The Multitude of Milks

            For my family, food has always been an impetus for order. Anytime we become, as a group or as individuals, too disjointed or chaotic, my family institutes some drastic changes in our eating-as if this will be a solution to all of our problems. It has been this way since I can remember. I can remember I time when I drank milk on the regular- now I am banned from the terrible liquid- our fridge now has a corner exclusively for almond milk; which is “Cordi’s drink.” Before almond milk it was rice milk. Before rice milk it was soy milk, and so on.

            When my brothers were little it seemed like maybe they would escape the brunt force of my parent’s “food meddling.” They didn’t. My youngest brother, Leo, had developed a penchant for vegetables and coffee at an early age, which was basically a formula for perpetual skinniness, something my dad and I envied but was not healthy for a growing 7 year old boy. As for my middle brother Oliver, his appetite was only rivaled by his ever rising height- something which shocked my whole family (a family of short people) and had my mom rushing to the doctors office when Oliver couldn’t get out of bed due to his legs literally growing so fast that he could feel immense pain in his knees. Every year the doctors would tell my mom the same thing; Leo-underweight, Oliver-overweight, Cordelia-average. So naturally my mother realized that cooking for all three of us as a unit was not going to work- we each had to be rehabilitated individually- through our diets, of course.

            For Leo it was a diet rich with candy and “healthy-unhealthy” snacks, by which I mean 1000 calories wrapped up in a package with more muted colours from Trader Joe’s, which apparently signaled (to my mother) that these foods were superior- organic and over expensive. For Oliver it was the sudden decision that he go gluten free. The fridge and pantry filled quickly with gluten free brownies, gluten free mini muffins, gluten free waffles, etc. It should be noted that just as I was never allergic to lactose, Oliver has never at any point been allergic to gluten.

            I was told, as a girl who was still growing (actually I wasn’t, the doctor had told me and my mother that I was done growing forever) to eat plenty of protein. While I took that as a light suggestion, one to be followed at my own discretion, my parents interpreted it differently. I regularly hear cries of; “Protein! You need to eat some protein with that!”, ringing through the house. No joke, I hear it when I sleep. My parents were not content with average. I began to develop the discreet suspicion that they were trying to fatten me up for some sort of experiment of the most evil kind. (I still have that suspicion)

            But alas- I discovered something far more calculated lurking under my parent’s food revivalist attitude. Upon contemplation of the strange patterns of diet, I noticed that all changes in food roughly coincided with changes in our lives. For Oliver, entering middle school was the catalyst for his sudden gluten free lifestyle. For Leo, it was his struggles in school and his anguish once he could grasp the concept of “adopted.” For me; it was a little more complicated. The many changes could be connected to many things, but the most significant ones started taking place in sophomore year when I was finally feeling the stress of challenging coursework, college plans, and an unclear future. I was pissy and reclusive (I still am, but in an okay way) and my parents were not prepared to deal with a hormonal teenage girl at the emotional level. Those mood swings man... lets just say I’m glad I’m not a parent. Anyway, my parents way of dealing with that was to decrease the amount of “agitating” foods in my diet. I was restricted from foods with corn syrup because my mom once read somewhere that it caused aggression. I was also given more protein and more iron because a homeopath told my parents that this would reduce my stress levels and my constant fatigue.

            The worst part is that they were right. My parents food meddling, no matter how irritating, actually helped me in significant ways. Even if I stole over to friends houses on the regular to eat Luck Charms and Poptarts, I felt a constant reminder of my parents love whenever I thought of my food restrictions- which were really just a subtle guiding hand, symbolic of the care of my parents.

I still drink normal milk on the sly though.

Culturally Sensitive, Japan Accomplishes the Seemingly Impossible

Proponents of free trade argue that it increases cultural exchange between nations. Opponents argue that it undermines cultural stability—both in terms of popular cultural and small-scale businesses.

The irony of  the controversy around Japan’s forays into outsourcing is that Japan’s form of outsourcing is actually very mild in comparison to the exploits in offshoring and outsourcing of other first world countries. Outsourcing, for the most part, implies a drastic movement in both location and workforce. Jobs formerly belonging to citizens of one nationality are effectively transferred to the citizens of a foreign country. Typically, outsourcing practices entail a host of potential cultural conflicts, e.g., nuances of social etiquette, language, accent etc. While North Americans have a relatively callous attitude toward the cultural elements of outsourcing, the Japanese pay meticulous attention to how their outsourcing practices affect the country’s cultural stability. Bhagwati, Panagariva, and Srinivasan define outsourcing as “delegating one or more business processes... to an external service provider from a country that is geographically remote from the clients’ enterprise” (Bhagwati), by which it is established that some form of transplantation, from native country to foreign, is required to indicate outsourcing. However, Japan manages to avoid, for the most part, the truly “foreign” influence of outsourcing that comes with the required geographical displacement. Instead of outsourcing jobs from Japanese workers to Indian workers, Japan relocates the Japanese workers themselves to India, thereby maintaining the cultural connection between the workers and the customers they are servicing in Japan. Through this unique approach the Japanese maintain a delicate cultural balance, reflecting their traditional societal values, even in this dynamic sector of the global economy. Specifically, the tradition of lifetime employment and rewards for employee loyalty are important consideration because “as American as outsourcing may be, in Japan it reflects a business culture stubbornly resistant to practices that sacrifice employee well-being for the sake of efficiency”. (Strom)

According to the OECD’s, “International Migration Outlook 2012” there was a outflow of roughly two hundred and fifty thousand Japanese persons in 2010 (International Migration Outlook), many of whom are likely to have taken jobs abroad servicing Japanese customers. The Jobs taken abroad are markedly less well paid than the ones in Japan- “Transcosmos, [a provider of outsourcing services] pays a call center operator in Thailand a starting salary of about 30,000 baht, or $930, a month — less than half of the ¥220,000, or $2,500, the same employee would get in Tokyo”. (Tanikawa). Ms. Natori, a young Japanese worker who was offered a job in Thailand servicing a Japanese company, claims that the lower salaries are actually manageable, given that the cost of living is much lower in foreign countries. (Tanikawa)

The unique Japanese approach may not seem consistent with the essential goals of outsourcing, like cost cutting and profit increasing. However, as Mr. Ichikawa a middleman for Japanese workers overseas, is quoted in the New York Times as saying; “While Japanese companies could save even more if they hired only locals overseas — some experts say locals could be hired at half the cost — the preference for Japanese nationals is likely to endure”. (Tanikawa) This commitment to hiring Japanese workers for outsourced positions overseas, because it is driven by the more insular orientation of their culture, might therefore appear unlikely to waver. However, recent Data from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation suggests that “Japanese manufacturing companies are [moving] in a direction to increasingly use more overseas [local] personnel” because their business overseas is expanding. (JBIC)

Works Cited

Bhagwati, Jagdish, Arvind Panagariya, and T.N. Srinivasan, “The Muddle Over Outsourcing,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 18, No. 4, Fall 2004, pp. 93-114

"International Migration Outlook." 2012. OECD, n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.

"JBIC | FY2012 Survey (the 24th) Report on Overseas Business Operations by Japanese Manufacturing Companies." JBIC | FY2012 Survey (the 24th) Report on Overseas Business Operations by Japanese Manufacturing Companies. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.

Strom, Stephanie. "THE BUSINESS WORLD; In Japan: Outsourcing Without A Capital 'O'" The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 July 2000. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.

Tanikawa, Miki. "Many in Japan Are Outsourcing Themselves."  NYTimes.com. New York Times, 21 July 2010. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.