The final
year of university in Japan is quite fraught because of a tradition known as Shūkatsu Kyōsōkyoku: an intense
recruiting process by corporations keen to scoop up the top graduates. The pressure to find a job upon graduation is
much greater in Japan than anywhere else I have lived because there is a
general consensus that if you don’t get hired straight out of college, you will
have spoiled your chances for climbing the corporate ladder and may find
yourself becoming a freeter (underemployed/freelancer).
Another
major difference that I noticed between Canada and Japan in particular was that
whereas Canadian companies highly value creativity, individuality, and a “go-getter”
attitude in new recruits, in Japan the emphasis is much more on academic
performance and the recruit’s ability to fit in with the corporate
identity. It’s more than just the “team
player” mentality promoted by many Canadian corporations because you are having
to demonstrate that you are prepared to obsequiously toe the line of corporate
hierarchy. Up-and-coming young animator Maho
Yoshida (吉田まほ, b.1986) depicts this recruitment process beautifully
in her graduate film for Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidai)’s animation
programme: Recruit Rhapsody (就活狂想曲/Shūkatsu
Kyōsōkyoku, 2012).
A young modern
woman – who we find out in the end credits is the animator herself – is fiddling
on her smartphone during a lecture. She
is so preoccupied with her smartphone that she doesn’t notice her friends
checking their watches. As they leave
the building together, her friends check their watches again and turn their
backs on the bubbly young woman. Before
her incredulous eyes, the woman’s friends transform from unique individuals
into wannabe office workers in suits.
There is a wonderful moment in which they strike poses against a yellow background
as if they are about to break into a dance number from West Side Story.
The young
woman reluctantly sheds her long blonde hair, make-up, and colourful clothes
for a dowdy corporate look and rushes off to join the crowds of recruits trying
to get onto the corporate ladder. They
slither into a job fair like a festival dragon and applaud the corporate recruiters
and bow their heads in a manner reminiscent of a totalitarian regime cowing the
masses. It is a terrific animated short,
which any job hunter can identify with: from the companies overselling their
images to the phoneys vying for the same job as you to the interminably long
hours waiting by your smartphone for that job offer that never comes. We all recognize that feeling of selling your
soul to the devil just to get your foot in the door.
What
transforms this film from great to pure genius is the use of music. Composed by Yukiko Yoden from Geidai’s music programme, the music is reminded
me of George Geshwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (1924) in its spirit
and liveliness. . . and
of course, in its use of piano with an ensemble. Kudos to Shizuka
Shimoyama on piano, Makiko Umchara
on violin and Saeko Tominaga on
violoncello for their engaging performances. Maho Yoshida has clearly composed
her images with the intended music in mind for the movement and music work very
much in harmony with each other. It
never ceases to amaze me how the graduates of the Geidai programme have attained
such a high level of skill at such a young age:
Yoshida’s scene transitions and changes in perspective are innovative and
beautifully done.
The film was
produced by Kōji Yamamura and it made
the Jury Selection in the Animation Division of the 2012 Japan Media Arts
Festival and has appeared at other festivals. I saw the film as part of the
Geidai screening at Nippon Connection 2013. You can see a lower resolution
release of the film (no subs - but they are not really needed) on Youtube --- be sure to wait until after the
end credits to catch the true end of the film.
It became a viral hit when it came online and I suspect that every
spring when the recruitment season heats up loads of young recruits will be
sharing this video again.
Catherine Munroe
Hotes 2013
