Origins of Japan

I'm still trying to work through the mountain of pictures from Hokkaido, winnowing it down to something resembling manageable size. Meanwhile, a friend sent me a link to an article by Jared Diamond (of the "Guns, Germs and Steel" fame) from 1998 on the origins of the Japanese people. He doesn't have a particular historical or cultural axe to grind, so it's arguably more evenhanded and perhaps more reliable than you would find from a lot of Japanese or Korean sources. He's an engaging writer so it's a good read.

Back Again

We're back - back to a wet, chilly Osaka and a pile of laundry to rival the mountain of unread email and the hundreds of still unsorted pictures. I'll make some real posts about our trip later, but for now I can briefly say that we had a great time; the weather ranged from dazzling sun to heavy snowfall; Hokkaido food is as great as rumoured; and the Akan national park is really beautiful.

Happy Valentine's day everyone!

And We're Off

We're on our way to Hokkaido, with suitcases filled to the brim with wintery clothing; come to think of it, I can not remember having had quite this much clothing even during military service in Sweden many years ago. Ah well, better too much than too little I guess.

Without any internet connection (there is internet in the Hokkaido hotels, naturally; I'm just not going to use it) I'm not going to be able to moderate comments or anything else on this blog until next week. Feel free to comment, of course; it's just that your comment will not become visible until after I come back and can approve them.

I was going to post my homemade soba how-to, but ran out of time; it'll show up when we're back. Until then I leave you with a recent portrait of I-1 on the right. Why? No reason; I just like the shot.

Apologies, with Green Chocolate

I need to apologize. When we got married on Friday I sent emails to everybody who could be personally interested in the event. As it turned out however, my incompetence (no technical glitches to blame here) caused some of those emails to never be sent off properly. Fortunately most of those affected apparently watch this blog now and again and got in touch when they saw it here. Again, very sorry. Feel free to beat me up with blunt objects next time we meet.

On a lighter (greener?) note, Valentine's day is just a week away now, and candies and chocolates are popping up on store shelves like mushrooms after a storm. For inspiration, we found this in the supermarket just a while ago:

Green, tea-flavoured chocolate. Tastes pretty good; if you like matcha ice-cream you'll like this too. I prefer the ice-cream, overall.

Married

Ritsuko and I got married, this Friday on February first 2008.

We've been dating for four years and living together for almost two so we doubt it's a huge surprise for anyone. If you wonder why you weren't invited to the ceremony, stop fretting - we didn't have one. Just the two of us filing the paperwork at the ward office, followed by dinner in Kobe at our favourite Indian restaurant ("Raja", just south of Motomachi station, off the east end of Chinatown in case anyone wonders).

Saturday next week we're off to northern Hokkaido. We are both more than a little obsessed over food and Hokkaido has some the best Japanese seafood in the country (and perhaps the best Ramen in the world), so going there in the middle of the winter is not nearly as strange as it may at first appear. I'll post pictures after the trip.

Learn Japanese, get a Visa

Last week the Japanese foreign ministry tentatively suggested that language proficiency be connected to long-term visas. Now, the first (and natural) reaction would be that "oh, another ploy to keep as many foreigners out of the country as possible", but this really does not seem to be the case. Instead, is seems the purpose is the opposite, making it easier than before to gain a long-term visa as a way to promote language fluency, and to have more long-term immigrants be proficient in the language.

Practice, practice - just not on national cultural treasures, please.

The announcement was very careful about emphasizing that it would not make it more difficult to gain visas for non-speakers than it already is today; instead the purpose is to make it easier for those who do gain Japanese proficiency to stay. The article in Japan Today gives as an example lessening the required work experience for engineers if they have attained a certain level of language fluency. Other sources have implied that the term length of visas to be granted could be affected as well; several kinds of visas (like spouse of a Japanese national) actually come in several terms - like six months, a year and three years - before they need to be renewed, and one suggestion is apparently to give proficient speakers the longer-term visas earlier.

This is actually a very good idea, and one that I suspect they can get very broad support for. It hits all the right buttons for a lot of people: liberals will like the prospect of making it easier for committed people to stay; the right-wing nationalists will love the idea of making the Japanese language a requirement for anything; business interests will like the broadening pool of skilled employees being made available. And for us foreigners - yes, it's a good thing for us too. Remember, the idea is not to make it more difficult than it already is if you don't know Japanese (and to be fair, Japan is really not that difficult, visa-wise, compared to a lot of countries), but you get a real, substantial benefit if you do choose to spend all that time studying.

All statements are very vague, but the general consensus seems to be (and I agree) that this really is a preparative step in accepting more long-term immigration in response to the shrinking workforce. And - coming from a country with a large number of immigrants - since many of the problems associated with immigration stem in part from a lack of language ability, making this a condition is only prudent. It's not like Japan would be particularly exceptional if this was enacted either; Canada, for instance, gives you a bonus both for knowing English and French if you want to move there.

