Softbank and Paypal team up pushing new smartphone card reader

Masayoshi Son, richest man in Japan, with the striped tie. Make money, make money.

Softbank, a telecom and internet corporation, is teaming up with PayPal on the joint venture "PayPal Japan". The companies will each invest $12.5 million to "revolutionize digital payments in Japan" (source).

It's no surprise Hiroaki Kitano from the Softbank side will serve as the CEO of the business agreement; while revenue for PayPal is in the early billions, Softbank revenue reaches into the early trillions. Kitano is a senior vice president and director of Softbank Mobile Corp, with relevant experience from his time with Yahoo Shopping (source).

The joint venture will also push the Paypal Here credit card reader that plugs into the audio jack of a smartphone. The card reader add-on will retail for 1200 yen, or about $15. (When the card reader is released in the US, it will be free.)

After viewing the demo via the PayPal introductory page, I've become very skeptical of the whole process. I can't imagine a NYC pretzel vendor or cabbie handing the customer his smartphone to type in a tip and sign the transaction. What's stopping the $2.50 pretzel consumer from running away with a $200-$400 smartphone plus a pretzel? In Japan, I don't see this as being such a problem with such low crime rates as a result of their general family-like moral system.

Also, unless I had a special stylus signing pen, I'm pretty sure my signature on a smartphone would look like a few pixelated circles and lines. How's that going to sit with my bank that is tirelessly scanning for fraudulent charges?

Currently, Japan is a very cash-based society. I'm wondering the speed as to which something like card reader might catch on. It's strange that Japan is one of the most technologically advanced countries but still largely operates outside the lines of credit.


Softbank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son hopes that in five or ten years from now, Japanese consumers won't need to carry wallets (source). As for me, I find any statement from this guy (the richest man in Japan) laughable.


The irony here is Masayoshi Son supposedly directs some of the Softbank commercials which include what are thought to be hidden messages that dishonor Japan. (Son is Korean but later naturalized as a Japanese citizen.) In a line of popular commercials, a black man has a dog for a father (which doesn't sound so crazy for a commercial plot). The black man, then, is inu no ko, which in Korea is one of the worst curse words. Given that there exists a stereotype that Koreans don't like Japanese or blacks, you may see some of the disputed evidence.

 Here another example, for obvious reasons:

When a bunch of Japanese celebrities march out of a dog's anus, it really makes you start to think...

Japanese master making a traditional bow from scratch

Doesn't this just look cool? (photo)

Sometimes I get frustrated with the painstaking efforts of Japanese artists. You might have seen one of these documentaries (the camera pans in on the light playing off a wooden shape):

Here, Osaragi-san slowly polishes the outside of his cedar bowl with his fingernail. He blows the dust away through filter paper as to not impose his own germs upon the art. He will now place the bowl outside for 5 days moving it to always face the sun. If the humidity reaches 65 percent this bowl will be abandoned and used for scrap wood. To think, the finished product is only 19 weeks away from its last shellac coat.

I jest only because this kind of art is something of which most Americans are just not capable. I don't have the patience to "perfect" anything artsy. In fact, I usually cut a lot of corners when the going gets rough and compromise my original intention selling my soul to the devil of sloth. I'm guessing the average Japanese might understand my complete indifference with such tedious perfection as well. But Japanese artists have this special capability as if it's genetic.

Master Kikunaga is simply a master in this same vein. In this video it's apparent he has this unwavering patience to create a zen-like masterpiece of a bow, or yumi. Also, more importantly, the video is pretty darn interesting (excuse the subtitles and German voice-over).

Are cats in pots cute?

Japan definitely has a thing for cute things. Unfortunately, when these cute things finally reach the US they're usually watered down to their commercial basics (e.g. magnets, Hello Kitty pins, stationary, etc.) until most of us think Japan is just shipping over it's factory refuse.

I'm not usually a guy that gets all mushy over cute things. But after being exposed to Japan for two years, and my wife for almost another, the kawaii-craze is starting to rub off on me. The Japanese idea of "cute" differs from that of Western countries—the only problem here is that I can't quite remember my perceptional roots after being exposed to Japan for so long (feel free to help me here).

