How many hours do people work in Japan. Japanese corporate culture: working late, low productivity, no vacations or sick days

Work in Japan. It is possible and necessary!

Japan is currently among the countries that are quite tempting for those people who would like to work in one of the most highly developed countries in the world and at the same time have a very decent reward. After all, Japan is one of the very few countries where in a month, if you are a specialist in a specialty that is especially in demand here, you can earn an amount comparable to an annual income in Germany or France, and it’s not even worth talking about Italy or Spain.

However, finding a job in Japan is both difficult and easy. Simple - because there are official government programs designed to attract foreign work force. We will talk about them below. Difficult - because almost always applicants are required to know Japanese. So the proverb that we have, "it's easier to hang yourself than to learn Japanese," seems to be losing its relevance. Now it can sound like this: "It is better to learn Japanese than to hang yourself in your homeland."

So, if you still overcome the innate panic fear of the Japanese language, then consider yourself very lucky. There is a government program for employment in Japan JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching Program), which provides an opportunity to get a job in Japan for specialists with knowledge of the Japanese language, as well as for athletes and creative teams. In addition, there are several internship programs for specialists through the Ministry of Education of Japan, the Japan Association for International Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, as well as through the Japan Foundation.

Finding a job in Japan through government organizations is the most effective and sufficient affordable way employment. However, the very fact of making a decision about the need for employment in Japan is almost as important as answering the questions: where, how and why? Therefore, before starting action get to know the country where you are going to work.

1. Work mentality

The Japanese are adherents of centuries of established traditions. If we talk about traditions in the field of work, then the most important qualities of the Japanese in this sense are loyalty, courtesy, personal responsibility and the ability to work effectively within a certain work group. For the Japanese, it is much more important whether you can be useful by working like a cog in one big coherent mechanism than as an individual. Singles living on the principle of "my hut is on the edge" in Japan are not something that they do not like, they simply have no chance of success. If you are a highly educated but ambitious person, you will be a much less valuable employee in the eyes of your management than a person with less education, but more patient and open to compromise. In general, if you ask a Japanese who he respects more, the son of a billionaire Mazeyoshi or a Mitsubishi engineer, a person who works 60 hours a week and has a much lower income, almost every Japanese will choose an engineer. And do you know why? Because the Japanese, by virtue of his genetically formed corporatism, impresses people working for large companies more. Also, the Japanese don't believe in making money. simple ways and if you don't work hard for it, you'll never earn their respect.

2. Working day

The working day in Japan begins with a trip to the place of work. Many Japanese refuse to have a car in order to save money, prefer not to have their own transport, because its maintenance costs an average of $ 10,000 per month. And who needs a personal car in a country with the most the best system public transport in the world? For savings, in turn, you have to pay. In large cities, for most people, this means tedious, over an hour journeys to work on trains filled to 200% of their design capacity, where reading a newspaper or a book is as problematic as rolling cucumbers on the Mir space station at the time of docking. . But despite this daily morning ritual with a touch of masochism, few Japanese would think of complaining or taking out their irritation on a neighbor.

Arriving at work, the first thing you will need to do is to take part in the so-called "ritual of the beginning of the day", which consists of not only greeting your colleagues and superiors correctly by Japanese standards, but also chanting various slogans and inspirational sayings. After that, you can get to work. Most Japanese work much more than their Western counterparts, despite the existence of a law that limits the amount of overtime. Most companies officially work from 9 am to 6 pm. However, no one will be surprised by the fact that employees in serious companies come to work at least 30 minutes earlier and stay after the end of the working day for several hours. And they do it on their own initiative. In general, when solving the task, the Japanese, as mentioned above, acts as one of the links of one big chain. For him, the main thing is to work in such a way that the task assigned to the working group, of which he is a member, is completed in optimal mode and for the minimum possible time. And since this is so, each individual is rooting for a faster and quality solution task assigned to his group, and by virtue of solidarity with his colleagues, he always strives to provide all possible assistance and support to the other members of the group, which they may need.

For the same reason, many Japanese rarely make full use of their holidays. They know that they are responsible for others and therefore cannot afford to relax for long. As a response to loyalty, many Japanese companies traditionally take time out during the week in spring, summer, and New Year's Eve, thus giving their employees the opportunity to legally take a break. In addition, they often practice joint trips to nature, to picnics, which has a very consolidating effect on all employees of the company.

