(this article was published in NyTid, news magazine in Oslo, December edition)

Tokyo is widely recognized as one of the most expensive cities in the world. The average living cost for what so called “a simple life” will be around 1.800 – 2.000 US dollar per month. Everything is dangerously expensive in here.

But hold on, there is something that considerably cheap, compare to other countries. Internet services.

It’s true! Thanks to the cheap broadband internet --which provides us millions of “windows”—so our super tiny size apartment in the jungle blocks of Tokyo seems larger than ever. A studio-size apartment with 35 meter squares will be all right as long as we are accompanied with our broadband connection. I pay my broadband internet connection for 30 US dollar per month, which includes internet phone service. Broadband service makes us possible to have connection at any time, any where. Tight competition makes some companies even promotes cheaper internet plans for customers.

With broadband internet era, people in Japan tend to be more attached with internet around the clock. I start my online routines in the early morning, later on the way to work I stay connected with my mobile phone (just to let you know, mobile phone in Japan has CDMA- based email services that will cost your nearly zero dollar), and in the office, I am online again. In Tokyo, it becomes more common to see young people with slim laptop and a cup of coffee, stay connected in a busy café or fast food restaurant. Are they just checking emails, chatting and doing blog-walking? No. Many of them are seriously involved in online stock trading as individual buyers! Doing your business during lunch time, let’s check the share prices and see any opportunity!

Thanks to the 24 hours internet so I could say, “I am just an email away, darling don’t you worry....” That’s my magic words to comfort my 8 years old son, one day when our babysitter was sick and he had to stay home alone. Thanks to the web-camera, my husband who was in Orebro, Sweden, at that time, had successfully solved the baby sitting problem by looking after our son while I was trying to get home as soon as possible.

Now, let us check the data. Japan Internet Association reported that there were 32,244,000 broadband households last year. There were nearly 80,000,000 internet users out of 120,000,000 populations. So, nearly 75 percent of the populations are internet users. Meanwhile 46.5 percent of internet users have decreased spending in physical shops because of online shopping. Along with the US and South Korea, Japan has shown various new cyber life style in the last five years.

Well, I will highlight the last figure of online shopping to show you that the idea of “saving your money by staying at home accompanied with high-speed internet” is somewhat ridiculous idea. Online shopping! Yes, that’s the problem for many Japanese middle class (mainly women) who can not restrain themselves to shopping on the net. Not to mention the giant online shops such eBay, or Japanese giant cyber-mall such as Rakuten, there are thousands of local shops in Japan with online shopping services. Just mention your necessities; they are all on the net.

My best friend in the office recently made a confession: she spent nearly 10.000 US dollar for online shopping this year alone! An innocent confession as follows: I stayed at home and doing online shopping all day long. I did this when I was so stress out, when I was lonely, when I tried to escape from work. I did this almost at any time,” She is just one among what so called “targeted consumers” in online business, where in Japan, the market is estimated has over than over than 2 trillion yen (about 16,8 billion US dollar)

However, high-degree of internet experience plus broadband access in a modern society with various social problems like Tokyo and other cities in Japan, will lead us to many unexpected stories. There are good stories, and a few bad ones to mention: online group suicide services have become increasingly popular because of the internet network; bullying among students at school which is a serious social problem in Japan has now reached its climax as students become much easier to bully their friends using their internet and email mobile services. This year alone, there are six junior high school students committed to suicide because of “online bullying”. Well, it is sad to say, for many, the broadband era is creating more problems than we thought. (*)

Sudah dua kali ia mengirimkan hasil terjemahan, editing tahap akhir, dan bukti pemuatan kolom bulanan saya yang terbit di majalah berita Nytid, Oslo. Selalu saja saya tertawa geli setiap kali membacanya ulang. Tentu saja saya sama sekali tidak bisa memberi masukan apa-apa lagi pada hasil terjemahan yang tidak saya paham artinya. Tapi begitulah Dag, sang editor yang baik hati itu: ia selalu mengingatkan (dan sedikit bersikeras) bahwa bahasa jangan pernah menjadi penghalang. Katanya: nikmati saja, dan tak ada salahnya menebak-nebak artinya.  

Bagi yang membaca catatan ini, silakan ikut menebak-nebak bila sempat...

DET 21. ÅRHUNDRE

Barnevakt på nettet

NY TID 8. DESEMBER 2006

[tokyo, japan] Tokyo er kjent for a vare en

av verdens dyreste byer, dyrere enn selv Oslo.

