Working in Japan | Full Interview Version

I've never worked in Japan. I mean I work in Japan, but I work from my home and have never needed Japanese language or workplace skills. But I do know people who have, so I set up interviews with 8 of them to see what their experiences were like. All of them worked in the "real" Japanese workplace, from small, modern companies to big traditional ones. Or in other words, they worked jobs that didn't involve teaching English. They needed to be proficient in the Japanese language and business culture. All the interviewees speak English, have lived outside of Japan for some period of time, and have University degrees. So these are not your typical Japanese workers, let's just be ultra clear on that. But I think they do help give insight into what it's like working in Japan and how it compares to working in a global or Western workplace.

**CORRECTION: It's illegal to not pay overtime, even for full-time employees. There can be some exceptions for management. So I was wrong in saying that full-time employees don't typically get paid overtime. Sorry for the screw up.

Special thanks to all those that all the interviewees that let me barrage them with questions.

Interviewees that are on YouTube:

Media Sources
→ Wakakozake
→ Kantaro the Sweet Tooth Salaryman
→ Love that makes you cry (いつかこの恋を思い出してきっと泣いてしまう)
→ Tokyo's Women Campaign (東京女子図鑑)
→ At Home Dad (アットホーム・ダッド)
→ The Big Short
→ That 70's Show
→ Boyz II Men - It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday

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[LifeWhereImFromX]

**CORRECTION: It's illegal to not pay overtime, even for full-time employees. There can be some exceptions for management. So I was wrong in saying that full-time employees don't typically get paid overtime. Sorry for the screw up.

[LifeWhereImFromX]

This might sound funny, but even in this hour long version there's a lot that I had to cut. I tried as much as possible to keep the essence of what everyone was saying. I'm by no means an expert on working in Japan, I never really have, but if you had questions after watching the video, please feel free to ask. If I heard someone talk about it, I'll try and share what they said.

[adrin]

In Belgium, where I am from, most people work 8-9am to 5pm. Working long hours is frowned upon since life is more important than work (that's at least the general feeling) although if you want to get promoted, you (of course) will need to work harder. Where I work, I have 36 days of paid leave each year. It's considered a waste to not take these days. After work drinks are always informal moments (not with your boss unless he/she's also a friend) and not considered mandatory or work hours. Most (if not almost all) companies give you extra-legal benefits like insurance (even hospital insurance), set money aside for your pension, home-work transportation (train, bus, car, ...). There's a gender gap still but when I was hired along with other men and women, we all got the same pay.

[tample]

Oh man I can't imagine how hard it was to edit this video... So much hours of interviews into a 1hr piece. I work in Japan at a Japanese company, and hearing these people's experiences make me feel quite lucky that my boss is progressive, that I go home on time, and that people value my opinions.

[PlayMyDarling]

In France and Germany, you HAVE to take your entire vacation. If you haven't used all your days, your HR department will remind you to take them. Legally, you can sue a company for not letting you take all of your days. I don't think, though, this is the reason for HR and your bosses to remind you of taking your days (that would be a very American way of treating this subject). There is simply a kind of self-evident tone when talking about vacation, because it's a right everyone has and everybody needs days off. And about the "burden" you put on other people, well, it's normal to arrange with colleagues who will be taking over for you while you're gone because you will take over for them when they are.

[TheEleventeen]

Thank you for creating and posting this. This is not just an ordinary video. I see this as a very good quality documentary. I really appreciate the effort you put into making it. And I appreciate all those wonderful people being interviewed.

[Lee-mluw]

This is the most in-depth documentary I've seen about what to expect for working in Japan. I can't thank you and everyone involved for the information and experiences provided in this video.

[matheusgoncalves]

I'm from Brazil and here even if you have a university degree is hard to find a job. And generally, it doesn't pay well. Here we work much and don't get enough for it, that is why a lot of people want to go abroad.

[lynxlive]

Worked IT in japan for a bit, they are extremely dated in technology. Almost feels they avoid anything that can be a risk which sadly put them behind on the technology, upside to this is that you can build tools in automation and never actually have to update scripts or worry about a lot of the issues that you'd get from western countries. With automation as a systems administrator I was able cut out the bulk of the time consuming stuff from the helpdesk I was able to only work about 2 hr day. A sysadmin does not have the same type of role or really make that many changes within the environment because nothing really ever changes. Easy money if you're good at what you do. After setting up remote access for myself I never showed up to the office, automated basically every aspect of my job and just wait until monitoring sent me a email for a major issue.

