Long, long ago...

Joel recently mentioned in his blog about his thwarted attempt to register for the annual Japanese Language Proficiency Test held on the first Sunday of December. Although I do consider myself a touch more organized than my friend, I certainly emphathize with his plight. Despite the facade of high tech wizardry that surrounds Japan, much of what goes on behind the scenes in offices and governments harks back to scenes from Canadian offices circa the 1970's. The whole application process involves a lot of unnecessary aggravation.

First, one must find an application form which is not an easy task since they are not readily available. Last year, the closest bookstore in Oita that stocked the form (60km from where I live) had sold out of their allotment. So, in a pre-emptive move, I headed to the city of Kitakyushu to pick one up, using the rationale that the bigger city would have more forms and more locations. Alas, all their forms were gone. Disappointed but not defeated, I headed to another bookstore in Oita at a large shopping complex (home of the pet raccoon). Finally, I found the coveted application form although I did have to debate with the clerk for a few minutes over the deadline. He was sure that the application deadline had passed and that they had no more left. Fortunately, I persisted and after opening a few drawers, I was 500 yen poorer but in possession of the allusive form.

At first, I was a little miffed about having to pay for an application form. However, I do see the logic in trying to prevent people from casually picking up the form without any real intention of applying. The 500 yen probably provides enough of a deterent to the whimsical. Yet, the whole idea of having to locate a piece of paper and accompanying instructions at select stores throughout the country strikes me as antiquated. Given the pervasiveness of the internet, why not make the form available online so that potential applicants have easy access? This would have saved me and probably many others from the need to crisscross the prefecture in search of a form.

I was able to take advantage of my digital camera to produce the required picture for the application form. This is certainly more convenient than heading for the local photo studio as I had to do in the past. After carefully filling in the form, I headed to the post office where I had to fill in a money order, have the forms stamped, and sent away by registered mail. The process at the post office took approximately 15 minutes. Unlike Joel, I took some time between classes to attend to this business. In Innai, the post office is not open on weekends so I was unable to the experience the frustration of discovering that they don't do registered mail on a Sunday. After paying for the application form, the test fee, the money order fee, and the registered mail fee, the total price came to about 6,500 yen or about $80 CDN which is $20 more than the fee charged in Vancouver. In addition, I was able to download the form, write a cheque and send it off in the mail which was far more convenient and efficient than all the steps that I had to endure in Japan. Furthermore, the application deadline is September 27 rather than the September 12 date in Japan. Note to Joel, if your reading this, you can still take level 2 in Canada!

Japan does have a reputation for high tech and I am sure that international companies such as Honda and Sony have behind the scene operations that are efficient and modern. However, my town office still uses dot matrix printers and carbon paper to produce many of their documents. Intraoffice mail is not used and all memos are passed around in paper form where each member of the office stamps it with his personal seal. Hours are recorded with mechanical punch cards and piles of paper frequently avalanche onto my desk from the pulpy piles that periodically build on my coworkers desk. At schools, many teachers still employ word processors that are equivalent of electronic typewriters and many school newsletters are still written by hand. Student marks are submitted in paper form and the report cards are all carefully assembled by hand.

Admittedly, not everything modern is necessarily better. A handwritten newsletter feels more personal. Hardcopies of documents always feel a little more reassuring than an electronic representation. Sometimes, I do feel like I am living in the past when in Japan which is in direct opposition to the image portrayed in the media. I do realize that living in a small town probably exaceberates this feeling but registering for the test reminds me that even national level organizations still adhere to more traditional methods.