What's the keyword?

Over on Japan Economy & News Blog, one can read a number of reports on the continuing decline in sales at department stores. I suppose there are many reasons for this, but one thing is for sure: Poor service has nothing to do with it, for Japan is as well-known for its uniformly good---even superior---service as it is for being hygiene-obsessed and uniquely having 4 seasons.

Imagine my surprise when due to what she called bad service, the wife decided to go down to Minatomirai for lunch instead of our usual Takashimaya. She didn't actually refuse to go, but said she'd eat at Takashimaya (reluctantly) but would do no shopping.

So off to Yokohama we went, with her explaining her reasons---repeatedly over the 20+ minute ride---for cutting up our Takashimaya credit card and ditching thoughts of investing in Takashimaya stocks*. Seems she was so upset by the service at the Shinjuku Takashimaya that even after several complaints and entirely phony apologies, she is planning on sending a written complaint to the president of the company.

A week or so ago, she had stopped at the Shinjuku branch of Takashima to pick up some sushi and discovered that they were holding a special event there for Kyushuu foods. After picking up some ¥200 each fish cakes from one vendor, she went into line to pay. The clerks were telling folks which line to stand and wait in because it was quite crowded.

Finally, she got to the Money Taker. The MT woman said, "Keyword, please."

A**ko: Huh? What keyword?

MT: Didn't you see the TV CM? You have to have the keyword.

The wife, not being the submissive little Japanese lady of myth and fetish was less than pleased to be bothered with such nonsense and let the woman know it. The "embarrassed-looking" Money Taker went to ask the "Idiotic-Looking Manager".

I-LM: We're very sorry, but we can't sell you those fish cakes without the keyword.

A**ko: Do you mean I have to watch TV for a keyword and I can't buy anything here if I don't? I don't care about the discount, I just wanna buy these.

I-LM: Sorry. There are many other items that may be useful to you that you can buy here, but since this is a special event, you cannot by those fish cakes without the keyword. It's only those which you cannot buy.

Ready to punch an Idiotic-Looking Manager A**ko: You don't have any signs saying that a keyword is needed. None of your staff told anyone. I stood in line to buy these. Why don't you let people know before they waste their time?

I-LM: Well, if we put a sign up, then customers will tell each other the keyword and anyone could buy it.

After a few minutes of this, and perhaps fearing for his life, he offered to call someone higher up "to apologize." She refused as "I didn't want an apology! They wouldn't admit that they did anything wrong, they just wanted to apologize because I had to wait."

She sent an e-mail through Takashimaya's website complaining about that, and they wrote back and said that they would set up a sign informing customers of the need for a keyword in future events. Since they still "have not admitted they they did anything wrong," she still refuses to accept any vague non-apology apology.

Personally, I find this shocking! Less than perfect service in Japan? And an improper apology from the always polite citizens who always sincerely apologize? Perhaps the wife has been spoiled and no longer understands Japan.

*We would not invest in the stocks expecting to gain anything, but because stockholders get a 10% discount on purchases. Mitsukoshi offers a similar scam deal and she is now considering an "investment" there. This isn't an uncommon thing in Japan from what I have heard and it is done for the discount and other benefits, not as a "normal" investment.

Japan continues to become foreign

Once upon a time, we heard how wonderful it was that in Japan people did not sue. (Not exactly true, they could and did. It was just that they could rarely win and the case might take 20 or more years.) Japan was not like the US and selfish, self-centered Americans---and others---who placed their own needs above that of their company.

Now we see a few employees suing their companies and actually prevailing. And prevailing in a reasonable period of time:

According to Japan’s Supreme Court, the number of lawsuits filed against employers rose 45 percent from 1997 to 2005, to 2,303 cases. In 2006, that number increased 21 percent, to 2,777 cases if lawsuits heard by a newly created labor arbitration court are included.

Adding to the alienation between employee and company has been a growing sense of resentment that workers have not benefited from the nation’s economic rebound in the last half decade.

While corporate profits have soared, wages have remained stagnant, feeding a perception that companies have failed to share the good times with employees. This has led some to seek a bigger piece of the pie, say legal and labor experts.