3. "Labor hierarchy"

In Japan, very much attention is paid to sign language. Sometimes this language is more significant than the one we are all used to using. If you do not know the basics of the Japanese culture of communicating through sign language, then you probably will not be able to achieve any significant success while working in Japan. The attitude of the Japanese towards you will range from simple disapproval to outright disdain.

It will make you go through many difficult moments and can even lead to serious depression, which will jeopardize your very stay in Japan.

It is especially important to have some awareness of these issues when participating in business and social meetings. The Japanese, for example, exchange business cards even before handshakes and bows. Any negotiations begin with middle managers. And it would be the height of bad manners on your part to jump over their heads and try to resolve your issues with their superiors directly. When building relationships within the enterprise where you work, you should take into account the fact that in Japan all relationships, both business and non-business, are built on the principles of hierarchy. Older people have a higher status than younger people, men are considered higher than women, and older employees are naturally more important than younger ones. Therefore, when you write a letter or any kind of request, you need to contact a Japanese colleague with the same status as you. When conducting business conversations, you need to focus on establishing an atmosphere of friendliness, harmony and trust. Before starting a conversation, it is always necessary to talk politely for ten minutes on general topics in order to establish contact with the interlocutors. Due to the fact that the Japanese traditionally tend to avoid confrontation, they often resort to some polite forms of refusal. For example, instead of saying "no", a Japanese would usually say "That would be very difficult" or something like that. After receiving such an answer, you should not insist on continuing the consideration of the issue in which you are interested, for this will be regarded as an indicator of bad manners.

4. Restaurant

rare a business meeting does not end at the restaurant. Don't say "no" when an alcoholic drink is offered. An empty glass, like an empty plate, is the equivalent of asking for another drink. If you do not want to drink, in order not to offend the inviting party, just keep your glass half full - this will be considered a polite refusal to drink alcohol. Leave not a large number of food on your plate, otherwise it will be possible to think of you that you have escaped from a hungry land, that is, you are so poor that you cannot even feed yourself. Never pour your own alcohol. This should be done by the waiter or your companion. When you are offered something to eat, it would be appropriate to politely hesitate before making a decision. If you receive a compliment during a toast, be sure to respond with a counter, much larger compliment.

Take a compliment in your address with quiet modesty. Remember that even if a Japanese person respects and appreciates you exorbitantly, he will always pay attention to whether vanity is present in your character. In Japan, modesty has always been held in high esteem.

5. Gifts

Gifts in Japan are so common and so important that almost all Japanese families allocate a special item in their budgets for them. It is customary to give gifts as often as possible and as generously as possible. And be sure that the Japanese will adore you as a result as their own parents, and you will gain friends in their person, whose help and patronage in some cases will bring you dividends incomparable with the value of the gift you gave them.

6. Place of residence and work

As a rule, big cities offer the largest number of vacancies, but living in big cities has its drawbacks. The labor market here is quite crowded, therefore, as a result of the competition that has arisen, tariff rates are falling. For example, a teacher in English earns an average of $30 an hour working in Tokyo and $40 an hour working somewhere in the periphery. In addition, the cost of living in large cities is much higher than in the periphery and eats up most earnings. However, on the other hand, life big city provides an incomparably richer experience in the field of cultural life.

Throughout Japan, there is a strong demand for two categories of workers: IT- Professionals and teachers of English. Bank workers and financiers are also in great demand.

7. Dates and periods

There are terms that are most favorable for employment in Japan, and they should be taken into account depending on what specialty you are going to work in, for how long, and in which institution or enterprise.

There are a number of holidays in Japan throughout the year during which most commercial enterprises and educational institutions are closed. Therefore, when arriving in Japan, you should keep this in mind so as not to be in front of behind closed doors the company in which you intend to work. These periods include: Oshogatsu- Japanese New Year (December 25 to January 5), Golden Week (April 29 to May 5) - the season of celebrating several holidays, starting on April 29 - the birthday of the former Emperor Hirohito (now known as Vegetation Day), then comes 3 May - Japanese Constitution Day, and finally, May 5 - Children's Day. During this week, most schools and businesses are closed, and many Japanese use this week for travel and recreation. During this period, tickets for planes, trains, as well as places in hotels are sold out, almost a year in advance.

obon- Japanese Festival of the Dead (August 10 - August 15) - the time of many festivals taking place throughout Japan.

