I’m back from Europe!
Posted by: kirin on 
Oct 8th, 2009 | 
Filed under: rambling, what's going on in Japan?
 |
I’m back from 2-week travel in Europe. I was travelling from Amsterdam, Brussels, Venice and finally to Florence where my friend currently lives for study. It was the first time for me to visit all these places. People would think it weird to hear that I travelled alone, although I have my husband. If I try to travel with him, that’ll be only 4 or 5 days of holiday because it’s very difficult for Japanese employees to take long holidays, unless we try to do that during “Golden Week” in May or New Year holiday from end Dec. to early Jan. where air tariff will be extremely expensive. I’ll explain that later.
So which city I liked most? As for the atmosphere and scenery of the city, Amsterdam was the best of all! But when it comes to foods, I’d say Brussels. If I can live in any of the city, I’d love Florence because things were a lot cheaper and the climate was milder and warmer than Netherlands or Belgium. How about Venice? Venice was one of the cities I wanted to visit for a long time, but as it turned out, I was so much bored of the place. The city was romantic, which was good. But everything was very expensive. Sometimes the foods tasted poor but costed much. Land is too narrow without green or nature but with too many tourists like me. Every store looked the same, selling the same things everywhere. Canals stank, which was unlike Amsterdam. So…the ideal was living in Amsterdam with climate of Florence, eating Belgium and Italian foods. :p No way…nothing’s that perfect. It’s not just happy things always. I was so sad to think of the big difference between Japan. How much people in Europe enjoy their life while we are regarded as a matter of course to sacrifice our life for corporate life in Japan. It’s exactly like a slave, and my husband is for sure one of them! Travelling is my life. But I cannot put up with maximum of 5-day holiday or so, nor spending twice as much money as off-peak season. That was a good reason I chose to be an unstable self-employeed worker from home. I feel sorry for my husband, but he is not that much into travelling like me. |
 |
|
 |
You will never imagine how Japanese working environment is hard and supressed. Too much superiority is allowed for boss to have against junior partners. Customers are always too superior to employees. Too much workload is bared by one employee and overtime work on weekdays and extra work on weekends are as a matter of course to cover his or her job.
Worksharing? No! Companies have to spend extra commuting fee and support insurance for every employee. If they can save numbers of employees, they can also save such basic personnel expenses. Japanese government has been so sweet to business owners and too strict to employees. That has created stressful working environment, and especially Tokyo, things are very severe. There are always 2 options: stable and OK compensation but very hard working, or unstable easy work and can be easily replaced. Which would you like? We miss option in-between.
Do you know why we don’t have long holidays as European or American people? Taking a long holiday makes colleagues work even harder, which results in only 4 or 5 days holiday will be average, 1 week holiday is the lucky thing. If one says she wants 2-week holiday, she would have to feel very nervous against her boss, who of course may not say OK for her taking such a long holiday, and she has to feel so sorry against her colleagues who would think “I have to work extra 2 hours everyday overtime, because of her!”. By the time she leaves, she would try not to leave her work too much to her colleagues, and so she will stay longer hours to try to finish her work as much as possible. On the previous day of her holidays, she would say “I’m sorry to bother you and make you busy with my extra work.” to her colleagues. Even while she is off for holidays, she is busy thinking of souvenir for obligation which will make up for the inconvenience she made her boss and colleagues bare while she was off. When she finally returns to the office, she says “Thank you for helping my work” to each colleague of her department and then gives souvenir one by one. In this way she feels “not guilty” any more. But she would also think, “Going thru all these things, do I still want to take a 2-week holiday? No, I’d rather not!”
That’s why Japanese people always join quick, convenient, efficient, and easy group tour of only 1 or 2 days at each city. Some people would point out that there are many national holidays in Japan. Yes, but that doesn’t mean anything special. That’s the only time we can have holiday without worrying about boss or colleagues of the company and that’s why everyone tries to have holidays at the same time. This only allows travel agants to make more money. I personally don’t like this at all, but many people would feel safer when they act the same way as others. I’d work when others rest, and go on holidays when others work, to save money, but that’s because I work for myself, not for a company I belong to.