There is also a feeling that as companies have cut costs to remain competitive with the cheaper China and South Korea, they passed too much of the burden onto employees. In particular, many of the recent lawsuits involve a practice known as “service overtime,” in which workers were silently pressured into logging long hours of unpaid overtime as a display of loyalty, say labor experts.

...the recent rise in lawsuits was also the latest step in a longer-term move toward a more American-style workplace ...(Yea, sure.)

The NYT article examines a recent lawsuit by the widow of a Toyota employee who died from over-work and the recent victory against McDonalds Japan in which McDs was ordered to pay overtime for overtime to its managers.

Shockingly, neither Toyota nor McDs Japan had any comments for the story in the New York Times.

A related New York Times article on whistle-blowers exposing company misdeeds, such as Senga Kitcho and their serving of pre-owned food, is here:

...A car company that hid dangerous flaws to avoid embarrassing recalls. A meat processor that sold ground pig hearts as beef. A fancy restaurant chain that served customers leftover sashimi from other diners.

In recent years, Japan’s faith in its corporate establishment has been shaken by a series of scandals in which companies of all sizes have been caught in frauds ranging from the merely nauseating to the patently dangerous. More shocking than the misdeeds is the fact that employees are blowing the whistle...

I admit to some skepticism about whether or not these are really trends or not. I would be a bit more inclined to believe that whistle-blowers are becoming more common as the results of their actions are readily apparent.

Perhaps now they can wash their hands

before handling food---even at the Denenchofu McDs.

- McDonald's Japan, the nation's biggest fast-food chain, said on Tuesday it would begin paying overtime to managers of its outlets from August...

...Hiroshi Takano said he had worked 60 to 80 hours of overtime per month but was not allowed to claim for it after he was promoted to store manager despite having little discretion in setting his work hours, according to media reports....

I thought Japanese did not sue, how could this be? McDs Japan is nearly half-owned by the McDonalds Corp according to the article. However, they take no responsibility for McDs Japan.

Oh, I am still awaiting a reply from my complaints to McDs. I think I shall be waiting until hell freezes over.

Full article here while it lasts.

Denenchofu, the customer-free zone

Denenchofu Tokyo (Ota-ku) is an interesting place. It is quite expensive in nearly every part, but especially so on the hill above the station. Lots of TV stars and sports figures live in the area.

There is a small shopping area---perhaps it could be called a "downtown." The interesting thing about it is that you almost never see a customer in any of the shops. In fact, even if one wants to shop in one, it might be a bit difficult as the hours can be somewhat irregular. Then there are the prices. One woman remarked that the shops there all had old products at double the price. This is only a slight exaggeration.

Some people think that these shops might be operated for tax purposes. Take a loss on your business and write down your overall tax bill. Whatever it is, given the price of real estate in the area, it is hard to believe that most of those shops are not losing tons of money.

There are a few places with customers---the drug store with discounted prices which are still higher than the surrounding areas; Denenchofu McDonalds, where hygiene is a dirty word; over-priced Precce, the only grocery store nearby; the aerobics school for kids; and the English school (not "downtown" but near the station.)

The latter two seem to have a good arrangement here. The kid's aerobics school is said to have a relationship with a TV station. That TV station often uses children in some of its programs. Guess what one of the sources for the children is? It is so popular that the parents are said to have to undergo interviews to put their children in the aerobics class.

The English school is said to have made a sweet deal with the powers in Denenchofu. No other English school will be given permission to open in the area. Sort of a competition-free zone.

Okusawa, which is the next station up the line---or a 10 minute walk away---has many small shops and is bustling compared to Denenchofu. The folks there even appear to want business. It seems that they are not very interested losing money to lower taxes, or to make special deals with English schools.

*8 May 2008: Somewhat properly proofread and corrected.*

A fine East Asian tradition

that I wouldn't want to disappear.

This morning as I got on the 6:30am train to Kamiyacho, I was pleased to discover that it was only somewhat crowded. The crush was 25-30 minutes away. This meant that I would have enough room to be able to breathe. I was especially aware of this ability to breathe as I was standing next to a slim, attractive, young woman who had obviously indulged in the increasingly popular garlic fest the night before. How pleasant, I thought as I watched the guy with either an allergy or a bad cold sneeze repeatedly. As for the runny nose and his creative use of his hands---well, perhaps he forgot his handkerchief.

