a report from ExchangeJapan 2010

＼(◎o◎)／！

text: Exchange Japan 2010photos: Exchange Japan 2010 & MOS2010 illustrations: Asafukurouprint: Brommatryck&Brolins AB

Introduction

So we tried to limit the amount of text in this book. It should not take more than 5 minutes to read it through. Enjoy(^O^)

There are so many books and so much text you have to read as a KTH or SSE student.

Unread text

S

D

P

Q}Consequently, supply exceeds de-mand leading to a lot of unread text.

aseamlessjourney

Travelling with WWL simplifies the factory to dealer journey. From ocean to inland, we tailor our services to find the most efficient path for your vehicles. So leave the details to us and know that you are in reliable hands.

Visit our web site www.2wglobal.com

Supply Chain Management | OceanTransportation | Terminal Services | Inland Distribution | Technical Sevices

Takenoko dori in Harajuku, Tokyo photo by Erikku

Crash course in Japanese smileys

featuring Ko-Mari

Hello! I am Ko-Mari!

キャピッ

Every day I send approximately 197 text messages to my friends (yes, I can type really fast!) using lots of Japanese smileys~

ぴこ

ぴこ

ぴこ

ぴこ

ぴこ

Western smileys, such as :-) and :-( express different feelings by altering the shape of the smiley’s mouth. Japa-

nese smileys on the other hand, are ”eye-orien-ted”.

ぴこ

WTF!!? (desperate)

Let us take a look at a few of them!

＼(◎o◎)／！

WTF? (surprised)

(・。・)

どれどれ

waatAaf

aaA!!!

Panic panic!Running around in panic

＼(゜ロ＼)(／ロ゜)／

( ^^) _旦~~Fika~

Bringing in some hot tea

m(__)mPlease/Sincerely/SorryShow respect, reverence or humbleness

＼(^o^)／Happy happy!

Default happiness

Meiji Jingu and Fuyutophoto by Erikku

Post-university choices

SalarymanFreeter

NEET

What to do after graduating from university? Here are some possible lifestyles to choose from as a Japanese university stu-dent approaching graduation. Prioritize quality of life (QoL) or social approval!

Housewife

Socialapproval

QoL

SalarymanSoldier bolstering the Japanese economy

Happy parents. Social insurance. Social status. Pension.

Getting employed by a company is the mainstream alternative after university. However, the conditions are tough.

+Overwork. Stress. Limited free time. Random harassment.-

Use

ful w

ords

Karoshi - death due to overwork

Tetsuya - ”all nighter”Sabi-zan - unpaid overtimeShachiku - brainwashed colleagues

who enjoy pain Work-life balance - recent buzz-

word. Seku-hara - sexual harassment

Pawa-hara - power harassment

They say 90% of work is suffering and 10% is joy of small progress. For me it is 100% suffe-ring. But I am sure this will enhance my potential in the long run...

””

paid work ~8h

commuter train ~2h

sleep ~6h

eating, leisure etc ~3h

A day in a random salaryman’s life

Fuyuto, 23

n = 1

Danger!

unpaid work ~5h

For Japanese

Many Japanese employees have to cope with a lot of irrationalities in their daily work. Unpaid overtime, work on weekends and flagrantly expressed peer pressure not to make use of any vacation are common practice. When in Japan, I was always wondering how the economies of other countries could be doing as well as the Japanese without long working hours under harsh conditions.

Well, firstly the customer is considered “God” in many Japanese companies. To satisfy the customer’s need is therefore first priority, even if it means working overtime and on weekends. For example, even the local supermarkets are nowadays open 24h and are operating even on New Year. This is convenient if you are a customer, but means increased working hours for the employees without sub-stantial increases in sales.

”

Wake Up Call

Salarymen

Airo-NEET is a former professional gambler who got fed up with the Japanese labor culture. He moved to Hong Kong and set up an aggressive blog critisizing the Japa-nese labor management and conditions. This is a summa-ry of his main arguments, made exclusively for Exchange Japan.

Secondly, suffering is regarded as something inherently good in many old-school Japanese compa-nies. Removing unnecessary work load is therefore not a priority. That Japanese companies demand handwritten resumes in job applications instead of digital ones is an example of this tendency. Even if it is unnecessary you should spend time and energy for the sake of showing commitment and endu-rance. Thirdly, in the old-school Japanese companies, evaluation of employees is based on facetime rather than productivity. Even if you are finished with your work, you cannot leave the office before your boss does.