We have listed far from full list main traditions and national characteristics characteristic of Japan. In fact, they are inexhaustible. And, studying them more closely, you will very soon find that you have fallen in love with this country, because it leaves no one indifferent. So, get down to business! Learn the language, establish business contacts with Japanese institutions and enterprises, expand them, study the Japanese people, show interest in their culture and be sure that your efforts will be appreciated. Soon you will enjoy Japanese hospitality, earn a lot of money and discover in yourself a lot of virtues that have been dormant for the time being.

Today I decided to collect and publish data on how long working day, working week and work time in different countries peace, as well as to analyze how these indicators affect the level of economic development of countries. This idea prompted me to end recently in Russia, the so-called. “New Year holidays”, during which many employees rested.

There are many other holidays that are not celebrated in other countries, and I have heard opinions more than once that Russians have too much rest, but they need to work, they say. After digging into the statistics, I came to the conclusion that all this is an absolute delusion: in fact, Russians are among the people who work the most in the world! Well, residents of neighboring CIS countries are also not far away. And now more…

There is such an international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which is engaged in the calculation and comparison of statistical data in various fields. So, among other things, she counts the hours actually worked (including official part-time jobs and overtime).

According to the OECD, in 2015 the average Russian resident spent at work, attention, 1978 hours! This means that he worked 247 8-hour working days, that is, he worked all the working days of the year according to the norm, without reduced days and no vacation at all. And this is only according to official data! Is it worth mentioning how much people recycle unofficially?

According to this indicator, Russia in 2015 ranked 6th in the world. The top five countries where workers worked the most hours looked like this:

1. Mexico.
2. Costa Rica.
3. South Korea.
4. Greece.
5. Chile.

Please note that these are predominantly “middle” and “below middle” countries, not the most developed, but not the most backward either. In general, it is not entirely clear why many Asian countries did not get into this TOP, where it is considered good form to work hard, people basically do not rest and do not take vacations. However, this is the report. Do you know which countries, according to the OECD, had the least hours of work?

1. Germany.
2. Netherlands.
3. Norway.
4. Denmark.
5. France.

In general, the entire top ten is occupied by European countries. For example, the working time of an average German resident in 2015 was 1371 hours, which is one third less than in Russia! In fact, all European countries included in the top 10 countries with the minimum hours worked are at a very high level development.

Where did such a difference between the hours worked by Russians and residents come from? Western Europe? There are 3 main reasons:

1. Shorter working day and working week.
2. Longer holidays.
3. A more rigorous approach to processing, working after hours.

Moreover, interestingly, the length of the working day and the working week does not have the strongest influence on the actual hours worked per year. Because according to the results of the OECD study, it is clear that countries with approximately the same length of the working day and working week can take diametrically opposite positions in terms of the average worker's actual working hours.

Let's look at the length of the working day and the working week in different countries of the world:

• Netherlands is the minimum working week in the world. The working day is on average 7.5 hours, the working week is 27 hours.
• France, Ireland- Working week 35 hours.
• Denmark- working day 7.3 hours, working week - 37.5 hours. It is noteworthy that at the same time, the average hourly wage in Denmark is 30% higher than in the EU as a whole - 37.6 euros per hour.
• Germany- 38 hour work week. Despite the fact that the Germans are traditionally considered workaholics, the annual working time is the minimum in the world!
• Russia Ukraine– working day 8 hours, working week – 40 hours. However, due to overtime (even official!) and short, often non-observed holidays, these countries are among the top ten countries with the longest hours worked per year.
• USA– maximum working week – 40 hours. In fact, in the private sector, workers work an average of 34.6 hours per week.
• Japan- 40 hour work week. Everyone has heard about the workaholism of the Japanese, however, the official working week there is no different from the Russian one. In this country, it is customary to unofficially stay at work to move up the career ladder; this does not fall into official statistics. In fact, the work week often lasts up to 50 hours.
• United Kingdom– working week – 43.7 hours.
• Greece- working week - 43.7 hours, actual hours worked - the maximum in Europe.
• Mexico, Thailand, India– working week up to 48 hours, six days.
• China– the average working day is 10 hours, the average working week is 60 hours. Lunch time in China is 20 minutes, and the average vacation is 10 days.

In addition to the length of the working day and extracurricular work, the duration of the vacation also affects the total hours worked, in European countries things are also better than in Russia, Ukraine and other countries of the post-Soviet space.