About an hour later after a breakfast which I could only hope was prepared by a cook without an allergy or bad cold, I was chatting with a young lady who was telling me about how she was so happy to live in Japan, because (as she had recently read in a "mini-column") Japan has more "nature" than any other country on earth. I damn near barfed in my hands.

At this time of year with the cedar tree pollen allergy so common (due to Japan's "nature" in which bureaucrats decided to cut down huge parts of the natural forest and replace the trees with cedars) as well as during the cold and flu seasons, I truly appreciate the custom of bowing that is traditional in many parts of Asia. Perhaps, as one fine fellow explained to me, it spread because of kind, generous Japan which during its occupation of Korea taught the Koreans how to bow.

I admire this. (The tradition, not the claim that it was taught to other peoples by Japan.) After all, you don't really want to go around fondling the mucous-covered hands of someone. You don't want to shake the hand of someone who just puked into them after hearing the latest nihonjinron.

McDonalds Japan faces lawsuit

McDonalds Japan which seems to understaff their restaurants to the extent that employees cannot take the time to practice proper hygiene, has been sued once again. No, not for selling out-of-date salads as fresh as they have been caught doing, no, not for someone getting sick after eating food prepared under unhygienic conditions, but for forcing their managers (who haven't real management authority) to work unpaid overtime.

According to a McDonald's labor union, the two men worked about 70 to 90 hours overtime a month on many occasions from December 2005, and sometimes worked more than 140 overtime hours a month. Story here.

Meanwhile, I await a reply to my complaint about the filthy McDonalds in Denenchofu Tokyo.

10 days and counting

Still awaiting a response, even a "f**k you" from the Denenchofu, Tokyo McFilthys---oops, I meant McDonalds. I suspect I will get none unless I can find some way to embarrass them.

In the mean time, more food fraud from another Japanese company. I am waiting for the Japanese government to take action to clean up Japanese food companies, but I suspect that they are about as concerned about taking action to clean up domestic food as McDonalds Japan is about cleaning up the Denenchofu McDs.

A catering subsidiary of Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) said it recently sold about 15,900 expired "bento" (boxed lunches), sandwiches and other food items at train stations and on bullet trains after deliberately extending their expiry times by several hours. From the Japan Times via Kyodo News.

It's supposedly only a few hours, but the responsible company is still trying to deceptively pawn off old food on customers. Good service. The customer is god.

Full story in the Japan Times Online here.

Denenchofu McDs and unsanitary conditions Pt. 2

I have learned that McDonalds USA will not respond to questions/concerns about non-USA McDonalds. Like many of these international companies, they aren't going to be burdened by their company's foreign problems. I have an idea that McDonald's Japan will do nothing unless they get caught sickening someone. (They were one of the companies caught changing sell-by dates last year. The company claimed it was just one restaurant that was doing it. Right. I believe it.)

The US site does have a way to complain about an individual restaurant---if it is in the US. Contrast that with the Japan site which has no direct route for customers to complain. There is a contact form buried deep in the site. I had a tough time getting it to work as I had to write my name in kanji, even though I can't. (I have no name in Kanji). So finally, I gave up and filled in 本本。I sent a letter yesterday, but I don't wanna wait forever.

McDonalds Japan does have all kinds of information about how safe the food is. If you want to challenge that idea, it seems that they aren't too eager to hear from you. Very neo-bushido. Fujiwara Masahiko would love it. It is (safe) because it is. Contrary opinions are not to be uttered.

Good Ol' Denenchofu McDonalds (Unhygienic food handling)

I never learn. I did it again. I went to the Denenchofu Tokyo McDonalds to get some "food." I haven't been going there much recently because (as I have written before) it was one of the dirtiest McDonalds that I have even seen. I think that the main reason was because they never had enough staff on hand---there are often only 2 employees in sight and one is cooking and the other manning the registers. I thought that they may have improved. I was wrong, it seems.

Last night I went in to get 2 hamburgers---the cheap ￥100 jobs. There was a young guy in a manager's uniform on the registers and one guy cooking (well, whatever McDs does to its burgers). I placed my order when it was my turn and the manager could get a second between collecting and bagging previous customers' orders. He was jugging all this and wiping the sweat off his face from the constant running back and forth. He took my cash with his un-gloved hands. After he had taken an order from the customer after me, he ran back to help the seemingly overwhelmed cook. He pulled the french fry basket out of the oil and put uncooked fries in. Then I noticed him glance at me. For some reason I got suspicious and moved to where I could see him better.