This show here definitely embodies all of the TV aspects to "cute" programming. They have a bunch of small kittens—some of which are a little sleepy—romping around in an area full of various sized pots with no objective in mind beside celebrating cats that successfully pick a bowl and look cute. There is "cute" music in the background, and Japanese TV, almost notorious for their use of sounds and slapstick humor (think 1930's America) supplies a plethora of cute sounds.

The concept sounds really lame. And to be honest, if I would have read this description a few years ago I would have avoided the video. But having been accustomed to Japan (the culture, their mindset, their TV programming) I find this to be the audio/visual equivalent to crack. I would sometimes peruse my TV in Japan for shows like this one to learn the easy Japanese language they use but inadvertently expand my sense of kawaii. 

Can anyone tell me why this is not so cute in the Western hemisphere?

Here is another reel of the same show in which they insert different things into an area with cute dogs or cats including a blow-up dolphin while it's being blown up, and the neko-nabe from above. (Be sure to take the player off mute.)

Japan and a few others reppin' at Adfest

Thailand hosted the 15th Asia Pacific Advertising Festival (ADFEST) from March 18-20, 2012. The festival could best be described as a TED Event for advertising. Each of the commercials/items below speak for them self. Enjoy.

China: "Keyboard of Isolation"

by nonprofit Family Care For Grassroots Community 

won  Grand Prix in the Outdoor category 

 

South Korea - "The Origins of Pizza"

by Mr. Pizza / Addict Media in Seoul

won Film Craft Award

Japan - "Taxi"

by Japanese department store Sakae

a Gold Winner in film category

Australia - "Breakup"

by National Australia Bank / Clemenger BBDO Melbourne

won Lotus 360 Award 

And last but certainly not least: 

 Japan - "Design Nori"

by Umino Seaweed / I&S BBDO

won Best of Show in design category

These of course are all made out of dried seaweed (just like normal sushi) but cut with new technology. The patterns are classic Japanese designs. The project is intended to convey happiness, long life, respect for the past and hopes for the future in the wake of the Match 2011 Tsunami (source).

Hemp design

Tortoise Shells

Tortoise Shell pattern

Water drop

Cherry Blossom

The highs and lows of Japanese commercials

Here's a hilarious advertisement for the Ajinomoto Stadium for Japan soccer from 2004. It's called "Husky Women".

SPOILER ALERT: I'm pretty sure I saw this while in Japan. If you can follow the subs while watching the video, it's pretty funny. My favorite part was the chorus singing "Ave Maria" if you could make that out.

Now, I would love to make some broad sweeping comment praising the ingenuity of Japanese commercials. But, that is something I simply cannot do. Especially when every fifth commercial resembles this nonsensical attempt at advertising.

So the banana man is a new student and he's so happy he can get a lot of friends. But tomorrow, he's on to a new school. Where the H was he flying off to at the end? and how?

I have not come to fully understand Japanese humor. Some J-humor is hilarious and I get it while some just leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. I guess that goes for just about any country's humor. This sometimes even follows for individual comedians. Zack Galifianakis has some hilarious stuff and then some stuff that makes me feel awkward--awkward for him and everyone else watching it. Again, maybe some of his stuff is just something I'll understand later.

But, probably not.

English Education in Japan (and Why It Doesn't Work)

English is muri.

So, rounding up two years teaching English here on an island in Hiroshima, Japan I have a few things I like to say about the failing English system in Japan. As a JET some think I will swoop in to a town and everyone will speak English fluently. Others look at the track record of English programs and how little has improved and are already guessing the fateful outcome. The problem is that there isn’t such a definitive correlation between native English teachers in Japan and “successful” students. (The quotes are there to question what success means in Japan which is based on the short-term goal of written tests scores—you can already see how the road to success has become rather complicated).

Wait, native English teachers don’t really affect the English system in Japan? Well, I’ve tried my best (and did a damn-good job) getting students enthused about English learning while pushing students to understand the absurdity of those of their classmates that are unmotivated to learn or even try in class. Also, for students that are truly motivated, I give them special attention in and out of class to reinforce their English and praise their success. Furthermore, I’ve paid special attention to phonics and native English patterns to teach such points that normally go under the radar of traditional education. But my method only goes so far in terms of molding perfect English speakers. 

Seriously though, all interests should be encouraged.

