April is the time when Japanese companies take on most of their new employees. The hoops that these fresh recruits have to jump through are legendary, including interviews at the top of Mount Fuji, learning the company song and being made to shout as loud as possible in the street at passing cars to rid themselves of self-consciousness.

However, this one is new. Apparently new recruits arriving after 9am are forbidden from entering through the main doors and instead have to scale the building and enter through the window (if they can find the right one).

Rushing to arrive before 9am, when the doors are locked shut


Stragglers are left to climb up to their office window

QuickParking

Originally uploaded by James Hart.

Tokyo introduces a new concept in bicycle parking.
Currently undergoing trials in the Ariake Big Sight area in Tokyo Bay, the objective is to shave further vital seconds off the Salaryman’s journey to work in the morning.
The methodology is simple, yet brilliant. As the salaryman approaches the train station, he slams on his brakes, throws the bike on the pile and runs into the station in one effortless motion.
Returning in the evening on the last train, it may take a while to untangle his ride home, but his wife is already asleep in bed, so that’s of no concern.
Just remember, you saw it here first!

This is great. Englishman follows up his Ode to the Oba-san with a poem “A Salaryman Morning“.
Good work fella.

Kyodo News reports that a new record has been set for the price of a pair of melons: 800,000Yen, around 8000 US Dollars.

A bargain, says !.

It is common in Japanese convenience stores (combinis) to see a number of people reading magazines and comics without actually buying them. One guy I know goes for his lunchbreak each day and reads a Manga comic. Occasionally he buys one, but usually he just reads them in the store, standing up and the staff never complain.
The reason seems to be that the Manga comic readers get so engrossed in the stories that if they are disturbed, they are liable to flip out and attack the Combini staff. According to this article from the BBC, a 70-year old man was recently disturbed in this way and threatened staff with a chainsaw, before calmly carrying on reading his comic.

Combini Readers:

WARNING: DO NOT DISTURB!!!

As large cities go, generally people in Tokyo are polite and try not to push and shove. However, with the sheer number of people on the streets & on public transport, and the rush that people always seem to be in, you do get bumped into occasionally.
In an attempt to improve this, the Japan Ad Council is running a campaign with the slogan “Tokyo is a place for smart and sophisticated manners”

In case you can’t read it:-
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Inside of the box(Mobile Phone biscuit — or — Cell Phone Cookie),
originally uploaded by lhuga.

One of my colleague gave me this biscuit, last week. It says, “Yokosuka is the place where the mobile phone was born”

Its shape is a bit old-fashoned, isn’t it ?

with multiple counts of under-dressing and one count of being “a bit chubby”.
The Englishman uncovers the real story behind the Livedoor saga.

I like winter sports, so I never thought I’d say that, but Japan definitely has too much frozen water around at the moment. Tokyo has escaped so far, but there are over 70 people reported dead across the rest of the country.

An Englishman in Osaka has a typically humorous take on the situation.

Many thanks to Tsuda for the photo.

The Japan TImes reports that a 28-year old Tokyo resident named Hiroki Okano celebrated Christmas Eve by sitting down at his computer, going to the Starbucks website, and filling out a job application with phrases such as:

I’ll set fire to all of your stores in Shibuya on Christmas Day and kill all of your employees.

Starbucks apparently decided that they didn’t have need for his particular skills, and passed his application on to the Tokyo police department. The police read through the application and apparently interpret the above bit as, well, a threat or something. So they pay Okano a visit at his home (being the conscientious applicant that he is, I assume he probably put his real address on the application), and after talking with him, they arrest him.

So, this Christmas ended a little sadly for Hiroki Okano. But his story touched my heart in a way that made me want to find out more. I spent a little time and managed to find a copy of the full text of the application he submitted.

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