Journal lingqi's Journal: December 04, 2002 1
December 04, 2002 (9:30am):
Sorry this cannot be long - I have class in 30 minutes and I have to do homework. Afterwards I need to race home and attend to my telephone installation.
As an answer to comments yesterday - first of all, I don't think I show enough appreciation to all of you out there who are reading this - and believe me it would not be half as fun writing all these stuff without you guys. So, for what it's worth - thanks, everyone, for bearing with me.
The second reply-to-comment as regards to Japan's economic conditions (short version, there is a lot more where that came from):
Japan's economy is doing pretty bad. You can see homeless people in many places - living in card board boxes and tarps. They don't have the luxury of gigantic shopping carts to push around their belonging with as in the US (there are no gigantic shopping carts).
I have once seen a guy dug through the trash on a train station (maybe I mentioned this, I don't remember), and upon finding a half-drank can of beer (or some other beverage - I couldn't tell), he without hesitation gulped down the remaining content of the can.
Some other fun facts:
*) Japan's unemployment rate is over 6%. If you would consider how difficult it is for a person to find a job after they lose one, you can see that this underlines a lot of social-economic troubles. No time to go in details on the lifetime empolyment thing right now, though. (as a for-shits-and-giggles comparison, US unemployment was 33% at the peak (erm, depths?) of the great depression. However, again, please remember that those people eventually got jobs again.)
*) The appearance of large super-markets and discount shops are driving a lot of small businesses to the ground - much like what Wal-Mart did to the US. The difference is that I think "starting a small fruit / yakitori stard" is one of the ways elder peoples cope with retirement (finacially and otherwise), unlike the US. (not 100% sure - don't quote me)
*) Pay cuts here has been *horrible*. What's considered horrible? how about 30%? (I just learned this last night.) If you had a 50k annual income (US dollars), you will now have to subsist on 35k - while all your rent / gas / train / whatever staying the same. It's quite an unbelievably large cut! Especially comparing that 10% is already considered "severe" in the US. Moreover, people can't really do anything about it - again, coming back to the "if I quit / lose my job, I can't find another one" thing.
To think that in the US we were bitching and whining about not having our annual pay-raises and unable to fly executive class overseas - I only now start to realize how frivolous those complaints were, and cannot but feel awful that I partook in them.
I am going to do homework now. I do have more to say on this subject - and other stuff in general, but really have to apologize for the lack of time.
uh, nothing, really (Score:1)