A pecking order by age

Japanese has a great deal of contribution into a pecking order which is determined by their age. They have to use so much Keigo or formal ways of language when talking with the older. This rule is almost compulsory in almost all the situations in Japan, except when talking with a member of their family or other situations such as with the older who they have so close relationship that they agree or 'feel' they don't need to use Keigo.

The older is always in higher than the younger. The younger must not talk back the older even when they think the older has said something wrong or unreasonable. The younger must do what the order has told them to even when they don't want to do that or they think it's silly, embarrasing or causing damage. On the other hand, the older can do or act whatever they want.

Youngers are miserable when their older colleague or member of club their belong are cruel. They might be forced to drink so much that they could end up vomit or lose their memory....even die of alcohol. As for the older, they have a reason to do such cruels: they were once forced to do same thing when they were younger. And they follow suit as a tradition.

Some youngers find it pleasure, but others(like me) find nothing but pain and don't like it. And there's probably no way out of it, so people who don't like it have to tolerate anyway.

I don't like the system because it just doesn't make sense. We probably need a pecking order or hierarchy-thing in a company or managing world, but not in a whole life!

Fukubukuro - Fight for a Bag

Ready, set, go!! Run faster, even fight with others!!
Admist thousands of people, you hear " This is mine!" "No, I've touched it first!!"
And you see people who got a red bag enclosed after they paid $1000 for one happily passing the entrance.

Every year in the New Year's holidays, a lot of stores throughout Japan have "Fukubukuro Sale", where they sell Fukubukuro(Fuku means 'luck' and Bukuro, or Fukuro as its original form without sound changed, means 'bag').
In front of the entrance of a famous big store before its open, there're thousands of people swarm or line. Once the store opens the doors, the awaiting people start craming into the stores for a Fukubukuro. They don't sell so much Fukubukuro, so there're always winners and whimpers. If you really want to get one, you have to get at the stores as early as you can. Waking up in the early morning is enough? It's not sometimes because some Japanese stay up all night in front of the stores. This is Yamato Damashii or Shimaguni Konjo!
Oh, notice that the goods inside are NOT all the same. You don't know what's inside, you only guess they have clothes if you're in an apparel store. And you can't rip it out and look inside, because of its traditional pleasure that you don't know until you bring it home. All the bags look same. You need some Fuku or luck to get what you think worth... you might get what-the-hell stuff sometimes...if with bad luck, all of them are rubbish.
People who go there say they buy it because it's quite cheap or they want to try their luck as the start of the new year.
Price range are huge: JPY10,000 to even 10,000,000(equivalent to around US$100,000). Well I guess the average is 50,000 or so. Usually the goods inside the bag are worth more than its price.

Still yet, I don't understand why people take that risks. The prices sound expensive, and you can't see inside the bag so it probably has some(or all of them if no Fuku) goods that you don't want or need. Why dare buy such an expensive bag that you don't know whether or not all the goods inside are worth buying??
In front of 109, a very popular store among the young, a lot of the young started exchanging the goods they got. They probably change what they don't into what they want. That's a good idea. But I still wonder why not they just look for what they want.

Mountain Wingsuit

Finally, human-beings have become birds...
Is it the summit of entertainment or of craziness?

http://www.biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=4262