Hey guys and girls on ask Japanese it's Cathycat and today we will be talking about employment
here in Japan and some issues that foreigners struggle with that foreign workers have here
in Japan to get along with their colleagues or in companies or why some companies might not
want to employ foreigners as much or a little bit reluctant to employ foreigners so let's go
!Don't forget guys this is a generalization it depends on totally which company you go
for and how strict the company is how high the hierarchy in the company is
and how harsh the working conditions are so just be prepared for that let's go
The traditional Japanese system is that your company kind of becomes your family so
you become a group you work together and it's teamwork don't forget guys i've stressed this
many many times harmony is super important in Japanese culture and especially in the workplace
which means sometimes there may be things you would like to say or some opinions that you have
that it's sometimes better for the group harmony to keep in
because the Japanese work environment is so focused on harmony you sometimes should definitely not criticize your
colleagues whether they're above or below you in front of other people is generally a big no if
you have something you really need to tell them maybe pull them aside and be very very careful
how you portray that... telling people off in front of other people it's kind of making
them lose face it makes them feel bad in front of other people they see him getting told off
and you should never ever ever do it you sometimes see it maybe in movies and similar thing but the
big boss shouts down at some of his employees those people might be able to do it you're not
don't do it even if this is your honest opinion you think they need to hear it especially don't
do it in front of other people and if you don't really have to say it sometimes it's good to
keep it in think about it and maybe just give positive suggestions ....positive suggestions guys
Another important part of harmony is sometimes pushing your requests and
your wishes last and then others go first
Now in the western society if you put yourself last
you end up last and you're kind of an idiot on the Japanese society if you put yourself
last it shows that you put the harmony of the group or other people above yourself and you're
trying to really help others which someone will notice and then put you first again so in the
Japanese culture if you put yourself first all the time people are gonna see that and they're
not really want to work with you on the future so actually just trying to go for your own benefit
is not really helping you.... foreigners who blatantly say what they think and hurt other colleagues or
maybe even embarrass them and foreigners who are not team players and just put themselves first
for the sake of just their part of the business are gonna lose trust of their colleagues and
less and less people will want to work with them so just watch out for that
Good Morning!
Greetings are so important now think back to the group harmony whether it is a teacher greeting a
student or a neighbor greeting another neighbor greeting people around you and especially the
people you work with it's super important in the Japanese culture so in the morning
if you meet your colleagues be sure to say "good morning" all through good morning oh my god
OMG IT'S SO NOISY!!!
After the morning you might still bump into some colleagues during the day maybe
on the way back from the bathroom from washing your hands from lunch and you
gently go and greet your colleagues still again with a different phrase called
and that's usually says you know "well done for the hard work" you know "good job for the hard work"
and it is kind of a greeting that I first thought in Japanese textbook you say at the end of the day
to say like you know good work it actually happens all through the day so whenever you just bump into
someone with a colleague or maybe someone else from your company that you don't necessarily work
with that much you keep saying "otsukaresama desu" when you see them it's just acknowledging
they're there and that they're working hard too
So foreigners who know how to greet their
colleagues all through the day definitely have a lot better image as those who might just go past
and nod at people occasionally... if you don't greet people it might come across as snobbish
or as if you are ignoring them or some people might think you don't
like them so make sure that you keep greeting them otherwise it will give you a really bad image
also it's the way HOW you say it don't just go "Ohayougozaimasu" "Otsukaresamadeeesu"
give it some energy especially if you are working in the entertainment industry it's
important to come in with the cheerful smile and go "ohayougozaimasu" and just give some some good spirits
"Kangeikai"
that is like the welcome party for new workers at a company within the first week or the first month
that you start working at a company you're generally going to be invited to a drinking
and food party that can be a lunch thing but generally it's in the evening with loads of drinks
and that's going to be your kangekai it might be for you or for other workers as well in case you
join the company together with other people
It doesn't matter whether the kids are screaming
at home you've got maybe a concert or a sports event afterwards or similar or maybe you don't
even drink alcohol you still need to go it's super important because that's the very first chance
for your colleagues to get to know you in a non-working environment and don't forget the
company is like family they want to know you they want to know how you are and they want to know
how you function
If you turn that one down because you just can't be bothered or you have maybe some
other appointments it will look so bad on you it will make you look as if you don't want to spend
time with your colleagues and you don't even care and those parties are generally arranged for you
meaning the food the drinks everything will be prepped by someone else in the company who had
to book all of that for you so don't turn that one down but what I definitely recommend you guys is
don't just go "yeah yeah i'll do it" don't be late and if you go there and then tell them last minute
you can't drink alcohol or you have any dietary requirements you're vegan vegetarian whatever
that's also very bad so if you have some special dietary requirements
tell them straight away and if you can't drink alcohol you need to let them know that too
because otherwise no one will be happy
"nomikai" depending on the company you are
with after your introductional welcome party you will be frequently invited
to nomikais which are like drinking dues in which you go if with your colleagues
this might not be as frequent in your country but in Japan depending on the company it might be
super frequent... put yourself in their shoes there's probably one person in the company who's been
arranging the place has been arranging the menu everything is prepped in advance a lot of people
