Job Search

Starting this year, in Japan at least, since the economy has started picking up again, recruitment drive for new staff is also heating up. Looking for a job in Japan can be very different from how you are used to. University students in the bachelor and master's level usually start looking a full year before graduation. PhD students are a little different, while some do look for jobs pretty early, there are those who take are constantly on the lookout for a good match between their skills and the job requirements. A lot of jobs can now be applied on-line. Compared to 5 years ago, recent candidates find themselves inundated with plenty of options for on-line job applications. The other thing that is different about job search in Japan is their resume. A standard form (履歴書) is available in most bookstores (bet you didn't know that! Me neither). You just need to fill in your personal particular including photo, education, work experience, certification all in a chronological fashion. Other misc information like major, interests, work preference, and marital status are also required. My own experience in producing a resume (in English) has been a mixture of creative layout and ideas to spice up the information contained within. Nothing of that sort is required in Japan, as far as I know. Perhaps it's better that way since, we are not applying for a job in the Creative Arts department anyway. On the other hand, no sloppiness is tolerated. That is not to say that you can get away with carelessness and mistakes in the English version. One thing that is absolutely necessary when working in a Japanese company in Japan is proficiency in Japanese, what else! Although I have been toying about that idea for sometime, I am revisiting this option of a working in Japan. Let's see how things go. This is my barebone dual-language resume.

It's a bargain

Malaysia, unlike Japan, is a country where lively bargaining was promoted to an art form. From a tender young age, children taken by their mothers to the wet market learn unwittingly the art of bargaining. Until a few years ago, before the government decided to 'help' consumers who lack this survival skill by making shop owners display pricetags on all goods, some people actually enjoyed their shopping. Such a conversation would go something like, "10.45" says the shopkeeper, "wah! so expensive, 5 lar" comes a reflex response from mom, "5 cannot lar, tell you what, round to 10 just for you-lar" replies the shopkeeper instinctively, "like that dun wan-lar". "OK, auntie, 8, final offer?, And mom would reach for her purse and the deal is sealed. Usually, the bargaining process can extend longer that that. Then it would be a power or stamina struggle. To see who gives up first. It can be quite fun watching the process.

Nowadays, lively conversation like that is nowhere to be found. Of course, you hear stories about customers from hell that bargain with street peddlers just for the sheer fun of it, but I think there is a lot to be learned by knowing how to making your verbal-sparring partner agree to your point of view. I know that bargaining is still pretty wide spread in some other Asian countries. Thailand and China for example where you can practice your persuasive skills. In countries where shopping are done in supermarkets and huge hypermarkets, you get a bargain only when there is a sale going on. Come to think of it, bargaining may not be a lost art form. In Japan, I heard that big deals still go through some form of bargaining. But then, they call it business negotiation.

You can't handle the truth!

Today, allow me talk about something different. About politics that is. Having no direct confrontation with this strange concept before, I found myself mysteriously drawn to it quite recently. In this one particular aspect at least, Japan and Malaysia are not so much different from each other. And that is, to deny their citizens the right to know the truth. There are obvious reasons for this. Mostly selfish, I think.

History may not always be what is seems. Propaganda from the ruling government to self-propagate often put them in the best light to the common citizen (voters). What ever the cause maybe, the interest of the disadvantaged are ignored or often trampled-on because of someone else's selfish agenda.

Take for example,
i) The lies that are being told of the rioting incident in Kuala Lumpur during that faithful day of May 13, 1969. Fortunately, we have blogs that gives us a second account of the real version.

If you tell one lie, you will have to tell another lie to cover that first lie, and so on. Pretty soon, your story will collapse under an Everest of lies. Those who know the truth but choose to remain quiet are just as bad as those protecting their own sick interests. Why, because as Thomas Jefferson remarked, "Evil triumphs when good men do nothing."

ii) Corrections upon corrections of the official version of the atrocities of Japanese troops during WWII.

Sometimes, the hardest things to do is to admit ones' mistakes or the mistakes of our forefathers. If the reason for seeking forgiveness is difficulty in swallowing ones pride, then I say the bitter pill of pride is just the medicine needed to sow friendship and trust. I believe that when children are exposed to a wrong, they can learn from that lesson much more than just being ignorant about it.

Having said that, without the privilege of knowing the whole story. I realize that my comments are just as shallow as my knowledge. Perhaps like Jack Nicholson as Col. Jessep barked in A Few Good Men, "You can't handle the truth!"

One way to visualize the dilemma faced by politicians would be conjure a fake scenario. Suppose that the world is being threatened by an imminent deadly and contagious disease (bird flu, maybe). The government in all its earnest efforts wants everybody to stay indoors and, to reduce pandemonium, be ignorant about the current situation. Everything is on a strictly need-to-know basis. The government then diverts the peoples attention by staging a disaster to encourage people to stay indoors while taking care of the real outbreak. Finally, with the disease under control, the government then issues a statement that it is safe once more to come out, hence saving millions of lives instead of the thousands that died due to the outbreak. (Story adapted from http://www.slate.com/id/2126479/). However, what if the government couldn't contain the outbreak and the masses finally found out about the lie, or even if everything was OK but soon the information about the disease got declassified. What would happen? Would people be better off being ignorant?

I think that these are some of the dilemmas that politicians have to face everyday. They are controllers of information. Filters if you will. Good filters do their jobs unbiased. But how many Solomon-type filters are there to fill up all the politician jobs? I understand humans have feelings and feelings control our actions more than thoughts. Politicians face a lot of daily pressure and when they make a decision that pushes them into the limelight, they are assaulted by critics and supporters alike. Boy, I am just glad that I am not in that line. Otherwise, I don't think I can sleep soundly every night.