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The story
Appearing on “Tetsuko’s Room,” Pakkun (Patrick Harlan) revealed how he grew up in a poor family, graduated from Harvard on a scholarship, and then came to Japan at age 23 to start working as an English conversation school teacher. On the 5ch Geinou/Sports News+ board, the thread lit up over the reality that graduating from a prestigious university doesn’t guarantee a high income right away, and over how closely American university admissions are tied to family background and future employment. At the same time, some posts poked fun at how little-known his comedy partner Makkun is, while others compared the career paths of other Harvard-educated celebrities, with reactions split over the gap between academic pedigree and real-world treatment.
Pakkun Came to Japan at 23, Reveals His Former Job — Even as a Harvard Grad, “The Pay Wasn’t That Great”
Patrick Harlan, aka Pakkun of the comedy duo Pakkun Makkun, appeared on the October 26 broadcast of “Tetsuko’s Room” (weekdays at 1:00 PM), where he revealed details about his former job.
Pakkun, who has over 30 years of investing experience and is active nationwide as a public speaker and TV commentator, grew up in a poor family but graduated from Harvard University thanks to a scholarship program.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Every duo has a moment where even the "other guy" gets his spotlight moment, you'd think.
He seems perfect for hosting a big-eating contest show, but TV Tokyo went and got the ever-versatile Takahashi Minami instead.
Okay, that one's on you, buddy.
33 years ago the yen was strong,
so it was probably better than it would be today.
It's not like it's the Japanese kind (which usually has to be paid back).
— even if you graduate from a great university, without connections you've got nothing, so there's no job waiting for you.
Japan might be the only country where even a poor kid can land a job as a bureaucrat or at a top company just by graduating from a high-ranked university.
That all broke down starting with the "Ice Age generation" (those who graduated into Japan's brutal 1990s–2000s job market).
In America, you go to a top university specifically to build connections.
Aren't you even a little skeptical of your own ability to "just tell"?
He's probably a spy.
Being able to pay it off fully by that point is huge.
Never got the chance to talk to him though.
I once worked a one-off gig job alongside a Chinese exchange student studying at Kyushu University's med school.
They're probably just filling gaps in their schedule, kind of like using a "Timee"-style spot-work app these days.
So he was in his prime in his 40s?
He looks young for it.
though if you google it, the photos pop right up.
Interviewers would casually ask about your parents' jobs, and companies openly admitted they wouldn't hire anyone from a single-mother household.
Maybe only civil-service jobs.
that's where comedian Atsugiri Jason went.
That's exactly why people mock Pakkun: "Sure he went to Harvard, but it was probably just a religious studies major."
America's blatant like that — it's a country where everything comes down to whether you can make money.
In Japan, even a University of Tokyo literature grad generally isn't looked down on.
Most people just think "wow, smart."
Though apparently Todai law grads do look down on them.
wearing one of those school-color sweatshirts.
Ivy League schools skew pretty white.
Low-income students and students of color have a hard time fitting in.
Princeton especially is so overwhelmingly white that Black advocacy groups have criticized it.
It's wild that I can't even picture his face.
He's on TV Tokyo every day
starting at 10am.
Seriously, becoming a clergyman might've been his only real option.
For medicine, Johns Hopkins and Penn are ahead.
For engineering, it's MIT and Caltech and the like.
Since it was comparative religion, he probably should've gone through sociology of religion into international relations.
Could've ended up as a State Department official or something.
Well, obviously. I bet there are plenty of middle-aged Todai-grad hikikomori out there lol.
Brings back memories.
Harvard? Look at you, impressive.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
Pakkun was born into a poor family and, after graduating from Harvard on a scholarship, is said to have made a living as an English conversation school teacher right after arriving in Japan. The label “Harvard grad” tends to conjure images of a high income, but income after graduation varies widely depending on one’s school and major, and the thread picked up on the reality that academic credentials and real-world treatment don’t always line up. Behind this lies a difference between the two countries’ systems: in the US, getting into university tends to depend heavily on a family’s financial resources and connections, whereas in Japan, exam results alone can open the door to government jobs or major corporations regardless of family background. Opinions in the thread were split between those who saw this “gap between credentials and treatment” as only natural, and those who felt too much was expected simply because of the “Harvard graduate” label.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Entertainment] Pakkun Came to Japan at 23, Reveals His Former Job — Even as a Harvard Grad, “The Pay Wasn’t That Great”.”
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