It is time for the Japanese salarymen to open their eyes. I do not say work less. I say produce more in less time and go get a life. ”

Support the quality of life of the Japanese salarymen! Get the ”JOB is SHIT” T-shirt now! !

Controlling the household

The Japanese view on gender roles is quite conservative. 19% of the Japa-nese women consider housewife the ideal course of life (2002).

House - wife

+ Laid-back lifestyle. Control over the household economy. Good compensation in case of divorce.

Konkatsu - activities carried out in

order to recruit a husband/wife

Tama-no koshi - marrying rich (girl)

Gyaku-tama - marrying rich (guy)

Hesokuri - hiding money (cash) from

your husband

Gokon - group datingPercentage agreeing with the statement: ”The hus-band should go to work and the wife should stay at home and take care of the family.” (by gender and age)

20+ 40+ 60+

Gender equality bureau 2009

%

Use

ful w

ords

- Dependence on husband. No career development.

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Women Men

The Japanese labor market is so rigid and unflexible. You only have one chance to get a good full-time job and that is during your last years in uni-versity. If you miss the train, you won’t be able to catch up...

”

”

Mariko, 21

+-

The part time way

Freeter is short for ”Free arbei-ter”. You have one or more part time jobs and you manage your own schedule.

Seishun kaese b

akayaro! - give me

back my adolescence you idiot!

Dakyo - compromise

Nenkin - pension

Netagire - run o

ut of ideas U

sefu

l wor

ds

Freeter

Freedom, paid working hours. Time for hobbies.

No pension. Lack of social insurance. Worried parents. Low salary. Can you afford to have a family? Hard to get a full-time job.

+-

Escape from reality. No responsibilities

Hikikomori - A lifestyle based on the

policy of never going out of one’s

roomNeo-NEET - Making money from

internet-based work, while pursuing

the NEET-status. Otaku - Nerd (often specialised in

the field of animated girls)NEET rules!

””Beko, 23

Use

ful w

ords

Escape from reality. Total de-pendence on parents. Unsecure future.

Not in Employment,Education or Training

As a NEET you do nothing. You hang around at home letting your parents cover your ex-penses. It is convenient indeed.

NEET

Jenny@Asakusa or Shibuya photo by Erikku

...?garbage mountain@Inokashira koen

photo by Piita

Copycatting Jonathan Harris on TED.com,

we asked the Japanese people about their level of happiness

and their greatest wish Number of balloons (1-7)= level of happiness

Copycatting Jonathan Harris on TED.com,

we asked the Japanese people about their level of happiness

and their greatest wish

”Sustained happiness and health”Chiyoko+Hiro+Ayame, one-child family

”Break-through as a stand up comedian”Satoshi, salaryman

”1. Be cute 2. Be popular 3. Get a boyfriend!”

Maia, aroma therapy student

”Be famous!” Kenta, 5

”Something to eat tonight” Daisuke, guitar hero

”More grandchildren” Tomoko, housewife

”I NEED a girlfriend. Pleeaase”Takuto, University freshman

”Wanna travel around the world!” Ryo, Freeter/frog

”Live a long life” Tetsuro, salaryman

(^_^)v

parts of the recruitment ad 2010by Erikku

About Exchange Japan 2010: Background: a joint project between the stu-dent associations of the Royal Institute of Tech-nology and the Stockholm School of Economics. Established in 1999.

Settings: the project group consists of ten stu-dents from SSE and the Royal Institute of Tech-nology. The activities are carried out in coope-ration with a partner project group, Magnetism of Sweden, from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo.

Aim: create opportunities for cultural exchange between students and companies in Japan and Sweden.

Methods: arranging lunch presentations and career/culture fairs for students in Sweden and Japan. The major events are Nippon Night at SSE in Sweden and Sweden Day at the Swe-dish Embassy in Tokyo.

Results: presented in the following pages

MOS on tour: STOCKHOLM

Haglöfs

”semura”

Our Japanese friends from MOS at Hitot-subashi University vi-sited us in Stockholm during two cold Febru-ary weeks. Lots of fun!”semura”

Our Japanese friends from MOS at Hitot-subashi University vi-sited us in Stockholm during two cold Febru-ary weeks. Lots of fun!

sukyandaru

Andii

NipponNight!15 February 2010 @ Rotundan, SSE

2303 pieces of sushi 5697 geisha choco-lates 660 seconds kimono show 38 ”sooo cute” 1 pika-chu 284 Kirin beers 27 nail art works 321 happy students174 Japanese things a lot of other stuff

Tokyo by ExJ2010

turning Japanese in

takadanobaba!

yeah!

