February 21, 2011 at 09:05Cultural differences: Japanese (another view)
Once on a hub there is a new series of posts "their morals", I will also be connected. Habrauser king2 started, I will continue. A look at the Japanese after almost 3 years of living and working in Tokyo. I work (programmer) in a large IT office equipment manufacturing company with a total of 108,000 employees worldwide. I live in Tokyo with my family (wife and daughter).
Hiring, job changes, etc. are specific. Although the Japanese are trying to get rid of lifelong hiring, I have to observe this everywhere. A typical cycle in our company: before April, several hundred university graduates are recruited (graduated 3 months ago), then, within six months, young people study at the company, and they try different types of work (visit assembly lines, try to sell, etc.). It may turn out that you came to the company to write in Java, and you will sell it if you see talent in you. Or maybe vice versa, a girl’s acquaintance has a diploma in International Business, Like That, and now she writes in Java. Closer to the fall, Shinjin (Shinjin - newcomer) come to the group and receive a test project for six months. In the spring, they defend projects and from the new April begin to work on ongoing projects. And before retirement they work in a company, excluding transfers within the company. 100% of the profiles on LinkedIn of my colleagues look like this: University; Company. End of profile. For 3 years, he watched dismissal only once, the father died of the Japanese, and after 17 years of working for the company, he (the Japanese) returned to his native village to continue his father's farming business.
There are no unions, and the Japanese do not like to discuss working conditions (salary, schedule, etc.). The silent slogan: "I will try my best, but the company will not offend me." I have a Japanese friend who graduated from a university in the USA, returned to Japan and worked at IBM in a technical position. After 7 years, he decided to change the company and profile (sell). He was at an interview with us and at Canon. There he was told, “buddy, if you did not graduate from university yesterday, then forget about a career with us. The career ladder is planned for life ahead, and you have already lost 7 years. ”Something like that in general. And he went to us, apparently they said something different :) By the way, I heard a similar story in the USA, about the American office of Canon.
IMHO, one of the biggest problems (for foreigners) is overwork (overtime). Roughly speaking, they come in two types: paid and limited from above (good view) and unpaid when the salary rises by a fixed amount and working time ceases to be taken into account. The second option is to forget about the family, the Japanese are ready to live in the office and expect this from their foreign colleagues. Real examples:
1) a dialogue between a foreigner (family, two children) and Japanese classmates, after the first year of work: “Do you really go home at 10 pm (so early)? “Yes.” “You are a fool?” Moreover, if for a foreigner the family may be the reason why he goes home earlier than the others, for the Japanese this is not always the case.
2) employees voluntarily refuse lunch break. Reason: The company decides that someone should answer calls at lunchtime. Everyone wants to be this “someone” - the problem is insoluble - the bottom line: everyone remains in the office. According to statistics, 90% of foreigners do not withstand 3 years of work in a Japanese company. Of course, there are exceptions, and companies are trying to learn from Western experience, but I have not been there.
Somehow on Twitter I came across a quote: “while the American company is releasing a beta version, the Japanese one is solving client’s non-existent problems (very free retelling).” Yes, you have to observe something similar, people are really ready to look for solutions, to hold meetings for such problems as: "how to make the program continue to work on the computer turned off." The option "do not turn off" - does not suit. Not only that, “it’s not the level of a Japanese company, we cannot offer a service of such low quality”. A real example: before starting sales of the iPhone, Apple tried to collaborate with NTT Docomo (the largest operator). Answer: “we cannot sell the phone withoutour company shitservices to which our customers are accustomed. Give us a couple of years, we will adapt everything for the iPhone, and then welcome. ” But SoftBank was able to launch a bare iPhone, and now the iPhone / iPad holds an impressive market share.