And really - people who are indifferent or negative towards a country do not spend years studying its language. The kind of people that willingly go through with something like that are enthusiastic, even passionate, about it, and should be exactly the kind of people you'd want to encourage to come.

I think this plan may actually be further along than the articles say and than people think. The article in Japan Today above specifically mentions the JLPT as the test to use for measuring proficiency, and there's what seems to be quite solid rumours that the JLPT is being redesigned right now, with a new, intermediate level between level 2 and the top level 1. A long-standing criticism of the test has been that the jump from 2 to 1 is very large, and that level 1 tests a lot of things that aren't very useful in daily life. The redesign is rumoured to add an intermediate level, while possibly push the current level 1 a bit further still. Another rumour - less reliable - hints at the test will be given twice a year rather than just once. The new test is apparently due to be tried out this summer and deployed for real in 2009.

As it happens, an intermediate level above level 2 would be perfect as a "proficient" level for work-related purposes. Level 2 itself is still a little on the low side, while the current level 1 is overkill in several ways. Having a "pre-1" that focuses on proficiency in practical use and making level 1 a real nerdcore test of obscure language points would both make for a better test and fit nicely with these visa plans. And, of course, making the JLPT count for visa determinations means you need to give the test reasonably often so that people don't get left hanging. The rumours of giving it twice a year thus fit in nicely as well.

If the new test is now designed to be rolled out in spring 2009, then that would give textbook authors time to create new study materials and give the test administration a year - a spring session and a winter session - to iron out any problems if the new immigration law is adopted in the spring Diet session a year from now and implemented from April 1st 2010. Time will tell, but I hope it'll happen.

Commuting time

The weekend section of Asahi Shinbun has a fun regular feature where they present some recent surprising statistic (ok, I think it's fun; your mileage may vary). It's short and simple enough that I can read it without too much trouble. Today they displayed the total one-way commuting time for students (including university students) and workers, respectively, in the Tokyo and Osaka areas, and how it changes over time (sorry, not online; I eyeballed the numbers for the Osaka area in the graph below). The current one-way average time for students and workers is about 72 and 67 minutes around Tokyo and 76 and 63 minutes around Osaka.

One-way commuting time around the Osaka area. Very approximate.

The piece highlights the fact that students in fact spend more time than workers on the commute though the common perception is very much the opposite. I find two other things more interesting, though: first that my own commute, at an hour and ten minutes, is just about exactly average. And since I travel against the flow so to speak - out of the city in the morning, in again at night - I get to sit quite comfortably for most of my trip; I have nothing at all to complain about in other words.

The other interesting thing is the dip in the graph. The 1995 peak coincides with the economical bubble in Japan and the subsequent dip with the recession. What, I wonder, is the actual reason for that?

It's not employment directly. The survey is the time taken for commuters, so people not commuting - like the unemployed - aren't counted. Besides, the school commute shows the same peak and dip, and I don't think school attendance swings up and down along with employment. If anything, university and trade school enrolment would tend to move in the opposite direction as people without work choose to study instead.

So the distance commuted is changing, perhaps. People move closer to their workplace when economy is bad, and further away when it is good. Not impossible: move to leafy suburbs with big houses in good times, or scrimp and save in cheap company-owned dormitories in bad. The overall trend would be explained as well, with more people moving to suburbs over time. But while the underlying trend may be explained in part by this it doesn't feel like you'd see such a large effect from the bubble, recession and recovery on this short a time scale. And it's not changing to jobs closer or further away either; if anything I'd expect the average workplace to be further away in a recession, as you can't be as picky about what job you take.

So perhaps distance doesn't change but the time taken does. The government will tend to splurge on public infrastructure in down years in order to stimulate the economy - you'd get more bus lines, denser train departures and new roads, bridges and tunnels; the Japanese government is of course notorious for spending money in this manner. But then, those bridges or buses don't generally disappear again in boom years (the great thing about infrastructure is that it tends to stick around), so you wouldn't see such a neat uptick in commuting time in good years.

The final possibility - and my guess - is other commuters. With a better economy you have more people commuting. Which means more traffic congestion, full trains and delayed buses. And I suspect especially that in a boom economy more people use their car rather than public transport, something which especially in dense urban areas can actually take you longer than the subway (and longer still, of course, when stuck in a traffic jam due to all the other car-borne commuters).

So, if the trip to work or school seems to take longer than ever, be happy - things are going well overall in other words. If your commute is getting faster and smoother on the other hand, it's time to worry about job security. And if you're the only living person in sight one morning, it's time to wonder if you perhaps should have paid a bit more attention to that news flash on some radioactive giant reptile attacking the city. Remember, learning important Japanese like "怪獣" (kaijuu) may save your life one day. Or at least let you sleep late one morning.