Japan as a Professional III
There was a huge delay in writing this one. Sorry all. It’s been a hell of a month between COVID running rampant, work, and trying to make progress in my next book. Also I’m writing this after having a super good day. A major Twitch streamer and someone I’ve followed and respected for over a decade featured my book on his stream today and bought it. So basically I’m on cloud nine and am about to slam on the ultra negatives on working in Japan, and it feels weird. But hey! We’re here to be fair and so that people can get a balanced view.
Just as before, this is coming from the view of an Eikaiwa teacher living in the rural areas of Japan. The experience I had could be considered slightly outside of the norm in some ways and depending on you as a person and the company you join or work that you do, you may find everything here to be true or none of it to be true. With that in mind, let’s begin.
You are your company. I really mean this. It’s something that Martin struggles with in Okey-Dokey Sensei. It’s something that nearly every western person I met in Japan struggled with as well. Not all. I think there are some people who are very well suited to the suit. They wear their company’s pin with pride and they identify with the team they’ve joined. And you know what? More power to them. I’m not here to question that way of life, or that system as a whole. But for me, it got a little exhausting. One of the teachers I used to work with got a pretty big reprimand for losing their pin and having to replace it. My wife actually told me a story of a time she missed breakfast and decided to grab an onigiri and eat it on the train into work. Apparently someone saw the pin on her lapel and looked up her company name, then called in to report her. She got in trouble for this. When I first heard this story I actually laughed out loud. It’s something that is completely unimaginable to me but apparently somewhat common for Japanese. Anyway, just something to keep in mind.
You are your race. Oof, I feel like I’m going to get flak for this one, but as someone who is considering eventually staying in Japan permanently and becoming a citizen, it’s something that has to be said. Now, before I get too deep into this, this happens in America all the time. Especially since Covid there has been an absolute huge increase in open racism against all Asians, not just Chinese. People will be rude or make discriminatory comments in public to people who are also US citizens, but just happen to be of Asian descent. So before people bandwagon on Japan for being absolutely reprehensible and all that for how it treats non-ethnic Japanese citizens, take a good look in your mirrors.
THAT BEING SAID. It can get pretty rough sometimes. You’re constantly being judged. When there’s a crime perpetrated by a foreigner, it gets a lot of publicity. It enforces the old idea of the western barbarian and some people will gladly buy into that stereotype because they feel like we are an actual danger to Japanese society and tradition. Police will stop you for no better reason than you are not Japanese. I remember being stopped by two cops on the way to work who asked me for my ID’s and grilled me for 10 minutes on what I was doing there. I also remember being pulled over for riding my bike around and straight out being asked if I had stolen the bike I was riding. It was shitty, but usually when I responded to them in Japanese they backed off and even became oddly friendly.
I don’t want to encourage adversity to the police, so please don’t be belligerent to every beat cop and 2 bit detective just because they are there. But at the same time, knowing that the only reason I was being stopped was because I’m a 6’4 200+ pound white yeti of a man, was tiring after a while.
People still don’t sit next to me on the train. Okay this isn’t an actual big deal, but come on. Don’t be shy now. (This is never going to change.)
Your international marriage must be so wonderful. In most cases with Japanese + (insert non Japanese nationality here) couples, things work because the Japanese partner speaks pretty good English. In my case, I’m the one who speaks pretty good Japanese, which draws a little bit more attention on us when we go out. My wife and I rented a car while traveling a couple years ago and the lady at the counter kept staring at me like I was an alien. Eventually she (nervously) asked my wife who I was, to which she replied her husband. Immediate 180 in her attitude and all of a sudden I’m the most interesting person in the world. Is it that interesting? Is this just a Toyama thing? I may never know.
Sexism. Okay, 3 and 4 were lighthearted and silly, but lets get back on track here. As much as I might bitch about being stopped by cops or people being unfriendly to me, I am acutely aware that I have it easy compared to women in Japan. And not just foreign women, but Japanese women. Compared to a lot of other places, it’s hard to be a career-minded woman in Japan. I’m not saying it’s impossible. There were definitely some higher level managers in the company I worked for that were female, and the number 2 in command of the company my best friend in Fukui worked for was a woman as well. But these are pretty fringe cases. After a woman gets married, there’s definitely still a, “so when is she going to get pregnant and quit?” question that lingers around. And there’s a strong expectation that once the ring goes on, the job goes off.
Now, something I didn’t mention in my previous blog is the family. I fully support women who choose to be home with their young children as they grow. It’s something I didn’t have growing up. My mom ran her own business and my dad was a teacher. I was the youngest of four so growing up there wasn’t always much of a close relationship with my parents. I love both of them, don’t get me wrong, but I think having a parent at home to raise the kids instead of dumping them in daycare at every opportunity is not a bad thing.
Back on track, though. A quick google search about sexism in Japan will tell you all you need to know about this. It’s a huge subject, so I’ll stop here.
Television in Japan is a joke, and should be avoided at all cost. I’m going to cop out on this one and just recommend the reader look up Abroad in Japan’s YouTube channel. He has a video on TV in Japan that does a good job showing why it’s awful. With the exception of a few comedy routines and documentaries, there isn’t much I find worthwhile on TV in Japan.
It takes forever to get anything done, and no one has the authority to do anything by themselves. Ah, the quintessential Japanese bureaucracy post. But man, it isn’t just with the government. It’s everywhere. Ask someone in a company to do something and it takes them 10 minutes to tell you why they can’t do it, then another 10 to tell you how it might be possible, but not likely, then about 2 days after that for them to get approval from their boss, their bosses boss, and their bosses bosses boss, and only then you’ll get that hanko that allows you to get whatever it was you were trying to get.
Oh yeah, and everything has to happen by fax, because Japan is the only country in the world who still uses that technology.
日本語上手ですね。All I did was ask where the bathroom was. But thanks, I guess.
If you think you’ve apologized enough, say sorry another four or five times. Similarly, if you think you’ve said thank you enough, say thank you another ten to fifteen times. Did I tell you guys I got eviscerated by my boss once for being ungrateful for not saying thank you enough times to my 先輩 who was assisting me? It’s been 8 years and I’m still bitter about that to this day. The point is, repetition is important in Japan. In the States this would get annoying to the point of being insincere, but in Japan, it’s part of the game.
Okay boys and girls, I’m gonna end it there. I’ve got a chapter to finish tonight. I honestly wrote this when I was in a really good mood so maybe I was a bit too soft. Also, I spent a good amount of time in Part I of this series talking about negatives already, so I didn’t want to beat a dead horse. Remember to separate your garbage!
-CA
