Comme ça du Japon

The number of 交通事故 (KôTsû JiKo) “accidents on the road” has been decreasing for six years now in the Japan. The death toll for 2006 was 6352 persons killed on the road with about 44% of seniors (above 65 years old). This the highest proportion that Japan has ever known. When you know that in 20 years from now half of the drivers will be over 60 years old, you better come up with a solution quickly. On the other hand, there was 11625 accidents caused by 飲酒運転 (InShuUnTen) “drunk-driving” which represents a reduction of 16.2% from 2005. This shows the effectiveness of the zero tolerance policy.

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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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You probably heard of Japan’s 高齢化社会 (KôReiKaShaKai) “aging society” problem. The results of the latest studies indicate that the birth rate has reached its lowest point and that the population of Japan is already decreasing. Many person are placing their hope in governmental measures to entice the Japanese to procreate. For the moment, the japanese government is focusing its energy on raising social allowances such as 児童手当 (JiDôTeAte) “children allowances”. Still, I remembered that I read an article in 読売新聞 (YomiUri ShinBun) “the Yomiuri newspaper” that the allowances available in France, the european country with the highest birth rate, was about tenfolds the revised japanese allowances. I don’t really believe that just raising social allowances will solve Japan’s birth rate problem. I think that japanese companies share a large part of responsibility in this crisis. So ソフトバンク (SoFuToBaNKu) “SoftBank” surely got my attention when they announced a serie of measures related to this matter on march 27th.

コドモバイル (KoDoMoBaIRu) “SB generation”

SoftBank is a relatively young dot.com company that is known for its early push of broad band Internet access with Yahoo!BB and for its recent acquisition of Vodaphone Japan (previously JPhone and now SoftBank Mobile), one of the three main players in mobile telephony for the japanese market. Softbank explained its new 少子化対策 (ShôShiKaTaiSaku) “measures against the declining birth rate”. Until now, employees received a bonus per children between 3000 and 15000 yens depending on the number of years served at the company. With the newer system, SoftBank will give 20000 yens for the employee who served for less than a year. For the other employees, the bonus will scale from 50000 yens for the first baby, then 100000, 1 million, 3 millions et 5 millions of japanese yens for the fifth baby. But more importantly, the parents will be able to : take a break for 6 weeks before the birth and 8 weeks after the delivery, take a full year off for during the baby’s first year, take 5 days of キッズ休暇 (KizZu KyûKa) “kids break” per year until the child goes to the primary school, work 2 hours less per day during the pregnancy, etc. Last, SoftBank Mobile will offer a mobile phone, free of charge (no monthly basic fee) to the employees’ children. This one made me smile but hey, this is a rather smart way to grow one’s customer base !

A ranking of the most wanted companies by future japanese graduates is published by several organisations. Remember that academic and financial years start in April in Japan. The results below are from one of these studies and it was made by 日本経済新聞社 (NiHonKeiZaiShinBunSha) “the japanese economy journal publisher (aka Nikkei Business)” between october and december 2005. About 4600 students were asked their 就職希望 (ShûShoku KiBô) “job wishes”.

Travelling, kimi wo….

At the top 3 of the general ranking, you can find サントリー (SaNToRi-) “Suntory” (mostly known for their beverage), 全日本空輸 (Zen NipPon KuYû) “All nippon airways” and トヨタ自動車 (JiDôSha) “Toyota Automobiles”. There is no change for the two first places. Toyota has won one place compared to last year’s ranking. Another interesting fact is that JTB and 日本航空 (NiHonKôKû) “Japan Airlines (JAL)” have fallen down to the fifth and eight places. For JAL, it is certainly a consequence to the recent numerous troubles that shaked the whole company : lots of technical problems on the airplanes and some tension inside the company.

Great jump for some financial institutions

This is clearly a sign that Japan’s financial fiasco is a thing of the past. Groups like 三菱東京UFJ銀行 (MitsuBishi TôKô UFJ GinKô) “The Tôkyô UFJ-Mitsubishi Bank” or みずほフィナンシャルグループ (MiZuHo FiNaNShaRu GuRu-Pu) “Mizuho financial” made an impressive jump from ranks 23rd and 28th to ranks 7th and 8th.

Ranking by graduate school students only

If we only consider the answers of 大学院生 (DaiGakuInSei) “graduate school students”, the ranking is a little bit different with トヨタ (ToYoTa) “Toyota”, 日立製作所 (HiTachi SeiSaku Jo) “Hitachi manufacturing”, 松下電器産業 (MatsuShita DenKi SanGyô) “Matsushita (Panasonic) electric appliances industries”, サントリー (SaNToRi-) “Suntory” and キヤノン (KyaNoN) “Canon” in the top 5.

For which reason ?

To the question “Explain the main reason that motivated your decision”, the principal answer was 仕事がおもしろそう (ShiGoto Ga OMoShiRoSô) “the job seems interesting”. The other main reasons were : 大規模 (DaiKiBo) “large scale”, 一流 (IchiRyû) “first-rate” and 信頼 (ShinRai) “trust”.