In fact, when I leave the class and when the student goes home that day and for the whole week (or two) I don’t see that student he is flooded with the Japanese language and usually only English that has undergone the 5 vowel-sound transformation of Japanese. So when I teach “How is the weather today?” the students are learning by environmental reinforcement to change it to “Hau isu za weza- tude-?” One teacher can only influence so much. Imagine if outside of Japanese class, students had no one from which to learn or hear native Japanese. Then everyone would realize how little class actually does to reinforce the subject. How much trigonometry or chemistry do you actually remember? Not much if you’re not currently in a field related to one of those subjects. 

Wait, there are plenty of opportunities to learn English outside of the classroom:

In my opinion Japanese is taught rather poorly in Japan. Sure, it’s enough. And sure, there are Japanese intellects birthed from this system that excel in grammar, seem to know every kanji and are specializing in archaic Japanese. These students are exceptions which occur with no help from said educational system. Well then, why can everybody speak Japanese in Japan? It’s pretty obvious that considering a student’s family and community already speak fluent Japanese that each student has constant reinforcement of a subject that is under-taught and overestimated. Again, it’s enough, and even not-so-bright students pop out of the system with fair language skills. Evidence of this is in dialects like Hiroshima-ben which aren’t exactly cool dialects (considering old people love using it) but some people can’t stop using a dialect which their community and family has taught them.

The other reason a native English teacher in Japan has no weight in the educational system of Japan is that a lot of times their suggestions (and gripes) go unheard. Case in point: I talk with my team-teaching teacher about next year’s text book. I suggest choice E even though it is a little challenging because A and B (the normal choices teach in a way I think would confuse the students, while choice C is way too difficult, and D has grammatical errors (come on, you can’t start a sentence with “and”…and you’re teaching this to 7^th graders?). So even though I have influence my team-teaching teacher, and her in-depth report makes it to the principal, there seems to be an interruption before the recommendation hits the Board of Education (which further elucidated the excess of Japanese paperwork that gets stamped and goes overlooked).

Good luck to all you new JETs!

What happened to my good intentions? I spent nearly a full day reading through textbooks A to E and made intellectual recommendations based on my two years working in Japan. Maybe the B textbook company has given the BOE a can’t-be-beaten offer for their 2011-2012 set (which hasn’t changed much since the previous year). Or maybe they just stuffed some money in their pockets. The truth is the BOE has little connection to actual schools even though they make all the final decisions concerning education. So, even though there are continual gripes about education such as the lack of focus on English speech, the focus remains on writing and nothing can be changed. (Our students need good test scores, you know.) When I push a little I am met with such responses as, "The problem is that English is just really difficult." What they have neglected to say is, "English is a language just like Japanese. So it's reasonable that we teach them in the same rote methods."  Yappari. 

The English Education Debacle in Japan

Yeah, try reading the Japanese.

          Japan spends a lot of time pushing students to learn English and setting the standards high.Why is English so important in Japan? Well, Japan wants to keep up in the world economy, and the best way to do that would be to follow America. This may have recently become even more crucial considering China surpassed Japan in the global race. So what might Japan’s reaction be? Pushing students to study harder to pass high school and college entrance exams that focus on only written English. And how does a JET like me react to this? We complain and try to stress verbal English, conversational English, native pronunciation, etc. 

Us JETs meet with brick walls when first confronting Japan’s rote-memorization educational style. Opinions are not welcomed in the classroom and even with the recent stress on group work, teachers seek correct answers, not creative thought processes. Also, in groups, I find that students are as speechless as before because of such a drastic change in environment. How does a student maintain interest in something if his opinion isn’t valued—if he has nothing to add, nothing to stimulate his thought processes. Students will lose interest or revert to rote-memorization if they are silenced. I know for me, that I have trouble learning Japanese words and phrases that don’t relate to my life. But, man, was it so easy to learn to talk about music, skateboarding and food—my current interests.

            Anyway, this detrimental cycle turns round and round again, and we are left with educated adults that can only mutter broken English phrases (and any other mis-phrases learned from television) despite their years of hard work copying English sentences and also despite the government money spent on such undertakings. So, unless a student has great preservation, interest in English, and the right teachers, connections, and native English resources the student will blossom into an adult with the average English comprehension the current education guidelines should be steering away from. 

