andy grayson

Just Do It China

 

Year of the Pig

Jenna & Chris were generous enough to give me a front row ticket to this year's Chinese New Year Parade. Amazing. I thought I'd share with a quick video here, but I have to admit, the moment of the night wasn't caught on film. Gavin Newsom, now our slightly infamous SF Mayor, was strolling by and Chris & Jenna put him on the spot for a handshake.

bet you didn't know # 19

China has more English speakers than the United States.

the tokyo video -

Amsterdam

around the world in 2-min.

I ran across this movie in that was included on a Scion DVD and it made me think that with planners traveling so much, we should create some folders of our pics abroad. What would result would be an instant cache of images to make an immersive culture snapshot video for creative teams, clients, or pitches... on a moment's notice. It would also be a good thing for any planner to do on their own and share with the group upon return.

hikikomori

Hikikomori. Or, "withdrawl".

This is a disturbing social phenomenon in Japan where there are millions of teenagers and young adults -- mostly males -- who, one day, simply decide to stay in their rooms. And never come out. Some of these young Japanese males will stay "shut-in" for 15 years.

They are known in Japan as hikikomori, which translates as "withdrawal" and refers to a person sequestered in his room for six months or longer with no social life beyond his home. (The word is a noun that describes both the problem and the person suffering from it and is also an adjective, like "alcoholic.")

Many are as young as 13 or 14 years old, while others are nearing 30 -- all with varying histories and circumstances that have pushed them to withdrawl from society. For Japan, the hikikomori represent a youth crisis.

Maggie Jones of the New York Times wrote a poignant article in Jan. 15th's magazine about the hikikomori [read it here] in which she explains that while the hikikomori at once represent a stunning & growing syndrome affecting Japan, the social dilemma finds its roots in the unique social forces pressuring Japanese youth. She writes that "like anorexia, which is prevalent in Western cultures, hikikomori is a culturebound syndrome that thrives in one particular country during a particular moment in history." It is distinctly Japanese.

The curious phenomenon may be a resistance to the extreme social pressure endured by Japanese males which starts early in their lives. "Men start to feel the pressure in junior high school, and their success is largely defined in a couple of years," said James Roberson, a cultural anthropologist at Tokyo Jogakkan College. "Hikikomori is a resistance to that pressure. Some of them are saying: 'To hell with it. I don't like it and I don't do well."' Also, this is a society where kids can drop out. In Japan, children commonly live with their parents into their 20's, and despite the economic downturn, plenty of parents can afford to support their children indefinitely - and do.

I urge you to read the article and begin to draw some of your own conclusions, but the strongest hypothesis seems to be that perhaps the history of Japanese post WWII work culture is clashing with an emerging global culture of creativity & imagination, and the entrepreneurship it engenders. Many of these young Japanese men are creative and unique individuals. Ironically, this is very un-Japanese. Jones mentions a Japanese saying in her article that is very telling, "In Japan, the nail that sticks out gets hammered in." These kids get picked on in school and bullied for having unique talents and differences, and often struggle in the pressure-cooker academic environment. So they feel inadequate and different in a society that places value on performance and conformity. So they withdraw.