Japanese Salaryman Life pt.1

When I was still a student, I always wondered how an ordinary Japanese salaryman live their life.

If one reads the many articles written by the western media about the Japanese salaryman, one could not escape the impression of the life of the everyday Japanese salaryman to be terribly stressful and horribly overworked, leading to a sexless life with the wife, and fuel the booming of compensated-dating with materialistic-minded, under-aged girls.

Every morning they have to endure the worst morning rushes in the world to get to work using the always over-crowded ‘densha‘; and in those small spaces where people rub shoulders with each other while they try their best to keep their balance so that they don’t step on another salaryman’s foot, or pressed on an office lady’s breasts too hard (unintentionally, I hope), the ordinary Japanese salaryman would never refrain themselves from grabbing the still developing but already meaty and firm, buttocks of not-so-innocent Japanese high school girls who always wore their skirt way too short just to be cool at school, as they are very weak when it comes to peer pressure.

Their life is pathetic as it was just a declining road to 過労死 (karoushi), while frequently visiting the nearest soaplands and kyabakura clubs along the way.

As you can see, they don’t have the nicest reputation.

And I’ve become one.

Well, sort of… It has only been a month and I still didn’t have the opportunity to visit or do all those perverted things that they are famous for, as they have been portraited in the western media.

I really do lack in experience, but I could at least share what I have been through these past weeks… And I am pretty sure some of my blog readers out there, especially my kohais, would want to know what a salaryman life loosely assembles like.

So here it goes…

Ok I think I should stop here right now because it’s almost 10:00 pm and I got to go to bed as soon as possible as I don’t want to wake up late tomorrow; I need to get up at 05:45 am every morning to get to work god damn it!

To be continued…

p/s: to be fair though, although the phrase ’salaryman’ means males who works under a salary, the more common usage of the title is applied to Japanese white-collar businessmen… not engineers, teachers, porn stars, police officer etc…

tak nak balik berkhidmat untuk negara ke?

aku ditaja JPA untuk belajar di Jepun selama 6 tahun.

april 2003 – march 2009.

setahun buat bahasa jepun, 3 tahun buat diploma pastu lagi 2 tahun buat degree.

kalo ikut rate sekarang, biasiswa bulanan yang aku dapat adalah lebih kurang rm4800.

(100yen=rm3.7)

rm4800 darab 12 bulan darab 6 tahun = rm345,600.

banyak tu.

tu tak kira duit yuran pengajian + elaun buku la, elaun pindah, elaun kesihatan etc.

kalo campur sumer2, ada kot cecah setengah juta.

” setengah juta? banyak tu beb, but still, ko masih nak stay kerja kat jepun, tak nak balik berkhidmat untuk negara, untuk rakyat ke? “

ke sudah lupa diri?

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

dulu aku banyak kali terbaca berita pasal student overseas tajaan kerajaan yang lepas graduate, tak nak balik mesia, langgar contract dengan terus sambung kerja kat oversea, pastu tak bayar plak tuh duit pinjaman.

kerajaan taja mahal2 supaya nanti dia bole balik untuk berkhidmat untuk rakyat.

tapi balasan nya, dia lari entah ke mana, demi kepentingan diri sendiri.

taufiq ali, kamu macam mana?

blog student engineering jepun

sesetengah student kat mesia yg google pasal blog student engineering malaysia yg tengah study kat jepun, akan sampai ke blog aku nih, dan sesetengah daripada student itu pernah mail kat aku supaya bercerita sikit pengalaman aku sebagai student engineering di jepun.

kebanyakan daripada mereka nih merupakan student2 yg baru masuk pusat persediaan di malaysia untuk melanjutkan pelajaran di kolej2 atau pon universiti jepun nanti, so bole dikatakan mereka nih junior2 aku la.

so sebagai senpai (senior) yg prihatin lagi baik hati, aku cuba nak jawab salah satu soalan yg agak popular dikalangan mereka:

//susah tak belajar engineering dalam bahasa jepun nih?//

jawapan pendek yg aku boleh bagi: mana ada benda senang dalam dunia ni beb!

aku ambik course mechanical engineering (機械工学 kot b jepun), so aku hanya bole bagi pendapat pasal course ni aje lah.

walaupon aku cakap belaja mechanical engineering kat jepun nih tak senang, aku tak rasa yg course nih susah gila pon. seriously aku rasa belajar mechanical engineering kat mesia lagi susah.

nak tau kenapa?

sebab course mechanical engineering kat mesia lagi banyak assignment, lagi banyak report experiment kena buat, pastu tak kira quiz lagi, lecturer yg haram jadah ntah paper, sibuk nak kerja part-time la… macam2 lagi.

course mechanical engineering kat jepun plak amatlah simple. assignment takde la banyak pon, experiment pon takde la susah2, quiz takde org buat, lecturer plak, kalo korang reti bodek, memang senang2 aje dia nak bagi lepas satu2 subject tuh.

