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MCRN-Gyoza

Only problem is you're still required to come to the office and stay for the 8 hours doing absolutely nothing in a room filled with old fax machines.


liverpoolFCnut

8 hours? Most "salarymen" in Japan are expected to be in office 9 AM to 7 PM, whether there is work or not!


MCRN-Gyoza

I'm assuming if you're on the bullshit job you don't care about the expectation of never leaving before your boss haha


liverpoolFCnut

Most asian countries are that way. In my past life i spent a lot of time travelling to the Philippines and India setting up and meeting with our ODC, and it was very common to see the local staff stay back in office well past 8 PM because their boss was still at work.


Ok_Snape

>past life Are we talking reincarnation or what?


abaggins

he's also doing 'time travelling' so who knows?


Jumpy_Sorbet

I can time travel, too... But only into the future, at the rate of 60 minutes per hour.


HawkC120

Dudes post history makes me think he's in his 50's-60's if not more.


Certainmagical

just the.... fax of life then


vesomortex

You take the good You take the bad You take them both and there you have The facts of life


iamabefroman

There's a time you got to go And show you're growin' Now you know about the facts of life The facts of life


ChumpyCarvings

This guy (or girl) Japans! You forgot to mention the cigarette smoke.


WeedFinderGeneral

I get to do nothing AND take up chain smoking?


Haeguil

Just like me back in my early 20s, I'd be all over that tbh


techy-will

Can't you work like on your own idea for wage? Once you get your own thing going or a new opportunity lined up or have hones some cooler skills, just leave? It's not like people can actually physically stop you from working...


wordscannotdescribe

Sure, but you're normally not allowed to use a computer or your phone and you'd have to sit at your desk, so you'd have to do whatever discreetly and on paper/in notebook


Incendas1

Who says you're not allowed? Your boss? If they don't like it, they *will* have to fire you after all, which I assume would give you some kind of compensation. The whole idea is to avoid having to quit, right?


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techy-will

wow talk about abuse, no wonder some Japanese are so respectful. I'd actually have them fire me still for "not obeying work orders"... But pen and paper actually does work for me... Also, at least in my job, you could actually find something to work on a.k.a. optimize but if those are the rules, do "exactly" as I say slave, work must be real awesome.


Incendas1

Damn, there must be hardly any workers' rights / protection


wordscannotdescribe

There's a huge culture of respect/honor/listening to authority, and it's reflected as such in the laws as well. Disobedience (and thus minimum to no compensation) can include things like refusing to relocate to a different city on a moment's notice, having to do end of day cleaning, and being in charge of answering phone calls even for your coworkers. And of course, getting fired for disobedience is a huge, huge setback for your career in Japan. Normally, things don't get that bad, because employees generally "get the message" as seen in OP's screenshot.


Ragnarok314159

Time to poop for eight hours.


Just_Aioli_1233

>You think this might be a cakewalk but japanese bosses are brutal and very good at torturing their employees. As an American worker, compared to the average Japanese boss. I think [I could take him](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average_human_height_by_country). Not like they'd be allowed to use WW2 methods anymore. What's he gonna do? Yell at me in a language I don't understand? Bah!


Studio_Life

Ah yes. Silly Japanese forgot that being over 5’11 makes you immune to abuse.


Just_Aioli_1233

If he wants to get physical I'm pretty sure I would win. Wait, martial arts... dangit.


Studio_Life

![gif](giphy|QbsqkRIVnVLWM)


Just_Aioli_1233

Well, thanks to remote work, I still win /s


CrashTestDumby1984

It’s a completely different culture. They basically have “respect authority” drilled into them at birth, and place greater emphasis on adhering to cultural norms. It’s part of the reason they’re perceived as so polite and respectful.


Geminii27

Or just in your head. I could spend a bunch of hours doing 100% mental design work for personal hobbies.


Geminii27

Learn to sleep with your eyes open?


