Anybody who has watched Spirited Away would most certainly remember the witch Yubaba, who serves as the film’s antagonist. And while you may not have had the best impression of her, just a week ago, an interesting exchange between two Japanese Twitter users emerged, and they suggested the possibility that Yubaba’s strict managerial skills could just be what Japan needs.
昔は
「湯婆婆は酷い魔女なのね…」
って観てたけど今は
「どんな人にも働く意欲があれば仕事を与え、新人に対しても優劣をつけず手柄があればしっかり褒め、理不尽な客には上司として自ら撃退する、経営者として素晴らしい才能のある魔女ね…」
と思うようになったわ(こくこく
— 幅広い音楽に興味を持った曙@おとぼの (@otobono) November 20, 2018
“In the past, I used to think that Yubaba was just a cruel witch. Now, however, I’ve come to think that she’s a talented managerial witch for giving work to anyone who wants it, praising even newcomers if they do good work, and personally handling unreasonable customers as the boss.”
まさに今現在の日本に必要な考え方だから、じゃないかな。
仕事をする意欲、働く必要性、それによって得られるものとは？
そこが理解していないから外国からの労働者でアジア一働きたくない国なんかになる
— ?ひよこさつき? (@sa_tu_ki05) November 21, 2018
“It seems that this is exactly the kind of thinking that Japan needs at the moment. What can be gained from the desire to work and the need to work? Because Japan can’t comprehend that, it’s going to become the number one country in Asia that doesn’t want to work with laborers from abroad.”
そんな感じね…
最近だと
お金欲しさでバイトをやるのに
「バイトにも経営者の一員なのだという自覚を持って欲しい」
みたいなことを言った人がいたそうだけど権利も待遇も違うのにちょっとずれてるんじゃないかしらと思ったわ…
— 幅広い音楽に興味を持った曙@おとぼの (@otobono) November 21, 2018
“Yeah, it feels like that…if you think about things recently, even though some people work part-time because they want money, there have been people who say, ‘Even at a part-time job, you should act like a manager’. But their rights and salary are different, so that doesn’t make sense to me.”
These thoughts echo some realities of Japan’s current economic woes, such as a shrinking and aging population, stringent working requirements, and talks regarding the demand for foreign workers in the years to come. (Which some people aren’t too happy about despite the necessity of more manpower in some industries and sectors.)
All that being said, I think most of us can agree that we’ll be good as long as our boss doesn’t turn us into pigs or steal our names away…