Tag Archives: japanese society

Lost dreams and happiness on minimum wage

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Anonymous student post

I imagine that if I were earning minimum wage, maybe many things and chances that I have gotten would be lost. I think the most important problem is that I would not go to school. Of course, this includes Ritsumeikan University because this university is under private management, so school expenses are so high. I and my parents may not be able to pay money for Ritsumeikan, so I could not make many friends, and get chances that help me approach my dream and my interesting things. I’ll think about what is happened if I am earning minimum wage, concretely.

First, I would not have a dream, get more ambition, and come true. Many people had experience that they want to be a pilot, a baker, a police officer, and so on. I also had such a dream. However, if I am in poverty, these dreams are separated because for these dreams to come true, we need a lot of money. We can learn and study without money, but the chance is much smaller than for people who are rich. So many people who earn minimum wage tend to not be regular employees, and they tend to lose their hopes and their future plans. If they had sufficient money, they would be able to have dreams and have eagerness that is to come true.

Second, this is so serious problem for mental health, as I would not be happy in my mind. I think poverty connects to happiness. Some people say that we can feel happy without money. But in fact, this is so difficult. If I don’t have money, I cannot eat foods satisfactorily, and cannot get some items that I want. I think buying things that people want to is so important for happiness. I think poverty, and poor happiness, cause suicide.

“Shockingly, he realized, poverty had come to Japan. And as shocking to him was how little attention the subject was being given by the public or the press.” I was impressed by this sentence by Anne Allison. I think, in Japan, from many years ago, poverty has existed. During World War 2, Japanese people were suffering from poverty, and after WW2 also were suffering. But some people realized recently that poverty is so serious problem for Japan “too”. Of course I knew, “homeless” people existed in Japan, and I had seen them. But I think if the problem is ignored, it will become larger more and more.

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Positive and negative impacts of jiko sekinin

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by Masanori Takino

Jiko sekinin, in other words, “self-responsibility” is one of the most complicated and arguable terms. In Japanese society, jiko sekinin can be seen as common sense. Many people think that jiko sekinin is natural and correct. However, jiko sekinin is a form of pressure for some people, therefore there should be some negative opinions. This paper will show the both, positive and negative impact of jiko sekinin

Jiko sekinin can flourish abilities. Jiko sekinin can enhance the responsibility for what the people do or will do. Simply imagine a Japanese workplace. A worker will have two feelings, depending on the situation. The first situation is that when workers could do the work well. If workers succeed in their work, the boss might praise them. It would make the workers motivated for the work and feel more responsibility for their work. The second situation is that when workers would make mistakes or fail. Of course, worker are human beings, they do not always perform well. They will be scolded by their boss, and would feel that they have to accomplish their work properly. There might be a sense of self-responsibility for the workers to the work at which they failed. Those two situations of the workplace give a chance to grow a sense of self-responsibility, jiko sekinin.

Jiko sekinin sometimes can break people’s lives. Too much responsibility can make people feel stress. We Japanese people are really proud, or have a feeling of obligation. If we fail to do something, we might be disappointed in ourselves. When a person is a charge of some important tasks, they will get a sense of mission and a self-responsibility for the works. This feeling sometimes can be the pressure for some people. Moreover, too much pressure might lead to hikikomori for some people because they lose their confidence in themselves or escape from the fact that they failed to do something. Therefore, jiko sekinin occasionally affect badly for people.

It is really difficult to argue about jiko sekinin. The self-responsibility, of course, can enrich people’s lives. However, sometimes there are negative effects for some people. We cannot make clear decision for whether or not jiko sekinin is significant for our lives. It is depending on what the individual people think, and feel. However, in Japanese society, or if you will be employed in the future, jiko sekinin is necessary, because you always must have the responsibility for what you do.

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The difficulty of living in Japan on minimum wage

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Anonymous student post

Last year, the UN reported that the minimum wage in Japan is lowest in developed countries. The wage in Japan is 764 yen per hour on average, and the lowest is 664 yen per hour in the areas of Kyusyu in 2013. So now, Japanese government worked out a raise in the minimum wage. This is the one of the measures of poverty in Japan. But, even this measure has doubt that whether it really has good effect for the workers who are working for minimum wage. The following, I will mention that the present state of minimum wage workers and how they live in Japan every day. And what I think the Japanese government should do for them.

