Comme ça du Japon

Photo: Jackson Boyle
License: Creative Commons

I can’t explain why but the municipal elections for Ichihara (population of 180.000) were much more 激しい (HageShiI) “intense” than what I have experienced in Sendai (population over 1 million). For a start, there were at least 4 times more 候補者 (KôHoSha) “candidates”. Also, I have never seen so much 工夫 (KuFû) “ingeniosity” in a municipal electoral campaign.

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According to a study done by the 厚生労働省 (KôSeiRôDôSha) “minister of health and labor”, the number of いじめ (IJiMe) “bullying” cases has raised by 24% by comparison to 2006. The 総合労働相談コーナー (SôGôRôDôSôDan Ko-Na-) “labor consultation corner” of the minister has dealt with more than 940000 enquiries. Among these, there were about 181000 litigious cases.

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Japan is known as a country where 証明書 (ShôMeiSho) “diplomas” are particularly important. I won’t say that a freshly graduated student of a famous university will systematically get the job over someone with a rich experience but the chances are probably likewise.　Anyway, you only have to go to a book store to verify that 資格 (ShiKaku) “certification” is big in Japan. There is a whole dedicated corner for certifications in every book store I know. This and the very broad range of specialized magazines makes Japan a great place for those who love self-learning.

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While I was strolling around 川崎 (Kawasaki) “Kawasaki”, which will be the subject of the next podcast, I found an interesting Kanji that I didn’t know of : 蛤 (Hamaguri). It is made of the combination of Kanji for 虫 (Mushi) “Insect” and 合 (Gô) “joint”. Given that the classification of animal species is far from being consistent, it is useless to look for an insect. Looking up in my japanese dictionary reveals that this Kanji is used for clam and that it is read はまぐり (Hamaguri). This reading is due to the fact that due to its color and shape, the japanese clam is sometimes called 浜栗 (HamaGuri) “the seashore chestnut (seashore + chestnut)”.

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