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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03). Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
Following up on the recent J-News Mini-Roundup posted on jetwit, the unemployment craze is also having an effect on the kinds of jobs new Japanese graduates want to apply for. According to a survey by Recruit of 5810 college students and 2099 grad
uate students from the class of 2010, travel industries come out ahead while manufacturing jobs were left in the dust. The financial and insurance industries also came out strong, occupying five of the top ten spots. Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) took the top spot after being 4th last year, and in 2nd was East Japan Railway Company (JR East). All Nippon Airways (ANA), which had claimed the top spot last year, trailed at 3rd and Mizuho Financial Group came in 4th.
The largest descents were those of Toyota, which after occupying the 6th spot last year sunk to 96th, and Sony which went from 14th to 55th! Clearly the huge amount of downsizing that is taking place in Japanese manufacturing is having a large effect on career prospects for new grads. Says a Recruit representative, “Companies like the railways that are related to social infrastructure are still performing well in these tough economic times. On the other hand, manufacturers are showing poor results and their constant news of layoffs causes students to have the impression that there is little opportunity there.”
In terms of the gender breakdown, for males the top choice was JR Central whereas for females it was ANA. Those in the humanities favored JR Central, and those in the sciences went for JR East Japan. Grad students in the sciences opted for Panasonic followed by Sony.
(Source: April 9, 2009 Daily Sun newspaper)
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In other news, 19-year old golfer Ryo Ishikawa will make history by being the second youngest player in Masters history. At the year’s first major golf championship that begins today, he will tee off on Friday in the final group alongside fellow teen star Rory McIlroy (19) of Ireland. He received a special invitation to attend, and regarding the opportunity to play here Ishikawa said, “It’s like a dream. I still can’t believe I’m at Augusta National.” His performance will determine whether he becomes a household name in the States, but in Japan he is ubiquitous. During my recent trip, I found him plastered all over posters for ANA with a fanciful theme that had him in the role of pilot encouraging passengers to fly with him.
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