Now, 77 percent of workers in Japan are irregular workers, and almost of them fall into the ranks of the working poor (Yuasa 2009). On average, they can earn only minimum wage as 6,000 yen to 8,000 yen for a day. This paycheck is too hard to live on in Japan. Currently Japan has problems with the working poor and net café refugees, whose numbers are rising. Net café refugees are people who temporarily live in internet cafés, karaoke boxes, or comic book cafes. Net café refugees don’t have a residence because almost of them are non-regular employees and temp workers, and they don’t have enough money to pay rent for an apartment. In addition, it is difficult for them to get a regular job, because they don’t have an address. So the intention of the corporations, they don’t want to employees who don’t have address at the point of credibility.

Japanese government is working out a raise in minimum wage as a measure. But the measure focuses on workers under working minimum wage, it mainly part-time workers such as students and housewife. So net café refugees and non-regular workers don’t fit subject in the measure. This measure would become difficult for net café refugees or NEET, because corporations want high quality of employees.

If people become minimum wage employees, they would suffer from various obstacles and problems. At that time, if minimum wage workers have family or people they can rely on, they would be supported by other people around them, but if the workers live alone, they wouldn’t have people who can assist them. Therefore, in that case, the workers can’t get enough money and support to live in Japan. So I think that the increase in the divorce rate and unmarried rate are related to the increasing working poor and some problems such as net café refugees. Japanese government should be prepare measures not only rising in minimum wage, but also supporting systems for them who live alone or don’t have an address.

References

Allison, Anne. (2013) Precarious Japan. Durham, NC: Duke University Press

Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center http://www.hurights.or.jp/archives/newsinbrief-ja/section3/2013/05/post-85.html

Taguchi, Norio. (2010) The role and limits of the minimum wage system. Iwate: Iwate University Bulletin.

Yuasa, Makoto (2008) Hanhinkon ”Suberidai shakai” kara no dasshutsu. Tokyo: Iwanami shinsho.

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Immigrants, Refugees, and Precarious Japan

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Japanese painting depicting a group of Portugu...

Japanese painting depicting a group of Portuguese foreigners (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

by Yuki Sakurai

Nowadays the world is globalizing more and more as time passes, so it is easier than before for people to go abroad or move to somewhere in the world. However, there are some issues in order to live comfortably and at the same level as local people. I am going to refer to those problems. After that, I would like to relate their problems with Anne Allison’s opinion in her book, Precarious Japan.

We call people who leave their home country and enter another country for the purpose of living or working there, immigrants. However, as I mentioned above, there are a lot of problems related to immigration, such as lacking equal rights and status. In Japan as well that is true. Foreigners who work and live in Japan have difficult issues except for some. For example, “3K” work (dangerous, dirty, and hard jobs), low salaries, discrimination, and sometimes illegal arrivals who come to Japan for the purpose of working.

Moreover, I think that most Japanese people do not really consider foreign workers’ problems. Especially, the 3K problem is extremely serious and it may infringe on human rights. However, according to a survey y the Japanese government about what people think about foreigners engaging in dangerous jobs that Japanese dislike to do, 30.7 percent of Japanese think that although it is not good, there is no other choice to do so, and 33.9 percent of Japanese think it is really favorable if foreign workers want to do so. Only 31.2 percent of Japanese think the idea is wrong. Also, foreigners who work in Japan sometimes cannot get statuses and rights at the same level as Japanese people. Despite of that foreigners all are living and working same as Japanese, there is somewhat divides.

Recently in Japan, people are more likely to feel apprehensive about the precariousness of current Japanese society, as Anne Allison says in her book. Due to something difficult including the big earthquake in the east of Japan, now there are a number of Japanese refugees as well in Japan. The whole of this society is unstable, so that means it is more precarious for foreigners. What is worse, it seems that Japanese government is now planning to accept more and more foreigner workers as a big workforce towards the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. We have to pay more attention to the serious issues about treatment of foreign workers, and seriously improve them so as to treat them equally. Also, in this global world, people have to reconsider refugees who come from all over the world.