Gjennomsnittlige levekostnader for et sakalt

≪nokternt liv≫ vil vare rundt 14.000 kroner i

maneden.

Men det er faktisk noe som er noenlunde

billig sammenliknet med andre land: Nett-

tjenester.

Billig internett gjennom bredband gir oss

flere millioner ≪vinduer≫, og nettet gjor at var

knottlille leilighet i Tokyos blokkjungel virker

mye storre enn for. En ettroms pa 35 kvadratmeter

er helt alreit med vart superraske bredband.

Her i Japan er gjennomsnittshastigheten

pa fibernettet 100 megabyte i sekundet [i Norge

er vanlig hastighet 1-6 mbps, red. anm.]. For

ubegrenset tilgang betaler vi 200 kroner i maneden.

Med i prisen er bredbandstelefoni, noe

som gjor at vi kan ringe gratis til hele verden.

Bredband gjor at vi er oppkoplet nar som

helst og hvor som helst, og sterk konkurranse

gjor at noen nettselskaper tilbyr enda billigere

abonnementer. I en tid med et sa raskt bredband

sitter folk i Japan stadig oftere klistret til

nettet dognet rundt.

Mine egne nettrutiner begynner tidlig om

morgenen nar jeg sjekker pc-en, som er sa rask

at vi bruker den til a se direktesendinger pa tv.

Nar jeg sa er pa vei til jobben, er jeg fremdeles

oppkoplet med mobilen. Med en 3G-telefon

med 512 kbps er det lett a sjekke e-posten gratis,

lese nyheter og spille nettspill. Nar jeg kommer

pa kontoret, er jeg pa nett igjen.

I Tokyo blir det stadig mer vanlig a se unge

mennesker med en slank barbar og en kaffekopp

som er oppkoplet mens de sitter pa en

travel kafe eller et hurtigmatsted. Sjekker de

bare e-posten, chatter og surfer pa blogger?

Nei. Mange sitter i fullt alvor og kjoper store

mengder aksjer.

24-timers internett-tilgang sorger for at jeg

na kan si til venner og familie: ≪Ta det med ro,

jeg er bare en liten e-post unna …≫

Dette var mine trostende ord til sonnen var

pa atte ar, Fawwaz, en dag da barnevakten var

syk. Jeg var pa jobb i Tokyo mens mannen min,

studerte i Orebro i Sverige. Takket vare webkameraet

var det mannen min i Orebro som loste

barnevaktproblemet med glans, mens jeg forsokte

a komme meg hjem sa fort jeg kunne.

Mer enn 32 millioner japanske hjem har

bredbandsoppkopling, ifolge den japanske internettorganisasjonen.

Narmere 75 prosent av

befolkningen er nettbrukere. I likhet med USA

og Sor-Korea har Japan utviklet flere nye typer

nettlivsstiler de siste fem arene. 47 prosent av

nettbrukerne har begynt a bruke mindre penger

i fysiske butikker pa grunn av netthandel. Den

gamle tanken om at man ≪sparer penger ved a

bli hjemme≫, stemmer ikke lenger nar man har

superraskt bredband.

Netthandel er et problem for mange, sarlig

kvinner, i den japanske middelklassen. De

klarer ikke slutte a handle. Gigantiske nettbutikker

som eBay, japanske nettkjopesentre

som Rakuten og tusenvis av mindre butikker i

Japan selger sine varer pa nettet. Markedet for

netthandel i Japan skal vare verdt mer enn 100

milliarder kroner.

Min beste venn pa jobben betrodde meg nylig

at hun hadde brukt nesten 70.000 kroner pa

netthandel bare i ar: ≪Jeg handlet pa nettet nar

jeg var stressa, nar jeg folte meg ensom, nar jeg

provde a flykte fra jobben,≫ fortalte hun.

Bredbandtilgangen i Japan er opphav til

mange overraskende historier.

Selvmordsstottegrupper pa nett er blitt stadig

mer populare, samtidig som mobbing mellom

skoleelever har nadd et toppunkt. Seks ungdomsskoleelever

har sa langt i ar begatt selvmord

pa grunn av ≪nettmobbing≫.

For mange skaper bredbandsepoken pa samme

tid flere muligheter og flere problemer enn

man kunne ane bare for en kort tid siden. ■

 

*Lily Yulianti Farid er journalist, født i Indonesia,

utdannet i Australia, bosatt i Japan. Hun skriver

eksklusivt for Ny Tid.