It reads "Narujima Kei." As you may know, the order of the first name and the family name of a Japanese name is the opposite of that for an English name. For example, in my case, Kei is the first name and Narujima is the family name. So, in English I am called "Kei Narujima," but in Japanese, "Narujima Kei."
I emailed the staff to ask if there was any company rule that even an English name be written in the Japanese manner.
She responded immediately, said that that was a mistake, and would place another order with the vendor.
The box contains one hundred cards. I don't know how much it costs exactly, but it must not have been a large amount, because she was indifferent to the replacement. Similar things happened to other employees a few years ago. Maybe it's not a big deal for the company, but I was surprised. Wasn't it mottainai? If these had not been mottainai, what would be?
"Mottainai" is used when something useful, such as food or time, is wasted. However, it has been frequent recently to decide if something is mottainai from only the financial perspective. This time, "resources," that is paper, was wasted and so, I think it was mottainai. But it wasn't for the GA staff member because according to the recent definition, even if something useful is wasted, but does not cost much, it is not mottainai.
"Mottainai" originally means to regret or feel sad about the loss of what should have been and is not about money. I like this term because it reflects a good aspect of an old Japanese belief of "Yaoyorozu no kami (eight million gods)," meaning that God exists in everything.
When do you feel mottainai? Do you feel you are wasting your time when waiting for someone?
If you are interested in a story in which a woman used this term to describe her relationship with her boyfriend, please go to: http://keinarujima.blogspot.jp/2017/09/mottainai-make-it-work-or-let-it-go.html
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