Monday 11 March 2013

SHUKATSU, not TONKATSU

SHUKATSU is a Japanese word meaning job hunting. However, today I want to tell you that it doesn't mean job hunting at all. It is all about following the rules of the "adult world" and losing all your sensitive senses.

The word contains so much negative image that not many people want to face this shukatsu season. Some say it is a time to face the reality, it is a time to say good byes to the long holidays, it is a time to be the slave of the company.

I've been hearing this term since freshman. My school is especially known for being good at this job hunting, and sending students to big and famous companies and institutions. Therefore, shukatsu is part of our school life and at the same time, what people don't want to face.

"Although I got a steady job, I would never do this again."

My senior told me when I was starting to know what this word actually means. Job hunting is something very important and affects your life. But for shukatsu, it is a whole different thing.

First of all it starts in middle of your studies. Japanese uni is for 4 years and this shukatsu starts from the middle of the third year when you actually getting used to your studies and when you want to study deeper. People have to skip classes since the seminar and interviews are on weekdays when the companies are running. Professors take it for granted that shukatsusei( students who do the shukatsu) are not attending classes. People usually apply for more than 30 companies, sometimes 50. My senior applied for 80.

Any business meetings, or seminars, of course interviews, you have to wear the shukatsu suit. In England, not many people wear suits. However, in Japan, they have the shukatsu suit which doesn't look sexy at all. ( Sorry I am a big fan of guys wearing suits) I call them onigiri, or konbini onigiri. They look plain and ready to be cooked in a big factory with all the other onigiris.

Well, why am I writing this horrible shukatsu story?? Because I might be one of them and it is not avoidable if you are seeking a job in Japan. Especially my friends who are in the same grade are facing this. So I decided to write about it.


It continues....

2 comments:

  1. 天カツ中だよ~

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  2. it must be a nightmare.
    though, saying that, there will eventually be a time where the majority of people in Japan stop sharing this same shared dream of a conveyor belt life,
    i don't mean to be irresponsible but if you know that if it is not the life for you, find the way to break out of it,
    it may be your destiny to do so, but it takes great courage to be born,
    "The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas"
    A few young English people grow up reading Hermann Hesse, this is from his book Demian,
    every Englishman has at least one suit, but we do not ever wear them because we all travel by bicycle and are too image conscious,
    also, as it is so cold, we should wear overcoats, which spoils the effect as well,
    here, we all stopped believing in the conveyor belt, and we all start having our own dreams and believing in them, from an earlier age,
    school makes us forget,
    here is a wonderful animation about how education works in the UK, please feel free to look,
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

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