This week we launch Pulse Rate, where we look at online cardiographs and measure the EKG of the Japanese internet via the keywords ranking high in the search-engine charts and elsewhere. Will they be only brief blips or signs of bigger things to come? Only time will tell.
社畜.COM. exploded to the top of Goo's Keyword Rankings this week, debuting at No. 2 this past Sunday and topped only by actress Sei Ashina (lead actress in the soon-to-be-released movie version of the manga "Saru Lock"). The site is a Japanese internet meme based on the invented word shachiku (社畜). Shachiku is a combination of kaisha (会社, company) and kachiku (家畜, domestic animal/beast of burden) – in other words, "corporate cattle."
The term was originally coined by "business novelist" Satoshi Azuchi, whose most well-known novel is "Supermarket," a somewhat autobiographical story of managerial intrigue at a supermarket. Economic commentator Makoto Sataka took Azuchi's term and popularized it in his columns for Japanese weekly Shuukan Kinyoubi. The shachiku site was an instant hit after its launch in June 2009 and widely covered in the Japanese blogosphere.