This is something worth putting up with the first part of the story. The service industry is just on top. If in Russia you should go to a housing office or hospital to spoil your mood, in Japan it is worth doing to raise your spirits. Any Japanese is extremely polite and will break into a cake to help. My wife did not want to be discharged from the maternity ward, she really liked it there. In the hairdresser, the master will take your bag out to you, only he will give you and stand on the street until you turn around the corner, and the whole salon will wave your hand and shout “Hurray! Thanks!". The flip side - the Japanese expect the same return from you when you are at work. Similarly, when a client comes to our office, after the meeting we hang around with joyful faces (well, I’m not a hypocrite, I'm really glad that he finally left :) on the porch
The negative point is the price for the service. The Japanese spend a lot of money on him. An example is moving. Yes, I understand that the transport company pastes corridors, elevators, walls, floors with special soft sheets, they pack / unpack everything themselves, but as a result, you can easily part with your monthly salary. And the Japanese still call the service to move to a neighboring house. At one time, we moved from Yokohama to Tokyo, removing a minibus for a day, and together we successfully coped with one another, after packing everything. I have not yet encountered a repetition of this “feat”; they do not move here on their own.
Japan is a very safe and comfortable country, it’s worth living here for this, a real dialogue in the Japanese school:
Sensei: Japan is a very dangerous country!
We (Russia / USA): Come on!
Sensei: Yeah, they again broadcast on TV that someone had grabbed a handbag!
We: Ha ha ha, in our countries there will not be enough airtime to transmit information about all incidents and accidents.
Sensei: o_O "
To the question of the Kuril Islands. The bulk of the Japanese (youth, middle age) are apolitical, and they hardly realize that their country is “mortally offended” by Russia. To all to a bulb, frankly. I can’t imagine that someone from the Japanese asked me about this at work. Although the Chinese asked what sauce this question is presented in the news in Russia and what Russians think about it. Japan is not accustomed to biting with neighbors for every piece of rock, Japan (without) successfully butts with China and Korea for the corresponding pieces. Moreover, China upsets Japan much more sharply than Russia. To myself, as a Russian, I did not meet any negativity, for the Japanese, all the hygiene on one person, when they find out that we are also Russians, they do like this: O_O.
And yes, in cinemas, the Japanese do not stand up until the end of the last credits (do not turn on the light, letters crawl on a black background, pitch darkness). And at McDonald’s they clean and wipe the table
Part One, Work
Hiring, job changes, etc. are specific. Although the Japanese are trying to get rid of lifelong hiring, I have to observe this everywhere. A typical cycle in our company: before April, several hundred university graduates are recruited (graduated 3 months ago), then, within six months, young people study at the company, and they try different types of work (visit assembly lines, try to sell, etc.). It may turn out that you came to the company to write in Java, and you will sell it if you see talent in you. Or maybe vice versa, a girl’s acquaintance has a diploma in International Business, Like That, and now she writes in Java. Closer to the fall, Shinjin (Shinjin - newcomer) come to the group and receive a test project for six months. In the spring, they defend projects and from the new April begin to work on ongoing projects. And before retirement they work in a company, excluding transfers within the company. 100% of the profiles on LinkedIn of my colleagues look like this: University; Company. End of profile. For 3 years, he watched dismissal only once, the father died of the Japanese, and after 17 years of working for the company, he (the Japanese) returned to his native village to continue his father's farming business.
There are no unions, and the Japanese do not like to discuss working conditions (salary, schedule, etc.). The silent slogan: "I will try my best, but the company will not offend me." I have a Japanese friend who graduated from a university in the USA, returned to Japan and worked at IBM in a technical position. After 7 years, he decided to change the company and profile (sell). He was at an interview with us and at Canon. There he was told, “buddy, if you did not graduate from university yesterday, then forget about a career with us. The career ladder is planned for life ahead, and you have already lost 7 years. ”Something like that in general. And he went to us, apparently they said something different :) By the way, I heard a similar story in the USA, about the American office of Canon.
