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The Mainichi
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Mainichi
Edging Toward Japan: The 'I am Spartacus' moment of the salarymen
Recently, while doing a workout at home, I flicked around TV apps and came across a documentary on Netflix called "Salaryman" (2021). It might seem an odd thing to be watching while lifting a few weights and doing my sit ups. The blurb for it didn't sound promising. It described the Japanese salaryman as a "corporate drone" and I braced myself for some predictably broadbrush Western stereotypes of the Japanese. As someone with a high appreciation for Japan's world-beating standards of service, their work ethic and dedication to professionalism, I rolled my eyes in anticipation of what misapprehensions this documentary was likely to contain. But, in fact, I could not have been more wrong: Allegra Pacheco's documentary turned out to be highly insightful. Originally from Central America, she arrived in Japan having worked a stressful office job in the shark pool of New York and came to Tokyo observing with a fresh eye the millions of corporate workers that filled its rush hour trains and streets. Her attention was particularly taken by the salarymen who collapsed drunk on the street after a night out quaffing with their colleagues and simply slept there, slumped in their crumpled suits. Pacheco traced around their bodies in chalk so that the white marks remained like murder scenes after they finally awoke the next morning to pick themselves up and return to the office. This was an astute signifier of lives wasted: Their chalked-around bodies were reminiscent of the bodies at Pompeii buried alive under the weight of some inescapable nightmare. The salarymen Pacheco interviewed described daily routines where their individualities felt crushed under the weight of conformity to the corporations they were bonded to. One young salaryman described how he lived in a company dorm with a hundred other workers, woke up at the same time as them every day, showered at the same time as them, ate breakfast with them, took the train to the office with them, worked all day with them, then was obliged to socialize with his co-workers in the evening before going back to the dorm at midnight and then repeating everything again the next day. Some salarymen reported that they were lucky to have an hour to themselves every day and very little sense of their own identity outside of their workplace. Some salarymen with families described how they only saw their children two or three times a week and left all aspects of childcare to their wives. These were, of course, the more extreme examples of the salaryman lifestyle -- plenty of salarymen have far more balanced and contented lifestyles. And yet, anyone who lives in Japan has probably encountered at some time or other some salarymen caught up in these patterns. A couple of drunken salarymen encountered by Pacheco outside a late-night bar optimistically described themselves as "Japanese businessmen". But as other commentators in the documentary pointed out, the true businessman is irreplaceable. Many of these drudge salarymen seemed more easily replaceable, required only to fulfill a monotonous role. Some of the salarymen interviewed described themselves as "slaves". Buried inside some of these vassal salarymen were artistic dreams of other lives -- one, realizing that his life was drawing to an end and that he had achieved nothing of what he had ever wanted to do, dropped out of the system altogether and went to live in a homeless encampment in a park and spent his days painting pictures. Watching a documentary about this made me think I had long since become normalized to the peculiarities of Japanese corporate culture. The salarymen were of course all around me in their hundreds and thousands, but they were not part of my world. I spent my time in Japan in universities and then in free-wheeling artistic pursuits. I had never worked as a salaryman, but the world of the salarymen has on a few occasions burst into my own existence. Once, for a couple of months, I stayed in a homestay. The husband of the house was a salaryman for a computer company and had very little free time to spend with his family. It was, I observed, a source of ongoing discontent for his wife and a considerable source of familial tension. At one point, he went away for an extended period to work in another part of the country, leaving the home feeling bereft of a father figure. Another time, I was putting out a book and worked closely with an editor at a publisher in Kyoto. This kindly man dedicated himself entirely to the company, even going to the library on his days off to look up obscure references on a manuscript we were working on. He was in late middle age, extremely well read and I once asked him if he had ever been to Europe. He told me yes, he certainly had. When I asked him where he had been, he elaborated that he had been there on a trip organized for the company employees -- they had spent a total of two nights in Europe, he happily recalled, one night in London and one night in Paris, and then flown home again. His existence and identity seemed entirely subsumed within the confines of the company. Pacheco is right that there can seem something tragic about the potential of lives sucked dry of individual freedom by the salarymen corporate structure. What exactly is it all for? Who in the end benefits from it? I mentioned to a friend the idea that some salarymen lived almost like slaves, but he chided me that even mentioning this was, for Americans