Modern Day Gulag? Canon Factory is Bloody Scary!!!

WHAT THE….

From (those that can read Japanese):

http://itpro.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/OPINION/20090518/330168/

For those that cannot read Japanese, let me explain.

See? Having no chairs in the office makes the workers bunch of working bees!

The article, published on a respectable Japanese website, begins with the excited reporter excited!!!  about visiting a factory of Canon Electronics.  Well, the CEO of the company, Mr. Sakamai, is the author of “Ditch Away Chairs and PCs to Improve Your Company’s Productivity.”  True to his words, the factory does not include any chairs at all!  Save for a few rooms, such as the waiting area, the president’s room, meeting room, and the offices do not have any chairs!  WTF?  Apparently, the big honcho believes that by eradicating the evil that seats are, productivity will increase by forcing workers to concentrate more.  Added bonus includes improved communication between workers and saving money on chair expenses.

The article then goes on to explain the “merit” of no-chair policy before moving to the next shocking revelation about this factory:

An alarm goes off if you walk too slowly on the corridor!  Some parts of corridor are marked with blue area, with (5m, 3.6 seconds) written on it.  CEO Sakamaki proudly explains his genius concept:

“Because the factory is really a big place, the amount of time spent on moving from place to place become a bit too much.  This is a device that will make the employees walk in a speedy manner.”

Erm……..

The article then explain how the no-chair policy benefited the company by showing profit rate, but honestly, is it

...and these floors come with the inspirational message printed: "Let's hurry up! Before we destroy our company and earth!"

worth it?  Think of how sore these poor workers’ feet must be by the end of the day!
Recently, the term “black” became quite popular in Japanese.  For example, “black company,” will refer to companies that treat their employees horribly, making them work hours with slave wages.  Although most of these black companies are start-up companies, this is def. one of those black companies, even if it is one of the better ones.

Was “Assassinate Ichiro” T-shirt Popular? -More Painful News-

From: http://www.zakzak.co.jp/spo/200903/s2009031402_1.html

This news may come as a bit late…. But is this true?

“March 14th: A shocking sports merchandise is sold in Korea, and is receiving wide attention.

This year is the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Ito Hirobumi, a Resident-General of Korea. Placing the pitcher Bong Jung-Keun in the role of an assassinator, a T-shirt where he is aiming to shoot baseball player Ichiro is proven to be popular.

The LG Baseball League which Bong Jung-Keun is registered sold the 330 limited T-shirt, and sold out after 10 hours, fervently sought after by the fans.”

…and there are more details later.

I know, I know, WBC is over. lol

It is always wise to consider the source before believing the news, for a lot of propaganda is going out there. As I wrote before, average Japanese citizen do not have hatred towards their neighbors.

If this is true, it is a bit of an ill taste for an official baseball league to sell a joke T-shirt of trying to kill their rivals.

Call me an idealist, but just like the trailer of “Planet of the Apes” went, “why can’t we all get along?” (and yes, I haven’t watched the actual movie).

Or maybe my sense of humor has been depleted, and cannot see the funny side of the shirt.

Gamer Snaps at a Woman on a Packed Train -Painfully Embarrassing News-

From: http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/ann/news/web/index.html?now=20090325191552

“A 21 year old men playing game within the JR Saikyo-line train snapped and started beating a woman, breaking her jaw, after being told off. According to the police, on 25, around 8AM, he was told by a woman standing in front of him that “it is bothering others” whilst playing a hand-held video game. Annoyed, he started shouting words such as “shut up!” and started hitting her face. The woman was inflicted an injury which takes a month to heal. The suspect has been quoted saying that he was annoyed by being told off.”

Okay, we don’t know whether the lad was playing his game with the volume turned on or not. But this is plainly absurd. We’ve all witnessed people listening to their music loudly on mobile phone on trains/buses and wondered “do these people not have any manners?” It is sad to know that you can’t simply tell them to stop, for you might come across psychos like this guy. What a total loser. Hope he gets maximum sentence.

By the way, 8AM on a popular line means packed, very packed.

What the word -itai- (painful) means in Japanese

I am ashamed to admit this, but I do regularly read the “itai news.”

The word “itai,” means painful, in Japanese.

Instead of saying “ouch!”  Japanese people say “ita!” (contraction of ifai.)

Recently, the word “itai” gained a new meaning.  Painfully embarrassing.

I was a bit taken aback, when one of my acquaintances were using the word “itai” to describe a person.  Well, now, people can use the word “itai” to describe something that is so bad, that it is painful to watch.

So basically, itai news posts the painfully embarrassing/humiliating news that took place in the world, and bored netizens commenting on it.  The examples soon to follow.

I’ve Ordered Something Really Embarassing

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/132530.php

I am so glad that the scientists have proven that sugar can be highly addictive….

