If you have been trying to get your own podcast off the ground but have been putting it off, I am here to give you a proverbial kick in the ass. tiltyhouse is looking for new content, and we want to give you the opportunity to have your own podcast hosted on the tiltyhouse network. Details after the jump.

   Here is what we are looking for. It’s really quite simple.

 You are going to make two episodes of your dream podcast and submit them to us. If we like what we hear, we’ll host your show to for fixed period of time(say 5 to 20 episodes.)  We’ll even advertise it and promote the heck out of it. Before you know it, you’ll be an Internet superstar(think “Ze Frank”, not “Star Wars Kid”.) Feel free to use whichever software you like. We like Apple Garageband and Adobe Audition ourselves, but there are many others. Please keep each episode from 20 to 45 minutes in length.

 If we feel that your show is incompatible with our other tiltyhouse progamming, we will give you some advice on how to host your own show. Either way, it’s a win-win situation. You are now in the driver seat. So why wait around?

  If you are interested in participating, then get off yer tush and make those episodes. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me at jason@tiltyhouse.com, and I will answer any questions you might have about this wonderful opportunity.

      Jason Hill, tiltyhouse Media   

When it comes to tests, I’ve pretty much seen it all. I have been through the labs and essays. I’ve survived four hours exams and thirty minute interviews. I even walked away with a University Degree at the simple cost of my soul. Yet no exam in the entire world has frustrated me more than the dreaded Japanese Proficiency Exam(???????.) I just wrote the 2nd level test for the third time this past Sunday and I want to scream “bloody murder!” Now I’ll tell you why.

The first and foremost reason why I hate this exam is that it’s very difficult. It keeps getting more difficult every year you take it. Almost like a cold war between exam writers and participants. Every year, I approach the exam site with an arsenal of new grammer and vocabulary. Oh, but the test is ready for me. It constantly finds new ways to confuse the hell out of me and leave me bleeding on the floor. But that is only the worst part. I bet you didn’t know there were other nasty elements to this exam. .

Did you know that the exam only happens once a year? Yes, you have one shot to nail it or you’re screwed. But if that wasn’t bad enough, you also pay 5500 yen to take the damn thing. Oh, and guess what happens if you actually find a way to pass an exam. If you ant to receive the a diploma, you need to send them money for the diploma and the shipping cost. Yes, they are so cheap they won’t even send you a diploma with your results. Also, did want to see how you did on the exam. Too bad! You don’t get your results. You only know if you passed or failed. You can, however buy a copy of the answer for about 1200 yen at the bookstore.

So you can see, I am not a big fan of this exam. Lucky for me, the only reason I take it is to improve my Japanese. I’d be in real trouble if I needed it for a certification of something. To wrap this up, I’m going to go out and call JESS(the organization that administrates the exam) something they need to be called. You are TEST NAZIES. Stop being so damned cheap and extreme about this test! There, I feel must better now.

 That very next day a massive storm pushed itself down Japan and caused all of the morning trains on the Hanwa line to be cancelled. This left me stranded in Ashiro all morning, unable to get to my Junior High School in Tayama. Lucky for me, classes were all cancelled. That very same storm also dumped a pile of snow on any mountain over 900 meters. Iwate mountain went from brown to snow white in a little over six hours. I am definately in a part of Japan that sees more crazy weather.

 That leads me to the coming winter. In what had been long overdue, I have to decided to return to North America for a couple of weeks. I am looking forward to visiting with friends and family during this time. I also hope to get out and push tiltyhouse a little while I am away as well. If you are an avid lisenter of Dai-Cast and are interested sharnig any ideas about the show with me while I am away,?please feel free to get in contact with me at the at jason@tiltyhouse.com. While I am in North America, I will be in Burlington Vermont from December 23rd to December 30th, and Edmonton Alberta from December 31st to January 7th. Also, if you are just someone that hasn’t seen me in a while and want to get in contact with me again, please do so.

I make a mad dash past the porno magazines and women’s underwear and cross over into the cup ramen aisle. But it’s no good. She is faster than I am. I need to think. Then, I am given the break of a lifetime. She hits the line, and ends up stuck in front of some older woman who decides today is the day to have all of her bills paid. Here is my chance. I go up behind her and wait patiently. I’m hoping the other clerk will see the line and hop on a til.

Bingo. She’s on her way.

In Canada, I would have let the person in front of me go on ahead to the open til. But Japan that would have been a very large tactical error. It’s a no-man’s land in the combini. Those who tell you that Japan is a land of polite and patient people never had to battle for fried goodness before.

Before the clerk has a chance to say, “Tsugi no kyakusama, douzo”, I leap over to the open til and claim my spot. I then immediately order the remaining hot dog and beef croquette. It’s mine! And just as I thought it might be, the lady then tries to order the same thing and denied. That last train to flavor country is boarding and I have the last ticket.

As I walk out the door, towards my car, I can feel her eyes burning into my back. She has been relegated to the wasteland of nikuman and oden snacks. She is not a happy camper.

So ends another chapter is the constant battle for delicious Japanese convenience store snacks. If only they’d just cook up a few more at dinner time. Then we wouldn’t be at each other’s passive-aggressive throat. Grrrrr!

