Shopping and Work in Japan

As far as a consumer culture, I think Japan is our equal. As far as getting around to these stores it seems that the subway serves many building directly without having to go outside. For instance, where I work I just get off the subway and take an elevator into my office. The same holds true for many shopping areas. There are giant underground department stores, food markets, and shopping malls all directly connected to the train station. These lead into brightly lit cluttered shopping streets that are overloaded with insane gamming arcades, cafes, manga comic shops, and junk shops. It sort of feels like a carnival. After I get off of work and take the subway to the Umeda stop where the department stores are its sometimes hard to see the floor in a constant sea of people. One thing seems to flow into another and signs point to abstract loactions in a sea of florecent lights. There are thousands of stores underground. After returning to the relativly quiet area around the dormitory Im happy to be away from the madness.

Takenaka corporation is located in an older 1950s building that seems like it could use some rennovation. The office space is very typical with low drop ceiling and cubicals alla business. There are roughly 500 people at the Osaka Main office and 8,000 people in the company worldwide. The Osaka office along completes roughly 2,000 buildings a year, 300 of which are new construction. Needless to say they are a giant orgainzation, very heirarchical and maybe a little bit sluggish. As with any organization doing this much work, some of it is good, some of it is just plain borring.