Today, I will continue with the third chapter of my story about working in Japan.
chapter 3
rules and regulations
Now, let's finally get to the crux of this IRL cultural study: Japanese Business Culture.
Even after four years of studying Japanese culture, with study abroad, internship, and research experience in Tokyo, I knew working in Japan was going to be one of my life's toughest challenges. I knew because Japanese business culture is a subculture within Japan, with its own set of rules and regulations.
Let's discuss the term 社会人 "shakai-jin," which roughly translates to "a person in society." The term generally refers to someone who is a working and contributing member of society -- and thus, meeting all of society's standards.
There are books upon books that describe these standards in detail, such as being on time, dressing "right," and establishing a work-life balance. The moment I was hired, I was sent one such book (pictured below).
Even after four years of studying Japanese culture, with study abroad, internship, and research experience in Tokyo, I knew working in Japan was going to be one of my life's toughest challenges. I knew because Japanese business culture is a subculture within Japan, with its own set of rules and regulations.
Let's discuss the term 社会人 "shakai-jin," which roughly translates to "a person in society." The term generally refers to someone who is a working and contributing member of society -- and thus, meeting all of society's standards.
There are books upon books that describe these standards in detail, such as being on time, dressing "right," and establishing a work-life balance. The moment I was hired, I was sent one such book (pictured below).
"A Complete Illustration of the Easiest Way to understand Business Manners"
by Sayuko Okada and Akashi Yamazaki.
by Sayuko Okada and Akashi Yamazaki.
Now, don't be fooled. This is no light-hearted book rec with a list of Japanese business words, nor is it a Japanese rendition of those self-help books about positive thinking in the workplace.
This is a straight up step-by-step manual on how to live.
How you walk. At what angle you should bow. Where to sit at a table, in a car, on an airplane depending on your status. How to act when you pass by someone in a hallway. The tone with which to say good-morning when you come in. How to gossip about someone in the workplace (you know, professionally).
Oh wait, I forgot to tell you! We get tested on it. And THEN, we go through a grueling all-day training for 2 weeks where specialists monitor us. I'm talking taking secret videos of us walking into a room to show us later on a giant screen how unprofessional we look monitor us.
Now, I have to say that I judged this situation real hard REAL QUICK. Quite frankly, I felt like I was being inducted into some kind of cult. I mean, they made us sing the company song like an anthem. They had all 200 of us gather in a room and practice standing up and sitting down until we could all do it at the same time. For TWO HOURS.
Thank goodness for the selfless and endless support of the company's HR, constantly checking in through the whole process.
It should be acknowledged that such practices establish a mentality of homogeneity.
We are a family. We must follow the family rules. We must be a model family member.
Such attitudes are not conducive to creativity, or individuality.
It should also be acknowledged that this is not something one, maybe two companies in Japan do. This sort of rule-enforcing training is a part of business culture in Japan.
Let us take a step back, and consider where this culture may have come from. Japan is an archipelago, with a strong history in farming. Survival depended on the ability to follow the rules of the area you lived in.
After WWII, Japan's economy was devastated. The country literally rebuilt itself from the ground up, and did so by uniting as a nation. Nobody gets left behind, because we are a family. We must work as a singular unit. For the singular unit to work, we all need to live by rules. We must avoid chaos, and work together to rebuild.
Note that in Japan, once you are hired, you are an employee for life. It is almost impossible to get fired. If something happens, and you can't come to work for a while... you can have years off with pay. And when you decide to come back, you can come back.
What do you all think?
Stay tuned for my next post where I continue to discuss Japanese business culture.
Stay warm,
justajae