Didn't intend to go on a Japanese people writing about the significance of mundane work reading binge but ended up reading Kikuko Tsumura's No Such Thing As An Easy Job and Shoji Morimoto's Rental Person Who Does Nothing back to back.
No Such Thing As An Easy Job is a magic realism tinged novel about a burned out women who takes the easiest sounding temp jobs she can find only to have a series of unsettling things keep happening and to keep meeting people wrestling with work and belonging. Rental Person Who Does Nothing is a memoir of what happened to a guy who's boss told him he didn't contribute anything worthwhile who wondered if doing nothing could in fact be useful. He offered online to just be present with people and found himself sitting with people while they studied, accompanying people to turn in their divorce papers, going with people to restaurants they were nervous about going alone to and a myriad of other encounters where his technically doing nothing actually achieved a lot for people.
Both are so interesting for the way they explore from different but complimentary angles the ways that our societies often don't really have a clear sense of what makes for meaningful contributions, how all work paid or otherwise is complex and that there's ways of being in the world that don't have to be driven by money and status. I recommend them both.
Travelling to the #Philippines? Here's a random tip of the day.
“Motel”.
In the West, a “motel” means a “motor hotel”. Meaning, a road hotel or road inn where motorists travelling far can stay and have a break.
In the Philippines, a motel is what is called in #Japan as a #LoveHotel. A “Love Hotel” is a type of inn where people who want to have sex can stay for a short time. Stay is paid by the hour.
If you want a place to stay for less than a day, a “capsule hotel” or “pod hotel” (originally from Japan) is also common in the country.
Or, if you're cool staying in a motel, that's fine and usually cheaper. Nothing wrong with it. You won't hear the other rooms anyway. (Wait, how did I know that…)
The incident highlights ongoing struggles with gender parity in Japan—which ranks lowest among G7 member states on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index.
⚠️ Confirmed: Internet outages have been registered in Ishikawa, #Japan after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake; the decline in network connectivity comes amid reports of power outages with tsunami warning issued; nuclear regulator states no problems with reactors at present 📉
Hand colored antique photograph.
This is from a set of six scenes from early 20th c. Japan.
About 30 years ago a landlord owed me money for my deposit. They couldn’t pay and asked if I’d accept these as a partial payment. I later showed them to an antique photo expert who authenticated them and estimated the value.
I am new here and I write mostly in german, but you can follow me as well when u speak english. Certainly I feel little bit lonely so I hope I find few cool people.
Around 100 businesses each from Japan and Ukraine are slated to attend a Japan-Ukraine economic reconstruction conference in Tokyo later this month, Japanese media outlet Kyodo News reported on Feb. 3.
On X (Twitter), Japan users are sharing stories of times they’ve come back to their hotel rooms to find the staff has sorted their plushies respectfully for them. 2nd pic: “Coming back to find this little one waiting for me like this is one of the highlights of my day.”
Japan on Tuesday said it will lift its suspension of funding to the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) as the relief body works to regain trust after an allegation by Israel that some of its staff were involved in Oct. 7 attacks on Israel....
Japan Sends Man to G7 Meeting on Women’s Empowerment (time.com)
The incident highlights ongoing struggles with gender parity in Japan—which ranks lowest among G7 member states on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index.
Japan to host over 200 businesses at conference promoting Ukraine's economic recovery (kyivindependent.com)
Around 100 businesses each from Japan and Ukraine are slated to attend a Japan-Ukraine economic reconstruction conference in Tokyo later this month, Japanese media outlet Kyodo News reported on Feb. 3.
Japan resumes funding to embattled Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA (www.reuters.com)
Japan on Tuesday said it will lift its suspension of funding to the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) as the relief body works to regain trust after an allegation by Israel that some of its staff were involved in Oct. 7 attacks on Israel....