Archive for the ‘ Culture ’ Category

A Mature Consumer Culture

The moment I miss Japan at most in India is when ripping a plastic bag of snacks. It’s because it doesn’t open by hands. I concentrate all my force on the cut line where’s supposed to be open, get exhausted, even get a headache, and finally find myself looking for a pair of seizers. If it’s a Japanese product, we don’t get one single defective package in like ten years of your life.

Twenty years ago, when I was child, there were many defective snack bags. I remember I often take a snack to my father to ask open it. Sometimes my father also couldn’t open it, and said “Why don’t you use your brain and bring me seizers?” People didn’t care. Those were actually not categorized in defective products. A cut line was just an additional service those days, and the consumers believed they paid for the snack inside the bag, and not for the convenience of the package. Simple, old days.

Now, people even pay for the convenience of package more than for the inside. If a customer is forced to take three minutes to open one potato chips bag, she may throw it to a dust bin and buy another maker’s one. The values have changed, and there are more and more choices. There, people think this way; if you can’t maintain the factory to produce proper, 100% user-friendly packages, how could you produce tasty and safe potato chips? Competition is severe in Japan, and 1/100,000 of defected product may kill the potato chips company.

Although Mumbai is a commercial city in India, I feel the competitions for local consumers are not serious at all. People don’t demand more than quality of content. If a bakery makes tasty bread, it doesn’t matter if the bread is wrapped in an old newspaper. Practical and ecological. And that’s everything we need. An Indian anti may say, “If the potato chips bag doesn’t open, what’s the matter to use a pair of seizers? What’s wrong with you fussing about such a small thing?” I know, I know, it is a small thing. But I am a spoiled Japanese consumer.

Some may say Japan has a mature consumer culture. Potato chips makers compete for even a small difference of chemical material of the plastic package day to day, and struggle to produce a product which is a little easier to rip than other makers. Consumers don’t need to use their brain. They don’t need to be clever. They can only think which maker’s product they should buy, and that is the only point to show their creativity.

Why don’t we just use seizers instead?

Hmm, I don’t even know which a more matured consumer culture is. It might be the matter where this “mature” has more strong relation; to consumer or to culture.

2010
03/01
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Culture
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Yellow boys in Vashi

When I was walking on a street, a big yellow T-shirt group appeared. They were in the same T-shirts. I automatically imagined the charity event, “24 hours TV” in Japan. The yellows were gathering under an electric wire decorated with flowers and a ball. It was September 4, 2007.

I asked a man by me what they were going to do. The man explained they were going to make a pyramid of men to reach the ball on their heads. If they caught the ball, they would get 1 lac rupee as the prize. The distance was about 15 to 20 meters. “Is it possible for them?” He answered, “Of course.” I suspiciously stared they were making a big pyramid of men.

The pyramid was tall. About 5 boys climbed on 30 boys, 3 younger boys climbed on the 5 boys and one tiny little boy climbed on the 3 boys. Taking pictures, I asked the man, “And, what’s it for?” The man said, “For cerebrating a birthday.” “Of whom?” I patiently asked again. Actually, he was totally not a foreigner-friendly guy and he offered information a little at a time. He replied, “Of Lord Krishna.”

The yellow pyramid didn’t reach the ball and moved away. White and orange boys were also trying to get balls placed all over the city. All of them were too excited and wove their hands and shouted something to me just to express their joy.

2007
09/07
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Culture
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Mumbai, On The Way of Jogging

In the morning, I jog around Sampada station in Navi Mumbai. I guess you don’t know Sampada station; let me explain, Sampada station is a just local train station which it takes 10 minutes
from my apartment. Why I can keep this jogging practice, though I’d never continued in this habit, is maybe because just I am free. Other reason is that the view on the way of jogging is quite interesting.

Some delivery men are gathering at the entrance of our apartment when I go out the gate. they have packs of milk or breads. One day I got one milk man and asked him to deliver milks to my room, but he said,”Oh, I’m too busy, you can take it”, he put one pack of milk on my hand and troted off. Milks are packed in thin prastic bag like refilling liquid soaps; It’s hard to hold. So I was afraid to break the bag that I held the milk bag with both of palms like bringing jellyfish to my room.

At 6: 30AM, chai house has already opened, and commuters or walkers are sitting and taking something. There are many peolple taking a walk in this town, and their walking style is very calmly. That looks not like body exersises, but mental trainings. They intend body exsersize, and just I can’t percept like that? Or maybe “Calm Walking Exersise” is popular for senior pepole in India, now, I guess.

A newspaper shopper is unfolding a choth and placing the today’s newspapers on it. He makes empty place for newspapers which isn’t delivered. a shoes fixer has also started his business. Their targets are businessperson on the way to their offices. Here is changed into the fluits/vegitables market in the evening targeting people who is on the way to their homes, and I think, oh they share the place well, and run through.

The market in the morning lose the sparkle, and there are few people. vegitables shoppers sleep on a cart. While I wondered if they were bitten by mosquitos, one man slept wrapped with a mosquito net. That’s it. Yes, I know it’s cooler to sleep outside rather than inside except mosquitos. Now I remember, track drivers sleep on their track’s roof at night, parking on a side of a road. I’m sure, they will die when they will roll over.

Children like junior high school studens stand on a side walk. They seem to waiting a school bus. There is a small girl’s high school and it shows a picture gathering girls in school uniforms in front of the gate. However at this timing I’ve never seen school children in the school.

In a sports park, which takes 5 minutes from the station, many people gather in the early morning, and various exersises are showed. One is a yoga lesson under the blue sky, a instructor sits in front of his students, and about 30 middle age people practice how to breath, or up and down their legs. Other one is like “Shouting Lesson”; many guys shake their arms and shout something together. Last one is a common exersise lesson, that seems to be opened by housewives. In addition, walking couples, mom and son who helping his mom to walk, a young man who practices bridge on a bench, people who do mental trainings, and puppies which fight each other.

Dogs are one of problems, it is the timing of their breakfast so that dogs are very irritable in the morning. In the daytime, they are too calm, or almost die, but in the morning they often fight each other; if you pass beside them as though unconsciously, you may get them angry and are chased by them. When it happen, I run away saying “I’m sorry, this is my fault…”, and after that I feel poor. Sometimes someone helps me hitting dogs with a bar and shout them.

Anyway, like this, jugging in the morning in Navi Mumbai, is quite interesting.

2007
06/09
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