas. Overseas sister companies including Rakuten Taiwan, Tarad.com in Thailand and Buy.com in the United States also immediately jumped on board to help with the effort.

Read more...

An interesting piece of news I came across recently: Donald Keene, a former professor of Japanese literature at Columbia University in New York, announced that he planned to become a Japanese citizen. Keene has seen for himself the many facets of life in Japan through extensive study of its traditional literature, as a translator and interpreter for the US Navy during World War II, as a student at Kyoto University, and then through annual summer visits.

The decision by Keene, 88, is apparently intended to be a show of solidarity with a nation he has been intimately connected with for most of his life.

Keene is fluent in Japanese and has been a prolific academic, having translated several works of Japanese literature into English. He has also published several books proffering his own analysis and critique of Japanese literature, and he was awarded the Yomiuri Literary Prize in 1985—the first foreigner to receive the prize—and the Order of Cultural Merit in 2008.

Since the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck northeast Japan in March, AC Japan, a non-profit public service announcement organization, has been running a series of spots on Japanese TV involving various celebrities saying, ‘Nihon no chikara wo shinjiteru.’ Roughly translated, it means ‘I believe in Japan's strength.’ The problem, it seems to me, isn't a lack of belief in Japan's strength—it’s that Japan's strength is nuclear powered.

The image pushed by the nuclear industry and its proponents is that nuclear power occupies an irreplaceable, crucial intersection between energy needs and self-sufficiency here. Certainly, the Japanese archipelago is resource-poor, with few fossil fuel reserves that the nation can comfortably rely on. Without its own reserves of these resources, Japan is at the mercy of other nations, meaning that to maintain any degree of energy independence, nuclear power seemingly becomes an attractive option.

Of course, nuclear power isn’t the only source Japan relies on: geothermal energy, fossil fuels imported from overseas, and a smattering of renewables such as hydroelectric and wind power all contribute to keeping Japan ticking. But while Japan doesn’t want to rely on imports for its energy needs, hydro, wind and even geothermal options offer unpredictable output. Nuclear power, in contrast, provides a steady source of electricity. All this suggests that nuclear power is absolutely necessary in Japan.

Read more...

Japan is a nation built on contradictions and juxtapositions, a place you'll find modern skyscrapers next to ancient temples, or Shinto couples being wed in Christian-style ceremonies.

And for the record, here's another example: Cool Japan and Isolated Japan.

What's Cool Japan?

We know Japan for its economic success during its post-war years, a period defined by obedient armies of salarymen with lifetime employment, tightly knit keiretsu, and a streamlined economy that functioned at high speed, with low drag. But Japan has been known for something else as well: it’s a Mecca for anime and cute culture exemplified by characters like Hello Kitty and Totoro, high-tech cell phones and giant robots, sushi, J-Pop, and much more. This is 'Cool Japan'.

In more recent times, while the former identity has eroded somewhat in the eyes of the rest of the world, the latter has thrived. In fact, pop culture 'identity' characterized by Japan's eccentric ingenuity has become wildly successful—including overseas—leading to enclaves of Japanese popular culture forming in other countries. Japan's cultural influence has already thoroughly permeated Asia, even down to minutiae like the keitai strap, a decorative accessory for cell phones.

Read more...

The University of Tokyo was founded in the late 19th century. It’s a leading research university in Japan and one of the nation's proudest assets. Interestingly, a unique social networking culture has developed around ‘Todai’, as it’s affectionately known, as well as in other top schools like it. But it’s a culture that may not be widely known about, despite its significant ramifications.

The elite social networks are known as gakubatsu, or school cliques, and they dominate both government posts and commercial enterprises across the country, even today. The ties formed through these cliques are so strong that even as other academic institutions have appeared, graduates of the oldest institutions like Todai continued to dominate society through nepotism and favouritism. In fact, Todai's pre-eminence is so great, that a separate term, called ‘todaibatsu’ has come into use to underscore Todai's preeminent influence.

I don’t mean to suggest any disrespect at all to Todai—it’s a highly respected institution whose graduates have made significant contributions to their fields. (Seven have been awarded the Nobel Prize.) But frankly speaking, these cliques are still a slap in the face of meritocracy.