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Charisma-kei businesses are common; I had a client that was clearly such. The president of the company was constantly spying on all his programmers, and often
by jbm 16y ago
Charisma-kei businesses are common; I had a client that was clearly such.
The president of the company was constantly spying on all his programmers, and often switched the strategic direction in order to conform to the latest trends that he spotted on Digg. No one was paid more than about USD25k/year, despite having a huge office in Akihabara and backing from a large angel investor in Korea. (There was no business equity or anything like that for the workers, and no housing assistance either)
That isn't really a big deal; just another failing IT company with no direction. However, the "Japanese Charisma Kei" twist is that 25% of the company gross was given to a fundamentalist church the president belonged to, and that he continuously recruited people to join his cult. My gf, who I met there, had joined and subsequently left that church because she thought they were insane. The President let church members come to the office and hassle her about going back to that church without remorse. (She eventually left the company to work at a bank.)
All of this changed when I joined the company, mainly because they had a new director that was appointed by the angel investor. I can't say it changed much for the better. You see, the director believed he was receiving direct communications from aliens about zero-point energy and that it was his mission to create a new civilization based on that knowledge. He also refused to take baths (he used a peroxide solution to wipe his body with instead). As far as employees went, he frowned on the use of doctors (preferring instead to tell them to learn the secrets of "Ki healing").
I stopped working with them after 6 months. I have never regretted it.
(As an aside, I don't have any problem with people's personal religious beliefs or the fervor with which they practice it; it was the personality cult and the organized harassment in a place of business that was completely bizarre and far beyond anything I have ever encountered in Canada or the US)
-edited for terrible grammar. Ugh.
- mattm 16y ago> No one was paid more than about USD25k/month I'm assuming that should be per year?
- jbm 16y agoDoh! Thanks, fixed :)
- donw 16y agoHave to ask -- Sokka Gakkai?
- jbm 16y agoGood guess, but no; it was, believe it or not, one of those fundamentalist Korean "Christian" churches that are located in and around Okubo. (My girlfriend, who was raised as a Christian, told me that they refused to read anything but one section of the old testament that had to do with Tithing or something). As far as Soka Gakkai goes; maybe you can educate me more about them, but they seem to be hated by the Uyoku (so they can't be all that bad). The real insane religious cult in Japan right now is "Happiness Science"; Kofuku Jitsugento feels much scarier than Komeito.
- donw 16y agoOnly reason I was curious is that I've heard them described as a cult by a lot of people. In my experience, they seem pretty harmless, and overall pretty friendly, but religion in general makes me... edgy. But yeah, them being hated by the right-wingers does score them points in my book. :) Didn't know about Kofuku Jitsugento; care to enlighten me?
- jbm 16y agoThey are quite a cult but honestly, religion in Japan is very difficult for me to grok. All the members of these "New Religions" that I've met seem to be old/facing mortality, with two exceptions. As for Kofuku Jitsugen To, you probably know them under their English name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness_Realization_Party http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness_Realization_Party The HRP is scary because they sincerely believe all of Japan is under existential threat by North Korea and that they need to remilitarize to "take them out". If that sounds normal to y'all, it's because you never read the books by the founder or how Kim Jong Il's "teacher's ghost" supposedly appeared before the founder and told him that NK would destroy Japan for its evil master China. (On the other hand, they want to have more babies which would be good for Japan, particularly if it resulted in people getting out of the Tokyo area...)