After staying in Japan for several years, I gradually got to know some Japanese companies and found that compared with other countries, Japanese companies have quite a maverick tradition. By summing up these strange phenomena, people can learn more about the Japanese national personality.
The first strange lady drives an elevator for a man
The first time I went to work in a Japanese company, I felt a lot like a foreign company in China in the early 1990s. Because the female employees of Japanese companies are all young women in their twenties, and those in their thirties are rare. They dress up in fashion and behave appropriately, giving people a feeling of vigor and vitality.
The author was puzzled at first, but it took a long time to understand that it is a common phenomenon for female employees in Japanese companies to be younger, because Japanese women have a tradition of not working after marriage, and female employees in their twenties and sixties generally "retire gloriously". Before Koizumi's government, as long as his wife was a housewife at home, there was a "housewife subsidy" of several hundred thousand yen every year. However, due to the serious shortage of labor in Japan in recent years, Koizumi's government cancelled this policy. In addition, with the gradual improvement of Japanese women's education level and the influence of some foreign enterprises in Japan to recruit married Japanese women, female ministers and managers have begun to appear in Japanese companies today.
But this can't change the tradition of unequal status between men and women in Japanese companies. Men are regarded as the golden beam of Japanese society. In Japanese companies, if there are male and female employees taking the elevator at the same time, it must be that the lady holds down the elevator button and smiles politely, and the man gets there first, which is natural for both sides.
Men have more natural advantages in distribution and promotion. For male and female employees who enter the company at the same time, the salary of male employees is often tens of thousands of yen more than that of female colleagues. Female employees mostly undertake clerical work such as secretaries and cashiers, and rarely enter the departments involved in the company's lifeline. If they want to be promoted to management, they have to make more efforts than male employees.
The second strange Japanese English becomes standard.
The company where the author works is a multinational company. Because of business needs, English is the prescribed office language, and my Japanese colleagues can write plans in English, and generally get high marks in some English proficiency tests. But they are all "dumb English experts".
In a company conference call, almost all Japanese employees were silent, and they couldn't understand the content of the meeting without an interpreter. More interestingly, they have quite a problem with the author's English pronunciation. A Japanese colleague told me that my pronunciation of the word Rail is "Rui Ou" and the correct pronunciation should be "Lai Lu". Saying, my pronunciation is "Saiying", while my Japanese colleagues think it should be "Saiying drum". A Japanese friend told me that many Japanese people learn English by using "katakana" letters to mark the pronunciation of English words, which has formed "Japanese-style English" that can only be communicated among Japanese people today.
However, just when I called my American colleagues, I tried to correct my Japanese colleagues' pronunciation. A Japanese colleague said earnestly, "We are in Japan now, so when you speak English, please follow the Japanese pronunciation."
The third monster sang a "sad" song before work.
If there are more enterprises in China, Japanese companies are more "courteous". In order to strengthen the cohesion of enterprises, Japanese companies should hold a formal and serious "ceremony" for awarding prizes, celebrating the New Year and resigning and transferring jobs.
When most Japanese companies go to work, there is a "Korean ceremony", and everyone has to attend. The employees stand together to listen to the training, applaud and shout slogans to show that the work is about to start, and everyone is refreshed. After work, many companies have "evening gifts", and employees should stand still and listen to the boss's words of encouragement and thanks or sing the song of the enterprise. Finally, the boss said: "You have worked hard and will continue to rely on it in the future." The employees replied, "Please take care of me, too." Just dismissed and went home.
The author once visited a big Japanese company with a foreigner boss, just in time for the "evening ceremony". The company's enterprise song was personally approved by its founder. In order to show the hardships of starting a business, the melody of the song is full of tragic feelings. As soon as we entered the company, we saw the employees standing in silence listening to the "sad" song. The foreigner's boss's face immediately showed pain: "It seems that we have come at a bad time, and an important person in their company has just passed away ..."
For the training of new employees, Japanese companies mostly adopt the way of "sleeping together", which is equivalent to the closed training of football in China. During the closed period, all kinds of "gifts" are indispensable every day. Because of the special training, the employees of Japanese companies are all experts in "etiquette".