in particular, a highly triggering subject, giving me pause. Yes, of course, no salaryman was a slave in physical chains, but since slavery was largely legally abolished around the world in the 19th century, great thinkers and artistic greats from Nietzsche, Sartre and Mill to Natsume Soseki and Bob Marley have continued to wrestle with the idea of "mental slavery", whether to forms of religion or emotional attachments or outmoded social structures, that can still condition and confine us in various ways. Looking at the images of the salarymen fallen down unconscious and sleeping on the street while being chalked around by Pacheco, you couldn't help concluding that for some people the corporate system wasn't working. I began to imagine these slumped figures all suddenly awakening simultaneously, standing up and proclaiming, "I am Spartacus!" and reclaiming their lives and freedom. Japan benefits in so many ways from the dedication of the millions of men and women in the corporate world and the traditional systems of lifetime employment that look after them. But for some people, that world represents less a universe of career opportunities and more a place of mental confinement which they need to break out of in order to recover their human potential. @DamianFlanagan (This is Part 69 of a series) In this column, Damian Flanagan, a researcher in Japanese literature, ponders about Japanese culture as he travels back and forth between Japan and Britain. Profile: Damian Flanagan is an author and critic born in Britain in 1969. He studied in Tokyo and Kyoto between 1989 and 1990 while a student at Cambridge University. He was engaged in research activities at Kobe University from 1993 through 1999. After taking the master's and doctoral courses in Japanese literature, he earned a Ph.D. in 2000. He is now based in both Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, and Manchester. He is the author of "Natsume Soseki: Superstar of World Literature" (Sekai Bungaku no superstar Natsume Soseki).
Middle East Eye
29-03-2025
- Middle East Eye
Israeli settlers raid Masafer Yatta following days of increased attacks
Israeli settlers have raided a village in the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta, following days of settler attacks on Palestinian communities. Five Palestinians have been injured so far in what has been reported as a major destruction of property. According to local Palestinian activists, settlers arrived accompanied by Israeli soldiers and deliberately damaged security cameras. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Locals were arrested, vehicles were damaged and the gates to animal pens were breached, allowing sheep to escape. The attack follows another major one on Friday, during which settlers beat Palestinians with iron bars, resulting in at least two major head injuries. Israeli forces arrested 22 Palestinians - but no settlers. Allegra Pacheco of the UK charity West Bank Protection Consortium said that of the 195 communities the organisation assists in the West Bank, 38 have been "partially to fully forcibly transferred" since October. "We estimate 58,000 Palestinians in [the 195] communities are at risk, and the majority are at imminent risk of forcible transfer," she told Middle East Eye. The attacks in Masafer Yatta come after Palestinian director and Academy Award-winner Hamdan Ballal was violently attacked by what his colleague described as a "lynch mob" of Israeli settlers on Monday night in the Palestinian village of Susya, south of Hebron. Ballal, who directed the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land about the struggle of the people of Masafer Yatta, was later taken to a military base and held in custody for one night before being released. This week, 700 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences signed a letter criticising the organisation for its failure to defend Ballal by name in its response to the arrest. On Friday, the Academy apologised to Ballal "and all artists who felt unsupported by our previous statement and want to make it clear that the Academy condemns violence of this kind anywhere in the world". by the way, today another attack happened in masafer yatta. the victim, qussai, 17, isn't an oscar winner, so people won't hear about it, but here's the video of masked settlers beating him with metal rods as his mom screams in the background, just in case — Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם (@yuval_abraham) March 28, 2025 Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians and their homes and farms are common. The attacks are often violent - sometimes deadly - and can involve the torching of property and livestock, as well as the physical assault of residents. The United Nations humanitarian agency, OCHA, has documented at least 220 attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in 2025 alone. Former US President Joe Biden sanctioned a number of Israeli settlers for carrying out such attacks. Those sanctions have since been lifted by President Donald Trump. Basel Adra, a resident of Masafer Yatta who was one of the central figures in No Other Land, told MEE in November that the attacks on his home and other Palestinian communities had become increasingly common – with no accountability for the attackers. "And for the past year, watching a live genocide on our phones with all the videos coming from Gaza and the West Bank... the facts on the ground are moving to be worse and worse," he said. "And the Israelis don't care about international pressure, international law because, unfortunately, the US is backing them."
