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I worked for a Japanese company in their US offices. There was a program where someone from our office would spend a month to 6 weeks in the Japan office and an employee from the Japan location would spend the same amount of time at the US company.
It never failed that the US employee was so happy to return to the US (although they enjoyed their time there discovering the country and the culture) with all sorts of stories similar to peter_midnight's experiences.
But the Japanese counterpart was always very sad to leave the relaxed environment of the US offices. I think it would be hard to get back into the formality of the Japanese working style after spending 6 weeks where you work 8-5 and your coworkers go out of their way to take you to lunch/dinner and other events!
Bleh... I don't believe in rigidity and micro management. No process is ever perfect or fully defined, unless it's been fully mapped. Long story and lengthy to expound upon per circumstance.
Japan relyed on conquest during and before WW2 in order to fuel their country. Now they are basically an isolated island, they cant leverage military force to get their raw materials they have to grovel for them by trading for electronics and such. Using overwhelming military force to extract raw materials is highly preferential to having to pay top dollar for a lease.
I could definitely see where a Japanese colleague hated to leave the US after spending time here!
I always hated leaving Japan after my business visits. The staff would always take me out for nice lunches, shopping after work hours, nice bars and great dinner places. We always exchanged gifts at the start of the business interaction (meetings). I always brought boxes of nice chocolates.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eye state your name
I worked for a Japanese company in their US offices. There was a program where someone from our office would spend a month to 6 weeks in the Japan office and an employee from the Japan location would spend the same amount of time at the US company.
It never failed that the US employee was so happy to return to the US (although they enjoyed their time there discovering the country and the culture) with all sorts of stories similar to peter_midnight's experiences.
But the Japanese counterpart was always very sad to leave the relaxed environment of the US offices. I think it would be hard to get back into the formality of the Japanese working style after spending 6 weeks where you work 8-5 and your coworkers go out of their way to take you to lunch/dinner and other events!
Japanese work culture is very strict and disciplined. I worked for a company here in the US where I managed our channel re-seller in Japan, so I traveled there 4 times a year minimum for business.
The work ethic + discipline was incredible, when serious problems needed to be worked on, the staff were there from 8:30 AM sometimes until midnight, leaving for home, then arriving back the next morning at 8:30 AM. Of course, breaks were taken, etc
As a visitor, I was escorted out around 7:00 PM to have a beer and dinner.
They believe in a "samurai" philosophy, "attacking" problems and never giving up. They also have respect for their higher-ups and managers in a style I've never seen. It is a very respectful, but demanding business culture.
This pretty much hits the nail on the head. Their culture expects them to work and work very hard. It's what they value and respect. There is little work life balance.
Here is a webpage showing the typical day and career path for white collar (salaryman) workers in Japan. It is basically work nonstop!
The Japanese work 60+ hours per week and don't believe in work/life balance at all. I'm sure they don't like it, but they do it anyway because they are expected to.
They are the mirror opposite of the Greeks/French/Spanish, etc. who take 5 weeks of vacation minimum and retire at 50.
I don't know what part of US you're at but 60+ hrs is pretty common here in Northeast for certain jobs. I don't think American workers have good work/life balance at all.
Most Americans live to work. Now in Europe, majority of people expects work / life balance.
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