AsiaTalk: @work

As a native speaker of English, it's not hard for me to find a part-time job in Tokyo. In addition to the many English teaching jobs there is always plenty of editing work usually reviewing into-English translation of a non-native English speaker. Also, since I have learned to speak and read Japanese (been studying it 8 years now!) there are even more opportunities. Positions in translating, interpreting, or working in an international office can be found around just about every corner.

At present, I work as an assistant for six hours a week at my university's Division of International Affairs. My duties include writing and editing letters for the department chief or school president, answering phone calls from English speakers, writing miscellaneous English descriptions of the university, and finally forwarding incoming English letters.

Often letters come addressed simply to "President, University of Tokyo". It's my job to forward these to the correct location on campus. Occasionally some really 'interesting' letters arrive. Last week there was a letter and photograph from a gentleman in Korea about a 'living rock' he had found. He stated that the rock changes shape, texture, and color on a bimonthly basis and wouldn't some professors from the university be interested in researching this unique rock. Needless to say, such letters don't make it far from my desk.

The office is organized unlike what is generally found in the United States. The room holds a bit over 20 people. In the center part of the room the desks for the regular workers are arranged in large blocks of five . Around the outer edge of the room are single desks for the various supervisors and assistant supervisors. (Why the desk I use is also positioned in this way I don't know!) Absent from the room are any dividors or partitions. It's just one big open space. This makes communicating with each other easy and certainly breaks down barriers between different hierarchical levels. However, it also can make for a rather noisy office. When half the room is having a heated conversation on the phone, it can be a bit hard to concentrate.

In addition to the office layout, another dissimilarity with the U.S. can be found in the bathroom. I have never seen 'personalized' toilet paper in the U.S. Actually, I've never seen it in Japan before ethier! But, there it is, University of Tokyo toilet paper. I wonder whose idea it was to get the toilet paper personalized? I'm surprized there is even a market for this kind of thing.

On each desk is a Apple Powerbook 5300 computer. While they are a couple of generations behind something like the new iMac computer, as a Mac fan myself, I am very pleased to be able to use the same operating system at work as well as at home. Something for which I can be even more thankful however, is that the office is a smoke-free environment until 5PM every day. This is somewhat unusual in Japan. Most offices are filled with great clouds of tobacco smoke. 60% of the male population smokes over here. In my office, people are free to light up after 5PM. Since that's when I head back home, fortunately it doesn't affect me. Although I do feel sorry for my non-smoking collegues.

As I write this article, I am becoming aware of how little first-hand knowledge I have of the workplaces in the U.S. I would be happy to hear from you with any work info or stories you would like to share. Remeber my mailbox (both physical and virtual) is always open. Until next month, peace be with you. Daniel Heller

Electronic mail: hidanielh@aol.com

Homepage: https://members.tripod.com/~DHeller

Postal address:

Todai YMCA Dorm

1-20-6 Mukogaoka

Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo

JAPAN 113-0023