The Exciting World of Work in Japan

exciting indeed. I hope they pay him well for him to do that :p

There was a different person on duty when I went past today. Sitting in exactly the same slumped position. Maybe they take turns, or draw lots, or just choose the least popular person in the shop.

Is the sitter allowed to read? And wrap up warm? I think I'd be a brilliant sign-holder.

Reading is probably not expressly forbidden, but I imagine it would be frowned upon. During the day it's quite warm, so I imagine it would be bearable from a temperature point of view right now.

Sign-holding is quite a widespread profession in Japan, although rarely does the job come with its own chair. I'm sure you'd be a shoe-in, and quickly climb the career ladder to tissue hander-outer or man-with-illuminated-baton.

There are tissue hander-outers too? Is this to do with cherry blossom and hay fever? I do have terrible hay fever. It's already begun, although winter is sort of back, but if I could be paid for administering tissues to myself, then I think that would suit me and Keynesian economics very well.

BiB, that's just what I was going to say (about me). However, if sign-holding's that widespread I'm sure there'd be room for two more sign holders (and just think you'd be in Japan!) It would certainly beat being the guy on Princes Street who holds the "Golf Sale" sign.

On a (much) filthier note: when Brian and I were on our fabled Japanese holiday, my brother-in-law tried to show us the man holding the "Anal Fuck" sign, which was apparently a "must see" for all English-speaking tourists. Unfortunately, he wasn't to be found. Must have been his night off.

BiB, the tissues are for advertising purposes. They come in little packets of 10, and I presume the "tradition" has something to do with the fact that Japanese public toilets (of which there are gratifyingly many) often didn't have any hand-drying facilities or even hygiene paper supplies (the situation has changed for the better though).

It is now hayfever season, the train this morning was like an audition for the sneeze-and-snurgle festival. (Snurgle is a word I just made up to describe the hawking back of snot through a runny nose).

The done thing is to wear a little white mask.

Marsha, I have never heard of this particular sign but I will keep an eye out for it for documentary purposes.

Hurrah for public toilets. The lack of them is one of the reasons I choose almost never to leave the house.

Marsha, do you mean he (the sign-holder, not your brother-in-law) was a male prostitute, advertising his wares?

Far more likely (in fact very certainly) the sign-holder was in the direct or indirect employ
of the shady guys who operate much of Japan's naughty industry (so I gather from various sources). The actual act of male-female copulation in Japan is illegal you see, so all the advertising beats around the bush (err, so to speak) on what precisely is on offer.

Your male-male operatives will be operating much much more discretely. Japan is a nation of small rooms and large closets.

For the princely sum of between ￥700-￥900 per hour you can pay someone to hold a sign up pointing to your store, and it ends up being cheaper and possibly more effective than buying a real sign.

Such is the value of unskilled labor in this country.

And the universities are producing many more unskilled workers, ready for the world of low end labor.

You have a degree in Art? You have a masters in Literature? Great, here's your sign and your minimum wage.

Hey, I have a graduate degree in "the arts". I can say "would you like fries with that?" in three languages.

great. where do I sign up?

Sign up? No that's an idea, maybe I should create some sort of post-graduate sign-holding training course for arts graduates. Probably some government subsidies in it too.

Though I must admit I didn't do too well the other week when - from the customer side of the counter - I ordered "poteto chippusu". It was early in the morning and my brain wasn't thinking. Confusion ensued until I remembered that the Japanese word for what I wanted is "furenchu furaizu".