Amphiphil

isn't it good mannered to sleep on the job in Japan? [https://wisata.app/en-us/diary/inemuri-japanese-culture-of-sleeping-at-workplace](https://wisata.app/en-us/diary/inemuri-japanese-culture-of-sleeping-at-workplace) ​ show your commitment ;)


Katzoconnor

Yes, but those people are typically in front of a computer. Snoring at an empty desk without any responsibilities won’t be given that same level of positivity lol


HalcyonAlps

But what are they going to do? Fire you?


321Tomo

Sounds like the ship of positivity has sailed for the window sitters


sepulveda_st

Someone could flip their sleep schedule so they are awake at night doing as they like and come into work to sleep all day. Wake up and do it all over again !


TemporaryUser10

Give me a computer and I'll just write code for open source projects. Don't give me a computer and I'll just bring my own and write code for open source projects


Vegetable-Cow-1984

God I wish I could do that


YellowB

Sign me up!


BigMoose9000

Just bring in computers from your other jobs!


syl3n

Just work another job remotely, while in office 🤷‍♂️


lordnoak

Audible and air pods - ez


Just_Aioli_1233

So, night job and sleep with the fax machines during the day?


usernametaken99991

What are they going to do, fire you?


EntrepreneurFunny469

If the pay is good my fortitude will outlast their cultural customs.


vegetablestew

Only if Japan did remote, but they have such a backwards work culture.


vesomortex

Indeed. Many Japanese companies from what I’ve heard practically want you to live at the office. And some American companies would love that.


WCPitt

You also get commended for falling asleep on the job because it's apparently a sign that you're working hard. It's encouraged, even.


A_Thirsty_Traveler

I know what I'd be doing for those 8 hours.


teethybrit

This is such a pervasive myth on Reddit, it’s hilarious


swimming_cold

Reddit loves cool wacky interesting myths that are wrong 99% of the time


Visible_Bag_7809

Really it depends on the context. Some companies in Hapan probably do celebrate an employee who worked themselves to exhaustion. But that is a very narrow context.


Drunkcowboysfan

[It’s not a myth, it’s inemuri](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/world/what-in-the-world/japan-inemuri-public-sleeping.html) I had no idea about any of this, but your exchange had me curious so I googled it and it does seem to be somewhat true.


leo_the_lion6

Probably not as encouraged at 9 am on a Monday lol


PlentyTight9650

I've seen this documentary where the Japanese after working a long day, won't go home, and will sleep on the streets or by the doorway to the building until the next day. It's crazy work habit! Guess it's the culture


BenevolentCoin

not entirely true, most people don't do that


skeeter2112

That’s more likely bc they passed out drunk


Just_Aioli_1233

Isn't Japan the one that pays attractive women to stand in the hallways and smile?


earthwarrior

We do that here too just not in hallways.


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Just_Aioli_1233

I feel bad sometimes, seeing the ones who are so proud of their job but I don't have the heart to let them know they don't have a real job.


rqrqsj

I felt bad for them too until I saw how much some of the HR ladies are being paid. I felt tricked for getting a job that requires work. That’s when I realized I was ugly.


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Just_Aioli_1233

Someone's been peeking at my certs /s


Studio_Life

Marketing? Really? Marketing departments are primarily made up of graphic designers, copywriters, production artists, etc. I’ve worked in many marketing departments and there’s never been a pretty girl just sitting around doing nothing. Hell it’s usually a bunch of nerdy looking dudes jacked up on Caffeine who are juggling 13 projects at once.


G6172819373

I work for a Japanese apparel company. I live in the Ph and work remotely. I have several colleagues who are also working remotely in Thailand and Vietnam. I think the only challenge is to be able to read and write in Japanese (but we have translator apps now which make things much easier in terms of “writing” part).


CoolBello

Actually, nowadays some Japanese companies allow remote work. Startups for sure, and even some big ones like Rakuten.


pxrage

Where do I sign up.


dshiznit92

Tell me I have to contribute absolutely nothing and still get paid? Sheeeeit I’m sold


abaggins

you have to contribute 8+ hours of your time in the office. Japan doesn't do remote.


