My daughter recently started a job as a waitress at a nearby shabu shabu restaurant, which sells thinly-sliced meat you dip in boiling water then eat. She was nervous about getting the job, but it turned out the staff was happy to receive her application, and they hired her on the spot. They were very short-handed — the Japanese term is 猫の手でも借りたい neko no te demo karitai, or “so short-handed, we’d borrow a cat’s paw if we could.” While part of their staffing issue is related to the rush of customers all restaurants see around the end and start of the year, it might be a foreshadowing of things to come. Japan’s unemployment rate stands as just 3.1%, very close to theoretical full employment, which puts stress on businesses because it can be hard for them to fill positions. Already in Tokyo some 24-hour restaurant chains have been forced to close locations and limit hours because they can’t find employees willing to work the hard-to-fill shifts. In case you were wondering, my daughter’s wage is 850 yen per hour, which works out to US$7.20/€6.70, though this appears lower than it would normally because the yen is weak right now. In Tokyo, where costs are higher, wages would be a bit higher too.
One fun aspect of studying Japanese is learning the “irregular” slang words, especially the constantly evolving world of internet slang, which can be very strange indeed. Japanese internet users are extremely lazy, and many slang words are created because they’re easy to type, like GJ, short for “good job”; なう nau, the English word now, which is short for “I’m currently engaged in the following activity”; www, which represents laughter or “lol”; and 888 to represent applause, because the number 8 sound like pachi pachi pachi, the sound of clapping. This was a big part of the game Steins;Gate (every other word Daru says is Japanese net slang or Jojo references), and when we were translating it we had to handle some tough questions about how to represent the words in English. Another word you hear a lot is リア充 ria-juu, which is short for リアルライフが充実している人 riaru raifu ga jujitsu shiteiru hito or anyone who’s living a healthy and happy “real life,” complete with boyfriend or girlfriend to cuddle with at the end of the day, what some would call normies or filthy casuals. The term can be quite venomous, with otakus usually wishing unpleasantness on them. Speaking of ria-juu, we just happen to have a custom hachimaki kanji headband you might want to look at…
J-List is starting off the new year with some great news: Sonicomi: Communication with Sonico, the English version of the hit game from Nitroplus, is available for preorder now. Visit the official site or visit the product preorder paga right now (you get 10% off!).