References

Allison, Anne. 2013. Precarious Japan. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Japanese Government Report http://www8.cao.go.jp/survey/h12/gaikoku/

Yahoo News!外国人労働者受け入れ拡大か？その背景と問題とは？http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20140130-00000013-wordleaf-bus_all

 

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The struggles of minimum wage

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by Keita Sakato

There are a lot of irregular workers in Japan today. They might have fallen into this situation because of Japan’s precarious economics. Then, can they make sufficient money with irregular jobs?

The minimum wage is different in each prefecture. For example, it is 869 yen per hour in Tokyo. This is the highest in Japan. On the other side, in 8 prefectures such as Kochi and Tokushima, it is only 664 yen per hour. This is the lowest in Japan, and the average wage per hour is 764 yen. There are such big differences among urban prefectures like Tokyo and rural prefectures like Kochi. However, the differences in wages are not a problem because the prices of all things are higher in urban prefectures than in other prefectures. The problem which we need to pay attention to is that the minimum wage is too low to make enough money.

It is too difficult to live contentedly if people work at the lowest minimum wage, 664 yen. For example, if a man who was fired by a company and has no family started an irregular job which is the lowest wage one, can he get back to a stable life? He works 8 hours a day and 4 days a week. Even though he wishes to work 7 days a week, he cannot do because there are only a few jobs for irregular workers. He can earn 5,312 yen a day, 21,248 yen a week and 84,992 yen a month. He lives alone in a small apartment and cannot depend on his family because he has nothing. He needs to pay the rent of his apartment, 40,000 yen, and the expenses for lighting and fuel, 9,000 yen a month. Also, he needs to pay his taxes, 8,000 yen a month. The left money is only about 28,000 yen. Of course he must eat to live, so he must pay food expenses from his left money. He has no money to live as a normal man. He will not be able to eat delicious foods and play with anyone. He may abandon his apartment because of the high rent for him. After that, he will spend every night in the net café or fast food shop or by the river.

The above example is not a special case. Some unfortunate Japanese people fall into bad situations like this one. The government has to rescue them from this situation. One of the ways to rescue them is to raise the minimum wage for irregular workers because the present wage is too low. This is the thing that the government should do making haste.

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The struggles of living on minimum wage in Japan

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by Natsuki Ota

A number of people who cannot have a particular job because of a poor skill of relationship and who are junior or senior high school graduates is rising in recently precarious Japan. This means that many employees work as irregular workers, and live with a low wage, which is minimum wage or close to it. I will show that what life people spend in Japan if they earn minimum wage. First, it connects to losing one’s identity. Second, it is difficult to pay for rent for a home. Finally, they cannot support their family.

If they become a temporary worker due to problem of human relationships, they feel no ibasho and lose identity. As Amamiya said in Anne Allison’s Precarious Japan, if a Japanese person has no affiliation (shozoku), they feel psychic turmoil: “this is what companies once provided and still do for a few seishain (regular workers): a steady salary, protection if there is a crisis, and, every bit as important, an identity.”

It is easy for irregular workers who do not have shozoku and ibasho to feel ikizurasa (hardship of life) and lose their identity. Also, Amamiya described “it is (dis)belonging – no recognition or acceptance by others (shonin) – that troubles the young Japanese today.” (Anne Allison, 2013, P.65)

People are not able to afford to live in permanent housing are, according to Anne Allison, the “drifting poor.” These “people who, [are] essentially homeless, take up temporary residence in internet cafes or manga kissa (comic book café)” (Anne Allison, 2013, P.44). Most of these people are flexible workers who earn minimum wage. As struggles of living in these places, not only that they unable to rest enough, but also their relationships are decreasing.

