Social Problems Are Sometimes Disguised

When I was a university senior, Japan was experiencing an economic bubble, and employment was plentiful. Companies called me every day inviting me to join their ranks, to the point where it became tiresome.

Then, when I was a graduate student, the bubble burst. It became increasingly difficult for senior students to find jobs, with many of them telling me terrible stories about their job searches. The media misunderstood conditions, with some blaming young people, calling them lazy and saying that they are parasites feeding on their parents. However, most people in mass media jobs were elites who found their jobs under better economic conditions, and they had no understanding of the challenges faced by new entrants to the job market. Lately, a common description in the media of this period has been “an ice age for job seekers.”

I made a similar mistake. A few years ago, I read an article that stated that some delivery service staff would simply place notifications in clients’ mailboxes instead of ringing their doorbells because they didn’t want to deliver heavy packages during their shifts. I was shocked and angry, and I called these delivery people lazy because I lacked understanding of the conditions they faced. Because of the rapid spread of Internet shopping, delivery companies were understaffed. Most delivery service staff worked very hard under terrible conditions, which was revealed by the media a few years later.

When social problems occur, we cannot immediately fully understand them. Problems tend to be disguised as rumors and gossip about specific people. Therefore, if we hear these types of rumors and gossip, we should calmly assess the information, as it could be hiding the real problem.

Picture by Jimsy

 

My “Unemployed” Father

 

My late-father worked as a proofreader for a local newspaper, with his workday starting once the writers had finished their articles and ending when the rotary press started to roll. He would go to the office at 3:00 pm, work till midnight, come home early in the morning, and then go to sleep. When he woke, he would spend time on his hobbies—gardening and pottery.

But our neighbors misunderstood my father. One neighbor once whispered to me, “I am so sorry your father is like that…” She assumed my father was unemployed because he would take care of our garden during normal working hours, clearly having just woken up. In contrast, my mother was obviously employed: she ran a supplemental school from home and delivered lectures throughout Japan.

Although our family actually had a double income, our neighbors never saw my father going to and from work and simply assumed that my mother was working because my father was unemployed.

We can enjoy reading the morning newspaper because people like my father worked overnight to produce the paper, but most people with these types of jobs are probably misunderstood by their neighbors and viewed as unemployed. So kudos to all the midnight workers! Kudos again!

Picture by BNP