Archive for October, 2009

Date: October 23rd, 2009
Cate: Insight

Japan Minimum Wage

The Ministry of Welfare and Labor has been placing posters concerning the minimum wages in railway stations in Tokyo. According to the poster, the current minimum wage per hour is 791JPY (approximately 9USD).

According to the United States of Labor, The federal minimum wage is 7.25 USD per hour effective July 24, 2009. In UK, it’s 5.8 British Pounds (about 9.6USD).

It is hard to grasp the notion of this value, but I sincerely hope that people are paid for their work. Although the statistics show Japanese are working less than earlier, everyone who works in Japan knows that is a complete lie. Most people are working overtime with fake hour reports. Professions like doctors, they all write contracts that they will never sue their workplace regardless of how much they work. I hope that the renewed government is aware that to overcome the economy crisis, the current superficial work-life balance should change soon.

Date: October 22nd, 2009
Cate: Culture

A Geek Census?

If you have wondered why there are so many adults flocking on the street with Nintendo DS in their hands, here is your answer: Dragon Quest 9. The new sequel was released early summer in Japan and its wireless feature has changed the way people interact with games and other players.

The feature is called Surechigai Tsushin, the passer-by transmission, and enables the players to exchange characters, maps, and items within the game. The transaction is taking place all over Japan, and we know this statistically: Square Enix, the company which produced the game, released the information they have collected as Population Census. Based on this there has been over 15 million characters exchanged in Tokyo prefecture. Even in one of the least populated and aging prefecture Shimane, they found 41,000 characters exchanged in past two and a half months.

DragonQuest_Map.jpgI visited the website, however, at moment I do not see too much data that seem to reveal more than the popularity of characters and killed monsters. I hope in future this could turn out to be something that would reveal something more fundamental about players’ behaviors and motivations.

Date: October 13th, 2009
Cate: technology

One Of Few Effective Ways to Use QR Codes

At Hakuhodo entrance. Visitors will receive entry cards with QR codes to be swiped at the office entrance.

This is such a clever solution since the reception can issue as many cards one needs; and when visitors leave, they can just take the card with them, as codes would be only valid for the day.