[genericgreensquid]

Thank you SO MUCH for this video! It is incredibly helpful.
In hungary, things aren't looking great job-wise, so I want to study/work/live abroad after I finish HS. I'm glad you made this video. My conclusion is that Japan's workforce is strict, sometimes a bit unfair, but changing. I don't expect such a different country like Japan to have the same types of work, of course, but it would be very good if it improves.

I hope that in a decade, things are good and this aging population issue (which, from what I have seen (not an expert), is one of the consequences of japan's work culture, so for a lot of people, there is no time to raise a kid there) is mostly resolved. Thank you once again!

[forcom]

Made the mistake of watching the “short” one first. But I’m glad I watched this as well! Thanks for all your hard work.

[micrasystems]

I'm in Canada. Actually my family originally moved here from Japan but this was a long time ago. I was actually born here. I work in Engineering consulting. Roughly 9am - 4:30pm, 10 minute drive home, mon - fri and started with 15 vacation days or 3 weeks a year paid time off. Vacation time goes up gradually each year so it' reached 20 days after 5 years, and 25 weeks after 10 years. And the pay is roughly $60k - $100+k / year it depends on which company and location. Cost of living also depends on which part of Canada. I would say we're very lucky here compared to when I talk to my cousins in Japan. When I visited Japan to met up with some of them after their work. In my mind I was thinking of a 6pm dinner but in reality it turned out to be a 9pm drink haha.

[Wolfswind]

I can only report my observations but I think it's interesting how the education system works and how students work...
The education system is very pricy if you want to go to a good university (cram school, the entrance exams for university etc.) and if you don't go to a good university people will treat you differently since you basically pay for your degree. Here we have two universities right next to each other. One is private and one is from the state. People from the private uni can take classes at the state one but they are still looked down on :/
Working hours are long and most of my friends are always busy in their labs. They don't have a spring vacation and I get told they even sleep in the lab. They often can't leave before their sensei does and their sensei's work really long hours, even if they have family... plus the students often need part time jobs to pay of loans. Some jobs in this are only pay 750¥ so about 7$ or 5, 7€. To compare these earning in some way... an apartment here can cost around 30.000¥ per month without gas, etc. etc.

[stex]

Many Asian companies would never explicitly say that you have to stay til certain hour, however, that's a passive-aggressive way of giving you enough ropes to hang yourself. Most employees would not leave until the boss leaves, and no one want to be the first to leave while other coworkers are staying glued to their desks. It might be fine if the economy is hot, but right now, most employees are holding on to their jobs with dear life and no one wants to risk it by appearing to be less "diligent" than her colleagues... And this often creates the phenomenon of staying late for the sake of doing so without actually producing any tangible output. So they stay very late, spend long hours at work, but the productivity and the efficiency are actually deplorably low compared to the Americans. Have you seen how some of the Japanese companies/organizations operate? Digitalization is like a foreign concept to them... And the fact the Japanese still embrace Yahoo! and fax machines should tell you something.

[panda]

Great video, I think it'd help a lot if you sometimes show a text overlay again, reminding the viewer the job/position/name of that perso being interviewed. Not everytime, but at least 2-3 times in the beginning and may be 1-2 times more after about 20 minutes? Not nowing any of those 8 persons meant, I couldn't remember the education+job of each person in one swoop, but knowing it is beneficial to put their statements into perspective.

[bellahime]

I've been to 3 different companies and I can say that I loved working here in Japan. I've been able to have many friends. Most of co-workers are nice. Of course there are also not so nice. Also I was able to learn a lot of knowledge in my field. All in all, the experience is great.

[martijndekok]

I think that work culture is one of the few things in Japan that I would find very hard to get used to.
Coming from The Netherlands, when it comes to work, we are pretty much the polar opposite in many ways.
Even compared to most western countries we have a really generous work-life balance and communicate really direct and non-hierarchical.
Most of the time you can address your boss by their first name and you can have a critical opinion about their ideas.
And besides having quite a number of paid vacation days, we also have free days for parents of young children for both fathers and mothers.

[IbnShahid]

I’d have a bit of fun working in a Japanese office where you’re expected to audibly greet the whole office when you arrive and say goodbye to the office at the end of the day. I’d gradually increase the volume of my greetings/goodbyes each day, just to see what sort of decibels I can reach before my colleagues tell me to knock it off. Sometimes you’ve just got to make your own entertainment....

[johnmarkrodriguez]

i love this long version, I am watching this again especially in this time of covid19 pandemic where our working hours stretch to over 12 to 13 hours without overtime pay, i can really relate to their statements now...

[Magnus]

Yuta is a good teacher. Thanks to him i understand and a much bigger understanding of the Japanese langue