It's a long John, He's a long gone, like a turkey through the corn
While reading through forteantimes.com (the ‘real’ worldly news) in an attempt to escape from the coming apocalypse that is apparently happening RIGHT NOW (according to CNN/Fox/nbc/abc/ etc etc......) which is making it difficult to focus on ACTually living in the moment, I unfortunately found this interesting article the other day and felt the need to share what I considered were my own worst fears about modern western society and working environments (particularly poignant as I’m am considering my career options)
Western values 'are causing mental illness'
From Leo Lewis in Tokyo
THE rapid spread of Western business practices in Japan has caused widespread mental illness and is responsible for a deepening demographic crisis, government officials say.
Statistics indicate that 60 per cent of workers suffer from “high anxiety” and that 65 per cent of companies report soaring levels of mental illness.
Meanwhile, the size of the Japanese population is shrinking, and for the first time the Government has acknowledged that the falling birth rate is linked to job-related factors. Directors of the Japanese Mental Health Institute blame the same factors for rising levels of depression among workers and the country’s suicide rate, which remains the highest among rich nations.
Merit-based pay and promotion are of particular concern because they are at odds with the traditional system, built on seniority, that has reigned supreme in corporate Japan. In the harsh new atmosphere of cut-throat rivalry between workers, the Institute for Population and Social Security argues, young people do not feel financially stable enough to start families.
The trend is put down to Japanese companies’ attempts to globalise by adopting working practices more closely in line with US and British models. Larger numbers of temporary staff, a greater willingness to sack people and greater pay disparities are the downside.
A spokesman for the Mental Health Institute said that the emphasis on individual performance was driving Japanese workers — particularly those in their thirties — to mental turmoil. “People tend to be individualised under the new working patterns,” he said. “When people worked in teams they were happier.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2305849,00.html
Western values 'are causing mental illness'
From Leo Lewis in Tokyo
THE rapid spread of Western business practices in Japan has caused widespread mental illness and is responsible for a deepening demographic crisis, government officials say.
Statistics indicate that 60 per cent of workers suffer from “high anxiety” and that 65 per cent of companies report soaring levels of mental illness.
Meanwhile, the size of the Japanese population is shrinking, and for the first time the Government has acknowledged that the falling birth rate is linked to job-related factors. Directors of the Japanese Mental Health Institute blame the same factors for rising levels of depression among workers and the country’s suicide rate, which remains the highest among rich nations.
Merit-based pay and promotion are of particular concern because they are at odds with the traditional system, built on seniority, that has reigned supreme in corporate Japan. In the harsh new atmosphere of cut-throat rivalry between workers, the Institute for Population and Social Security argues, young people do not feel financially stable enough to start families.
The trend is put down to Japanese companies’ attempts to globalise by adopting working practices more closely in line with US and British models. Larger numbers of temporary staff, a greater willingness to sack people and greater pay disparities are the downside.
A spokesman for the Mental Health Institute said that the emphasis on individual performance was driving Japanese workers — particularly those in their thirties — to mental turmoil. “People tend to be individualised under the new working patterns,” he said. “When people worked in teams they were happier.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2305849,00.html
posted by Moray Watson @ 3:05 AM
3 Comments:
Well, I'm going to clue Liz' brother, recently returned from the land of the R. S., to muse on this item.
Mental illness, whatever that is, aside ... a lowered birth rate should maybe be celebrated. More people ... Baaadd. Fewer people .... Goood.
The Chilean Sea Bass is not a bass and is not from Chile. It is from 1 mile deep waters in the Southern hemisphere and, before renaming, was called the toothfish, and is one big and ugly fish. The Orange Roughy on menus nowadays used to be called the slimehead fish. The tuna and cod fisheries are small fractions of their previous populations.
More cod and tuna ... Gooood.
I was going to write: "More Japanese ...", but I ain't got nothing 'gainst them folks what their daddies bombed P. H.
P.S. Career options?
Does Jersey have communes?
I'm with you on the population moderation, what is the point in more, always more, more, more, people just can't get enough, it's almost like the human race has to breed itself silly until the planet is completely unsustainable!
Jersey, Jersey is a commune.......
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