Japanese Workers

Workers' way of life

　You can find a lot of information about Japan in general on the internet.

　In this blog, I will try to avoid those basics as much as possible and instead cover interesting topics that are on point.

　In this issue, I would like to introduce the general image of Japanese people in relation to work. What kind of image do you have of Japanese workers?

Fact 1 In Japan, employment opportunities are only available once a year.

　

　This has a lot to do with when students graduate. In Japan, high school, vocational school, and college all graduate in March. Then after a short spring break, all graduates start working at the same time in March or April.

　This is not a system established by law. However, this custom is considered to be a very rational system in Japanese society. Japan has been following this order since World War II.

　In the United States, we are always looking for people to join us throughout the year. This is because we are a country where changing jobs is the norm.

　However, in Japan, employment is regarded as mid-career recruitment except for the spring season, and opportunities for employment are very limited. There are few. Traditionally, the concept of lifetime employment has been ingrained in Japan. Once you get a job, it is not easy to leave it. This is an ironclad rule, and it is considered to be extremely difficult to find a new job.

　For this reason, Japanese students start their job search from the time they are still in school, with the aim of finding full-time employment. Most students take interviews and exams with companies they wish to work for while still in school, and they receive a job offer before graduation. If you miss this, you will have to wait a year to try again.

　Large companies hold a big ceremony in April when you join the company. It's like a school entrance ceremony. The president of the company gives encouragement and admonitions in the convention hall, and the new employees respectfully listen to them. From that day on, hundreds or even dozens of people will be working at their new jobs all at once.

　This custom may seem odd to you. From a democratic point of view, you may fear the loss of equal opportunity. But many Japanese depend on this system. There are a few who would argue with this, but now the opportunities for job changes are slowly opening up.

Fact 2: Many Japanese do not use paid holidays and work hard.

　

　The Japanese used to have an image of being overly diligent, so much so that they were called workaholics. That's a fact.

　The term "KAROUSHI" (death by overwork) was coined and spread abroad, so much so that reckless work Many environments existed. Especially since the 1960s, when Japan developed by leaps and bounds, competition has intensified, and hard work is the norm for workers. The trend has become a trend.

　The work ethic is still very high compared to other countries. It is common to have more than ten days of paid vacation in a year, yet rarely use it. (I work in the U.S. and I love the practice of everyone using exactly all of their paid vacation time.)

　The work ethic of the nation. It all started with the defeat in World War II.

　The Japanese people were devastated by the defeat and realized their mistakes and shortcomings. With strong remorse, the people worked hard to rebuild the nation. Defeat became a springboard for the nation's recovery.

　The momentum continued to grow and develop until the second half of the 20th century. An island nation with few natural resources was able to build a prosperous nation through wisdom and sweat. However, the prosperity eventually went too far, and the country's economy collapsed. It was the bursting of the bubble economy, an event that the Japanese will never forget. From there, the country suffered severe damage from a series of earthquakes and tsunamis. In spite of this, Japan overcame the crisis many times. This has been supported by the hard-working nature of the Japanese people. However, with the passage of time, a new generation has emerged that shares more important values than work. It was.

　Until very recently, overtime was the norm in all industries. This atrocious work environment eventually came to the fore in recent years as human rights awareness increased and I was. Finally, there is a growing momentum for the government to be driven and reviewed by the will of the people.

3 The life of an office worker

　

　Here is a typical Japanese salaryman's daily life.

　Mr. A is in his early 30s. He works in sales at a medium-sized company in central Tokyo. His position in the company is section chief. His dependents are his wife and his daughter who is in elementary school.

　When he wakes up in the morning, he eats the breakfast that his wife cooks every morning. He walks to the station and takes a crowded train to the city center. He works from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm. If you work outside on a sales shift, you can go straight home after 8am.

　In the department Mr. A manages, he is the leader, but here is his boss, the department head. Unless this department head goes home, all of his subordinates have to keep working. They have to wait for him, even if their quota for the day is over.

　We all know this is unreasonable and it's a habit. Too much emphasis on hierarchy has led to this nonsensical tradition.

　When they are finally allowed to go home, many office workers go out into the night in search of entertainment. Sharing food and drink with colleagues and superiors is considered a social rite, and refusing to do so is treated as a heretic.

　All employees attend the banquet, whether they like it or not. In Europe and the United States, the same kind of socializing occurs only on weekends, but in Japan it's every day.

　The majority of employees work a six-day work week, so even on Saturday nights, the downtown area is filled with customers in suits. Karaoke is also often associated with the company, so it's a distraction from the original purpose of stress relief. in Japan.

　In this way, I spend more time with my colleagues in Japan than I do with my family. Eat out three days out of the week, get home after 10pm, have a quick conversation with the family to say hello, bathe and go to bed immediately. . This is the typical day-to-day life of an office worker. (There are some exceptions.)

4 The four seasons in Japan

　

　We have two beginnings of the year in this country. New Year and April. Spring is the beginning of a new semester for students and a new start for working people. Fashions and trends are updated with new ones at this time of year, and people's activities also change from old to new. Everything starts to turn on a new track, just as the budding of new greenery does.

　The end of spring brings a little over a month of rainy season, and with its end comes the blazing hot and humid summer. It's beginning. It's the long-awaited season of play for children, when they head off to the mountains, the sea and abroad for vacations.

　This is the only time when even hard-working fathers take a vacation. In Japan, there is a concept of family service, which means that fathers take meals, trips It means taking them to Dad originally wanted to relax at home for a hot summer moment, but to please his family, he had to take his self We are forced to make sacrifices.

　Later in the summer, there is a Japanese Buddhist ceremony called Obon, which is a ritual of the Japanese people. This is an important event for the Japanese people who respect their ancestors. Many people return to their hometowns to pay homage to their ancestors.

　Autumn is also a season of consumption, when many people enjoy activities. Autumn is also a time of recreation and consumption, which is a time for business enthusiasts to make money. It's a time for a variety of sports, harvest time for agriculture and fisheries, and delicious seasonal foods to decorate the tables! . As the leaves change color and become beautiful, the fields and mountains come alive, showing the Japanese sense of beauty. .

　Winter is a season of heavy snowfall in some areas. Winter sports are in full swing and the Christmas season is upon us. Why do the Japanese get so excited about Christmas?　There is no religious consciousness in it. It's just the festive atmosphere of Christmas as enjoyed by Westerners that has been transplanted to Japan.

　I would like to add that one of the most important things about the Japanese people is that they have never been more accepting of another culture than they are of their own. I have a specialty that you will not see. In the 19th century, he was the first in the world to perform general anesthesia surgery. It was a Japanese doctor. However, this is also an application of local anesthesia. The liquid crystal screen used in television and computers is also a Japanese invention, but it is a development of the cathode-ray tube television. The Indian curry was made into a national dish by adapting it for the Japanese. The Japanese have always been good at improving upon the originals for the sake of convenience.

　This is the end of my introduction to typical Japanese worker. I hope you found the Japanese worker's life interesting.　I will continue to write about Japan from time to time to introduce interesting things about Japan. Thank you.