Minimum wage also cannot support a family. This means that it leads family to divorce and having no connection. This may link to solitary death. Furthermore, it has big impact on education because going to university costs them a large of money. However, education is very important in everything, particularly job-hunting. If children are unable to go to school or college due to poverty, a circle of poverty results. The Japanese situation will not improve as long as this lasts.

In conclusion, if people make minimum wage in Japan, some struggles of living arise. They come to feel ikizurasa and lose identity. And connection is lack because being a temporary residence and breaking family. The condition that children are not able to get a good education make a circle of poor. It is hard to live with minimum wage in Japan.

(Reference)

Anne Allison (2013). Precarious Japan. Duke University Press. (pp.43-76)

 

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If I am earning minimum wage

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Anonymous student post

 

In recently, the pay differential between the high-income earner and the low-income earner has widened in Japan. For example, low-income earners are day laborers, temporary employees, part-time workers, and so on. If I am earning minimum wage, I think I will have a lot of struggles.

First, my working hours will be very long. The labor standards law say that people work an eight-hour day. But many jobs don’t keep to the law actually. When I did part-time job at a Japanese bar, I really felt it. I worked longer than 8 hours in a day, also my wages were not high. If I am a day laborer and temporary employee, my income is not really stable and I can’t expect when I might lose my job. Second, the working environment is not good. Do you know 3K roudou in Japanese? It is defined as Kitsui (hard), Kitanai (dirty), Kiken (dangerous). It is a very low wage, but very hard work.

However, I have to pay a lot of money to live. For example, there are house rent, fuel and lighting, food expenses, and so on. If I lose my job, I can’t pay that. It is very hard for me. Therefore, people who don’t have a home has increased these days. According to Anne Allison’s book Precarious Japan, the number of net café refugees has increased recently. “Net café refugees are people who are essentially homeless, take up temporary residence in internet cafés or manga kissa (comic book cafés)” (Anne Alison, 2013, p44). In net cafés, we can sleep, drink juice and soup, watch TV, take a shower, and so on. In addition to that, there are many private rooms where I can cover my face, and it is very low price to stay overnight. They acclimate themselves to that environment, also I think they become feeling comfortable.

If I am earning minimum wage, I wish for giving relief from government and society. If the government raises minimum wage only, I think I can’t have a comfortable life. Japanese government carries out policies on social security, but it is not enough. Part of the people who need social security can’t go on social security now. I think Japan has an increase in the gap between rich and poor. I think Japan should impose a tax on luxury items, because the number of people who go on social security is increasing. And we have to improve the working environment from now to the future.

Reference

Allison, Anne. 2013. Precarious Japan. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

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Can we live in minimum wage in Japan?

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by Misaki Kosaka

Nowadays the number of the poor is increasing in Japan. Especially, people who work as irregular workers (hiseiki koyo) have been noticeable since the deregulation of irregular jobs was enforced. However do irregular jobs make a true profit for Japan? There are workers who can’t even pay their rent because of low wages. So, they are forced to part with their home and start living at a net cafe or sleeping in the open. According to Anne Allison‘s Precarious Japan, haken or hiyatoi workers earn 6000 to 8000 yen for one day on average. They earn only wages that they can live in a day. But this wage is merely average, then their wages differ from day to day. In the day the workers receive very low payment, they can’t hardly eat in the day.

Like this, irregular jobs have very unstable and uneasy factors. Workers can’t save money to rent an apartment due to these negative factors. Furthermore, they hesitate to go to hospital when they are injured or have a high fever because they can’t afford to pay for medical insurance. Even if irregular workers are in bad condition, they have to work hard for living. In addition, most of them don’t receive any industrial accident compensation insurance when accidents happen. As a result, their health worsens and it makes them hard to get a regular job.

I think that this vicious cycle will not be solved without a governmental intervention. In the past, almost all the homeless were elderly men, but the young homeless are increasing these days. Although the young homeless without relatives who lose their job, or work as a part-time worker for a long time, may stay overnight at their friends for few days, after that they will spend night at a fast food restaurant. Then, they will put up with a net café and be finally street person. If they have relatives, they will be NEET or hikikomori.

