More on Fear and Trembling

Finally had the chance to see the film Fear and Trembling, based on the book by Amélie Nothomb.

Although I still am of the opinion Miss Fubuki Mori is a demon of pure unadulterated evil and must be crushed flat with a shoe from a giant salaryman, seeing (rather than reading) her reactions as portrayed by Kaori Tsuji did give me a minute amount of empathy to a woman in her situation – I honestly think she believed Amélie was out to get her and lacked the brain power for the simplest tasks… I guess it would be better to think of her as a vindictive *expletive deleted*. Who can say for sure? Their relationship reminded me of an article on Trans-Pacific Radio a while back (read first half of story), discussing the sempai – kohai connection.

I also have a lot more sympathy for the Japanese take on zangyou (after time). For those of you who don’t know, it is quite common for Japanese workers to spend hours beyond their official contracted schedule at their desks doing work which may or may not be productive. The key is in saving face, you see; showing your boss you have what it takes to burn the midnight oil all day every day.

I still disagree with this practice, but truly, it’s not too far from what employees sitting at desks do all day; even if you don’t have anything in particular to do work-wise, it’s not likely you’ll crack open a six-pack of Asahi and read your favorite book. No, you’ll probably maintain the appearance of work: writing at your desk, doing pretty much anything on your computer… the Japanese just happen to do a little longer than in most countries. I get it.

As more of a note to self, I really need to get on the ball with these social networking sites. My site traffic is embarrassingly low.