While we are working, conversations must be something related with the work. Personal chatting among colleagues is basically considered inappropriate. For shops, sales persons should not take a seat. They’ll always stand and ready to bow when customers enter the store. Sales person sitting on a chair gives customers goofing impressions? I don’t know, but I have never seen any cashier sitting at a check out counter at supermarket in Japan.
In this summer, I’ve traveled Sydney (Australia), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Brussels (Belgium), Venice and Florence (Italy) but I have seen shop workers always chatting with colleagues even if there are customers in the store. I’ve seen many people from all these cities working much more relaxed than Japanese people.
I really wonder why we have put ourselves into such a stressful and severe environment for years, and that’s even getting worse. Such things may not be popular when you are foreign worker who belong to foreign company. I know this because I am Japanese and I have experiences of working for Japanese companies in the past. I had to quit every company I worked for because I felt myself cramp there. Only a way to get out of there was to have a business of my own. I chose the way not to belong to any company but to work for myself.
Traveling to other countries, I saw how people are, and I became so sad to look back how we are in Japan. It’s not too much to say that we work like a slave. A country with no natural resources, no big land, not much agricultural productshas had to rely on human resources to become No.2 economically successful country in the world. But behind that, how many employees have sacrificed thier human life for their company? Now what? Our population is decreasing rapidly, while there are too many people over 60 years old.
Well, sorry it’s getting too long, but I’m sure I can tell you the true story from Japan. Many of my blog readers have very good impressions on Japan, but there are some bad news, too, as always. :p
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed or start following me on Twitter!
Tags: 
October 8th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
キリンさんはユーロッパで楽しい時間を過ごしてよかったね！(*ﾟ∀ﾟ)
What is your business? Is it TokyoKawaiietc?自分の会社を持っている人はとてもinspirationalだと思います。+｡:.ﾟ(^＿≦)b
日本よりもっとのんびりの仕事場があるオーストラリアに住んでいるのに、私も自分の会社を作りたいです。自由が欲しい！もしかして、将来に日本に会社を作りたいと思います。できるかどうか分からないけど、できれば、私は親切な社長でしょう。
October 8th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
ありがとう！本当に旅ってすばらしいと思ったよ。 My business…it's not even worth being called "business" because I am making only small profit from it, (-_-;) but I am a freelaunce writer from time to time, and home-based stock exchange trader (but oh no, I am not that good at it!) and of course, I'm trying to make Tokyo Kawaii, etc. big enough to be a part of my business. But I know it'll take much time and efforts. 愛満妥、使ってくれて嬉しいです♪ It'd be wonderful if I can have my own company. I am making too small profit to establish a company of my own, hahaha!^_^;
October 8th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
I think it's a classic case of: grass is greener on the other side. Do you have such expression in Japanese? Where you think we have it good, but we admire what you have.
In America, it may look as though we have more freedom and less of a work-horse environment, but when in fact, we are one of the other countries that take very little holiday. While we don't have the big guilt factor that we have to rely on co-workers, we still feel bad for taking a holiday. Moreover in this economic enviornment, alot of people are scared to take vacation for fear that they may not have a job to return to. Alot of places in America, they aren't necessary inter-dependent, so when we take vacation, we only have to rely on our co-worker a little bit, but make no mistake that by the time you return, your email box and your desk will be filled with requests that you need to catch up and respond.
October 8th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
While I don't know how Austrailia is like, in Europe, the job market is tight, and while no one will kill themselves over work or shame thereof. Some countries assess 60% of your income tax. So, imagine, you make alot of money, but it's not true because they go back to the government. However, they do have top health care system in the world. On the other hand, you've heard of their economic infrastructure fail and crumble. That's not good either.
So, yes, seems like we have it great in the States, and European knows how to live leisurely, and Japanese have the higest technology and ideas, but to each their own.
October 8th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Kirin-san , you make me cry! Thank you for sharing this with us all : so this is the story behind the economic success of Japan that Japanese companies don't tell us!