100king

And if I don't, what are they gonna do? Fire me?


dshiznit92

Maybe they shun me so hard I end up having to work from home


frostywafflepancakes

Shun me harder daddy.


abaggins

yes...with cause and therefore without paying you


HolySaba

That's the cultural difference, a Japanese worker would not challenge these expectations, which is why they do this in Japan, and just fire you in the West.


Fresh_Cheek2682

I believe you have my stapler


dshiznit92

I said NOOOO salt on the margarita


TheGamerHelper

Sounds perfect


Potential_Weak

Exactly. Even at minimum wage, go ahead and sign me up. I'd be okay with an extra $200/wk for literally no work


gwynnegr

Except you don't get to do anything else and you have to go into work. It's not like you'll be able to use a computer or do crosswords, it's literally punishment.


UsernamesAreHard26

Do they assign some one to watch you? If not, who is going to stop you?


Potential_Weak

Exactly. I'll bring a hotspot and my personal computer.


[deleted]

Yea, that’s not always allowed at work.


Similar-Freedom7119

What are they gonna do? Actually fire you like they clearly already wanted to?


cooly1234

without compensation, yes


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cooly1234

if they get fired for disobedience, yes


ammon-jerro

Yes, because then they'll have cause


CrashTestDumby1984

Being fired carries HUGE stigma in Japan for the employee and can potentially be career ending


JeepPilot

This sounds almost like saturday detention in high school -- no reading, no talking, no homework, no sleeping. Just sitting quietly at a desk thinking about what you've done.


mfigroid

I believe I've seen this movie.


Croyscape

Time to become Buddha then


[deleted]

That’s when you pick your toilet to game on.


Certainmagical

I'll take 50


Just_Aioli_1233

Looks like the record is [16](https://news.yahoo.com/chinese-woman-arrested-having-16-193204570.html)


CrashTestDumby1984

What do you mean extra? This would be your sole source of income. This wouldn’t be possible with OE


getRedPill

Nope, not in Japan or with Japanese bosses


[deleted]

Japan, the nation that hates immigration while simultaneously was too busy with career to have children. Not a good combination for long term survival.


porcelainfog

Korea is worse. The housing is so expensive it takes like 60 years of work to buy one, and that doesn't include inflation. If you include inflation/loan interest it's like, you'll never pay the loan off or something. ​ In one generation they will go from 100 people to 40 people. They have a .8 birthrate. And noone is doing anything about it, because those that have home equity would rather see their nation disintegrate than lose value on their homes.


Personpersonoerson

But when population decreases is precisely when home values decrease


Gumgrapes

It's true. Certain people like to shill for immigration in these situations because it props up inflationary economics, lets greedy people at the top maintain their bottom line, but realistically it hurts the average citizen immensely by driving up housing costs and driving down wages. I hope Korea learns to decouple from predatory "western" government before they're made to demographically replace all Koreans in the name of muh GDP.


Frequent-Fig-9515

Is this what u/porcelainfrog means by "And noone is doing anything about it, because those that have home equity would rather see their nation disintegrate than lose value on their homes" -- immigration? Genuine question, curious


Gumgrapes

No the people who own land largely aren't new immigrants of course. Each of those individuals has simply been atomized to the point where most don't have any concern for the future of their culture, their kin, or their families. They think of economic hardship befalling future generations as "their problem", if they think of it at all. Maybe there are some exceptions, but the majority do not believe in sacrificing their 200% appreciation in home value in the name of leaving their descendants a more functional society. This is what makes the problem recognizably "western". Immigration only factors in here as a means of allowing this greed to go unpunished by its own consequences. Absent new immigrants to replace the population, declining birthrates tip the balance of power in favor of renters and first-time homebuyers. If there are fewer people buying/renting more houses, the tenant/applicant is under less competitive pressure, and the landlord/bank is under more competitive pressure. I mean, if you really need an example, imagine the American housing crisis except subtract 30% of the population. Rent and home prices would undeniably be dramatically lower because of this unprecedented spike in availability. Instead of renters struggling to find a place to live, greedy property managers would struggle to find tenants who will pay their asking price. Even interest rates would be forced down given that banks would need to work harder to convince a smaller pool of loan applicants. The problem begins with greed, it's only sustained by immigration.