memang la belajar engineering kot bahasa jepun ni susah, tapi bila ko dah diletakkan dalam satu tempat dimana bahasa itu la yg akan menyelamatkan ko, lama kelamaan akan jadi biasa la.

toksah risau sangat pasal bahasa, asal korang kuat berusaha, mesti ramai orang jepun yg akan tolong; tapi of course la kena buat kawan ngan org jepun dulu kan?

so pesanan aku kepada kohai2 (junior) di mesia, korang jgn risau sangat pasal bahasa. lama2 tu biasa la. yang paling penting nak survive sebagai student engineering kat jepun ni adalah semangat ganbaru – berusaha.

perkataan ganbaru itu sendiri memang dah jadi perkataan kegemaran org jepun. so untuk survive dalam enviroment jepun, korang pon kena banyak tiru gaya jepun.

kena gigih sket buat kerja, jgn sloppy, kalo bole buat kerja cepat2 tapi elakkan kesilapan…. benda2 mcam tu la. lagi penting adalah menepati masa. ni memang kena jaga gila kalo nak duk dalam komuniti kat sini.

eh… aku rasa mcam aku tercakap lebih2 plak… sebenarnya ada aje student mesia yg lambat, tak tepati masa, malas pastu asyik buat kesilapan aje, tapi bole survive gak duk kat jepun nih… aku la tu hahahaha.

anyways, walau macam mana pon, study pening2 kat sini, usaha kuat2 pon, salah satu element yg aku rasa memang penting gila untuk student kat jepun ialah tidak lain tidak bukan:

ENJOY !!!

seriously, duit dapat tak kan nak simpan kot? kena la enjoy untuk hilangkan stress sehari2. baru la bole perform sket dlm menghadapi ujian2 seterusnya!

sebagai penamat, sebagai student engineering jepun, aku rasa amat bertuah dapat peluang untuk melanjutkan pelajaran kat sini. dulu time interview jpa, aku letak US sebagai first choice, UK sebagai second choice pastu Japan sebagai third choice; tapi aku sungguh berterima kasih kepada kegeniusan pegawai2 JPA yg bagi aku punya third choice, sebab aku rasa kalo aku pegi UK ke US ke untuk belajar engineering, aku tak rasa experience nya serupa mcam kat Jepun.

sebab jepun nih negara pelik.

*tapi sebenarnya, aku dapat Jepun sebab result SPM aku tak hebat mana. time tu, hanya top scorer aje yg diaorg bagi gi US ngan UK. yg result hampes mcam aku nih dia bagi pegi Jepun aje, negara yg tak ramai student engineering nak pegi. sebab nya? of course la sebab kat Jepun nih diaorg tak pakai ENGLISH.

*aku dulu ambik diploma dulu baru buat degree, dan aku rasa proses mcam ni lagi menarik sebab dapat rasa practical (diploma) ngan theory (degree) dalam engineering. so kira pendedahan tu lagi luas la sket, walaupon ambik masa yg lebih lama berbanding mereka yg buat degree from the start.

haa itu la sedikit cerita pasal being an engineering student kat jepun nih. tapi tu lah, mungkin korang rasa susah nak belajar engineering kat jepun, tapi aku dengar student engineering kat jerman lagi la susah. mengikut cerita memba aku yg belajar kat sana, memang jarang benar nak jumpa student malaysia yg tak perlu ulang setahun dua.

so bersyukur la ngan apa yg ada.

yg penting usaha gigih dan ikhlas. the rest tu kita serahkan pada yg Esa.

pastu gi karaoke jangan lupa

uwaa banyok kijo la pulok

- my presentation for the thesis-translation is next week. i’m scratching my head trying to decide on which portion of the thesis that are going to the chopping block department, because it’s humanly impossible to present each and everything in 10 minutes. some parts of the stupid thesis must go into the digital dustbin and never be spoken of during presentation day.

- i’m making powerpoint slides for the presentation like crazy! my head is burning.

- today is the due date for the ロボット工学 (robotic engineering) assignment.

- tomorrow is the due date for the 制御工学 (system engineering) assignment.

- the day after tomorrow is the due date for the 環境科学 (environmental science) assignment.

- the day after the day after tomorrow is the due date for me to find the guy who invented the idea of assignments in universities. At first I would extend my hand for a friendly handshake, then when he turns his back on me, I’ll bash his head with a crowbar after i slit his throat. Then I’ll go to his house carrying his decapitated head so that he could see me abusing her 16 years old daughter with an oven-heated banana and 3 sticks of japanese cucumber (キュウリ-kyuri). I’ll sell his young wife as a sex slave to rich pak arabs. Or maybe as sweatshop slaves in China, making nike shoes in poor working environment. I am an opportunist, so I’ll sell his 4 and 10 years old sons to american christian priests, or micheal jackson; the highest bidder wins.

