The Four Greats slogan from 1960s remains on the ceiling of Dashanzi. Reads “Great Mentor, Great Leader, Great Steersman. Long live the Chairman Mao”
Dashanzi Art District, a former military factory turned into art galleries, has become one of the most popular sightseeing destinations for oversea tourists, however, much of it has remained unchanged and attractive to this day.
Just when you think that there is no space left in this world for more advertising, China often surprises me as the country demonstrates how much there is to be exploited. Here inside the building in Dashanzi Art District in Beijing, I found mirrors inside the toilet double functions as a poster. Five to six posters appear one at a time as they were lit from the back. Poster themes vary from men’s shirts to an upcoming action film, covering everyone’s interest as the area is served for both men and women to wash their hands once out of their dedicated toilet space.
From lift waiting area, ATMs to gas stations, Chinese advertisement companies show that there are small slots of time that we waste in public spaces and can be utilized to get products advertised. It is no surprise that the advertisement has reached to toilets.
And whether people appreciate ads stalking them is another issue to be seen.
As I pass by a nail salon inside Oriental Plazain Wangfujing, Beijing, I found a man waiting for his girlfriend as she gets her nail done. Although not every woman have a company of a man, it is not uncommon in Beijing to see a couple spending their time while either one gets oneself groomed.
What is considered as a personal activity in one culture can be social and public in another. In this perspective, you will come across with private-go-public behaviors across the city. Here in Beijing I see men getting their hair cut in a park; Quite a few people carry nail clippers in their key chains; And you realize that even public toilets, where some of us might consider to be one of the most private activities, can in fact be much more social and public than you think; Most of my experience going to public toilets with my acquaintances resulted in engaged in a conversation rather than minding one’s own business.
We hear that modernization of cities is quickly changing all these behaviors. Many of the families have abandoned old, Hutong style homes a long time ago, and prefer to live in an apartment where they could have the toilet of their own; I see fewer hair dressers strolling in parks than 10 years ago; What is more, the Beijing government campaigns and promotes Beijingers not to walk around half naked when they are playing chess in the neighborhood during hot summer time. But looking at couples spend their time as one gets groomed, I feel that people have not forgotten to enjoy the company.
When foreign investors consider tapping into such culture, they should remember social aspect in offering the service plays a huge role here. Apparel shops should remember to provide more space for shopper’s company to spend one’s time comfortably; Game industry should constantly remind oneself that people prefer to be connected with others rather than playing the game for oneself. And personally, I believe there is a large potential when it comes to housing industry, where they could promote toilet placed outside the bath areas, enabling such business to take place in more public space of the house but in a sanitary manner.
The back of the car can be really expressive. By default the car is often a reflection of your financial status and taste; number plates and other identification given to the vehicle also describes where you reside as well. In addition to these given information, a lot of times the owner places some messages which could be read to the driver behind.
The one I found unique and reflects the problems in China is 请勿靠近 which can be translated “Do not drive too close.” It is a reflection of a bad traffic and how some people, as they try to express their frustration and eagerness to go forward, approaches the front car and end up bumping into one another.
The red vehicle in the photo had an extra twist to the message and reads 警告：车有美女，请勿靠近。which can be translated as “Caution: There’s a good-looking woman inside, do not come close.”
This sticker at the back of a car reminded me of typical classifieds I often found in free English magazines you can easily find in popular restaurants among foreigners. Those classifieds were written by self-claimed beautiful and young women seeking for rich foreign men. They did not contain photographs and the message was very straight-forward: I am young, intelligent, beautiful, and seeking for serious relationships.
Coincidentally I came across with a famous novelist Wang Shuo describing his preference over women:
I prefer to trust women, especially those young and good-looking ones who tend to have less social pressure than other groups and thus have a relatively stronger integrity of character.”
Whether the power of beauty actually transcends to prevent car accidents, I do not know; but certainly if you are in China, we encounter descriptions which explicitly talk of one’s appearances and perhaps it reflects the values of the country today.
The owner of the handbag leaves the table to order some food in a fast food chain restaurant in Beijing.
While the scene is somewhat familiar for a resident of Tokyo, the action was definitely something unseen in Beijing a few years ago. In fact it was precisely in Beijing, where I was reminded by a stranger that in many cities this is not safe to do, and Beijing is definitely one of them. That was 15 years ago.