The fourth monster "volunteered" to chip in for a drink.
Besides courtesy, Japanese companies have more parties. Party, in Japanese companies, does not have the nature of personal feelings, but is often an organized activity for Japanese companies to enhance employees' feelings.
Usually around Wednesday, the company's small clerk sends a notice to the employees who want to participate in the activity, explaining the reason and time and place of the party, and also attaches a map of the restaurant. On the surface, this kind of activity is voluntary, but in fact, non-participants will be regarded as heterogeneous. Therefore, every weekend, Japanese restaurants are always full of guests.
This kind of activity seems redundant, but it is extremely important to the Japanese. Japanese companies pay the most attention to collectivism, but Japanese interpersonal relationships are relatively indifferent. Drinking, singing and partying have become a good way to connect feelings. Japanese people will tear off their masks when they drink, and employees who have no contact with each other will become good colleagues after drinking. But this kind of activity is beneficial to the company, but the company will not pay for it, but colleagues will pay for it themselves. A friend of mine who works in a bank said that he spends 50,000 yen every month on entertainment expenses.
There are also some Japanese employees who like to go out and drink by themselves until midnight. This is a way to reassure the family. Because in the traditional Japanese concept, overtime is the embodiment of being reused. If the husband comes home early, the wife will worry that he is worthless.
The fifth monster, Sanqi, does not wear black socks separately.
In Japan, there is a strict tradition of dressing for company employees. Wear a white shirt, black shoes, dark tie and dark suit, and then cut your hair into 30% on the left and 70% on the right. This is a typical image of Japanese white-collar workers.
The hairstyle of Sanqitou is very important. Some people joked that the Japanese underworld is also a white shirt and a black suit, but the hairstyles are varied. If you only look at the clothes and don't look at your head, it is easy to regard the "violent group" as an engineer.
But in the eyes of foreigners, dressing the inevitably gives people a sense of formality. But the Japanese have a special love for suits and ties, because in the eyes of the Japanese, such a dress is a symbol that he belongs to the backbone of Japanese society.
In addition, in traditional Japanese companies, the left front of their employees' suits must be stamped by another company. Some Japanese company employees don't wear black socks. Because the pronunciation of "black" in Japanese is similar to "pain", wearing black socks is considered to bring bad luck.
The sixth monster eats and talks without stealing the limelight.
These rules and regulations are still superficial, and the hierarchy within Japanese companies is the most prominent strange phenomenon.
Meet and say hello in Japanese companies, and the superiors and subordinates should use different languages to say hello. Therefore, it is necessary to quickly judge the level of both sides. When you eat at noon, you should take collective action, and when you are seated, you should arrange the person with the highest level in the middle. During the meal, everyone should speak in the order of high and low level, which not only means participating but also can't steal the boss's thunder.
Ordinary employees rarely innovate in their work. After a speech, leaders often ask, "Do you have any questions?" This is purely a cliche, and few Japanese employees come out to ask questions or express their opinions.
In addition, when the boss works overtime, the subordinates can't leave first without special circumstances. I used to be idle, surfing the internet in the company after work, and it was not until late at night that I found that all my subordinates were sticking to their posts and "working overtime".
The Japanese talk about "rules" everywhere
In fact, some strange phenomena in Japanese corporate culture have deeply infiltrated the traditional Japanese "type culture": everything follows the rules of Fiona Fang. Adjust your words and deeds to this social norm.
Japan's "Japanese culture" is actually the product of Japanese traditional society. In the edo period, people were divided into scholars, peasants, workers and businessmen according to their status, and under them they were "filthy" and "inhuman". Although the identity system was abolished after the Meiji Restoration, it was a top-down reform promoted by a junior warrior. Although great changes have taken place in society, there has been no great change in the field of moral consciousness. In social life, the traditional relationship between the upper and lower levels still remains. For example, the "tea ceremony" and "flower path" all have a family system, which is inherited. Despite the changes of the times, the relationship between the upper and lower levels of its society has not fundamentally changed.