An English cram school poster

            A quick-fix to this problem is something I realized recently after attending a JET conference. If most students will forget most of their English after graduation, why don’t we focus more on culture? After all, isn’t culture equally as dividing as language to a country seeking globalization? I think back to my Spanish, German and French classes since Jr. High School. What do I remember besides “Yo quiero Taco Bell,” the real pronunciation for “Volkswagen”, and “Un, deux, trios…”? Well, all the culture, of course. We learned about different attitudes toward punctuality, different foods in each country, holidays, clothes, etc. These interesting pieces of cultural knowledge have been more beneficial to me than learning, “Hay uno gato en mis pantalones,” or foreign curse words I learned from my friends. My Japanese students might not remember how to use the past subjunctive tense, but they will surely remember big American pizzas, the long 3-month summer break in the states, and the Christmas spirit their JET teacher exuded every year. If English teachers aren’t keeping the students interested, they are not following one of the most important English education guidelines covering elementary to high school.

Spanish people have accents in America, but we generally understand them. But then there is the issue of racism and pigeonholing immigrants of certain ethnicities into low wage jobs, no medical coverage, and any other way companies can make a buck. French people have accents in America, and we generally understand them. We don’t necessarily have a bias against the French in America, and so generally a French person can be hired according to his skills and English ability—with no glass ceiling. 

So, for the not-so-quick fix, I suggest the government pave the way for young English students rather than bringing out the whips. Ultimately, their goal is to be able to communicate with English speaking cultures. So why don’t they take some money from their diminishing foreign language funds and throw it ahead of students instead of behind them. The possibilities here are endless, but what about helping Japanese culture flourish in America? Promote cultural centers, and foot the bill for the American public. This kind of thing is happening now but only on a very small scale. 

Also, maybe they can buy some sort of media space or air time to speak English with a Japanese accent. I’m not talking about promotional commercials. I’m talking about some sort of informative cartoon series about Japan. Send it to America for free. Give Japan a voice. Think of the influence America has on Japan through TV. Spongebob, 24, House, not to mention Harry Potter and most of our cinema hits. Then, think about the absence of popular and influential Japanese programming in America. Power Rangers, Pokemon, Godzilla, MXC—some of these may be popular but they are definitely not an influential, “cool” image of Japan. If we can easier understand the thick Japanese accents, then the burden of education would be lifted off the current round-peg-in-square-hole system. Japanese students would have a more positive attitude toward English if using it in a foreign country stopped seeming like an impossibility. 

The general internet community's image of Japan, Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

I know, as an average American, I was unaware of the importance of such a country as Japan. Concerning Japan, I think most of America thinks, “Yeah, it’s really far away and the language is really hard. Don’t they have like a million letters? Oh, they have really weird pornography, too.” This sounds funny even for me to write, but these are the current avenues through which Japan is reaching America. I’m sure this isn’t the message Japan wants to send. Why not mend the image. If Japan’s image seemed more important, more culturally diverse, more interested in America, then their image would shine a lot more than current result of being the butt-end of a few ignorant jokes.

But like I said, the confidence in English education is dropping off. The JET program is on the chopping block, while smaller, cheaper, yet less supportive English teaching programs are becoming more popular. The strong support, network, and knowledge of a program like JET is just what Japan needs to foster culture exchange—even if the direction is from the English teach in Japan back to his home country.  The large JET community in America is working wonders for Japan’s image, through conferences, books, education, and even just conversation. (Most JETs are stand-out members of society so the impact of their message is that much stronger.)

America has global power; Japan has health.

So, why should Japan invest in an area that has been failing for years? Maybe the real problem is not the students’ interest in English, but the government’s interest in English. In this case, we have reached Solution #3. Let English education fall by the wayside to meet changing budgets. Japan won’t have to worry about English anymore, but they also won’t have to worry about being important in the global sphere (unless creating some form of massive global demand for Japan and/or its products). 

Well that’s it. The answers seem so simple, so clear. Maybe I have oversimplified the problem. What are your thoughts?

Take Notes America, This Will Be On The Test

So, yes, I live in Japan, and I’m approaching my 2nd year term but in no way do I feel myself shifting to the dark-side-Ex-pat status. No, no, that’s 3 or 4 years down the road. Nor am I in the mind frame that Japan is better than America (U.S. is number one, bitches!). With that being said, Japan has a few tricks up its sleeve…a few idiosyncrasies America should be taking notes on.