they have to send emails out and make sure that everyone can come and then on top of that you just
turn around and say "I can't be bothered or hey I don't actually eat or drink this" let them know
otherwise you're just gonna look like a super rude person and you know i'm gonna give everyone a hard time
In Japan there is a word called nomination it's the word NOMU to drink and communication
together and certain types of communication that might not happen in the office because
you don't want to embarrass other people might be okay when you actually go to those drinking do's
so they can be actually vital to hear what the honmei and tatemae is... meaning what are their real
thoughts and what are the things that they're just saying because they wanted to be polite
Hone and Tatemae.... are very important in the business world tatemae is kind of the font that you
put up to be polite and hone are the things that you truly feel and at work they might not be able
to tell you this but under the influence they might be a little bit more open tell you
"You screwed actually that one up I didn't like that you did that" and those kind of things
that I told you earlier not to say straight out to your colleagues you might be able to say
to your colleagues when you're only the influence and you might actually be able to hear it
sometimes you can get some really good feedback on things just don't be rude
Also those nomination events are great for future things so if you show up and you're there for those drinking events it
makes you seem like a more sociable person like you're interested in the company and vice versa
if you don't show up because you get other things to do and you prefer your family life
or similar things like that it can have a negative impact on your career because you weren't there
you don't really care about your colleagues and your company and sometimes some business
deals or some connections are actually made on those drinking events or if you're not there
you might not get that promotion that you wanted to get so it's generally good to show up
and show your effort of hanging out with your colleagues and I know especially westerners
like putting you know themselves in their family first but especially if you want to have a career
and you want to be good with your colleagues you might have to actually attend those
Rules and social etiquette are very very important in Japan it's important that you
know those two and practice them and one of them that is very important that you guys might
know about is bowing but here's the trick the wrong kind of bowing will not help you at all
There's actually different types of bows depending on who you bow to so if you get sent out to meet
important and vital customers you need to know how deep to bow and how long to hold the bow to
show the proper respect if you don't know this as a foreigner even as a foreigner you might not get
the green card for that depending how strict your company is and you might lose customers you might
lose you know good connections and you might seem a little bit rude so you need to find out
what type of bow you need to use for whom I know... foreigners have made themselves
a bad reputation that they just walk into a meeting room or maybe a restaurant or similar
and sit down in whichever seat they want to sit without considering who's supposed to sit where
so in that now you need to know when the most important person needs to sit generally the seat
that's the furthest away from the door and that's the least bothered is the seat of the highest
person and the seat closest to the door and the one person most bothered is the seat of the
lowest ranking person that might for example be a junior in the company who has to then you know
grab copies or grab something else or maybe if it's a restaurant talk with the waiters and such
it applies for meeting rooms it applies for restaurants it applies even for who stands
where in the elevator or who sits where in the taxi or maybe a bus if you're going with your
colleagues somewhere you need to know where the most important person is supposed to sit
and cater for that so don't just go and sit wherever you want unfortunately
Think about it if your boss for example has a very nice office you wouldn't walk in and straight sit
in his chair and let him like sit in one of the little folding chairs make sure that the highest
person has the most coziest and comfiest seat and also even though you're a foreigner and you know
you have no clue how to actually find out about this ask your colleagues go like "okay where am I
supposed to sit" that's usually a good help because if you just sit down again it's rude
Depending on what country you are from the way you negotiate with people can be completely different
compared to Japan. Japan again think of the harmony if you're having negotiations between different
members of the company try and make them as good as possible try not to be too pushy and try to be
sensible about it... generally Japanese negotiations are not aggressive and people are not pushing
things very strictly also you might at the end of the day not get a clear yes or no also if you want
something and you're pushing for it nevertheless and the other person is just quiet don't fill that
silence with more words... it will look bad let them just have their thinking and their thoughts and
don't try and force a clear yes or no out of people it looks bad it makes you feel aggressive it just
shows that you don't know enough about Japanese culture so you might have to just plan for the
long run... so in your country it might get valued that you're cutthroat profit making selfish person
in business but that does not apply in Japan generally in Japan people are working towards
building long lasting relationships so if you can only look at yourself and you just get the
best deal out they might not work with you in the future so maybe think about it maybe
balance things out a little bit and make sure that they still have a good image of you afterwards if
you still want to work with them in the future... so long-lasting relationships over short-term profit
Those are a couple of things to look out for when you're working in a Japanese company so don't
forget though this is a generalization depending on where you're working these rules might be
enforced stricter or not so strict but generally looking out for the people in your company a lot
will come in handy no matter where in the world you actually go and work right come on
I hope you could take a couple of these hints away but there's more stuff coming up
on our channel here so if you want to know more be sure to subscribe to our channel for
more videos thank you so much for hanging out there is gonna be more stuff coming out from
Tokyo to you so don't forget to check out our socials there are in the description
box down below the director and I for example have an awesome instagram and I catch you
soon for more stuff here from Tokyo to you guys yeah have a good day see you guys bye