Too bad you find Belgium a bit too cold because we'd love to have you here <3 . It's better in summer. And we can always get you nice warm clothes for winter .;)
I'm so glad for you that you have the courage to do it differently. We have the same here : many people have businesses of their own , because they like to be their own boss, and so they work even more hours than office workers, but they're happy.
Here holidays are considered a right of worker and if your company tries to make you work more , it's against the law.
We have strong unions who are always protecting right of workers, otherwise we would be working like Japanese.
Thank you for aprreciating our good food here in Belgium
October 8th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Thank you Patty for sharing the situation in the U.S, which was also something different from what I've thought. Things maybe different between industries…because my hostmother used to have a long holiday to travel a lot every year. She was working for a college as a student counselor.
Grass is greener…yes, but I'm always curious how my life was if I were born and working in other countries. :p
October 8th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
You do have good taste of foods, which you can be proud of.
While I think we (Japanese) do, too.
I hear that many foreigners who live in Japan are just so much surprised to find how truely we can copy the authentic cuisine from any parts of the world. That means, when Italian people visit a good Italian restaurant in Japan, they think the taste is no different from what they have at home. I don't know the trueth, but you can visit a good Belgium restaurant in Japan if you have a chance and see the difference.
October 9th, 2009 at 4:31 am
I absolutely love love love that you wrote about this! I am taking an anthropology course about contemporary Japanese culture (although it's not THAT contemporary, more like 10-20 years ago) and I also just recently talked to a friend who came back from exchange from there… It's all really interesting to me, the difference between the cultures! I didn't really believe my professor when she explained that Japanese people are very community oriented and doing things "for the greater good" but I want to thank you for being honest, now I believe my professor!
October 9th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I'm curious how your friend talked about the difference of our culture. Is it that we take off shoes at the entrance of the house? Is it how we take a bath (http://tokyokawaiietc.com/archives/1045)? Is it that we sleep on futon matress on Tatami mats? Is it that we all slurp when we eat noodle? Is it that we have so many ads everywhere? …there should be so many differences. To me, I have no idea why people do not take off shoes at home in Western countries. It's a lot more hygienic and very comfortable with no shoes inside the house.
October 9th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
I understand what you mean about Venice. Seeing a lot of tourists takes away a little bit of the "specialness" I think because it doesn't feel you're living in a new world.
My husband's office is a bit like Japanese offices. VERY strict about vacation and if he is gone a long time the other person must work harder and gets overloaded by it. It's quite unfortunate.
October 9th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
I just returned from a 2 month holiday in Europe (am obviously not a Japanese! especially given the suppressed work environment you just described) and my fave/ideal European city to live in is Amsterdam as well!!! I think the food there is amazing as well.
The good thing that arise from such a harsh corporate life is that Japan becomes very well-known for its service sectors and I know for certain that foreigners know that it comes at a high price. My mom often wonders how the elevator staff at Disneyland are able to keep such sincere-looking smiles even after hours of doing that.
October 10th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Giancarlo Flores and Kirin. Kirin said: I've mentioned the true story about Japanese working environment. http://tokyokawaiietc.com/archives/2815 [...]
October 10th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Hi Janny. I've been away from your blog for a while, sorry…
Yes, you understand my feelings exactly!! When I travel abroad, I like to feel the local life. But in Venice, same sort of souvenior stores one after another… with so many travellers deprived me from the feeling of specialness that I am in an exotic place.
Were you also married? I totally thought you had a boyfriend…was I missing something or misunderstanding from your blog? But thank you for sharing that, Jenny. There is such company in the U.S, too!? (@_@;)
October 10th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
2-month holiday!? Are you a student? I wish I could travel that long~! I envy you. 2-week for me was the maximum.
It’s not only Disneyland, you’ll see if you visit Japan. Everywhere customers are regarded as GOD or something, and that’s why shop staff are very very polite. They are well-trained, patient against things like that. I think Japanese people are soo perseverance basically. Me? Not that much! :p
October 10th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
I live in Italy (in Milan) but do you belive me if I say that I've never visited neither Venice nor Florence?!