So, for example, the average duration of paid vacation in different countries of the world is:

• Austria– 6 weeks vacation (from 25 years old);
• Finland- vacation up to 8 weeks (including "bonuses" up to 18 days for a long service at one enterprise);
• France- up to 9.5 weeks of vacation;
• UK, Germany– 4 weeks vacation;
• European average– 25 working days of vacation (5 weeks);
• Russia– 4 weeks vacation (28 days);
• Ukraine– 24 days of vacation;
• USA- there are no legislative norms for the duration of vacation - at the discretion of the employer;
• Japan- 18 days a year, taking a vacation is considered bad form, on average, the Japanese rest 8 days a year;
• India– 12 days a year;
• China– 11 days a year;
• Mexico– 6 days a year;
• Philippines– 5 days a year (minimum).

As for the “stretched” New Year holidays, in Western countries they actually get even longer. Although there are not so many official holidays there, in reality, since December 20, business activity there has practically been reduced to zero, since December 25, almost all enterprises are closed, and open from January 9-10.

In general, if we consider the trend, then working hours in most countries of the world are gradually decreasing. In the early 1900s, people in many countries gave 3,000 hours a year to work (!), Now this figure is 1,800 hours on average worldwide, and in the most productive and economically developed countries it is even lower.

Back in 1930, economist John Keynes, the author of the famous theory of Keynesianism, predicted that in 100 years, in 2030, the working week will last an average of 15 hours. Of course, he was most likely wrong in the numbers, but not in the trend: working hours have indeed been steadily declining since then.

If you analyze the data on labor provided by the OECD, you can clearly see that for a strong economy, you need to work not hard, but efficiently. They also have such an indicator as the productivity of working hours, so, for example, if we compare two European countries with the maximum and minimum working hours - Greece and Germany, then in Germany productivity is 70% higher than in Greece. This example perfectly demonstrates the now popular expression: “you need to work not 12 hours a day, but with your head!”.

Fans of workaholism often cite as an example Asian countries, such as China, India, where working hours are very long, and these countries demonstrate high rates of economic growth. I propose to look at Asia a little from the other side.

It is in Asia that there is special term“karoshi”, which means “death by overwork”. Because such cases are far from uncommon there: people literally die in their workplaces, since their body cannot withstand such heavy load. For example, in Japan, official karoshi statistics are kept, and many believe that they are underestimated.

In general, I think that in terms of the length of the working day, the working week and working hours in general, we need to focus on Europe, and not on Asia. The economies of European countries perfectly demonstrate that labor productivity is much more important than hours worked. Here are just the most important advantages of a shorter working day and working week:

• A person is less tired at work, which means that he can work more efficiently;
• Limited working time leaves no room for distraction on the so-called. - the employee is fully involved in the work process;
• The less working time, the more a person can concentrate on work;
• The employee spends more time at home, with his family, with relatives and friends, devotes more time to his hobbies, rests, which means that he has more energy and strength for work;
• The person who works less less problems with health, which means that he again has more strength and energy to do the job.

Summing up all of the above, I can conclude: we need to look at positive examples and keep the course towards reducing the working day, the working week, and working time in general. To begin with, at least exclude constant processing from practice. Because when - this, I assure you, will not lead to anything good, neither for employers, nor for employees. normal civilized labor Relations will definitely contribute to increasing labor efficiency, and it will be better for everyone.

In conclusion, for persuasiveness, I will give personal example: I spend less than half of my traditional working time working on this site. And it didn't make him any worse, did he? And achieved quite good. That is, in order to, it is not at all necessary to work a lot. Be sure to work efficiently!

Now you know what the working day, working week and working hours are like in the countries of the world, what results it brings, you see my conclusions and you can draw your own. I hope that this information will be useful to you, perhaps it will make you take a different look at things that seemed obvious.

Take care of your time - it is your limited and exhaustible resource. See you at!

There is a stereotype that it is good to work in Japan. This stereotype comes from our compatriots who work by invitation in foreign companies where the Japanese try to adapt to the level and style of foreigners. Meanwhile, the traditional working system Japan is arranged in a peculiar way, and it is quite difficult to exist in it. That is why there are not so many foreigners building a career in classic Japanese companies. About how there is an average office worker in Japan an employee tells Epson Marina Matsumoto.

Tokyo. View from the 45th floor observation deck. Photo by Swe.Var (http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/swe-var/)

Dress code

Of course, the conditions depend on the specific company, but in principle the dress code in Japan is much stricter than in Russia. Failure to follow its rules serious consequences for an employee, up to instant dismissal.

