Japan

Where to Work Japan

By PETER CONRAD

The Work-Life Imbalance

60% of Japanese consider corporate life equally important to personal life, and 13% consider corporate life the central concern of their life. As astonishing it might be for westerners to understand this different hierarchy of values, it’s a fundamental dimension linked to dependence and social obligation.

It is 8:30 am on the Yamanote Line, the circle line that for 20 hours a day and every 3 minutes takes Tokyo residents to destinations across the central part of the city. Two things captured my attention when I first moved to Tokyo: one is people not caring about their personal belongings as in other countries, where you always check if your wallet and phone are still where you put them, because Tokyo is probably the safest city in the world. And the second thing that struck me? The many passengers sleeping on the circle train.

SLEEP FOR SURVIVAL

I've always asked myself how the Japanese can fall asleep so easily, not only on trains but in restaurants, cafes, a bench in a park or in designated relaxing areas in the malls and libraries. This is the Japanese way of dealing with overwork and lack of sleep. It’s a way to quickly recover from the fatigue that affects many “salary men” and “office ladies” as they are called here. For many Japanese, the working hours are extremely long. To the contractual 8 or so hours in the office you need to add at least another 2 hours of overtime and another 2 to 3 of commuting time. Often the day starts with an alarm clock at 6am in order to be in the office at 9am, and ends at midnight when many blue and white collars finally reach their homes. It seems like there has been zero contagion effect from western countries, where in the last 50 years people gradually choose more free time, even if sometimes detrimental to their income. There are many reasons for this behavioral pattern. And they all lead to the completely different type of society Japan is based on. If in western countries the most important entity is the individual, and the celebration of the uniqueness of an individual life, Japan is the most collective society in the world -- more collective than other Asian countries. Therefore the goal of the country, the company or the community will be always predominant over personal goals.

CORPORATE LIFE VS. PERSONAL LIFE

60% of Japanese consider corporate life equally important to personal life, and 13% consider corporate life the central concern of their life. As astonishing it might be for westerners to understand this different hierarchy of values, it’s a fundamental dimension linked to “amae,” the concept of dependence, and “giri,” social obligation. Without decodifying these two culturally distinctive characters, it’s impossible to even scratch the surface of the Japanese mind. In a historically isolated country like Japan, surviving always meant helping each other and maintaining social harmony. The relationship between a traditional Japanese company and its employees is still close to a modern feudal style, where the company expects loyalty, endurance (“gambari") and gratitude from its employees. In exchange for many years, Japanese companies used to guarantee lifetime jobs, where seniority rather than performance would be praised with promotions, and higher salaries.

THE MEANING OF OVERTIME

Therefore overtime “Zangyo” is not an exception, it is the standard. And it’s usually unpaid, though now many companies compensate financially, which again encourages many young employees to stay longer in the office, because the salaries are extremely low – especially after graduation. Also, subordinates won’t leave their desks until their supervisor or boss has left. It would be showing lack of respect. It has nothing to do with real work. Even if done with your daily work, you can’t just leave before your manager. And often, especially male workers have to go for drinks with the team to reinforce the sense of group belonging. Nowadays, after 20 years of economic stagnation, some companies started to break this silent agreement, though mainly through offering compensation packages to encourage people to voluntarily leave the company. This also helps to save face, which is another fundamental need to keep the harmony in the society. Japanese unemployment is just around 4% which is the lowest among highly developed countries, though if Japanese companies would adopt the same productivity and cost efficiency

Black&white Photos. Satoshi Tomiyama is a photographer specializes in black&white, but also urban, architectural and transportation photography. His series Industrial Overdose portrays images of industrial impact in his city (02 — 03 — 04). All photos are by Satoshi Tomiyama from the series Industrial Overdose, with the exception of the "shot of color" by Peter Conrad (01).

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measures like in other countries, unemployment would be much higher… maybe in the double digits.

UNEMPLOYMENT AND OVEREMPLOYMENT

But keeping people employed helps to avoid a number of social problems, usually those visible in western countries. That is surely one of the reasons why Japan has such low crime and why teenagers are just peaceful young people, usually never aggressive. There are no riots in the streets. But overtime has also generated the famous “karoshi” (death from overtime) effect, reported from early70s and legally recognized from the 80s. If a death is judged a karoshi death, the family will receive an allowance of $20,000. Every year there are estimates of 10,000 deaths linked to karoshi in Japan, though the large majority of cases won't be filed by the family. From the late 80s the government has started to encourage companies to consider more the work-life balance of its employees. And some companies have undertaken some measures, but again, it goes back to the collective. How can you leave office earlier if your coworkers are still there? Almost every Japanese person would feel guilty doing so.

THE MEANING OF FREE TIME

Free time doesn't have the same meaning in Japan. When you ask the ritual question, “Ogenki desuka?” (How are you?), the common answer is “genki” (I am okay), and also “isogashii” (busy). Being busy means something very positive: you have a lot of work; you are contributing to the success of the company, of society. But when talking to foreigners people are more open to admit they would like to have more free time and more holidays. Phil Stilwell, 51, single, university professor of economics and philosophy at Gakkushuin University is a good example of an alternative lifestyle in Tokyo. Phil came to Japan 13 years ago from the US. Though Japan is an expensive country, academic salaries are also high enough to give the option between work and free time and he finds the density of activities and adventures of Tokyo are probably second to none. Phil currently consciously chooses to limit his working time to 15 hours a week, exchanging time for money. “Many of my friends don’t have satisfactory lives because of way too many working hours,” Phil says. “People would look at me like I am lazy, though I spend rich days, between enriching my life with knowledge, and doing a lot of sports.” Japanese working life is outrageous, though young people would like to change. But a lot of pressure is coming from the older generations, who helped build the highly industrialized country. Many of Phil’s students, for example, wish to find a job in a foreign company, expecting a better work-life balance. Japan is also reinventing itself as a country of culture from a country of pure business like it was from the 50s to the 90s. The paradox is quite striking: A stressful work life imbalance in a harmonious society.•