Italian working life sounds much more relaxed than japanese but on the other hand a lot of things (like public transpors or health care) aren't as efficient as in Japan…
by the way, your blog is very interesting
!
October 11th, 2009 at 12:58 am
Personally, I find working in Singapore is more and more like Japan, only maybe a bit less strict, because for example, if I don't want to be too hardworking, I can go home on time but I will not be sacked, I will only make my colleagues feel angry with me or lose the chance for promotions.
I like travelling alone too. I only like having friends around for meals.
So when I travel with friends, I will meet them for meals. But when I'm travelling with my family, husband and son, etc, I feel restricted and not very happy :p because I must travel everywhere with them.
I personally hate the too-relaxed feeling of staff in Australia. They don't tend to customers very well if they are chatting enthusiastically with their colleagues. I love shopping in Japan, but now I know that comes with a price. Coincidentally, I was searching for jobs in Japan, through gaijin pot, to experience a different environment. I used to be an English teacher. However, after reading this, I now wonder if I will be able to take the stress of work in Japan.
October 11th, 2009 at 5:42 am
Welcome to my blog, Anna! I can believe that you never visited Venice nor Florence, because I never visited many other parts of Japan, either.
The closest area is accessible anytime, that's why we are more interested in the places far away from home.
Ah~, I see, my friend in Florence said the same thing. She never knows if she can finally receive the parcel from Japan or not, while in Japan, such thing is totally unbelievable. We can even set up the desired time and date of arrival.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:03 am
If you try to work in Japan, try to avoid very traditional "Japanese" company. Or, maybe things are different when you are not Japanese. You will be someone who just don't know our culture, while your coworkers say something bad about you, and behind you; "She is gaijin anyhow, don't try to make her understand our culture, nor we understand her."
I can see sometimes we are very in-group minded and try to separate new comers from ourselves. This trend is sometimes even stronger among Japanese people when we move to country side. (That's one of the reasons I don't get out of Tokyo even if I am tired of this stressful life here.)
October 11th, 2009 at 9:08 am
I’m not sure about all Western countries but here in Sweden we do take our shoes of before entering our homes. The only exception would be in those homes of farmers or very stressed out people.. We do have shoes on us at work and in school, I’m not so sure that, that rule applies to other countries, but for me any other thing would feel weird, running around in your socks :p
Now I’m a little scared from my ideal wanting a life in Tokyo, having to feel guilty for taking out a vacation sound quite wicked, even though I think it’s like that all around the world after the financial crisis. But I’ve never heard of people buying gifts from guilt instead of being nice, when it comes to issues regarding work. If you would want some time, even if it might sound odd you could travel to Sweden and i would be happy to show you around. Both me and my girlfriend are interested in other cultures or should i say fascinated, inspired. Even though i might be more of a Japanese maniac than her just cause the ideal life for me here in Sweden is to running around in Toy `Stores and buying fun “not considered mature toys” for my money. All the manga/ anime conventions, console games, toy market, tv-shows, from Japan is like a dream come true for me cause i live with the ideal of that you should be allowed to be engulfed by what ever interest you might have. In my case everything here in Sweden called “kawaii” (that we in some odd saying applies to everything from Japan with a little color on it o.0)
I hope you don’t feel guilty towards your missed ours of work while being in Europe, we all need to have some fun and do the things that inspire us the most. Btw, this might be a weird question but how is the gender roles in Japan? Do they depend a lot on religion or are both men and women considered equal in society and at home? It’s a question i gladly avoid when talking to with other cultures cause i don’t want any misunderstandings or soaring hearts but you seem to be very open about your Japanese life so I feel encouraged to ask.
Rock on Kirin!
Best Regard Leonard.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:18 am
@Leonard, (<a href="http://www.catshavedreams.se)” target=”_blank”>http://www.catshavedreams.se)
Somehow your comment is not reflected here, although it's been a while since I approved it. Intensedebate is very unstable! (=_=) So let me quote your comment here by manual. Maybe it was too long to be proceeded?? Let me split into some comments.