In a traditional Japanese company, they always wear a black suit, regardless of the weather, even if it is +40 outside. The Japanese endure both heat and cold calmly, as they go through a very harsh school of hardening the body in childhood. Recently Released new law allowed to wear short-sleeve shirts to work. This is due to the forced energy savings, in which even in extreme heat, air conditioners are not always used in offices.

In some companies, women are not allowed to wear fitted suits - they must be absolutely straight. The skirt must cover the knees.

Women's accessories are also prohibited. I have a big serious company, it is known internationally. But I work where mostly Japanese people work. At my workplace, I was only allowed to wear a cross - under my clothes so that it was not visible, and a wedding ring.

Makeup should be invisible. Japanese women love to make up brightly, blush their cheeks strongly, almost all of them have false eyelashes. But at work, a woman should be as less attractive to men as possible.

In some places, women are required to wear only short hair that does not cover their ears. Hair color must be black. If by nature you, for example, are blonde, you will have to dye your hair.

Men except long hair, you can not wear a beard and mustache. It's an unspoken rule that everyone knows. The stable image of the Yakuza interferes ( traditional form organized crime in Japan).

Subordination

When I got a job, I signed a bunch of documents, where I assured that I would not discuss anything with clients and colleagues other than work: neither the weather, nor nature. I do not have the right to share my “personal data” at work - who is my husband, how am I doing ... At home, I do not have the right to talk about my work. I do not have a secret job, but it is accepted and stipulated in my contract.

Only work at work

On the workplace they take only what is needed for work: for me, these are documents and a pen. I can’t take my bag, wallet and phone, it remains at the checkpoint.

There is a favorite proverb in Russia: "Done the deed - walk boldly." In the workplace in Russia, the main thing is that you fulfill the plan for today. In Japan, “plans for today” are of no interest to anyone. You came to work, and you have to work on it.

How the Japanese slow down the workflow

In Russia we all know that wage depends on the results of your work. If you work hard, you get nothing. If you work hard, you get bonuses and promotions. You've done everything, you can leave early or ask for an additional task to earn more.

In Japan, they pay by the clock. Almost all Japanese take overtime. But often this results in the fact that they stretch one task that can be done in two hours - for a week. The deadlines set by the company also do not always correspond to the level of complexity of the work. The Japanese will poke around for hours, we think they work like sleepy flies, but they think they do the job "thoroughly". They incredibly slow down the workflow, so it’s hard for us to work with them.

And this, by the way, is one of the main reasons why their economy was not in the best condition. With this system of payment by the hour, they have trapped themselves. After all, in fact, the work is not designed for quality, but for the number of hours spent in the office.

Long lengthy conversations

We all know that “brevity is the sister of talent”, but in Japan, brevity is the narrow-mindedness of the mind. The Japanese cannot speak briefly and to the point. They launch into long and lengthy explanations that are aimed at making even a narrow-minded person understand what they are talking about. Meetings can last incredible amount hours. The Japanese believe that if they talk about the same thing for a long time and in excessive detail, then they respect the interlocutor.

Society stratification

It takes a lot of work and organization to grow rice. Therefore, historically, Japan has developed a system with a very narrow specialization of labor and a rigid stratification of society. Everyone has his own duty and his own place in the life and production process.

Japanese communities have always been well organized. For example, a samurai never cooked his own food, he could easily die of hunger if the peasantry had not rescued him.

As a result of such a mentality, it is very difficult for any Japanese to make an independent decision that is not inherent in his status. They cannot take on an elementary responsibility, at least somehow beyond the scope of their ordinary habitual affairs. To put a comma or not to put it is a problem for half a day. The preparation of elementary documents is a series of endless, very slow consultations. Moreover, the necessity of such consultations is striking. If an employee nevertheless takes the liberty of making a decision not based on status, then everyone in the hierarchical chain associated with him will receive a reprimand. This is Eastern despotism in action: "I - small man, I am a simple peasant, and I have to do only the work assigned to me.

Again, everything is understandable: Japan is a small country with a large overpopulation, it needs strict frameworks and rules. To survive in Japan, you need to clearly know: my border is here, and this is the border of another person, I must respect it. Nobody goes beyond their limits. If a Japanese man marries them, then literally get lost.

Russia has a huge territory, expanse, open spaces. We are not chained. We are free. A Russian person can do anything. And the Shvets, and the reaper, and the igretz on the pipe ... - this is primarily about us, Russians!