He next grabbed a spatula and put my burgers on the buns. Then he took his dirty, cash-handling, sweat-wiping hands and placed the top of the buns on the burgers and picked each up them up and placed them in the wrapping.

I asked the woman next to me if she saw that. Apparently she did not. I was thinking of telling the guy to shove them somewhere uncomfortable. I should have simply asked him if he had washed his hands before touching them and then told him to make 2 more. But I didn't as I knew that I would have said something too harsh and would have looked the bad guy in front of all the customers. I did not eat the burgers, but threw them away.

After I got home I e-mailed McDonalds USA about it in the hope that they will do something (hahaha). McDonalds Japan had no way to e-mail that I could find. Then I found McD Japans postal address on the USA site and wrote a letter to them. I am going to try to find some sort of Japan or Tokyo government agency similar to a state health department in the US to file a complaint with. So far nobody knows what department or agency that would be. That may mean that there is no such agency or department that makes it easy for citizens to complain about unsanitary food service

Not much will come out of it I am sure. Denechofu McDs will be just as dirty next month as this. I won't be going again unless it is to take some photos at one of it busy times when garbage cans are overflowing and the floors and tables are filthy. And the manager is fingering your (or your child's) food with his dirty hands.

McDs Japan joins the food fraud crowd

Why not? Not mislabeling food would make a company a nail the sticks up and, as we have all heard ad nauseum, in Japan the nail that sticks up gets banged down.

We could blame this on the US. After all, McDonalds is a US company. However, McDonalds Japan is independent from McDs US. Plus, from the events of the last several months, we have to assume that mislabeling food is sort of common here. Maybe even universal. Perhaps it's just another thing that makes Japan uniquely unique.

McDonald's Japan acknowledged Tuesday that several of its franchise restaurants intentionally mislabeled the production date of salads to extend their shelf life, exacerbating food safety worries in Japan.

The company will cancel its franchise agreement with Athlete Co., a Japanese company that admitted to the mislabeling at at least two of the four McDonald's outlets that it runs in central Tokyo, according to Shotaro Shimizu, a McDonald's spokesman.

Read more at IHT.

What can you do?

Some things are difficult to adjust to when you move to a new place---especially to another country. After years there are still things I cannot adjust to.

I am making every effort not to be offended by the offensive word gaijin. It's a waste of time. A lot of non-Japanese of non-Asian origins use it for themselves anyway. Either they don't know or don't care. Even a large number of Japanese consider it offensive. I saw on wikipedia in the discussion area on the gaijin page where some non-Japanese had even said that hen na* gaijin(!!!)was more or less a compliment. (They removed most of the references to the term gaijin as being offensive. Now it just gets a brief mention with some quotes by foreigners using gaijin to refer to themselves.)

I'll get over that to a large degree. I haven't gotten used to the way many will break out in a trot to get ahead of someone in line. I notice this in convenience stores and grocery stores. In convenience stores, someone will hang around staring at a package of instant noodles trying to make the difficult decision or whether or not to buy it, but as soon as they see someone else moving toward the cash register, they suddenly decide not to buy it and rush to be first in line. If they have a full basket and the other person has a pack of gum, there ain't gonna be no polite move to let that other person go first. OK, so I have to remember that the point is to get ahead of everyone else whether or not I actually need to.

The sniffling. This drives a lot of westerners nuts. Got try to get over that too. People aren't gonna start using handkerchiefs. Sneezing and coughing openly on others, especially in trains? Well it's rude and disgusting to Japanese too, most especially if they are the one who gets the slobber shower. But then again, nobody will ever say anything to the offending swine. Just pretend nothing happened.

But what about the snot-sniffers who wipe their nose on their hand and then handle your food and your money with said snot-covered hand? What is the proper etiquette in this case? It has happened to me 3-4 times in the last year. All but one was in Denenchofu/Okusawa. Tonight I got an urge for a McDonald's 80 yen hamburger. Hell, one or two pieces of processed, freeze dried, and microwaved beef byproducts should be OK. I had quit going to the Denenchofu McDonalds because I felt that it was too dirty to eat in, but I figured it would be ok to get something to go.

