In a nation with a crippled economy you’d imagine that every person would be working in a productive job, trying to improve upon the economical status of the country. Every foreigner may think when he arrives in Japan that working people are actually involved in productive and very important jobs, in order to make the country go on and the economy rise more and more. As a French, easy to think about working methods for it is so different from France way of doing things. We are the “35 hours nation” ! What the hell could be worse than that when you want to have a serious discussion about work with American, Korean or Japanese people ?

Let’s forget this polemical thema and focus on imaginary jobs in Japan. Here is a list that I will fill everytime a new experience arise :

Japan is home to some of the most useless occupations imaginable.

First you have the crossing guards. Most of the time, young and delicate ladies, used to walk with a Vuitton or a Chanel, are forced to wear incredible clothes (a custom for girls in Japan while men can wear the same black and white suit everyday) and make you cross or forbid you to cross the streets of popular Kyoto. In France, you would get a ticket for crossing the street while the traffic lights are red but in Japan where punishing people in the first place is not a habit, someone created this Crossing Guard job. I guess he is quite proud about his idea… Everytime the traffic lights are green, those two girls invite you to cross the street. The weirdest thing is sometimes, even if no cars are present, you won’t be able to cross the street. I tried to understand the reason why, but I still have no clue. Were they starting a strike ? (sorry, my french education is too hard to forget).

Then you have the elevator girls or boys supposed to press the elevator buttons for you. No way you’ll manage to press the buttons before they do. They are always waiting for a customer to enter the place, ready to bow to wish you a warm welcome and invite you to get in the elevator. They will then come with you until you reached the right floor and thank you, once again with a bow my mother’s back would not bear. A recent study indicated that the average elevator girl or boy bows more than 2,500 times a day.

Izo