I have a massive sweet tooth, that I am finding it difficult to control, esp. when I am stressed or have loads of work to do.  Tangerines are good substitutes, but they just won’t do….

At work today, I was thinking of that ice cream with so many good chunks of fattening goodies, like chocolate fudge and pecan nuts. Mmmm…. Just thinking of those high sugar goodness lapping on my tongue… You know which ice cream I’m talking about…  That one where the sales clerk sings while preparing, and the name of the store sounds like “commonwealth,” but it quite isn’t.

Because there is no way in the world an ice cream chain, as wacky as it is, would name themselves “commonwealth,” I had to ask my colleagues.  They’ve told me that “you mean Cold Stones Cream?  The ones where they sing?”

“Yes, that is the one!  But they never sang to me though….”

“Really?  I thought they always did.”

Me too.  Imagine my disappointment (?) when the clerk didn’t sing while squishing the nut into the vanilla ice cream on the cold pan….

So after work, I HAD to get my mouth into those super minty chocolatey ice cream sprinkled with more fat.  So I bicycled (I cycle to work) all the way to the department store in Shinjuku.  On the top floor, there was the place, with a little queue.  This ultra-chirpy chick with a necklace made from different cup sizes came waltzing in to hand me the menu and get my order.

For those that have never been to Cold Stone Creamery, because they are not addicted to sugar as I am, they offer different cup sizes with weird names like, “Like It!”  “Love It!” and “Gotta Have It!”  Jesus, they do understand their clientele, don’t they?

So I chose Gotta Have IT!  Cuz my craving was too much.

And boy, this place is a one warped out place.

Basically, the ice creams are prepared by scooping the ice cream and mashing it up with different ingredients, such as fruits, nuts, and fudge, on top of the cold pan that looks like hot pan, making it look as if they are making some serious meal… like teppan yaki.

So this chick was making this menu, and she’s like “now, we’re gonna add the strawberry… Then nuts,” and her co-worker walked past by her, peering at what she was making, and went “oh my god, that is so cute.”

“It is, isn’t it?”

“That is going to be soooo delicious!”

Erk….

The girl who served me seemed to have a synthetic smile, one end of her mouth stretched apart from one another to maximum….  Constantly smiling makes you look synthetic…

And she did the same with me and explained what the ingredients were, and she had a little chit chat… Then she asked “because you’ve ordered I’ve gotta have it, we can give you a song as a present.  Would you like it?”

I guess i COULD have said no, but I said “why not?”

I’m quite sure this store was catered to those who like to live in a world where everyone should be smiling every possible minute, and anyone reading depressing books are considered “weirdos.”  So basically, a thermal difference arises between the parlormaids and when people like me come hopping down the store.

So the chick was like “we’re gonna sing!” in a way that shamed all those Disney movie cast members.  And everyone in the store, those preparing other people’s ice creams, walking around busily, started to sing along the tunes of We Wish You a Merry Christmas  “We wish you a happy ice cream, we wish you a happy ice cream, and a happy new year.”

Bleh-

It was soooo bizarre….
I am assuming that they do the same in their country of origin, U.S…..

For those who are curious what it looks like, someone who was bold enough to request the shops clerk to sing and have a filming fetish has posted a video here:

Oh, and the store might have a creepy synthetic happy happy culture, the ice cream rocks in pacifying the addict’s urges.

By the way, how much do they get paid by an hour?

And the nominees for Japan Politics Razzie ‘09 are….

January hasn’t even ended yet, but a politician made a most ridiculous comment in regards to the issue that affected many Japanese civilians yesterday, earning him a position in “Japan’s Politician Razzie,” nominee list, that is, if it existed.

When most people think of pirates, they probably think of something adventurous, and quite romantic… Like Pirates of Caribbean, although not every pirates were as attractive as Johnny Depp back then and now. What most people do not realize is that pirates DO still actually exist.  Unfortunately, they don’t hoist up the infamous skull flags anymore… They’ve traded that with rocket launchers and menaces those hapless ships that happen to cross them, taking them hostages and demanding 1,000,000 – 2,500,000 U.S dollars as ransom.  Joy.

Last year, many Japanese people learned that these non-sexy non-Hollywood pirates do exist, thanks to them taking many Japanese sailors as hostages which was covered in the news frequently.

Saying that, the Japanese government seems to be unable to decide what kind of measures to take, mostly due to the oppositions by the LDP (liberal democratic party).  The party’s apathy was summed by MP Kenzo Hirata, who uttered the following shocking statement during press release:

“I’ve seen pirates in manga, but I’m unable to picture them.   I didn’t know Japanese vessels were under attack on Somali waters.”