Same as everyone

Interestingly, in Japan you don't have to show your difference or superiority in mind. You can not show your uniqueness, feature. This is not welcome. All must be the same. Since childhood, uniqueness has been burned out there with a red-hot iron, so Japan will not give the world either Einstein or Mendeleev.

The famous Japanese technology is a myth. As a rule, these are ideas that are not created by the Japanese. What they are good at is deftly picking up and improving in time. And we, on the contrary, can ingeniously create and forget ...

To survive in Japanese society, you have to be like everyone else. In Russia, on the contrary, if you are the same as everyone else, you will get lost. New ideas are constantly needed to master and fill a large space.

Career

In the classic Japanese campaign, careers are built for a long time. Career growth depends on age, not merit. A young specialist, even a very talented one, will occupy an insignificant position, work a lot and for low salary because he just arrived. Because of this organization of the workflow, it is increasingly difficult for Japanese companies to compete in the international market. Yes, there is the concept of Japanese quality, but this no longer saves them, because business is conducted in too Japanese a way.

The salary

The official salary in Japan is high. But with the deduction of all taxes, which amount to almost 60%, they receive an average of a thousand dollars in their hands. Young people get even less. At 60, the salary is already a very decent amount.

Vacation and weekends

There are no holidays in Japan. Weekends are Saturday or Sunday. And depending on the company, you are entitled to a few extra days off a year. Let's say you have 10 days, but you can't take them right away. They need to be broken. It happens that you need to take one day off a week - and go somewhere on business. In my campaign, I have to give a month's notice so that everyone can cooperate and replace me. In some companies, these terms are even longer. It is problematic to leave work for an unexpected incident.

If you get sick on Monday and think not to go to work, then you will not be understood. Everyone goes to work with a temperature.

Holidays can become days off: the day of remembrance of the dead - Obon, in mid-August. But young specialist there is no such possibility, it will work for the first two years without extra days off.

On the New Year given 1-3 days. If they fall on Saturday-Sunday, then no one, like in Russia, will transfer them to Monday-Tuesday.

There is also a “golden week” in May, when several state and religious holidays. My husband worked all days, I had 3 days off.

Working day

Standard working day from 9 am to 7 pm. But most importantly, you should keep in mind that if it is indicated that the working day is from nine, then you cannot come right to this time. Even if you arrive at 8.45, it is considered that you are late. You need to come to work at least half an hour in advance, some come in an hour. It is believed that a person needs time to tune in to the working mood, to prepare for work.

The end of the official working day does not mean that you can go home. It is not customary to leave before your boss. If he is late at the office for two hours, then you are late, and this will not be considered overtime. Your personal circumstances are your personal problems, which, as I already mentioned, are not discussed with colleagues under the contract I signed.

Informal communication

In Japan, there is such a thing - "nomikai" - "drink together", reminiscent of a Russian corporate party. Somewhere "nomikai" takes place every day, in my campaign - twice a week. Of course, you can refuse, but they will "look askance" at you. Why drink? - because in Japan there is a positive attitude towards alcohol. Shinto involves making offerings to certain gods in the form of alcohol. Japanese doctors believe that drinking alcohol daily is beneficial. Nobody talks about doses.

The Japanese do not know how to drink, and, as a rule, get very drunk. The booze itself will cost you nothing, either the boss or the company always pays for it.

Now, in order to further stimulate visits to bars with colleagues, employees have even begun to pay for “nomikai”. It's part of Japanese culture to work together and drink together. It turns out that almost 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, you spend only with your work colleagues.

In addition to nomikai, you need to drink with customers, with partners, with officials with whom the company is connected.

Yes, in Russia there is something similar, but it is completely incomparable with the Japanese alcohol scale. And then in Russia the attitude towards alcohol is much more negative.

Now you can imagine the whole picture. The Japanese leaves the house at 7 am. At work, he exists within the rigid framework of his status. After the end of the official working day, he takes extra hours because he needs to feed his family. He then goes out to drink with colleagues and returns home from there at 2 am, most likely drunk. He works on Saturdays. He sees his family only on Sundays. And until the evening, he can either sleep or drink all day off, because he is in terrible stress from such a cruel regime.

In Japan, there is a separate concept - "death by processing." This is a very common case when people die at their desk or, unable to withstand the load, commit suicide. For Japan, this is in the order of things, an event to which there is practically no reaction. People will even resent if someone's suicide interfered with their work. Everyone thinks: “Why didn’t you do it somewhere in a quiet, inconspicuous place, because of you I won’t come to work on time!!”.

