BIG generalization from my observations here in Japan so far.

A salary man would wake up around 6.ooam. He would eat the breakfast that his wife has prepared for him, put on his dark blue suit (not black – that’s for funerals) that his wife has had dry cleaned for him and ride his bike to the train station.

Once on the train a salary man would either sleep, or, if he had a meeting first up, would read over his notes/graphs etc in preparation for representing his company. He doesn’t want to embarrass his boss – company loyalty is everything. The salary man must be prepared.

There would be no eye contact while on the train with other salary men.

Once off the train, the salary man checks his mobile and answers any calls that came through while on the train (it is a no-no to talk on your phone while on the silent Japanese train).

Work… meetings….work…meetings.

Lunch time – the salary man will eat the beautifully prepared lunch from his wife, or, head to the stand-and-eat-as-fast-as-you-can restaurant around the corner form the workplace. (if he has time).

Work..meetings….work…meetings.

Around 9.oopm the salary man will either head home for dinner. He will eat dinner by himself as the wife and children have eaten earlier. The children will be in bed – and in fact haven’t seen their father all day.

Or

The salary man will head out to the bar to drink with his workmates. But one drink only is not acceptable, he must keep drinking as long as his workmates do – doesn’t want to look like a weakling. Perhaps after this the salary man may head home….or he may not bother as work is only a few hours away again any way. Perhaps he will sleep in a capsule hotel for the night, get some new underwear from the vending machine and head off to work in the morning.

This will happen for at least 6 days a week, if not 7.

Japan has a population of 127 million people. 98.6% of people in Japan are pure Japanese. The population is declining due to low birth rates and an aging population

In Japan there are many Europeans. Chinese, Latin American and Filipino populations are also quite high, In Kusatsu, the city where I live there are many Latin Americans and Filipinos but hardly any Europeans or Australians. Most Europeans and Australians tend to head towards bigger cities like Tokyo and Osaka.

Literacy levels are extremely high, especially among the younger generations – education is considered to be of utmost importance to Japan – it brings with it status and wealth.

Many people view Japan as a wealthy nation – and in some ways they are. Materialism is an obsession, shopping and fashion are obsessions – having the newest mobile phone is an obsession……but does this obsession with materialism really mean Japanese are rich and have money to spend?
The following site has great information on what the economy is really like in Japan…. Read the whole article to know more, but following are a few quotes from the WebPage.

http://www.jref.com/society/socio-economic_situation.shtml

‘Japanese living standard are much lower than Western ones, as cheaply built, uninsulated, cramped flat/apartment blocks show. Sometimes Japanese look rich when they travel abroad or buy luxury goods like Louis Vuitton bags or Rolex watches so casually. They are indeed rich when the yen is high (this can be achieved easily by financial manipulations by the Bank of Japan). But few Japanese enjoy the same (or even a third) of the holiday length most Westerners have. Everything being so much more expensive in Japan (especially transports and real estate), they spend a proportionally higher part of their salaries to do the same things as Westerners. Prices are so artificially high that a normal domestic flight in Japan cost around 40.000 to 60.000yen, as much as a flight to Europe or North America !

Another important point to explain artificially high Japanese salaries, is that tax levels are quite low – by European standard. This is also true of the USA, and in both cases people have to pay a huge amount of money for their education (esp. university/college), for medical care, and I could say for motorways/expressways. In contrast, most Europeans enjoy free education since pre-school to university, free or very cheap medical care and highways are all free (except in France and Italy). In the end, once their house, education and daily transport are paid (i.e. the major expenses in a lifetime), Japanese don’t make much use of their money. What they can really get for their money’s worth is food and clothing (though alcohol is again prohibitively expensive).’

In Tokyo the average salary would be around $50 000AU but in other cities and most country areas the salaries are much much lower. For example, in Osaka, a major city in Japan salaries level out around $28,000AU average. In the country areas salaries are much lower again and people often live off their farming incomes.

There are poor people in Japan. People make homes under bridges, or live in tents and on the streets. Many of these people would have jobs, some even work as salary men, but can’t afford to pay the price of rent in Japan. Unemployment rates are quite low – there are a lot of badly paying jobs available for those who will work.

A significant event for Japan within the past 30 years was the burst of the economic bubble… before this they had masses of money with which to build buildings, airports, schools….everything… Since the burst, there are not so many new things….Japan is beginning to look a bit shabby and not so shiny.