- Comment from Leonard –
I'm not sure about all Western countries but here in Sweden we do take our shoes of before entering our homes. The only exception would be in those homes of farmers or very stressed out people.. We do have shoes on us at work and in school, I'm not so sure that, that rule applies to other countries, but for me any other thing would feel weird, running around in your socks :p
October 11th, 2009 at 10:35 am
@Leonard -continued-
Now I'm a little scared from my ideal wanting a life in Tokyo, having to feel guilty for taking out a vacation sound quite wicked, even though I think it's like that all around the world after the financial crisis. But I've never heard of people buying gifts from guilt instead of being nice, when it comes to issues regarding work. If you would want some time, even if it might sound odd you could travel to Sweden and i would be happy to show you around. Both me and my girlfriend are interested in other cultures or should i say fascinated, inspired. Even though i might be more of a Japanese maniac than her just cause the ideal life for me here in Sweden is to running around in Toy `Stores and buying fun "not considered mature toys" for my money. All the manga/ anime conventions, console games, toy market, tv-shows, from Japan is like a dream come true for me cause i live with the ideal of that you should be allowed to be engulfed by what ever interest you might have. In my case everything here in Sweden called "kawaii" (that we in some odd saying applies to everything from Japan with a little color on it o.0)
October 11th, 2009 at 10:37 am
@Leonard – continued-
I hope you don't feel guilty towards your missed ours of work while being in Europe, we all need to have some fun and do the things that inspire us the most. Btw, this might be a weird question but how is the gender roles in Japan? Do they depend a lot on religion or are both men and women considered equal in society and at home? It's a question i gladly avoid when talking to with other cultures cause i don't want any misunderstandings or soaring hearts but you seem to be very open about your Japanese life so I feel encouraged to ask.
Rock on Kirin!
Best Regard Leonard.
October 11th, 2009 at 10:51 am
Thank you Leonard for your long comment. Sometimes the system doesn't accept long comment and you are asked to split it into 2 or 3 comments. I have no idea if that was the reason for not having your comment shown over here.
Anyhow…I always welcome your free talking and honest opinions here. In Japan, women work as much as men, especially in Tokyo because there are more job opportunities. But there's still difference of compensation or the post. I see women truck drivers or bus or taxi drivers more frequently than before, but yet they are small numbers, compared with men. At home, however, men work less for households and raising kids. I hardly hear men take child-care leave from work even in Tokyo. There still exist full-time housewifves, too.
October 11th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Oh then i better write shorter comments in the future :p Sometimes i get so absorbed by talking (or writing) that i can't stop :p
Thanks for the info Kirin
I would appreciate a category on your blog focused on Japanese culture and what you need to think of before moving to, or searching job as a European in Japan. Another question i have is: How long is a Japanese workday?
Here in Sweden there is a maximum of 8 hours if you're working full time (100%) I'm a little worried that Japanese people might not have any free time at all visiting things after work, or maybe all stores don't close 18.00 as they commonly do here in west
Thx for your replies Kirin and for that you run such a great blog! / Leonard
October 12th, 2009 at 8:16 am
Hi Leonard. Yeah, it's better you could make it shorter or just split into some comments, because the system take long comments as spam by mistake and so it tries to reject them. Thank you for your understanding.
OK, let me deal with that topic at my next post. You can always suggest me what you want to learn from me, because it's good to me, too.
October 13th, 2009 at 2:08 am
I finally have enough time to read this entry. It's very precious to me because it gives me a clearer picture of the work stress my Japanese friends are facing. My husband and I have a few Japanese Christian friends who are dear to us. It will be good to empathise with them as I pray for them.
I hope to find time to read the other comments! ^_^
October 13th, 2009 at 5:04 am
Oh it's so nice of you to pray for your friends. I wouldn't say that every single Japanese suffers from the same situation, but the situation should be similar more or less…
I heard another story from my friend in Florence. When her friend from Japan visited her in Florence, she was crying looking at beautiful city and nature in Italy. She took her 5 or 6 days holiday for the first time in many years. (Of course she had to put up with all the grudge from her boss and coworkers.)She is always working until late at night or even up to next morning everyday. She was so exhausted from her life in Tokyo, which is full of work, work, and work….She just couldn't stop crying even at the airport and during the flight back to Japan. I'm so sorry to hear this story, she is mid 30's and single, but why should she have to live like this?
