Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

The blood donation center was a sight that could have brought a man to tears. People, with absolutely nothing to gain other than pain and physical weakness braved hour-long waits to have thick needles stuck in their arms. But all of them still managed to put on smiles on their unnaturally whitish faces after 400ml were ruthlessly sucked out from them by a shaking, noisy machine that only made the experience seem more cold-hearted... So I decided to spent this morning at a blood donation center in downtown Tokyo. The building the center was situated is home to both the blood donation center on the 6th floor and a Japanese passport application and processing center on the 2nd floor. Interesting enough, the lines at both of those centers were equally long, with people patiently waiting more than an hour to do what they went there to do. Of course, the news on the TV in both of those places were equally grim. The fear of nuclear disaster is escalating as doubts about whether Tokyo El

Yesterday, work abruptly ended before noon. In Sales Development, the original plan to deal with inbound calls from customers and shop owners (expected to be many as none of the goods are really be shipped) for the entire day was suddenly scrapped after the 部長 came in and informed us that were are going to be "waiting/working at home" (自宅待機/勤務) until further notice. When somebody actually gathered enough guts to ask what does it mean by 自宅待機/勤務, the awkward answer that came back was something along the lines of "think about how Rakuten can improve services"...

The Japanese and the Chinese often refer to a concept of 国民性 (roughly translated as "national character), which states that citizens (and long-time residents) of a particular country share certain similarities in behavior because they have been residing in that particular country for a long time. This concept tends to be much broader than that of "customs" used in the West to denote practices shared by people of a particular culture. The Chinese and Japanese have such a strong faith in this concept of 国民性 that in attempts to find it out about other countries, their "research" often border racism in their incessant desires to generalize the patterns and trends of different people of one country into a formulaic one-fits-all stereotype. For example, just after meeting a few Indians in the company, some Japanese colleagues made no hesitation to talk about "those Indians ALWAYS do..." But perhaps the one instance when this idea of 国民性 actually does make

A Japanese politician making irresponsible comments is definitely not a rare sight, partly helping to explaining why many of them at the top level get kicked out so shortly after being elected . But the newest fiasco perhaps tops them all, especially considering that it is directly about the current national crisis. Mr. Ishihara, the Governor of Tokyo, recently remarked (and later retracted) that the Quake was a "heavenly punishment" for Japan. Never mind the superstitious nature of the comment completing unfitting with the rather "modern" image of Japanese democracy, or how absurd and unusual that such comment can come out of a right-wing ultra-nationalistic politician, the most hurting thing about the comment is perhaps that it is...actually true on some levels. Now, before you starting jumping to conclusions and call me a racist, let me explain why I think in such a fashion. A stroll in town at night shows why the emotional national unity the country displayed

The media is trying hard to not let any of us loosen up our nerves even one tiny bit. After reporting explosions at the Unit 1 and 3 of the Fukushima nuclear power plant , it made sure to scare the people even more with news on the most recent explosion, this time at Unit 2. There is rumors (reported ones, unfortunately), that the radiation level, even here in Tokyo, is going to reach 25 times the normal level. Heeding the cautions about staying in Japan issued by various embassies, the foreigners are starting to put into practice their plans for departing the country for a short period of time . Even those with no plans (or tickets, most likely) to leave the country are prompted by the fearful news to head west toward Kansai and Kyushu areas. And with some (actually, most) companies reducing the number of workers temporarily to deal with the power cuts, the mass movement of people is officially under way. But as for myself, I am seriously feeling that my conscience would not allow