Where the Japanese suck in the areas of individuality, confidence, sandwiches, hoagies, pizza, Mexican food, large scary bugs, sweet candy, militaristic rigidity, bureaucracy, English pronunciation, English grammar on t-shirts, house insulation, the consumption of whales/dolphins, and a general distinction between mature adulthood and cartoon characters…

…they compensate for in the areas of comedy, hospitality, general health, low obesity rates, sanitary toilets, socially condoned drunkenness, legal public consumption of alcohol, literacy, reading/book sales, a public sense of tourism, peanut cream, Indian cuisine, horse/chicken/crab/whale sushi and sashimi, mind-boggling animated movies, lush scenery, explosive crop yields, fashion, and the general humbleness that usually goes hand-in-hand with incidents such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I guess some of those could really go either way.

This scribble is about the “General Health/Low Obesity” of Japan.

(I want to quickly mention that I don’t intend to be on any sort of “high horse” here; I know it’s easy for a skinny person to wax and wane about health but I must preface that I simply cannot gain weight. Although this is not as plaguing a problem as obesity, its not exactly a walk in the park considering I’m addicted to sports and athletic activites, have dangerously low fat and currently live in one of the healthiest, low calorie countries.)

If you’re sitting at home thinking how sick you are of hearing about America’s waistline, you may actually find some cool breezes (in awkward places) in this article. Starting now.

Japan teaches health to its population starting from preschool. Kids are presented with the ingredients of each school meal sorted into one of the Carbohydrate/Protein/Vegetable groups on a large board with colorful food magnets. And guess what, you usually find the vegetable group with the highest content of each meal. And, My! What variety! They’re taught why each dish is healthy. Kids aren’t served hotdogs, mystery meat or chicken nuggets; they’re given small servings of protein and carbs in each little dish.

A normal Japanese school lunch includes vegetables, rice, soup, milk, and a small meat or fish portion (in descending order of quantity). No buffets, no desert menu.

Here is one of many varieties of school lunches. Milk, Rice, Fish Tempura, A Salad with Tunafish, a Seaweed and Seed Salad.

The lunch ladies make everything fresh (nothing frozen) and pull together a school lunch that’s around $2.50--although I can't attest for the high schools. Also, kids grow their own vegetables right outside the school while almost all Japanese have a garden (or if pressed for room, at least a few scattered house plants). The idea of nature is linked with their culture.

I don’t think Japan has had this master plan of fresh ingredients from the beginning. I say it’s a happy mistake that Japan doesn’t have the room for massive cow farms (only a few expensive beer-drinking cows in Kobe)…a happy mistake that Japan happens to have a sea or ocean three hours from any place in the country…that Japan has one of the most fertile soils in the world (growing rice with something like 20 times more productivity than most rice growing countries)…that with the endless supply of rice and noodle varieties they have no market for freeze-dried French-fries, etcetera, ad nauseum.

Another example: my local grocery store plays a horribly catchy song that roughly translates to:

fish, fish, fish
we’ll eat fish
and we’ll get smarter

fish, fish, fish
we’ll eat fish
and we’ll get stronger

so everyone let’s eat fish
the fish are waiting for me

Talk about health education.

Japan is basically a magical dreamland for health activists like Ann Cooper. This hyped-up lesbian lunch-lady knows her shit and has an agenda: get kids involved in the lunch process. If you don’t have the twenty minutes to watch her TED video, just know she makes some damn good points about the USDA problems and the dubious food pyramid we currently use... "Go ahead kids, cheesesteaks have meat and bread, the two most important food groups. Eat up!"And here's the truth.

Dan Buettner, who studies the oldest living people in the world, and is considered a “longevity coach”, has some great insight about the common denominators including but not limited to gardening, portion control, and eating plants. He sites Okinawans as one of his long living focus groups. Check out his TED Talk.

I can't speak for other countries, but I know the problem with America is we consider school lunch to be outside of our control.  And, after working in a daycare and a gym program, I know many parents think, “As long as my kid isn’t complaining and isn’t hungry, I’m not worried.” This isn’t the kind of attitude that will help alleviate a diabetes crisis. We’re a bit lazy and our plates are already full with various other priorities. Good thing we have a few rabble-rousing Ann Coopers running around…but I think we might need a few more.