I strolled in the door today and found Sayaka studying GRE vocabulary and watching some Japanese TV trivia show (its complicated). I watched it for a few minutes (I try to minimize brain rot), long enough to learn about Japan’s Train Timetable Proficiency Test. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me, given the amazing variety of tests one can take in Japan to become certified at something, but it is a perfect example of one aspect of a more general social trend which worships the acquisition of knowledge, in this case a process measured by the command over a growingly arbitrary set of atomic factlets.
This particular examination, apparently taken by an average of 2800 Japanese every year, tests a mastery of all the details of JR transportation system (trains and buses) as faithfully recorded in the monthly Timetable book one can purchase at most kiosks and convenience stores. Participants in the test are asked questions like, “Which of the trains listed below crosses stations on all three of the following lines” (the answers were train listed by code number and their departure times) and “Which of the following lunch-box meals sold at station [So and so] is the cheapest?” (the answers list four different lunch-box meals available for purchase at that station).
In an interview, the guy who runs this (I didn’t catch the organization which issues the test) admitted that the test did not, “have any considerable social value to speak of,” but this doesn’t seem to dissuade the thousands who take the test, attend cram classes in order to prepare for the test, or pay the money to take the test and compete for one of 6 levels (or the prestigious silver or gold card awards) which demonstrates their detailed knowledge of Japan’s public transportation system.