Erm…..  Do you not read/watch the news at all!????   Those who heard this statement were shocked that a politician, who has the power of protecting seamen from his own country, is indifferent because he doesn’t watch the news!

No, pirates in real life does not look like those depicted in “One Piece” or “The New Treasure Island.”

They look like this:

NOT this, but....

...but this

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/politics/situation/090125/stt0901252018005-n1.htm

Pink Rice Sells Amazingly

Printing a cute attractive 2-D beauty on the package substantially increases your profit…. That is what the rice manufacturers from Akita Prefecture learned this month. By substantially, we are referring to 2-year worth of sales made within a month!

I knew about the pink-packaged rice that makes me feel as if it is going to dye my rice cooker pink for a while, but I didn’t expect the sales to be this high. Popular illustrator Aoi Nishimata, who has drawn for various adult-themed games, is the artist behind the special packaged version of the long-running popular rice brand, available to be purchased online. Popular among men in their 20s and 30s, the manufactures have received e-mails stating that “it was delicious!” and “I bought a rice-cooker for the first time in my life,” making those who read the news report question the quality of consumers (rice is a major staple within the Asian cuisine). National newspaper, the Asahi Shinbun even went as far as having an article reading “2D beauty saves a village,” for thanks to this, the amount of tourists to the village with large number of aging population, has increased. It is not rare for manufacturers to embrace “cute” characters to boost their sales in Japan. In a recent news, long-running French silverware and home accessories Christofle, collaborated with massively-popular Hello Kitty to boost their sales.

France's finest meets Kitty

Gothic Lolita Rocks!

A bit of an old news, but here it goes.

I am quite addicted to “Kill me, Kiss me” by Hangry & Angry, a fine example of media-mixing. Hangry & Angry originally was a stuffed toy that first appeared in the Death Note movie series. They started selling the dolls first, promoting as “the cat that you’ve seen it on Death Note”. Below is the picture of me and a promotional staff for “Hangry & Angry”

It was in front of Japan’s mega-toy store Kiddyland, and there were many girls dressed in “gothic lolita fashion.” (will explain what this is later).

Well now, the gothic cats have spawned its own “rock band,” (and its own clothing brand) featuring two of the former Morning Musume members Rika Ishizawa, and Hitomi Yoshizawa. Their identities were supposed to be secret, but all the Japanese music aficionado figured out easily.

So two of the former cutesy girl-band members are in a “punk rock” T.a.T.u -esque band. Apparently, they are supposed to be the future-version of the cats, and came to Earth as a messenger to save the Earth through songs from destruction. The song itself is pretty addictive, and it features cool gothic lolita fashion.

I think lolita and gothic lolita (or gosu-loli) fashion is amazingly cool! Lolita fashion is (according to wikipedia) a fashion subculture in Japan that is primarily influenced by Victorian children’s lothing as well as costumes from Rococo period. Gothic lolita is, well you’ve guessed it, gothic version of it.

You don’t see girls dressed up as Victorian dolls wherever you go in Japan, but if you go to Harajuku, the fashion mecca, you are surely to catch a glimpse of cute lolita fashion.

It is puzzling to see people dressed up out of time, but who cares. It is cool IMO!

Taken in Harajuku

One might wonder why people would dress up like that, but hey, isn’t youth fashion weird wherever you go? Whether it was mullets or goths, there have always been a genre of teen fashion that deviates from the mainstream wherever you go. Teen years are years where people try out different activities and styles to explore the world and see who they are, what suits them, and what they would like to avoid. If dressing up in a style is one way of expressing and exploring your youthful ways, I say “good for you!” They are enjoying the whole entire procedure, and it is fun to look at.

For those that understand French, there’s an interesting news report about French girls who are fond of this type of fashion:

More pics of lolita fashion:

I Hate X’mas -Tokyo Lights-

I should have updated this blog much earlier, but anyways.

I HATE Christmas. Mostly, because you cannot escape from those trite X’mas numbers… The most egregious being Wham’s Last Christmas. It is so whiny, and basically, it is about a guy who’s still depressed by his whore of ex, right? Grrr

And the Christmas lights! Maybe it is pretty, but isn’t a bit too excessive? I find that esp. in Tokyo, malls try to out-do one another, resulting in bright light mess. Maybe I’m just being a bit of a Grinch, but anyhoo. This blog is about introducing life in Tokyo is like, so here you go. Snapshots of Christmas in Tokyo.

From the poshest mall in Japan, Roppongi Midtown:

Tackiest X'mas Tree

Milky way in a garden

Shinjuku Southern Terrace

Couldn't flip properly.... A gazebo for couples that will shower them with "lights of happiness."

Couldn't flip properly.... A gazebo for couples that will shower them with "lights of happiness."

Krispy Kreme is always crowded for some reason

Bonus: Beautiful Christmas moon