In such a "cultural" society, everyone acts according to his own identity. As long as you abide by the requirements of society for your role, then you will live comfortably. Japanese parents seldom instill "great ambition" in their children. What they devote to their children's education is more obeying rules and cooperating with others.
In the Japanese culture, the Japanese feel very safe. Although the times have changed, there are still a few wage earners who change jobs for high wages in a year or two.
The advantage of "T-culture" is that all the rules are clear, and even how many gifts you should give to your colleagues when they get married, Japan also has general social rules. According to the distance between relatives and friends, the whole of Japan is not too different. Obey the rules and people won't get tired. Less responsibility and less burden; High position, heavy burden. Moreover, if something serious happens, the pledge can't run away, and maybe you have to open a laparotomy to apologize. That's the rule, too.
Japanese people wash their clothes in a bath.
I have been in Japan for a year. During this period, the reporter fully felt that the Japanese people's awareness of water conservation has penetrated into all aspects of life. Water-saving equipment is everywhere in toilets, bathrooms and kitchens. From schools to museums, the popularization of water-saving knowledge and the education of water-saving awareness can be seen everywhere.
Bath water is connected to the washing machine.
In family life, the Japanese also pay great attention to saving water. Japanese TV stations have broadcast some water-saving programs, introducing how to save water from a small place in daily life. For example, after washing vegetables, you should pay attention to turning off the faucet first, and then put the vegetables away, instead of turning off the faucet first; After frying food, the pan is covered with oil, which is very water-consuming. It is necessary to wipe the oil with paper first and then wash it with water, which can save water and reduce the pollution to water sources. At the same time, the paper with oil absorption can be used as combustible garbage, which can increase the recovered heat when burning.
Most of the faucets in Japan have automatic sensing devices that can reach out immediately. Many faucets spray water through many fine holes like shower heads, which can meet the needs of washing hands without wasting. In short, the Japanese pay attention to water conservation from the details.
Major companies in Japan are competing to develop water-saving products, such as water-saving dishwashers and water-saving washing machines. The reporter visited the home appliance exhibition in Japan and found that enterprises can be described as "eight immortals crossing the sea and showing their magical powers" in terms of water saving of home appliances. Some dishwashers spray thin water from all angles, and the water consumption is only a few tenths of that of washing dishes by hand. The washing machine developed by a company has an inclined surface above the drum, which can save half of the water and is well received by people. In addition, Japanese washing machines also have a function of "washing with bath water". As we all know, Japanese people like to take a bath, and the bath water can't be wasted. The bathtub can be connected to the washing machine to wash clothes with bath water.
Some people may say that bathing itself is very water-consuming. In fact, Japanese people take a bath with a shower first, and then take a bath. Moreover, the whole family uses that tank of blisters. After soaking, there is a special cover to cover the bathtub. The next day, they just need to heat it up and can soak again.
The toilet water turns yellow.
Let's look at the public toilets in Japan. Toilets in Japan pay great attention to saving water. In many places, reclaimed water is used for flushing toilets, mostly factory wastewater recycling. Reclaimed water can't be drunk directly like tap water, but it's not a problem to flush toilets. This kind of toilet using reclaimed water is mostly in the rest station of expressway. The reporter once went to such a rest stop to go to the toilet, because the color of reclaimed water was yellow. When he entered, he thought that the person who had used it before had not flushed it. Later, after reading the notice posted on the wall, he realized that reclaimed water was originally used.
At last year's Aichi World Expo site, the reporter also saw a "biological toilet". This toilet has no waste water, and the water used to flush the toilet is reused after treatment, which can save water 1000 tons during the World Expo. Of course, the cost of toilets like this is very high, and it is difficult to put them into practice now, but at least it reflects the Japanese water-saving consciousness and indicates the direction of water-saving in the future. There is also a very interesting phenomenon: Japanese people are embarrassed to be heard when they go to the toilet, so they like to drain water while going to the toilet to cover up the sound. In order to save water and not be embarrassed, there is a "Yin Ji" installed in Japanese public toilets, which can make a flushing sound when pressed. Japan is probably the only toilet in the world with such equipment.