Middle East Eye
29-03-2025
- Middle East Eye
Settlers raid West Bank community following days of increased attacks
Israeli settlers have raided Jinba village in Masafer Yatta, the occupied West Bank, following days of settler attacks on Palestinian communities. Five Palestinians have been injured so far in what has been reported as a major destruction of property. The latest assault comes after a major attack on Friday, during which settlers beat Palestinians with iron bars, leaving at least two people with serious head injuries. Israeli forces responded by arresting 22 Palestinians - but no settlers. Allegra Pacheco, from the UK charity West Bank Protection Consortium, said that of the 195 communities the organisation assists in the West Bank, 38 have been "partially to fully forcibly transferred" since October. "We estimate 58,000 Palestinians in [the 195] communities are at risk, and the majority are at imminent risk of forcible transfer," she told Middle East Eye.
Middle East Eye
29-03-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
More on Israeli settler attacks in West Bank
We previously reported that the Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank are at risk of forced displacement amid renewed Israeli settler attacks on Jinba village in Masafer Yatta. Allegra Pacheco, from the UK charity West Bank Protection Consortium, told Middle East Eye that 'area C is vital to the viability of a Palestinian state because it connects the As and Bs, but it is also the breadbasket, home to water wells, and the natural expansion area for all of Areas A and B.' 'If Area C is lost, then it really erases the question of whether a Palestinian state could be viable,' she warned. Under the Oslo Accords, the West Bank was divided into Areas A, B, and C, with major Palestinian population centers in Areas A and B. Area C surrounds and fragments these enclaves, containing smaller Palestinian communities and nearly all Israeli settlements. New figures from the West Bank Protection Consortium reveal that 46,099 Palestinians—up from 39,252—across 195 communities the organisation assists in the West Bank now face high or imminent risk of forced displacement. The number of at-risk communities has also risen from 162 to 177, with nearly 600,000 dunams of land now under threat. Between January 2023 and March 2025, at least 2,220 Palestinians—including 637 children—have been forcibly displaced, affecting 43 communities, 21 of which have been fully evacuated. Since 7 October, 2023, 92% of these forced transfers have taken place.
Asharq Al-Awsat
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Report Says Israeli Settlers Used Grazing to Grab Swathes of West Bank Land
A report by Israeli settlement watchdogs says settlers have used grazing to seize control of 14 percent of the occupied West Bank through the establishment of shepherding outposts in recent years. In their report, "The Bad Samaritan", Israeli NGOs Peace Now and Kerem Navot said that in the past three years, 70 percent of all land seized by settlers was "taken under the guise of grazing activities". Settlers in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, use herding to establish a presence on agricultural lands used by Palestinian communities and gradually deny them access to these areas, according to the report. To force Palestinians out, settlers resort to harassment, intimidation and violence, "with the backing of the Israeli government and military", the watchdogs said. "Israeli authorities make living conditions very difficult, but settler violence is really the main trigger why people leave lately -- they have nothing to protect themselves", said Allegra Pacheco, director of the West Bank Protection Consortium, a group of international NGOs. "People get very worried about their families and their safety", and have no recourse when settlers start occupying their lands, she told AFP. Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to around 490,000 Israelis living in settlements and outposts considered illegal under international law. Around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank. On Friday, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that "Israeli settlers injured 23 Palestinians in one week, mainly in Bedouin and herding communities". That same week, between March 11 and 17, "two Palestinian families were displaced, and at least two houses, eight vehicles and 180 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings were vandalized" in incidents involving settlers. More than 60 entire Palestinian shepherding communities throughout the West Bank have been expelled using such methods since 2022, the report added. These communities are overwhelmingly in the West Bank's Area C, which under the Oslo Accords signed in the 1990s falls under full Israeli control. In recent months, several Israeli far-right politicians including some in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government have suggested taking advantage of the friendly US administration under President Donald Trump to annex part or all of the West Bank in 2025. "The systematic and violent displacement of Palestinians from hundreds of thousands of dunam of land in recent years has undoubtedly laid the groundwork to facilitate such ambitions", the new report said of annexation, using a traditional measure of land area equivalent to 1,000 square meters.