Well, the old girl at the register had the sniffles. She did not have a tissue. Or gloves. Gloves would have made no difference anyway, because as she was taking my order, she wiped her runny nose twice on the palm of her hand. She did not play with the mucus as I have seen many do after a sneeze, cough, or good healthy nose wipe (on trains and other places) nor did she wash it off. She handed me back my change with her virus-covered snotty hand and then went over and grabbed my burgers and put them in the bag. What should I have done? What's the wonderfully polite Japanese way? What would ol' Barcode head Fujiwara Masahiko have recommended as a neo-bushidoist? I know what I would have said in the US or England or other English-speaking countries. Perhaps "Please wash your hands before touching my food." I could have said a similar thing in Japanese. But I didn't. I would have become a troublesome, complaining henna gaijin. And the same thing would happen again and again. Nothing would really change.

It's not that this sort of thing doesn't happen elsewhere, it's that I am not used to people doing it right in front of my face. Since they do, I suspect that it isn't really something so unacceptable here. Like the constant sniffling. Which is better to have someone handle your food with snotty hands in front of you, or use snotty hands to handle it without your knowing it? I do know that you can get fired in the US for it---I knew a girl who was fired because she kept picking or touching her nose around the salad bar at the place she worked. Would she have been fired here? Never mind, just enjoy your sushi.

*In case you don't know, hen (na) means weird. And "weird outsider" ain't no compliment.

The World's Dirtiest McDonald's

has to be the one in Denenchofu. No matter when I go there, it is always filthy. Early morning or late at night, it makes no difference. Floors are covered with pieces of paper, dirt, cigarette butts and who knows what else. The tables appear to be sloppily wiped off about once every 30 customers. Naturally, this being Japan, the smoking and non-smoking sections are in the same room. In fact, the tables are side-by-side with no ventilation. What's the point? (anyway, I will bet that I can find some nihonjinron nutter who claims that cigarette smoking is a Japanese tradition and them thar foreigners and Japanese non-smokers should leave traditional smokers alone.) It's usually filled with a bunch of loud, ill-mannered junior high and high school punks anyway. I try to avoid it, but it is open late and cheap. Just have to eat dirt and breath smoker-shit.

In contrast, the Denenchofu KFC is sparkling clean. Most every KFC I have been to in any country has been in some state of filthiness. Not this one.

Starbucks. I am not a Starbucks hater. In fact, it is pretty good for the price. You can get tasteless fake coffee here in smoke-filled Dotours for more. (I mean it. It has no coffee taste for me. Just a warm brownish liquid with an undefinable taste.) You can get a cup of instant for more than $5 too. You can go to Tullys and get good coffee, however, some have smoking rooms without doors (does the word idiotic fit here?) so you have to inhale smoker-shit with your coffee.

But one of the Starbucks in Jiyugaoka is pretty bad. No, it's clean. Its coffee is typical Starbucks, but sometimes it seems as if they ran out of Starbucks coffee and substituted weak instant coffee---or even worse, it tastes like Dotours coffee. But its food is always dried out and hard as a rock. It isn't really fit to eat. Now Starbucks could never be accused of having good food. In fact, at best some of it is barely edible. But at this Starbucks they set the standard for old, stale, possibly decaying fake food. It's not the one near the station, but the one close to UFJ bank. I complained once. I even filled out the "How are we doing" form. I suspect since my Japanese isn't perfect, that form was used to provide entertainment for the staff.

Another nice thing about Starbucks is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to get a seat. People will buy a small coffee and then study or chat for 3-4 hours or more. During test season they get filled with students studying for hours and buying nearly nothing. Some, such as the one in the Takashimaya Dept. store in Futakotamagawa even put up signs asking students not to stay for such a long time. They ignore those signs. The staff, this being Japan, does nothing.

I have lessons in Starbucks sometimes, and when I do and I will be there for over an hour, I buy more accordingly. It is only fair, I am using space that they could use for other paying customers. However, at the Jiyugaoka Starbucks, I sure can't buy food, so its gotta be more coffee.