Re: [tlug] Wifi hotspot access in Tokyo (Very OT)

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Benjamin Tayehanpour writes:

 > I would use that. And I would win. Provided that a street-walking
 > policeman would have the gall to arrest me when there is a robbery in
 > progress across the street, an act which would bring him an endless
 > amount of ridicule from the Chief of Police downwards,

This would never happen in Japan.  The arrest would stand, you would
be convicted and sentenced to a tongue-lashing in the interrogation
room, and then sent on your way, hopefully chastened and never to
jaywalk in front of a policeman again.  You would certainly not be
tried in court or the matter exposed to publicity in any way, and the
record of your arrest would be "administratively corrected" to a
"consultation" or "interview with a witness".  The policeman in
question would be (quite independently and for good bureaucratic
reasons) given an assignment of cleaning toilets every day for a
month, and the whole matter otherwise covered up because exposing the
police (or any other bureaucracy) to ridicule is unthinkable.  This
process is called "momi-keshi", and is frequently applied to police,
family members, and outsiders (such as politicians) who can be useful
to the police.

Momi-keshi is not to be confused with the policy of "punish one to
warn one hundred," such that first offenders and minor offenders who
are caught red-handed are only infrequently brought to trial.  The 1%
rule is a cost saving device and an investment in establishing the
benevolence of the authorities.  Momi-keshi benefits specific
individuals and avoids embarrassment to the authorities.

This is a well-known aspect of Japanese culture to the Japanese
themselves.  For example, it is a staple of police shows on TV that
police officials will arrange murders to cover up embarrassing facts,
and it is treated as a natural (although extreme, misguided, and
anachronistic) consequence of loyalty to an organization whose mission
involves the use of force and access to deadly weapons.  Of course, on
TV it is *always* exposed by some oddball with a sense of justice that
is absolute, so in the end this isn't a problem for Japanese society.

 > In Sweden, we have a law which basically says that you're allowed
 > to break the law if the projected damage to people and/or property
 > which would result from *not* breaking the law is significantly
 > greater.

Interesting that Sweden went to the extent of legislating that.  Most
jurisdications have a concept of "mitigating circumstances."  In the
U.S. judges will direct juries to certain conclusions based on
mitigating circumstances (ie, it's a "rule of reason", and mostly
based on case law, with a few exceptions like "fair use" in copyright).

 > That said, if one wants the (quite frankly irrational and
 > counter-productive) rule

You're wrong.  Seat space is limited, and the first purpose of
libraries in Japan is to store books.  Power is also extremely
expensive.  (Enough so that about 3 hours of use before I go to work I
pull the plug and run on batteries, then charge up at work.  It's only
a beer a month or so, but still visible.)

 > We have free Wi-Fi in all larger public libraries, and most of the
 > smaller ones too. The computer is an indispensable tool for doing
 > collaborative research.

Indeed, that is the way it should be, and a country with a per
cap. GDP as large as Japan's should be doing the same.  But it
doesn't, and it doesn't seem to bother the citizens anywhere near as
much as it bother gaijin.  I'd have to say it's really not a problem.

 > Wouldn't happen in Sweden. I seriously pity Japanese employees if
 > their supervisors are allowed by law to fire them on a silly whim.

They're not.  "Permanent" employees[1] are nearly unfireable; that's
why in powerful organizations, when you get to the level where the
number of jobs starts to decrease dramatically you see employees being
bribed to go to other jobs ("amakudari").  Even for limited-term
contract employees, actually getting fired is rare unless you do so
something really bad (not just stupid), like persistently not showing
up for work.  Japanese organizations have more socially acceptable
(and quite painful and effective) punishments to mete out.

 > I'm not sure whether it's your depiction of Japan or my interpretation
 > of it which is flawed, but so far, Japan sounds pretty dysfunctional.
 > Irrational rules? Laws discouraging conscious thought?

Sad to say, all true, although the slant is somewhat different.  The
authoritative compendium of the "Worst of Japan" is Karel van Wolferen,
_The Enigma of Japanese Power_.

 > Calling employees "robots" and treating them as such? WTF?

This is very much not true, but employees are not really treated as
independent human beings capable of entrepreneurial judgment.
Executive decisions based on assessment of circumstances applying
traditional rules, yes (hire/fire, produce new product or not, raise/
lower price, etc).  Entrepreneurial decisions like "break up company",
"spin off subsidiary", "lead your industry out of 'monozukuri' and
into 'providing solutions'", nope, sorry, not in the curriculum.  But
that goes all the way to the board room.

Caution: none of this is absolute, and *all* of it can be found in
significant proportions in *every* culture.  Japanese are people, and
their culture is a recognizably human culture with many wonderful
dimensions.  But Japanese culture is at the extreme on more dimensions
than any other culture I've ever heard of.

Footnotes: 
[1]  The Japanese say "sei-sha-in", "true/official member of the
company", vs. "keiyaku sha-in", "contract member of the company".
"Sei" implies unlimited term, which traditionally means "life-time",
although I don't think that has an actual legal or contractual basis.
It's more like "you're a member of a household".  "Keiyaku" implies a
specified limited term, with specified (sometimes, no) provision for
renewal.  There is also "paato" (part-time), which means a regular
schedule and I think a salary, "arubaito" (from the German "Arbeit"),
which is irregular hourly work, and (now pretty rare AFAIK) "hi-yatoi"
(employed for the day).