If you’ve lived in Japan for any period of time, you might have seen these gender roles in action. Boys are considered “Cool” or ???????and girls are supposed to be cute, or ??????Both genders try their best to fit those images, and usually they succeed. For example, it is frowned upon for women to smoke in public, office ladies are also still responsible for the tea duties and are are not usually on the fast track to becoming anything more than said OL. Men, on the other hand, are the ones fated to the working long hours at the office and wearing the cheap gray suits. They also have free reign of the porn and belligerency. We can also see this through the high domestic violence rate, with incidents that often go unreported.

You may see many similarities between these roles and the roles men and women in the U.S and Canada had in the 50′s, But there are some unique differences. Boys, for instance, regardless of how cool they appear to be, embrace the cute culture just as much as women do. I have seen many a boy walk down the hall with his own Winnie the Pooh or stuffed bear of choice. I should clarify that I’m talking about high school boys here. Boys also have a tendency to touch each other, all over. This is something that would surely brand you gay make you a target for ridicule in the west. This is not the case here, however. As for women, they also have many culturally unique traits. In a household for example, the woman usually controls the flow of money in the household. No one can buy anything unless their mother gives them permission. This also includes the husband. So, as you can see, there is a male dominance here, but it does have some interesting exceptions.

Recently, I have been noticing a change in these roles. My first clue came to me as I was sitting in the principal’s room on my first day at an Elementary school in northern Hachimantai. I glanced up at the wall and saw a series of portraits. Each one looking more distinguished than the next. There were about twenty in all, and all of them were of men. This was not too surprising. Many Japanese schools have these and they look pretty much the same. What was surprising, however, was that my school principal was a woman. The first woman principal I have ever worked for here. You can’t tell me that isn’t progress.

Another subtle clue of gender role change comes with the sheer numbers of women who are entering the workforce and choosing not to settle down. It has become so common, that many old and angry men politicians are demanding that women return to the home and start having babies again. Sadly for them, the women aren’t budging, and that is something I am very glad to see. If you need another form a proof, I might also mention that my supervisor is a woman as well, and that there are many women in high places around my city.

So as you can see, even though Japan has been a male dominated society for a very long time, it seems the modern ways of doing things are finally having on impact on some of the archaic traditional cultural strongholds. Of course, this is a course Japanese people must choose for themselves. For me, women have always been a source of strengh and perseverance. If I had relied on my male influences, I might be drunk in some bar today without a future or a prayer. I am very impressed Japan is starting to see women the way I do.

I instantly assumed this was one of those games that never leaves Japan. We have a metric truckload of them here in Japan. I can list countless dating simulators, cooking games and pachinko titles that will never touch the hands of the unwashed masses back in Canada. Yet, How was I to know what lay in store for this little gem of a game?

Not two years has gone by and I’ve already heard it used in popular culture and the media. Podcasts have made songs out its soundtrack, and legions of fans have made paintings and crafts as an ode to the king of the Universe. Two sequels have already been made. The most surprising thing I’ve heard from this is that the author of the game isn’t even a fan of video games. In fact, it seems he hates them. I’m surprised they convinced him to make more.

The one issue that still puzzles me from this “Katamari Surprise” is not how the game became a hit, but how it has become a legend. Would I be so bold in proclaiming that Katamari Damashii has now reached the level of “household name.” I wouldn’t be surprised if I were correct on that assumption. I teach over two hundred Junior High and Elementary students here in Japan, and every one of them knows the words “Katamari Damashii.” I am shocked to learn that many people all around the world also know of the game.

From all this, the one conclusion that I arrive at is that games seem to be either really good or really bad. There is no longer any middle ground. In the past few years, games like “Katamari Damashii”, “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney”, and others have been injecting countless cc’s of stimulant into an otherwise dull and uninspired industry. I feel have the Japanese to thank for this. If I haven’t said it yet on this blog, I will now. I believe that the Japanese culture churns out some of the most creative people on the planet today. This is bold statment when you look at the way this same culture has progressed over the last oen hundred years. The education system seems to have been created to drain every precious drop of creativity from students. However, I have a feeling there is a renaissance brewing. And that fire is being fueled by the gaming, movie and arts industries. What will spew next from the firey womb of Japan’s artistic community? That is yet to be determined.

In retrospect this also might help to explain the way my life has progressed over the last three years. I’ve developed an artist side that I never ever knew I had. I can only think that living in Japan has helped that. I help help but look back at that quirky little game and feel that we now have a more profound connection. You might call that link Japan.

A Toil of Two Cities

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It all just depends on where you live, of course.

Most people who play videogames have by now heard the tale of “ea_spouse“, the wife of a developer working at Electronic Arts. Her husband routinely worked horrendous hours, up to 85 per week, with no overtime or compensation. Since EA’s stance on overworking their developers was one of “Do it or find another job”, ea_spouse had no choice but to air her grievances publicly on a Livejournal blog. The upshot of the whole deal was a class-action lawsuit awarding $15.6 million to EA’s overworked artists, and a similar settlement of $14.9 million to its programmers.

