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I'm not sure why learning English and working abroad is supposed to curb depression? What does one have to do with the other? The article just sort of jumped fr

I'm not sure why learning English and working abroad is supposed to curb depression? What does one have to do with the other? The article just sort of jumped from "depression" to "working abroad" without really establishing a link. I suggest there isn't one. I mean, in addition to working 80-hour weeks, new recruits have to attend English lessons as well? If Japan was serious about curbing depression it would take serious measures to reign in the permanent overtime a lot of employees find themselves in, where many are staying in the office until nearly midnight. By "serious" I mean fines and possibly jail time for employers that allow it to happen without reason, or allow it to happen regularly even if they have a reason. And don't rely on reporting, either - start doing audits. If that sounds severe, remember that these are the people whose government formed a committee to investigate why so many Japanese companies required their workers to come in on Saturdays - which committee itself met every Saturday. "Soft paternalism" is probably not going to cut it. The drinking culture here probably doesn't help, either. Alcohol's links to depression are well-known.

rhino369 12y ago
Maybe the reason is that so they can go work abroad if they aren't fitting in with Japans conformist culture. Though the immigrants I work with seem to just reconstruct the same pattern of behavior. My Japanese office mate works til midnight every single night for no reason. I feel sad for the poor guy.
- kevin_thibedeau 12y ago
  Part of that is that the Japanese excel at processing reams of pointless paperwork to get any little thing done. In addition, the strict social hierarchy forces workers at the bottom of the ladder to stay later than their superiors to demonstrate their commitment to the company. This leads to the ridiculous 12 hour work days possibly followed up by mandatory drinking with the boss after work.
VLM 12y ago
"I'm not sure why learning English" If you think that's mystifying, try having an economy only big enough for 100 million people, but actually have 127 million people, and describe the problem as they "feel" rejected (they ARE rejected, not "feel" it) and if only the victims would work a little harder, a job would magically appear (why?). Its a steaming pile of victim blaming. Another interpretation is its a confusion of micro vs macro economics. Surely on an individual scale working harder and longer and learning more always benefits that one individual. But on a macro scale if the problem is ten jobs for fifteen grads, its inhumane to tell the five losers that the solution to societies problems is for those five, or all fifteen, to work harder. If they are dumb enough to actually work harder, the most likely outcome is next year they'll be only nine jobs for the fifteen grads, at which time we'll tell the six losers the solution to the societal problem is those six should have worked harder... leading to seven of them unemployed the next year, LOL. We do the same dumb thing in the USA with "go to college and get a great job". Well, jobs aren't magically created by the granting of a diploma, so you do the math on that. Send everyone to college and you merely end up with everyone deep in debt and lots of bartenders and receptionists with really cool sounding degrees.

rhino369 12y ago

Maybe the reason is that so they can go work abroad if they aren't fitting in with Japans conformist culture. Though the immigrants I work with seem to just reconstruct the same pattern of behavior. My Japanese office mate works til midnight every single night for no reason. I feel sad for the poor guy.

kevin_thibedeau 12y ago
Part of that is that the Japanese excel at processing reams of pointless paperwork to get any little thing done. In addition, the strict social hierarchy forces workers at the bottom of the ladder to stay later than their superiors to demonstrate their commitment to the company. This leads to the ridiculous 12 hour work days possibly followed up by mandatory drinking with the boss after work.

VLM 12y ago

"I'm not sure why learning English" If you think that's mystifying, try having an economy only big enough for 100 million people, but actually have 127 million people, and describe the problem as they "feel" rejected (they ARE rejected, not "feel" it) and if only the victims would work a little harder, a job would magically appear (why?). Its a steaming pile of victim blaming. Another interpretation is its a confusion of micro vs macro economics. Surely on an individual scale working harder and longer and learning more always benefits that one individual. But on a macro scale if the problem is ten jobs for fifteen grads, its inhumane to tell the five losers that the solution to societies problems is for those five, or all fifteen, to work harder. If they are dumb enough to actually work harder, the most likely outcome is next year they'll be only nine jobs for the fifteen grads, at which time we'll tell the six losers the solution to the societal problem is those six should have worked harder... leading to seven of them unemployed the next year, LOL. We do the same dumb thing in the USA with "go to college and get a great job". Well, jobs aren't magically created by the granting of a diploma, so you do the math on that. Send everyone to college and you merely end up with everyone deep in debt and lots of bartenders and receptionists with really cool sounding degrees.