It must be understood that Japanese society did not sit and come up with these rules for itself. Everything has evolved over the centuries due to the geographical and historical uniqueness of Japan. Probably everyone will agree that they had good reasons for such a mobilization of society, a constant readiness for something. A small territory, a lot of people, wars, earthquakes, tsunamis - everything can collapse at any moment. Therefore, the Japanese from childhood learn to work in a group, learn to survive on their piece of land. In essence, all Japanese education is not based on teaching a person something, developing him, it teaches him to be a real Japanese, to be competitive precisely in Japanese society ... Not everyone can endure such a life, because it is really hard.

AT this moment I I am in Thailand, and people, having learned that we came from Japan, begin to complain that we left this country for nothing, that their acquaintances live happily in Japan and earn tens of thousands of dollars a month by honest work, thus knocking down vital capital.

I won’t argue, Japan is a very convenient country in some ways, but beautiful in some ways, and quite someone can live in Japan absolutely happily, and for someone it’s even their favorite country.

But one thing I know for sure. Making money in Japan is not easy. This can be done only with hard work, and even then, they will not pay much.

Like me, immediately upon arrival in Japan, I rushed to look for a job, and soon successfully got a job at a Japanese factory for the production of set meals - bento.
It was an Arubaite job — that is, not a full-time job, but from 9:00 to 16:00, and not necessarily every day. Payment for the number of hours worked is very modest: 800 yen / hour.

Even at the interview, we agreed on how many days I would work. I insisted on six (no weekends at all, and that's what I wanted), but the manager said I would work five days a week.

Immediately I was given a work suit, reminiscent of a spacesuit.

In the morning in the locker room, I changed my clothes to a completely white work suit: white pants with boot covers, a jacket with a wrap-around collar that covers the entire neck, a hair band, a hair net on top of the bandage, and a hood on top of the net. The shift attendant checked that not a single hair was escaping from under the hats, we cleaned the top of the suit with adhesive tape, rinsed our hands with alcohol, put on white slippers and went into the workshop.

The room was 8 degrees warm and a lot ultraviolet lamps. Eight degrees began to be felt immediately, in fact, working with food in Japan is working in a refrigerator. The white cotton suit did little to help.
They put on medical masks on their faces, rubber gloves on their hands and stood at the conveyor.
The essence of the work: a box with recesses rides along the conveyor, each worker puts in a box a piece of carrot, mushroom, cutlet, rice, to each his own. At the end of the conveyor belt, ready-assembled lunch boxes leave.
In the beginning, I was given the responsibility of putting the pieces of carrots in, while professional workers two to four items are placed in the cells at a time.
The tape went very quickly before my eyes, after 15 minutes I started to feel sick. Soon they changed the type of dinner, now I got the mushrooms. All shift actions were performed by Japanese grannies running. Again, the tape went at a terrible pace.

I do not remember how I waited for the end of the working day. On the second day, I couldn't go to work. The whole body broke. Eyes hurt from ultraviolet radiation. Luckily, you could refuse.
A day later, I went to work again, and the next I rested again. As a result, I half-heartedly went to the factory twice a week.
And it's still a heroic deed. Many foreigners, and sometimes the Japanese, could not stand the first hour and left.

All monotonous work was done while standing. There was a break for lunch - exactly half an hour, taking into account changing clothes. During work, there was not a second of free time, no one sat down to rest, no one went to the toilet, this was not welcome.

Almost all work in Japan, except for an office job, is done while standing. Cashiers, salespeople, factory workers spend all day on their feet. Often, on the way to work, I saw a woman standing behind the counter through the large glass window of an expensive store, and I never saw customers in that store. When, later, I myself began to work in a Russian souvenir shop, I also had to stand all day, and at the moment when there was no work and there were no buyers, I just stood idle until the working day was over.
Work in the factory was much harder.

Every working day, the whole shift, I looked at the opposite wall with a clock, and when the hand finally crawled to four, often the work was not finished, and I had to stay longer. It happened that the work ended at four, but the shift had a choice: work more or go home. Most often, the shift (Japanese grannies) decided to stay to earn some money, so everyone from the group had to stay!

The most amazing thing is that the leaders of our shift were elderly clockwork Japanese old women and young cheerful women from Thailand and the Philippines! The Japanese are hard workers in life, but residents of hot countries usually have a lazy lifestyle.

