JoKERISM .

woo ahh I am struggling to finish a short article for my journalism course, which is about a japanese diplomat who killed in Iraq. He played Rugby for Oxford and now his friends (like a former MP and a former professional player from Irish national team) set up the memorial match in his name etc etc...my teacher scrapped my first draft and I need to give a new version by Thursday evening...it is already Friday morning, but it would not make a big difference as fas as I send it to her before she wakes up.

So, I am escaping a bit. I recently heard it is quite stupid to set the background of blog in green because for human eyes green look four times brighter than black and of course too vivid and even harmful for readers. Then considering the health of a little number of my readers I decided to change the colour a bit. I would not give up this digital-looking background, though. It is very ghost in the shell, and how could I, an addict to the world of electron, go to the other?

Uh, ahh, there is no big news in relation to the job hunting. But I heard of a friend of my friend (who?) traveling between Uk and Japan just to have an interview with Japanese TV station. and there are 8 interviews as a total before getting a position. Eight. 8 . How ridiculous!!! Can't they think more efficient way to select the applicant? Or do they merely want to present how hard to get in that stupid company? (by the way they don't produce good programs at all. I would like them to make a TV serious spotting that interview process like X factors!!) . And, guess, how rich would the girl has to be in order to go to each interview by flying all the way to Tokyo from London? Oh poor one cannot do the same...the world is so equal!!

While enjoying my summer holiday in Japan I got a cap on which the laughing man from S.A.C. (I'd recommend you to skip this entry if you don't understand these terms). It says "you know what I'd like to be? I mean if I had my goddamn choice. I'd just be the catcher on the rye and all. Stand Alone Complex". Looking at me wearing this cap, some people give me a meaningful smile and the other ask a straight question like "did you read a catcher in the rye? that's a nice book." It's sort of fun for me to observe their reactions. So it was worth investing 15 quid, in Akihabara...

I knew it, yes, I heard it. But it's still a kind of shock when you actually encounter it.

The fact is that majority of large companies in Japan officially set the age restriction when recruiting new students - You can't even apply unless you were born after 1982, that's sucks. And who knows if the rest has a transparent, glass-made sealing which prevents over 26 from getting through?

Before complaining about the increasing number of unemployed young, those who stand at the top of Japanese economy must consider what blocks my generation to get motivation (and sometimes real jobs). I, born in 1981, still seem to have some chances to slide into publishing business, but am pretty sure that I will be asked by HR officers why I don't go to Uni and try to find a job straight around the age of 22, just like all others who taking interviews before and after me. 

and my answer needs to be convincing enough!!! .......Who cares? It's  just so weird.

They are so many strange rules in this system. You would not find it strange unless you see it from outside, or would just realize its unreasonable structure once getting blocked out by it. Once you are entitled to be an outsider, whatever you shout  would sound like hopeless barking of underdog.

Yet it's a world I will be coming back, and I am not  yet in a position to think the flaw of whole system of whatever...I should rather worry about myself:p how to get through a narrow gate and then can think to change it.

I am making a draft for my answers in typical job interviews in Japan, in simulation-style.

Like,

HR: Can you introduce yourself?

ME: My name is xxx I am 25 years old which is a bit older than an average of new graduate students but I experienced and learned more than average students and also my character is not square-shaped. I can think and act very flexibly etc etc

HR: Can you describe yourself after 10 years?

ME: I hope I would gain a responsible position in the editorial section or would be the part of international section and..

HR: Did you do a part time job during your time at University?

ME: Yes at first I worked in an English Pub in London and then found an internship position in the editorial office of the News Digest magazine which late officially hired me as a part-time editor. What I learned from my first experience in the publishing industry was...

Yes, these question are really frequently asked. On one of many job information websites for new graduate students you will readily find a long list of such FAQ. But I found some questions quite funny, honestly. For example,

HR: If you are an animal, What kind of animal would you be?

ME:................(what do they want to know from this question? My friend told  me I sometimes behave and move like a penguin, no, probably it is not about my appearance...well, then my personality? But my impression on a particular animal and his one might be very different...how much do I have to explain ?).........a cat, I guess....

If I find funnier questions I will update here:) I think simulating a question-and-answer can be a part of self-analysing and you must do it when most companies would try to find out how clearly you can explain about your personality rather than asking mere experiences of yours. It is said in Japanese recruitments that companies would not put their importance on what an applicant did (unless his action is highly exceptional) but what he learnt in the process of his action, why he did it, how he applied this experience to his later action etc. I don't know if it is 100 percent true, but a recruiting process of new students in Japan is probably much more potential and personality oriented than that in West.