Try your best to use rainwater.
Japan is very careful in promoting water conservation. There are publicity signs on many articles. For example, pencils and rulers used by students are printed with the words "save water", and aprons used by housewives in the kitchen are also marked with water-saving marks. In the fourth grade textbooks of primary school, there are water knowledge and water-saving contents, and in the middle school textbooks, a lot of information about "water and people's life" is introduced.
June 1 day is International Children's Day, but it is still "Water Saving Day" in Japan. This may be to show that water conservation is related to future generations, starting with dolls. There is also a distinctive "Waterway Memorial Hall" in Tokyo to let people know that water is hard to come by.
While saving water, the Japanese government, especially local governments, has been actively promoting rainwater storage and utilization in recent years. The Japanese use pipes to introduce rainwater from the roof into the rainwater settling tank located underground, then flow into the reservoir, and then ascend to the reclaimed water (reclaimed water) channel for flushing toilets and so on. Compared with middle waterways and industrial wastewater treatment plants, rainwater utilization facilities have the advantages of small scale, simple technical treatment, easy maintenance and good water quality. At present, many local governments, such as Tokyo, Osaka Prefecture, Fukuoka City, Chiba Prefecture and Kagawa Prefecture, have successively formulated regulations to actively promote the utilization of rainwater through various methods.
I can't wait for my children to fall in love early.
One day when I came home from work, I saw Sister Lin waiting in circles at my door. Sister Lin is from Tianjin. She came to Yidan with her husband three years ago. There are not many people in China nearby. The couple often come to our house with their son Xiaolong. The relationship between the two families is excellent. Judging from Sister Lin's expression, it's probably that she needs help from her brother.
Sure enough, Sister Lin told me nervously: Xiaolong fell in love early. I was silent for a moment. To tell the truth, I saw Xiaolong and a girl named Yuji walking in the street a few months ago, and the backslapping relationship was very abnormal, but I didn't tell my elder sister about it. The reason is also very simple. When I was in middle school, the school managed puppy love just like breaking the law, and it was inevitable to fall into rebellious psychology. Moreover, Miss Yuji is a girl with bright eyes and white teeth, which is rare in Japan. It is not a bad thing for Xiaolong to marry her.
I comforted Sister Lin, but she quit: Oh, Sammy, you can't say that. Xiaolong is only fifteen years old and will be admitted to college in two years ... Besides, that girl is too bold to introduce herself as Xiaolong's girlfriend! She also makes lunch boxes for Xiaolong every morning, but her parents don't care, and her mother brings chocolate to Xiaolong on a business trip!
Finally, my elder sister asked me to do Xiaolong's ideological work, but I couldn't refuse, so I had to agree. My wife heard about it after work and volunteered to persuade Sister Lin to be nice to girls and let people play at home more. I am surprised, which is to do ideological work? Obviously to be a matchmaker. My wife laughed at my protest. She told me that it is normal for Japanese people to have "puppy love".
It turns out that the success rate of "puppy love" of Japanese high school students is extremely high. In the final analysis, this is the result of the Japanese national character.
In the traditional Japanese view, life and work belong to different genders, men only have work but no life, women only have life but no work, and there is no intersection between the two sexes. Although this situation has changed in recent years, Japanese men's contact with the opposite sex after work is still very narrow, generally only a few female colleagues in the office. In addition, there are few opportunities to meet women in the ballroom, because the Japanese don't accept ballroom dancing. Ballrooms are all solo dances, and there are no men and women dancing hand in hand at all. When I first arrived in Osaka, I attended a party. When I heard music, I used to ask my female colleague next to me to dance a tune, but the other person was scared to death.
Therefore, many Japanese girls and boys have been engaged since high school, and the "young couple" who are going to college should discuss it and make plans for their future lives. At the university, most of the boys and girls with good conditions have been "wholesale", and the rest are mostly "crooked melons and cracked dates". After work, even "crooked melons and cracked dates" are hard to find. I had to go to the pub to pick up a waitress-that's certainly not a wife ...
My wife didn't come back until 9 o'clock in the evening. She was full of pride and brought back some melons, saying that the task was completed and Sister Lin gave us food.
