When I moved from Italy to Japan three years ago, I felt overwhelmed by how different my life felt.
So much about the Asian country has surprised me, especially when it comes to office culture and jobs. When I moved here, I began working in a corporate role at a long-standing Japanese company.
Although I can only speak to my own experience, here are a few things that took me a bit to get used to while working in Japan.
Fax machines are surprisingly big in Japan
While many businesses have stopped using fax machines, I’m still surprised how common they seem to be in offices (and homes) in Japan.
Barely a month into my corporate job, I had to send my timesheet to human resources on paper — not digitally like I’d always been used to.
My manager asked me to send it via fax as if it were the most natural thing in the world. I was surprised. As a millennial, I hadn’t seen anyone use a fax machine since 2010.
I asked if it was possible to send it via email. He consented, but his confusion at my answer almost rivaled mine at his question.
I’ve also noticed a lot more of my coworkers print out emails, something only my oldest office colleagues did back in Italy. To me, it just seems wasteful.
Work ‘happy hours’ look different here
One of the somewhat unspoken rules of working for a Japanese company is having to attend nomikai, which are basically meetings to drink.
Nomikai might be organized beforehand when someone (often a female employee) plans them so everybody can attend. Sometimes, they’re more informal and proposed at the last minute.
In my experience, refusing a nomikai invite is risky as it can be viewed as disrespectful to higher-up staff members and colleagues.
These meetings can involve a lot of alcohol, and I’ve definitely felt pressure to keep drinking at them.
Although I don’t love the idea of these meetings, I understand how they might appeal to many workers in Japan. The office culture here can feel pretty strict and buttoned-up, and a bit of alcohol can help people relax and be friendlier with colleagues they see every day.
It’s not that uncommon for workers to stay at the same place for life
In places like Italy and the US, job-hopping is fairly normal, and it’s common to switch companies throughout one’s career.
In Japan, however, many workers are seishain, which is a permanent full-time employee.
Seishain contracts usually guarantee job security and include rules that make it difficult for the employee to be fired, guidelines for regular raises and bonuses, and stipulations that the employer pays most of the worker’s taxes.
This practice is widely associated with shushinkoyou, which is essentially employment until the end of one’s life.
When signing a contract right after graduation, some office workers decide on the shushinkoyou, and thus remain at the same company until retirement.
It can also be incredibly difficult to leave a job here (some workers even hire experts to help them resign), and quitting is culturally frowned upon.
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