I don't know, maybe if I had worked at the factory for years like they did, maybe I would have gotten used to it. But soon I managed to find a better job in, it was a salvation.

So, the eight-hour working day came to an end. The most important work done for today, and everything else can wait until the morning. Almost every employee thinks so when leaving the office in the evening. But not the millions of employees of Japanese corporations, for whom leaving work to be home in time for dinner can lead to serious accusations of lack of loyalty to their company.

According to 2016 data, almost a quarter of Japanese employers allow their employees to work 80 hours a month. Moreover, these overtime working hours are not paid, because employees go to this own will. In addition to everything, the Japanese do not rest for the time set for them by law, and if they take their legal paid vacation in full, they feel guilty.

How many work in different countries of the world?

The latest labor market surveys by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) cover the number of official working hours per year in 38 countries around the world. It is noteworthy that countries such as Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Luxembourg are among the last positions in the list, while the leaders are Mexico, Costa Rica and South Korea.

Table of working hours in some countries of the world

The country	Working hours per year	The country	Working hours per year
Mexico		Spain
Costa Rica		United Kingdom
South Korea		Australia
Greece		Finland
Russia		Sweden
Poland		Austria
Israel		Switzerland
Turkey		Luxembourg
USA		France
Czech Republic		Norway
Italy		Denmark
Japan		Germany
Canada

According to official figures, Japan is not in first place in the world in terms of the number of working hours, but this is official. If you add overtime of 80 hours a month to them, you get more than 2,500 hours a year. So Japanese employees will leave workers from other countries far behind.

"Death by Recycling"

The term "karoshi" means "sudden death from work fatigue". "Karoshi" in Japan may be officially listed as the cause of death in documents.

An employee of the largest Japanese advertising holding Dentsu died suddenly at the workplace in 2015. The cause of death was then recognized as depression due to work overload. This incident attracted widespread attention and public condemnation of Japan's usual endless overtime.

Dentsu was fined for gross violations of labor laws, as facts of 100-hour monthly overtime were revealed. Later, Dentsu changed the approach to the working hours of its staff. So, for example, blackouts were introduced in offices after 22:00 so that employees would not stay late.

Now the Japanese authorities and employers are actively working to combat "karoshi". The government has legally limited the number of hours spent in offices and introduced mandatory rest between the end of the previous and the start of a new working day.

In 2016, Japan appeared new holiday- Day of mountains. It is dedicated to the numerous mountains of this country, and by decision of the authorities has become an annual official holiday. Thus, the number of public holidays per year for the Japanese will increase to 16. Holidays in Japan are considered a generous gift from the government to dedicated workers. In May, for example, during the so-called Golden Week, three holidays are celebrated: Greenery Day, Constitution Day and Children's Day. At this time, business life in the country practically freezes.

Not so long ago, the government of the country introduced the so-called "Premium Friday", when employees are allowed to leave work at 15:00 at last friday every month. However, according to polls, only 4% of Japanese employees leave their jobs so early. As a rule, office workers in Japan come to work half an hour earlier, at 8:30, and finish work late in the evening. For them, special shops are common in this country where you can buy a clean shirt, and capsule hotels where you can spend the night if it makes no sense to go home after work.

Working people in Japan avoid taking long vacations, unlike people in European countries who usually like to go on vacation for a few weeks. Some Japanese employees admit that they experience anxiety and anxiety when they leave their workplace for a long time. The Japanese do not count their holidays in weeks, but only in days. In the same way that they try to extend their own working hours by working late, so they do with vacations, reducing them to the maximum in order to get back to work as soon as possible.

Instead of a summer vacation, they prefer to take a few days of rest in August during the traditional three-day Obon festival and new year holidays, which in Japan last from December 29 to January 3.

The power of tradition

The main reasons why the inhabitants of the Japanese islands are workaholics are the seniority system and commitment to the team. The amount of time worked determines the possibility of further promotion and is often more important than the quality of the work performed.

Offices are insanely popular in Japan open type, when desktops are grouped in such a way that employees form separate teams. Each such team has a leader who determines the tasks for the day. Every Japanese office has two meetings every day, one by the top manager and the other by the leader of each group of employees.

The management style in Japan is based on the concept of "group accordion". The main thing is to achieve agreement between employees, in which any idea submitted for consideration by senior management is first thoroughly studied and discussed in the group. The approval of the proposal by the working group helps to avoid the condemnation of the employee by the management, because any even the smallest public condemnation for the Japanese is considered a disaster.