IMHO, one of the biggest problems (for foreigners) is overwork (overtime). Roughly speaking, they come in two types: paid and limited from above (good view) and unpaid when the salary rises by a fixed amount and working time ceases to be taken into account. The second option is to forget about the family, the Japanese are ready to live in the office and expect this from their foreign colleagues. Real examples:
1) a dialogue between a foreigner (family, two children) and Japanese classmates, after the first year of work: “Do you really go home at 10 pm (so early)? “Yes.” “You are a fool?” Moreover, if for a foreigner the family may be the reason why he goes home earlier than the others, for the Japanese this is not always the case.
2) employees voluntarily refuse lunch break. Reason: The company decides that someone should answer calls at lunchtime. Everyone wants to be this “someone” - the problem is insoluble - the bottom line: everyone remains in the office. According to statistics, 90% of foreigners do not withstand 3 years of work in a Japanese company. Of course, there are exceptions, and companies are trying to learn from Western experience, but I have not been there.
Somehow on Twitter I came across a quote: “while the American company is releasing a beta version, the Japanese one is solving client’s non-existent problems (very free retelling).” Yes, you have to observe something similar, people are really ready to look for solutions, to hold meetings for such problems as: "how to make the program continue to work on the computer turned off." The option "do not turn off" - does not suit. Not only that, “it’s not the level of a Japanese company, we cannot offer a service of such low quality”. A real example: before starting sales of the iPhone, Apple tried to collaborate with NTT Docomo (the largest operator). Answer: “we cannot sell the phone without
Part Two, Out of Office
This is something worth putting up with the first part of the story. The service industry is just on top. If in Russia you should go to a housing office or hospital to spoil your mood, in Japan it is worth doing to raise your spirits. Any Japanese is extremely polite and will break into a cake to help. My wife did not want to be discharged from the maternity ward, she really liked it there. In the hairdresser, the master will take your bag out to you, only he will give you and stand on the street until you turn around the corner, and the whole salon will wave your hand and shout “Hurray! Thanks!". The flip side - the Japanese expect the same return from you when you are at work. Similarly, when a client comes to our office, after the meeting we hang around with joyful faces (well, I’m not a hypocrite, I'm really glad that he finally left :) on the porch
The negative point is the price for the service. The Japanese spend a lot of money on him. An example is moving. Yes, I understand that the transport company pastes corridors, elevators, walls, floors with special soft sheets, they pack / unpack everything themselves, but as a result, you can easily part with your monthly salary. And the Japanese still call the service to move to a neighboring house. At one time, we moved from Yokohama to Tokyo, removing a minibus for a day, and together we successfully coped with one another, after packing everything. I have not yet encountered a repetition of this “feat”; they do not move here on their own.
Japan is a very safe and comfortable country, it’s worth living here for this, a real dialogue in the Japanese school:
Sensei: Japan is a very dangerous country!
We (Russia / USA): Come on!
Sensei: Yeah, they again broadcast on TV that someone had grabbed a handbag!
We: Ha ha ha, in our countries there will not be enough airtime to transmit information about all incidents and accidents.
Sensei: o_O "
To the question of the Kuril Islands. The bulk of the Japanese (youth, middle age) are apolitical, and they hardly realize that their country is “mortally offended” by Russia. To all to a bulb, frankly. I can’t imagine that someone from the Japanese asked me about this at work. Although the Chinese asked what sauce this question is presented in the news in Russia and what Russians think about it. Japan is not accustomed to biting with neighbors for every piece of rock, Japan (without) successfully butts with China and Korea for the corresponding pieces. Moreover, China upsets Japan much more sharply than Russia. To myself, as a Russian, I did not meet any negativity, for the Japanese, all the hygiene on one person, when they find out that we are also Russians, they do like this: O_O.
And yes, in cinemas, the Japanese do not stand up until the end of the last credits (do not turn on the light, letters crawl on a black background, pitch darkness). And at McDonald’s they clean and wipe the table