- inappropriately sick jokes aside, you can see i’m pretty busy this week. Next week i got several seminars to attend to, and also the 固体力学 (solid-mass mechanics?) assignment to be delivered.

- although i thought it was over-rated, i bought the 2008 akiyama rina calender. got it yesterday. now i know that i’m so easily deceived by women with beautiful skin plus a nice set of buns. damn it! i remember talking to Tazz about the importance of the quality of cost-effectiveness when considering a product to purchase. this shows that i’m a hypocrite. what a shame. 1300yen down the drain. but i still think oshirina has nice skin complexion and her momo fruit is just juicy to look at.

- i better get back to the powerpoint slides. time is gold. and i’m pissing blood.

- i’m sleeping in the research lab for 7 days straight, starting from today. its inevitable.

the adventure of the job hunter continues

After failing the Alpine interview, I know that I don’t have much time to be disappointed and all; I have to move on to the next step!

So without wasting time, I went to K. Sensei once again to ask for his recommendation to my next target: Daihatsu Motors located in Osaka. I already promised Tsubasa to try for a Daihatsu interview IF I flunked Alpine.

He immediately called the human resource department of the company, but I’m already out of luck: they have closed the opening because they have already filled up all the available positions for (future) fresh graduates.

So I kinda freaked out for a second, and then move on to do research on other available companies. Two went straight into my line of sights: Isuzu and TCM. Isuzu is a bus, jeep, big-ass-vehicles maker while TCM makes industrial vehicles.

Out of the two, I decided to go with TCM because they don’t have pre-exams in their interview process, unlike Isuzu. The other reason is because I think making industrial vehicles like HUGE tractors are way cooler than making buses.

I’m out of luck again. By the telephone call that K. Sensei made, they’re really skeptical about taking in a foreigner. Of course they don’t say that they don’t want foreigners, but you can just feel the vibe of not-welcome-ness to gaijins. After exchanging opinions with K. Sensei, both of us have agreed that TCM is not for me. I better find other Japanese companies that are more gaijin friendly.

So I went home with a bunch of lists of Japanese companies that has a more open policy to foreign workers. Man, it’s really hard to choose. Went home, and I got a FedEx document from Malaysia. I never got a FedEx before. Opened the documents and I was kinda surprised: it’s from P*r*d*a, the Daihatsu-backed Ma*a*sian car maker! And I was offered a job as an engineer!

I forgot. I still got Konica-Minolta and P*r*d*a as backup!

So I took a deep breath, and look at the lists more carefully. Then I have decided to try this plastic parts maker located in Kanagawa. The pay was quite good (210000yen), they have a manufacturing plant in Malaysia, and they’re very open to foreigners!

So the next day, I went to K. Sensei again, and asked him to write a recommendation letter. I posted all the necessary documents to the company (that I’m not going to say its name here, for a lot of reasons) yesterday, and all I gotta to do now is wait for an answer, and practice the SPI tests and do some math exercises.
I’m also busy doing the 外国文献 (gaikokubunken – foreign thesis?), translating English journal/thesis made by foreign researchers (I got the thesis from a team of researchers from Swiss) to Japanese. The original English thesis is already extremely hard to understand, how in the world would I be able to translate such mind-numbing journals into perfect Japanese?

Thank God I have the Japanese-English digital dictionary/translator Fujitsu’s ATLAS; the software really helped me a LOT. I only wished that the Swiss team would write their thesis using more grammatically correct English. Well, they’re not native English speakers, so I guess it cannot be helped.

I’m scheduled to present the translated thesis next week (2nd July). I’ve already finished translating; right now I’m doing the powerpoint slides and the presentation’s text-aide. I also have presentation practices to prepare. But most of all, I have to read the thesis over and over and over again, because I still don’t understand what kind of experiments the Swiss team has done and what are the benefits of their boring research. Not a slightest fucking idea. Nanoscale Friction Varied by Isotopic Shifting of Surface Vibrational Frequencies. What the fuck is that?

Changing topic.

Today I ate the 390yen shake bento from grandmart, again; accompanied with the new okinawa vitamin water drink and the oh so rich and creamy glico’s torori cream pudding. awesome.
footnote:

1) Alpine does not involve in any production of paper. Alpine makes audio-visual electronics for consumer cars, and also GPS-based navigational system. So, Syazi, Alpine nih bukan nya kilang buat kertas. Mahu pun kilang buat jagung bakar. Ataupon air soya.

2) Gaijin (外人) is an abbreviation of gaikokujin (外国人) which means foreigner; or an outsider. In recent times, the word has become regarded by some as exclusionary or derogatory and thus offensive; most japanese tv broadcasters avoided using this word and prompt to use the full ‘gaikokujin’ phrase instead. Common Japanese people though, would use this word widely to refer to foreigners, but only behind their backs. So if you’re not Japanese and a Japanese is calling you a ‘gaijin’, that means he/she have no respect for you and is verbally assaulting your sorry gaijin ass.