The Strange Diet Life of Japanese People
The food self-sufficiency rate of Japan as a whole is only 39%, which is surprisingly low compared with other western countries! Moreover, if vegetables and the like are not counted and only whole grains are counted, the self-sufficiency rate of Japanese food is as poor as 28%.
America 128%, France 122%, Canada 145%, Australia 237% and Germany 87%. It can be seen that the current situation of Japanese grain has reached the time when we have to think of a way out.
Strange to say, it is not others who have caused this tragic situation, but the changes that have taken place in the Japanese diet!
Coincidentally, a recent public online survey report just illustrates this point. This survey report conducted a large-scale survey on what Japanese people eat at noon every day. The results show that: For lunch, 5 1% eat pasta, 28% eat beef rice, and even 27% eat hamburgers and sandwiches, which runs counter to the tradition that the Japanese staple food is rice in the past, and even the menus in canteens of primary and secondary schools have added a lot of pasta, and this tendency is getting more and more serious. It is almost common sense that Japanese children don't like rice!
Some people have calculated that if Japanese people like to eat rice as much as in the past, the self-sufficiency rate of Japanese food will increase to 90%, because Japan is a country rich in rice.
On the other hand, due to the change of Japanese eating habits, many rice farmers have been forced to make ends meet, and rice fields have been abandoned. According to the statistics of the Japanese government, the abandoned cultivated land is equivalent to the whole Saitama Prefecture. What a pity!
Japan can't be self-sufficient, so it can only rely on imports, and it must be imported from areas cheaper than its own to calculate the cost, including fish, meat, vegetables, deep-processed and blanks, and even feed, all of which are imported from countries outside Japan.
In fact, as early as 1960, Japan's self-sufficiency rate of grain was still 80%, and 1980 was 60%. This declining process just formed an obvious contrast with Japan's economic take-off! Life is comfortable, but the rations can't be solved by themselves, so I have to buy them from outside.
To tell you the truth, I always buy things I don't have from outside, which makes me feel bad! Last year, a large number of fraudulent food incidents occurred in Japan, and even the top monk of Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto waved a lot of books, describing the crisis of contemporary Japanese society with a Chinese character "pseudo"!
There will be too many teenagers in the future, and I wonder if Japanese children can still like rice as much as their ancestors? If we can pull back the current dietary deviation and improve the self-sufficiency rate of Japanese food, it should be a great contribution to the world!
(from/s/blog _ 4747bc0701008omm.html)
The top ten things that are normal in Japan.
In order to increase the noise, the tenth car needs more than 100 w yen for modification.
You heard it right when you have a picture. Many people think that the louder the car sounds, the more handsome it is. So they will add a sound amplifying device to the exhaust pipe and modify many places to make their cars appear loud. When I came to Japan, I heard that some cars were louder than three tractors combined. Don't doubt that this car is definitely a top-notch car, and its owner is a car enthusiast.
The ninth strange fruit and vegetable are more expensive than meat.
When you go to the supermarket, you will find that the price of cheap chicken is only about one-third of that of vegetables and fruits. Here, a common watermelon costs 80 RMB. In China, when it is cheap, you can buy a car.
Generally, friends who stay in Japan for a long time will get fat to varying degrees, because they only eat chicken and eggs and can't eat fruits and vegetables.
Eighth, Japanese police and government authorities are really approachable and public servants.
The Japanese police and people in government power organs are very polite to the masses. You are so polite that you can't adapt to it. If you have any questions you don't understand, just ask the police. For example, if you ask for directions, they will not only explain them to you, but also draw pictures for you or take you there. When I went to the China Embassy and stood in line at the door, I actually chatted with the riot police at the door for a long time. And if you have any dissatisfaction, you can directly tell them.
If you are really angry, they won't touch you if you scold a few words, and they will apologize.
The seventh blame is that there are bears in the mountains of Japan
It is said that there are really bears in the mountains of Japan. They not only harm crops, but also bite people. There are many such news every year. Surprisingly, it is not illegal to kill bears in Japan. If you have the ability, it is absolutely no problem to go into the mountains to kill bears, take bear skins, bear gall and eat bear meat. The key is that you are killed by bears, and there is nothing you can do. .....................
