More on Japanese Culture

I'm not sure if this is culture or pop-culture, but Inside-Japan.com has posted the second part of their question-and-answer guide to Japanese culture. And yes, it has robots!!

Japanese Culture Guide - Part 2

This is really a Japan FAQ in progress, and it's a great idea. I hope they keep going because if the content and topics keep expanding, it could become one of the most comprehensive and easy to use Japan culture guides around.

Japanese Politics: Off to an early start

Perhaps much sooner than many expected, the pro-LDP Japanese political establishment has already started the long and undoubtedly relentless campaign to smear the incumbant Deomcratic Part of Japan and its leader.

What I wrote only yesterday ("the vengeance the LDP will surely unleash in their attempts force another election and regain power.") seems to have begun today:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/japans-new-first-lady-wrote-of-alien-encounter/article1272962/

While I think anyone who claims to have been abducted by aliens is a little off their tatami, it's clear the battle for political surpremacy is far from over in Japan.

And someone should tell Mrs. Hatoyama: we know Venus ain't green. If you're going to be spiritually abducted by aliens, at least have them take you somewhere far, far away--not to areas of space we are all already aware of (it makes it look like your flight of fantasy is constrained by your own imagination: never a good thing when it comes to aliens).

Japan Politics: A new era for Japan?

With the not unexpected defeat of Japan's ruling and ironically named Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in recent elections, the opposition Democratic Part of Japan is poised to take the reigns of power at last.

The LDP has ruled Japan for all but 11 months of the past five decades, and while many claim this election victory merely proves Japan doesn't really change, many others believe this time the change will last.

While it might be tempting to believe that a Democratic government in Japan will veer the nation back towards more traditional post-WWII Japanese values like those reflected in the pacifist MacArthur constitution, it is unlikely.

Far more likely is another blip on the political landscape; a promising experiment with change that sadly yields none. Japan's Democratic Party is unproven, inexperienced, and quite possibly unprepared for the vengeance the LDP will surely unleash in their attempts force another election and regain power.

Japan does not change easily. They country, although vibrantly democratic to all appearances, is still essentially a Meiji era construct where a few families, companies, and institutions hold true power. In many ways, this hasn't changed for hundreds of years.

Japan will continue to do what Japan does, to a great extent regardless of what political party is in power. The pendulum will swing, opinion and policy will evolve, but the core will stay very much the same.

Whether this is good or bad for the people of Japan is a question that rarely gets asked, as it is difficult to answer.

How to make money in Japan

There are many tens of thousands of foreigners living in Japan. And I know for a fact not all of them work as exotic dancers or (far worse) English teachers. So how do these people make money in Japan?

With Japanese fluency and a suitable degree, there are plenty of professional jobs in Tokyo and Osaka working for mostly foreign tech and investment firms. And plenty of bars and restaurants hire the token white guy who speaks Japanese entertainingly and mixes a decent martini.

But for the long term Japan lifers, is there a way to make a decent living outside of being paid to whore your language skills? Excluding writing, teaching, editing, or proofreading jobs, what is there that the 'average' foreigner in Japan can do to earn a living wage?

If you're living and working in Japan, I've like to know what you do to make ends meet (and whether the money you make is enough to live on). Post a comment and let us know where the money is in Japan!