Anne Allison says that poverty is not just a matter of economics. I think so. People who earn only minimum wage don’t get not only an economic happiness but also non-economic. As this book says, one can’t get and have kids on low wages or with a wage level that doesn’t increase as one gets older. They can’t earn enough money to support their future family.

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About denizenship and refugeeism

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Denizenship and refugeeism lead people to seek belonging. I think belonging has a good point and a bad point, so it is difficult that I decide whether belonging is good or bad. In a good point, belonging gathers people and produces a sense of solidarity, because people can share their emotions and information. When people get intimate with one another, they can get connectedness in the belonging. In other words, they can get ibasho. In a bad point, people in a belonging may have a stereotype, because belonging usually makes a specific concept. If people stick to a concept, when they know different concepts, they will have difficulty understanding them.

In current society of Japan, people have to get belonging to spend their average daily life safely. In other words, if people can’t get belonging, they can’t earn decent wages, and they are danger of life such as homeless. Generally speaking, becoming a permanent employee, or so-called seishain, connects to a safe and stable life. That is why a lot of people want to be a permanent employee.

However, for some people such as foreigners, handicapped people, single parents, furitā, and so on, it is difficult to be a permanent employee. They often work as temporary workers or contract workers. They earn a low salary, and don’t compensate social security system, so they struggle every day. In Allison’s book, Yuasa notes, ”postwar Japan bred its own form of welfare that depended on the corporation and family and organized little public welfare itself” (2013, p.58). Once you are laid off your job, you can’t come back your former status in the current society of Japan, which Yuasa describes as “sliding down society” (suberidai shakai) (2013, p.58). The gap is expanding more and more.

Under this circumstances getting belonging is finding a permanent job, because the government don’t take sufficient welfare policy, so people have to stand their own two feet. In addition, other relationship of human except work disappears. For example, you don’t know the face and name even your neighbors. In this society, people will not be able to ask for help. To avoid isolation, people are eager for belonging unconsciously, and this anxiousness sometimes people make believe a bad concept or a cult such as Aum Shinrikyou, I think.

In conclusion, your life depends on your job as Allison quotes Amamiya, “ikizurasa (hardship of life) is connected to poverty and labor issues” (2013, p.65). In my opinion, it is essential to get belonging for getting good jobs.

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There’s more than one path to success

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by Yuki Kamino

I understood Anne Allison’s way of thinking about “jiko sekinin” in this way. She says that with high economic growth, our level of life has improved a lot and Japanese people gradually put more emphasis on making money to live better. Family roles are also divided, as fathers go to a company, mothers do housework for their family, and even children have a role in that they have to go to school. In this change of society, a lot of Japanese think it ideal to succeed at school, get a secure job and find a good marriage partner. This course to better life is important to be independent and it is also an important status for Japanese people. As Allison says, this is becoming stronger in today’s atmosphere, but while some are able to walk this course, there are another who are thrown out from there. Those people feel difficulty in life (ikizurasa) and tend to become “hikikomori”.

The good points of “jiko sekinin” is that to be independent, people make a lot of effort. Thanks to their big effort, our level of life has largely improved and we are one of the developed countries. Moreover, as today is called a competitive society, we have a mutual influence on each other, so we have much expectation in the future still more.

While a competitive society give us benefits, it also brings a gap between rich people who are good at accepting themselves to the society and people who are not good at it. I think this is a result of “jiko sekinin”.

I feel that Japanese society has a model in how to be a good person or live better life is written, and a lot of Japanese believe it and are eager to follow it. I think because of the model, some successful people look down on others, and those others more and more feel “ikizurasa”.

In my opinion, we should get out of the model. Of course we have to be independent, but I think the new way can be different, depending on people. I was very surprised at the story of Chihara. He is a very famous comedian who appears in a lot of TV programs. If people know only his past that he did not go to school and confined himself in his room … they could have a bad impression of him. However, we know he makes us happy through TV, and he is loved and respected by many people. No one makes fun of him.

As we can see from the story of Chihara, there is not only one way to success. I believe we should have our own course to be independent.

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