Whether 15 years is enough for a change is certainly something we could argue for. At least this was the very occasion I realized that the city is definitely developing with safety. If I were to be wrong, I hope the lady is not too hasty to be relaxed about her bag.
As I coordinated another design research, I thought it is a good opportunity for me to write down some of the things I remind myself whenever I conduct a design research.
Or stockings. Because you have to take off your shoes. You might be tempted for sandals or mules in summer, best that you do not venture.
Make sure your pair of shoes can be taken away within 10 seconds. Japanese home entrance is very confined and can often accommodate one person at a time. Taking care of shoelaces can be time-consuming and particularly if you are a team.
This seems like a matter-of-fact, but not necessarily if you are conducting a global research under multi-lingual environment. If there is a researcher who does not speak the language, make that person address the question. That way everyone somehow involved in the conversation, interviewee worries less about boring anyone.
In addition, if someone new is joining the team, encourage them to make themselves busy either by taking notes or shoot photographs. The primary reason why is to make sure that there will be no one who is just staring at the interviewer.
I’m not kidding. This actually happened to me and trust me, can be quite tough to convince someone to dress down when they are not used to. I realized that some people think researchers are being rude: “You are meeting customers, so why do researchers tell me that I should not wear a tie?” The primary reason why I suggest the research team to dress casual is because I want to minimize our informants to change how they behave. We should also remember, that not everyone is in a suit environment in their everyday lives. Setting the occasion in a formal manner can make people nervous.
I suggest not. I have two reasons why I do not offer my business cards, unless the informant him or herself suggests to do so. One is because a research team often consists of people from the client’s company and someone hired locally. Explaining the composition of the team could in fact confuse who you are working for, and may bring unnecessary questions to be answered. I also sensed, that housewives, which consist of majority of Japanese women who are in 40s or older, might feel embarrassed they don’t have one to give back.
Needless to say. I believe this is common for most cultures.
In some cases, I received an email or a phone call from an informant specifically requesting how they could receive the honorariums for the interview. It is often men, and they ask if we could pay in cash, not to banks.
The motivation is very simple. These people would like to have cash so that they have an income not controlled by their housewives. In most single income households, salaries paid to the bank go straight to housewives control. They of course, fix the amount of money their husbands can spend freely.
Whether you accept this request or not is up to you. But I do enjoy hearing their whispers at the very end of the interview about their little plans about how to spend the money for. It also highlights some of the hidden desires.
Place bills into dedicated envelopes and make sure front (face) side of the bill are placed at the top. This seems like a detail but it is quite important as this is the way how cash is dealt whenever paid to someone else. When you hand out, make sure to ask them to open and check inside, otherwise Japanese will not do this in front of you because they find the act impolite (I know this is not the case in China: In China, I see checking the cash transaction face to face reasonable, which avoids any trouble later on.) And if you decide to deal things with cash, make sure you have some kind of receipts that informant can place their signatures to.
Conclusion: Nothing is hard science and I believe some of them are common reminders to any research location. But the important thing is, some are different. Many are such details, but be prepared to pay attention to such details saves me from a few small panics which I could live without in intense research times.
Inspired from the tweet by 5by50: Pets outnumbered kids since 2003 in Japan. By 2009, total of 23.2 million cats and dogs. While the number of kids remain six million.
What can be the reason behind? For one explanation, you can look at another data, which describes the daycare capacity of the nation. As Japan has been hit by the recent economy crisis, many housewives are trying to be back to work to compensate the decreasing household incomes. However, because of a severe delay in Japanese government to be prepared for the situation; Japanese daycare can only hold 2.13 million and there are 46,000 children waiting to be served.
A Japanese fiscal year starts in April. As if cherry trees celebrate people starting their new jobs, schools, and grades, cherry trees bloom everywhere in Japan at this time of the year.
In fact it is because of the cherry trees that Japanese government decided that fiscal year shall starts in April. This almost biased display of cherry trees, are something that Japanese cannot have too much of.
The photograph is from Shinjuku Gyoen, a public park with hundreds of great cherry trees currently in full bloom.