I remember this tale far too often in my working week — not because I am worked too hard; far from it — but because it’s what I am thinking of when I see the sallow faces of some of my Japanese students. They are usually engineers, but sometimes public school teachers, or salespeople as well. They walk in, tired as hell, showing progressively thinner bodies and prematurely-aged faces. Of course, the working habits of Japanese people are legendary. Long hours, long commutes, short sleeps, devotion to the company: a Samurai spirit, as some poetically like to call it.

I don’t believe a word of it.

Aside from those people who truly are workaholics, who simply love working, I’m pretty sure that most Japanese workers who show the hard-working gaman, ganbarimasho spirit do it not out of a drive from within their souls, but rather out of pressure from without. I honestly feel that this distinction makes all the difference in the world. For one, everyone is expected to work late (nobody goes home early unless gender, a family, or some other hindrance provides an excuse) and then everyone often goes home, all at the same time. For another, whether salaried or paid hourly, a majority of this overtime work goes unpaid and unacknowledged by the company, and it also goes unmentioned by the worker. And yet another: they are afraid to face their bosses when they do have such complaints or grievances.

I’m not necessarily railing against this culture, because it is a part of the culture of Japan to work longer and keep one’s complaints to oneself. It is indeed admirable to work hard if you are truly driven from within and want to achieve mastery of your trade. However, workers in Japan are still flesh and blood. My students are regular people, with fascinating hobbies that they say they can’t enjoy enough; with families who complain they can’t see enough of their significant others; with dreams of travel which will remain mere dreams since the only way to take a vacation longer than 5 days is to quit one’s job and then take the trip.

In other words, they are people with unfulfilled dreams of full humanity, unfulfilled because they are constantly being told that they should not — dare not — reach for them. This isn’t a matter of a twisted culture (so don’t say I’m trying to impose my own culture on the Japanese) but specifically that elements within the culture take advantage of its tenets. Employers, businesses, and governments throughout Japan know full well that society discourages complaining and resistance, and so these same groups can cheat and exploit people with little fear of reprisal, prosecution, and so on. Doctors in Japan tell their patients that 5 hours is all the body needs for a full night’s rest. I wonder how the experts reached that figure?…

Japanese people are biologically identical in every way to the average Canadian, American, what-have-you; and the look on my students’ faces and in my students’ eyes tells me more clearly than any doctor that however much they sleep just isn’t enough. It is this that has to change. Workers somehow need to make their voices heard again, need to resist the exploitation that companies effortlessly foist upon them. When I watch TV shows such as Project X, an incredibly fascinating and deceptively inspirational program on NHK, I am torn by two mental images that conflict inside my head. One is that of a post-war Japan, striving through technology and industrialization to become a superpower in the world. The other is of a mountain of skulls of the workers who strove and died to make this happen…

—

So anyway, I was talking to a student (whom I also consider a friend) today about his weekend plans, and he told me he would have to go to work on Sunday, just like any regular working day. I asked him whether it was because of an important project that they had to finish, but he said that project had been finished. Crunch time was over. He appeared now to be working Sundays, as well as Saturdays and regular weekdays. Just as a matter of course. Of course, for engineers (like my student) or game programmers, or any project-based workers, working 7 days a week during crunch time is “”normal”", but there usually is the matter of time in lieu, compensation, an extended vacation when the project is finished, isn’t there? Yes indeed, my student said, his contract stated he could get extra time off at the end of a project, but apparently his boss doesn’t read contracts…

So, naively, I suggested he — contract in hand — simply ask his boss for this holiday, and ever-so-nicely point to the contract as a backup. He said his boss was a real hot-tempered type, likely to call him an idiot or lazy if he ever complained. (Or merely “asked”, in this case.) I said, no problem, just keep your cool and remain courteous, but explain clearly that this document which he had signed, and that a company superior had also signed, is a contract. It is a written agreement, legally binding, that both parties ought to — must, if you want to take it that far — stick to. The boss ought not to break the terms of that contract, which was written up not by my student but by his company, after all.

But I did of course realize the relative absurdity of what I was telling my student to do, so I said he could try doing this, but not be surprised if he gets fired (or more likely, transferred) for his temerity. It was at that point that I decided to tell my student the tale of “ea_spouse”, as a way of illustrating two things. One, that workers in America also fear reprisals for demanding their unpaid overtime wages (so Japanese workers are not alone in this.) Two, that the power of the internet: huge, anonymous communities that can send grassroots messages through word-of-mouth, can make a difference and can effect change, as can be seen in the total $30 million settlements from disgruntled EA workers.

My student understood this, but then went on to explain how a few workers in the same company as his did air their grievances about their employer on 2Channel (“ni-channel”, the largest internet forum in the world) a while ago. He didn’t tell me if the impact of this action was big or small, but the upshot of the whole deal was that his company forbade all workers from visiting 2Channel.

—

If you ever go to Japan on an English teaching job, you will eventually notice that your students often make mistakes on the usage of the words “overtime” and “overwork”. My advice: don’t correct them. For most Japanese people, they are one and the same.

Chris M. Covell (chris_covell@yahoo.ca)