Non-Working Adults Anger Beat Takeshi

[Mulboyne]

[YT]4KMcLgi-DSc[/YT]

Here's a clip from a recent Beat Takeshi show which looks at how some adults appear to have lost the will to work. One initial figure quoted from 2006 says 34.2% of college graduates quit their jobs (or perhaps lose them) within the first three years. The early part of the clip talks about whether the yutori kyoiku ("relaxed education") system is responsible for this apparent malaise. From 1:30, the president of a training company speaks about how new employees get bored with work and are unwilling to go through the same drudgery as the previous generation. We then see a couple of re-enactments of spiritless youngster, lacking yamato damashii, in the workplace. At the 3:10 mark, the programme features a 30 year old Japanese blogger called pha.



Pha turns out to be a graduate of Kyoto University who dropped out of the workforce. He says he didn't go to university to get a good job, rather he compares the challenge of the entrance exam to the challenge of a video game. He gave up working at 28 and became a NEET. Now living in a Tokyo apartment he shares with two others, pha spends his days online and says he would miss having internet access more than he misses work. Advertising revenue from his blog nets him around 100,000 yen a month which he thinks is enough to live on. If he feels the pinch, he asks for money on his blog which seems to get results - someone sent him 50,000 yen on one occasion. At the 5:30 mark, the clip shows pha meeting some friends in a cafe where they interact online. JunkMA says he did work but his company went bust while ykic says he is a NEET like pha. The other two appear to be students. There are some interviews with people the same age who say they can't imagine not working. Ykic says that he wants others to work so that society can stay functional.



At the end of the clip, we see pha sending out a tweet asking if anyone will buy him dinner. He gets a reply from someone who tells him to meet in Shimokitazawa. Pha says he has met hundreds of people in real life through his online activities and hopes he can keep his health and continue in the same way. Back in the studio, Beat Takeshi can barely contain his contempt for the guys featured, asking "What the hell is 'pha'?" and complaining that he's in no position to be swirling wine in a restaurant.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

phaark!

[Iraira]

If Beat Takeshi actually had to do the salariman life from cradle to grave, he might whistle a different tune. That balding Uno chick also complained about NEETs awhile back, as if she really had to ever put her nose to the grindstone (insert plastic surgery jokes here). Unless you've been in the game, don't start complaining about how people play it.

[Ganma]

If Beat Takeshi actually had to do the salariman life from cradle to grave, he might whistle a different tune.

Agreed. Japan's a great place to lose your will to do anything -- emphasis on conformity, shiyoganai attitude and negative reinforcement to keep you going. 30000 Suicide Sals a year can't be wrong.

[bornbitter]

Takeshi is one to talk about silly names. What the hell kind of name is "Beat" anyway?

[TennoChinko]

I initially misread the threadline as "Non-working adults angrily beat Takeshi"...

In 1994, he hopped on a scooter while drunk and without wearing a helmet, he crashed it. That's why you see the facial paralysis. Most would acknowledge that was a completely dumbass thing to do. However, over time, he has managed to romanticize that account. The scooter is now a motorcycle and the dumbass act is now "an unconscious suicide attempt".

[Dragonette]

... complaining that he's in no position to be swirling wine in a restaurant.

If somebody else is paying I'd say he's in a very good position for wine-swirling]is[/U] considered work, even if you (gasp) enjoy it!

Maybe only 100,000 yen a month now, but since Bee-to-chan has so kindly given him the extra exposure, that's sure to be going up.

Pha-chan, ganbatte, ne.

[Samurai_Jerk]

The change is that men are now doing what women have been doing for a long time: as little work as is needed to survive and letting others treat them to dinner and pay their bills. The difference is most of them won't eventually marry a provider and become homemakers.

Though there are a lot of younger Japanese people that are worthless, the main problem is that Japanese companies haven't adapted to the reality of the labor market. They still expect people to act like the company yes man sacrificing their entire lives for the greater good of the corporation and accept the jack-of-all-trades employment model of being moved around various divisions while never gaining any marketable expertise in one area. Of course the corporation doesn't have to hold up its end of that bargain by offering near guaranteed lifetime employment.

[Western All Stars]

Is it just me, or is 2:30 completely reasonable? The actor exaggerated the line for effect, but serious, why do these cock sucker Japanese companies keep hiring college grads without even telling them where they'll be working in the company?? "Salaryman" is NOT a job description!! When I'm at a bar and ask someone what do you do for a living, "I work at a company" is NOT a job description! Unless you work for the government, doesn't everybody work for a company? It drives me insane that it takes me 10 minutes to get an answer to a simple question most times.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

It drives me insane that it takes me 10 minutes to get an answer to a simple question most times.

Hmmm....but do you like sushi?

[Ganma]

"Salaryman" is NOT a job description!! When I'm at a bar and ask someone what do you do for a living, "I work at a company" is NOT a job description! Unless you work for the government, doesn't everybody work for a company? It drives me insane that it takes me 10 minutes to get an answer to a simple question most times.

The vagueness of the Japanese mind.
What are your hobbies? - I do Bukatsu.
What does your father do? - He's a salaryman.
Where does he work? - At a company.

[FG Lurker]

[james]

If Beat Takeshi actually had to do the salariman life from cradle to grave, he might whistle a different tune. That balding Uno chick also complained about NEETs awhile back, as if she really had to ever put her nose to the grindstone (insert plastic surgery jokes here). Unless you've been in the game, don't start complaining about how people play it.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Iraira again.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Is it just me, or is 2:30 completely reasonable? The actor exaggerated the line for effect, but serious, why do these cock sucker Japanese companies keep hiring college grads without even telling them where they'll be working in the company?? "Salaryman" is NOT a job description!! When I'm at a bar and ask someone what do you do for a living, "I work at a company" is NOT a job description! Unless you work for the government, doesn't everybody work for a company? It drives me insane that it takes me 10 minutes to get an answer to a simple question most times.

That's exactly what I'm talking about. The sad thing is the answer they give you is correct because Japanese companies don't make people in anything other than professional kaishain. A person can't tell you financial analyst because in a year he or she might be transferred from finance to HR for no good reason and three to five years after that it could be logistics.

That statistic of 1/3 of new hires quiting within a couple of years of joining doesn't mean everyone is becoming a NEET or a Freeter. Most of them are going on to do something they're interested in. And that's exactly the right move if they don't just want to be "company employees" for the rest of their careers. Otherwise they become institutionalized and unhireable.