Wifi!!!!

During Sweden Day, Japanese students were given the oppor-tunity to explore Swedish cultu-re and companies. Entertained by typical Swedish characters such as Pippi Longstocking and The Leksand-hockey guy, they ate Swedish crisps and listened to presentations about the Swedish welfare system and career opportunities at the partner companies. The students were also introduced to Swedish irony, which some-

times led to mis-understandings. More than 300 students atten-ded the events and painted lots of eggs in tra-ditional Easter patterns. By the end of Sweden days we had over 200 color-ful eggs that no one wanted to eat.

30 - 31 March 2010 @ Swedish Embassy, Tokyo

SwedenDay

Eat or die!

Philippa AhlströmProject Manager

Elias NilssonEvents

Xenia ErikssonEvents

Jenny ShiStudent Relations

Anna MorozReport Book

ProjectMembers

Andreas TakanenCompany Relations

Peter UedaReport Book

Lisa WimmerstedtCompany Relations

Erik GynnerstedtWeb&Design

Stefan TegnhammarProject Manager

SUKYANDARU

RABUAIRONIII

HARROW

KURABU

TAKADANOBABAERIASU

HAGOLOFSKI

DOMADOMA

MANBOO

salary men

We have seen them work tireless-ly, sleep occassionally and getting drunk frequently. We have squeezed ourselves against them on rush hour trains and partied with them at kara-oke bars. Their way of living touched us deeply. Therefore, we decided to remove some balloons and other unneccessary material in order to dedicate these two pages to them.

the Japanese

Annons alfa laval

1883.

That was the year when Gustav de Laval founded the company

that today is Alfa Laval. Its success was based on his brilliant

invention of the continuous separator. Since then we have added

heat transfer and fluid handling to our expertise in separation. We

are now the world market leader in all three of these technologies,

with strong positions in segments that offer attractive growth oppor-

tunities with good margins. We grow by helping our customers to

grow. It’s a fruitful partnership.

Pure Performance: Beverages. Foodstuffs. Starch. Water.

Pharmaceuticals. Oil. Chemicals. You name it. Alfa Laval is helping

most types of industries to refine and improve their products and to

optimize the performance of their processes. Time and time again.

Our equipment, systems and service are hard at work in more

than 100 countries. Helping to create better living conditions for all

mankind. And a cleaner, safer environment. These are the true fruits

of our labour.

From juicy idea toglobal brand

www.alfalaval.com

Exchange Japan 2010 Gold Partner

Gustaf de Laval was a Swedish technical genius who invented the centrifugal separator and the first steam turbine. He registered 92 patents and started 37 companies during his life. In 1883, he established the company that later became Alfa Laval.

Alfa Laval is today a leading global provider of specialized products and engineered solutions. The company has a unique knowledge and experience in three key technologies; separation, heat transfer and fluid handling. These serve important functions in many industries. Alfa Laval has about 11500 employees worldwide and sells its products in over 100 countries.

Exchange Japan 2010 had the pleasure of visiting Alfa Laval’s factory in Shonan, outside Tokyo and wants to thank Alfa Laval for being our Gold Part-ner.

Alfa Laval

Atlas Copco

Atlas Copco was founded in 1873 with the mis-sion to facture and sell railway equipment. At that time, Atlas AB was the largest manufacturing company in Sweden.

Today Atlas Copco is a prominent provider of in-dustrial productivity solutions. The head quarters are still in Sweden but the offices have spread around the world. Today, Atlas Copco operates in more than 160 countries and has over 34000 employees worldwide.

The products and services range from compres-sed air and gas equipment to generators, mining equipment and assembly systems.

Exchange Japan 2010 wants to thank Atlas Copco for being our Gold partner.

Exchange Japan 2010 Gold Partner

Visit us at www.atlascopco.com/careers

Explore your global opportunities

Gold partners

SASSE SponsorsSilver partner

Sponsors

Scandinavia - Japan Sasakawa Foundation

asafukurouzeldasw.hp.infoseek.co.jp