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OKITE is a Japanese alarm clock app. It's designed to help users wake up, but with a twist: it sends embarrassing messages to the user's Twitter account every time they hit snooze.
Tofugu, a blog covering Japanese culture, points out that this type of public shaming is uniquely punishing in Japan:
The interesting cultural thing about this app is the whole public shaming thing. In America when you do something shameful it’s all about the person doing the shameful thing. “What’s wrong with you?” “Why would you do that?” etc. In Japan, it’s kind of the opposite. When someone does something shameful, it’s always “What will the neighbors think?” and “What will your classmates think?” Public shame is the most terrifying motivator of all in Japan, and this app plays right in to that.
The app sends out a wide variety of Tweets, some silly and some downright odd.
"From today on I'm going to head to work via unicycle."
"I want to buy a fast red Ferrari and a horse!"
"Just as I thought, I want to become a stewardess."
OKITE is available free on the App Store, but only in Japanese. It isn't localized into English. [iTunes]
Top Rated Comments
(View all)Sad that so many people care that much about what other people think.
That kind of statement would be unheard of in Japanese culture, because not caring about what other people think is pretty unheard of. ;) The entire language is structured around being polite, as is Japanese culture in general. You can't really get by in Japanese society without caring about other people to some degree. I think it's a good thing.Sad that so many people care that much about what other people think.
In a way, it's sad how people in the USA don't give a **** what others think.
I've heard that some Japanese CEOs who drive their companies into bankruptcy commit suicide due to the shame. Anyone know if that's true? I know this sounds horrible, but in some ways, that sounds a bit better than those American CEOs who get the golden parachutes worth millions of dollars. I'm sure there are some that worked their a**es off to prevent their companies from being even worse, but, IMO, they weren't good enough to deserve millions.
"I want to buy a fast red Ferrari and a horse!"
Seeing that I am likely to tweet this anyway, I find this app utterly useless. :p