The sixth blame is that it is particularly cold in winter when the temperature is around 0 degrees.
Before I came to Japan, I heard that the average temperature in winter in Japan is about one degree, and I don't want to bring a cotton-padded jacket. Because in winter in Shenyang, the average temperature is about MINUS 15 degrees, and the coldest temperature is MINUS 35 degrees. For me, 0 degrees is not spring? It's enough for me to wear a single coat. I'm happy. I also wear short sleeves. As a result, I found out when I came to Japan that winter is really cold. Although it's zero, it feels like zero in China.
There is no difference between 30 degrees and 30 degrees. The main reason may be that Japan is surrounded by the sea and the air is humid, and there is no central heating in Japan, so it has to be heated by stoves burning lamp oil. The cold protection of Japanese houses is not good either. During my first winter in Japan, I asked my parents to mail me all my winter equipment from China. I usually wear sweaters and trousers, and I have to wear a single coat outside and a thick cotton-padded jacket outside. Then I still feel cold. However.
The fifth blame is in Tokyo, and Chinese is flying everywhere.
I have been to Tokyo three times and lived in Tokyo for more than two weeks. The biggest feeling is that there are too many China compatriots here. On the tram, look carefully, especially in the morning and evening rush hours. There are two or three China compatriots in each carriage. When I walk on the road, especially in Shinjuku and New Okubo, I hear Chinese. Although there are dialects everywhere, I feel very cordial.
The fourth strange animal is well protected.
In Japan, it is difficult to kill and expel any animals. There are many wild cats in Japan, because they will be given food wherever they go. In rivers in Japan, cranes, swans and wild ducks can often be seen, and they are not afraid of people. The news that often appears is where a wild duck with a dozen ducklings got on the road by mistake and was dispersed by the car. The traffic was immediately blocked, and teams of police officers would seriously help find the ducklings. I just drove them to a nearby pond where they are suitable for growth. Two days ago, I saw a special topic where a snow wolf was trapped on the edge of a mountain. Not only did many people pay special attention to it, but even the Self-Defense Forces moved out, and three people came down from the mountain to rescue it.
The third strange suicide, karoshi often occurs.
Karoshi, as the name implies, causes death. The social competition in Japan is fierce, and the work pressure is also very great. There are often news that people die because of overwork, and there are many people who commit suicide because of work failure, and when they commit suicide, they also kill their family children and wives first, because they don't want to leave them without a pillar to suffer from life after their death. These are serious with the Japanese.
A strong sense of responsibility is directly related to the character of not wanting to cause trouble to others.
The second blame is national leaders and political events. Comment casually.
Japanese TV stations have to comment on these leaders every day. Critics and presenters can criticize, expose and even satirize these leaders. For example, Koizumi, from the election to the present,
All kinds of programs about him emerge one after another, and they are more ruined than praised. Some people imitate his way of speaking to broadcast baseball games. Puppets of several political figures are placed on the comment table every day, which is very funny. Friends who have just come to Japan really need to adapt to these programs for a while.
The first blame is the giant crow with high IQ.
When you come to Japan, you will find that the crows here are terrible. The size of the crows covered in black here can be as big as that of China crows. It should be about the same as an eagle, or the length of a rooster. Friends who have just come to Japan will be shocked.
Moreover, their IQ is very high, and it is often seen that some crows kept by the Japanese can learn some simple greetings. In addition, the Japanese rarely kill animals, which leads to crows' rampant. On the day of throwing garbage every week in Japan, you will see a group of crows walking around the garbage dump, and they are not afraid of people. You can rummage through things immediately after throwing garbage, and they can be easily untied with your mouth simply. Often, the garbage dump is littered with crows. As a result, they are not afraid of people at all, and some even attack them.
(from /ts 16949/3369923.html)
Japanese goblin culture ..
What do you mean? ..
Do you mean the people in those people's stores ..
Or those who are still a pair of childlike faces at the age. ..