Shared Completion Archives - understand-culture

The Proofreading Department

The publisher Shinchōsha has a kōetsu-bu, a department for checking manuscripts. Its own site says that 60 people work there and check every publication. Their checks go beyond typos to the facts of what is described. One note to an author read: “From Tokyo to Nagoya, a car will not arrive in this time, even on the expressway.” Another noted that the hero’s home was on the first floor, while in the previous book it had been on the second.

The critic Tokuoka Takao called the department a lone demon of the publishing world, with an attitude that never allows a mistake. On October 5, 2016, Nippon Television began broadcasting the drama Jimi ni sugoi! Kōetsu gāru Kōno Etsuko (Plain but Amazing! Proofreading Girl Kōno Etsuko), with Ishihara Satomi in the title role. It was based on a novel by Miyagi Ayako.

Unsigned Articles

An article in Gendai Business calls the mushomei kiji, the article that the reporter does not sign, the mainstream of Japanese newspapers.

A column in a journalism review published by the Kanagawa Shimbun notes a change. Signed articles are increasing, even for so-called objective reports.

Three Colors of Correction

In 2022, the anime news site Anime! Anime! visited Telecom Animation Film during the production of the film Burū sāmaru (Blue Thermal). Each key animator drew a rough layout. The chief animation director, Tanino Miho, reviewed them. The corrections were added in three colors: green for the director, Tachibana Masaki, yellow for the animation directors, and pink for the chief animation director.

The key animators drew their key frames from these corrections. The animation directors and the directing staff then checked them again before they went to the in-between animators.

Checked By

An engineering drawing in Japan carries a hyōdai-ran, a title block. A drafting guide from the publisher Nikkan Kōgyō Shimbun lists what it can contain: the names of the designer, of the checker, the kenzu-sha, and of the approver, along with the draftsman and the date.

The guide adds that JIS, the Japanese Industrial Standards, does not prescribe the format of the title block. Each company sets its own.

Interim Report

A Japanese training company’s guide to raising new employees divides reports into two kinds. The shūryō hōkoku, the final report, is required when a task is done. The chūkan hōkoku, the interim report, is made while the work is still in progress, to share how far it has gone or to confirm the method.

The guide says that the interim report lets the person who assigned the work see that it is moving. It can also stop a new employee who is heading in the wrong direction.

Lesson Study

In many Japanese schools, teachers improve their lessons together. A teacher plans a lesson with colleagues from the same grade or subject. The lesson is then taught as a kenkyū jugyō, a research lesson, while all the teachers of the school, or those of one grade or subject, watch.

Afterwards, the observers discuss it, in groups or all together. A paper from the National Institute for Educational Policy Research notes that this lesson study is voluntary training and demands a great deal of work.