October 13th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Glad u enjoy ur trip to Europe. Is life just as hectic outside of the big cities in Japan ?
I definitely lived life to the fullest when I was living in Singapore. This is due to the warm weather n the outdoor life, as well as the convenience of being in a city state. My office was just a 7mins bus ride n it's also in the hub of night life
In NL, the long distance between the suburbs n the city is too far. We dont socialise with our colleagues bec of time restrains. I'm always glad when I leave the hectic city for the fresh air in my quiet neighbourhood :-p
October 13th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Things in Venice r indeed expensive. This is bec they hv to transport every necessities onto the floating island. They do not hv any natural resources. Venice is at its most magical in February when the streets r filled with Venetians dressed in exquisite costumes n wearing artistic masks. They r much better organised than the rowdy carnival in Brazil. The dutch has a more homey carnival where the public donned on funny outfits n partied for 3 days straight (only in the south, btw). Beers will flow freely but not so much as the Octoberfest in Germany :-p
October 14th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Singapore sounds such an interesting city. I have many blog readers from Singapore. I think I should visit there to see how it's like. I like warm places better. Don't you feel so cold in Holland?
October 14th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Oh they have such an event in winter time…but I think it'd be difficult for me to travel there in winter. My luggage will be full of clothing and coats. I cannot live in a cold place. I think I like Singapore.
October 14th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
haha, yes, we learned a bit about the Japanese idea of "uchi/soto" and that the genkan(not sure about the spelling of this) is usually lower than the rest of the house, and you take off your shoes to go up to the rest of the house ^_^ I was also very surprised when I first moved to Canada that one of my Caucasian friends would just wear her shoes all over her house, but some other houses have a foyer area for shoes, and you take it off when you enter, just like in Japan. In Taiwan my family always take off shoes at the door, so I thought it was kind of dirty to wear shoes in the house too.
our professor talked about how the uchi/soto of trains and the train track, the train being uchi and the tracks are considered soto, so when she was in Japan it was considered okay to publically urinate on the tracks!!! I am not sure how recent this is, but this was very strange to me.
my mother always lectured me when I slurp my noodles… I think it is considered rude in Chinese culture to slurp but I do it anyway xD
October 18th, 2009 at 2:18 am
I lived in Japan for 3 years (due to a scholarship) and I noticed that most Japanese people can't (or don't know how to) have fun. I worked in a restaurant during the last 2 years and my bosses had not much in life besides their work. Sure one of them was married and had a baby. But still he was more at the restaurant than at home. My Brazilian male coworkers would talk a lot to him. I heard that he said he doesn't like making love to his wife, cause women are too complicated, so he'd rather do it by himself.
In Brazil people usually get 30 days off per year – all at once, 2×15days, or any other convenient combination for the worker and the company. However, some people have jobs that are not completely regulated, so they don't have the right for vacations. Also getting a job here is very complicated. There are no "arubaito" jobs here, where people work in restaurants and get per hour and work just some days a week. A waiter here usually works a year (5-6 days a week) and then can take his 30 days off….
I had an interesting time in Japan but I believe every foreign gets a bit crazy there after some years, then it is time to go back home or move to another country. I don't plan on moving back there but you never know…
October 18th, 2009 at 11:34 am
I don't know about peeing on the tracks… But we sure have uchi/soto notion. Uchi-dzura （内面）is a face that one makes to his family, while soto-dzura (外面）is a face that he makes to his work. When he is a really nice person (pretends to be nice) at work, we call him "Sotodzura ga ii" but most of the case he is not that good at home. ^ ^;
Taiwan sounds very similar to Japan. But in Japan, slurping is considered OK and we think that could even make your noodles taste better. So many of us like to slurp when we eat noodles. :p
October 18th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Thank you for sharing your story. Wow, I like how Brazilians enjoy holidays. I wish we could have that long holiday… If we try to take 30 days off, then that's the time when we quit and change jobs. (T_T) *crying*
Add A Comment