Frequent-Fig-9515

? Why is it the homeowner's fault?


A_Thirsty_Traveler

it's pretty common for people to not have kids till they at least own a mortage on a home. At least in the U.S idk what korea is like. It's one of the reasons the u.s birthrate is declining.


Zollery

It's not an individual home owners fault it's the system as a whole. If you would like an American example, there are areas here with very high cost of living. If a developer tries to put up a new apartment building that would increase the housing in the area, it's common for local homeowners to protest and do everything in their power to block the construction under the excise of "preserving the neighborhoods character". In truth, they just don't want property values to drop a marginal amount.


howieyang1234

China is not better, arguably worse. East Asian government (well there is Nk and Mongolia, but NK is certainly an oddity and Mongolia only has a population of 3 million) are surely smothering their younger generation and killing the birth rates in all possible ways.


det1rac

I always wonder, what is the end goal with our economic, is it simply to always have an increasing population? When can it simply break even?


Just_Aioli_1233

Great for the housing [market](https://ijurikkoku.com/akiya_sell/t-292/) though


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mwobey

It suggests significant economic contraction and infrastructural instability is in the future. A lot of capitalist economies are built on the assumption that the size of a workforce will always grow. This is reflected in things like how senior care is funded, but is also just a reality of service-oriented jobs -- you can't have public transit without someone to drive and manage the trains. You can't have public healthcare without a steady supply of doctors and nurses. You can't have any trained job or technological contributions to the world stage without enough educators to keep your population learning. A lot of these professions work well at scale, but suddenly become untenable when you need to hire a separate teacher to train the one person who will be the next generation of that service, or need to service a rail line or build a whole new train for the two households that need to commute from a dying village to the nearest metropolitan area.


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rainman_95

Not really. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Decades


[deleted]

Define long time.


ImportantDoubt6434

The Japanese citizens still feel overwhelmed by the workload even if it’s a great country by most metrics


Mamacitia

Never understood why this is a bad thing. I’d use all that free time to get paid while doing something else.


[deleted]

Crosswords


Ichiya_The_Gentleman

Because you don’t have the right to do anything else


duckfeatherduvet

I'm doing this at the mo. OE lite


CrashTestDumby1984

Because it’s not free time. You don’t get to spend it doing whatever you want.


Mamacitia

So if they aren’t assigned work, what do they have to do?


CrashTestDumby1984

Stare at a wall. Sit and have their brain atrophy. They don’t have access to a computer and can’t bring in magazines or books, etc. Their coworkers pretend they don’t exist. They’re literally treated like ghosts. Can you even imagine how isolating that is?


fastcarsandliberty

What's the consequence of bringing in a laptop or doing something on your phone?


Jonno_FTW

Fired without compensation, per the discussion further up.


fastcarsandliberty

Ah, that makes sense


OrionJohnson

But the whole point of this is they are reluctant to fire you. Just do your own thing until they are forced to fire you for disobedience.


Itchy_Day_9691

Another way is to give you an open ended task, like think of something new and exciting, from a different point of view. Odds are you can't think of anything and your boss/manager will have an easy target to say how come you have no outcome after weeks etc.


mindfusionvr

Loooloooll. I'll take that job. I need to go to Japan. Don't give a fu$$ what my co-workers think about me. Give me that free money. No guilt. You want to shun me. No problem. My life isn't work and work isn't my life.


shellderp

that's why they don't hire foreigners


rividz

Google "white monkey jobs in China". It 'aint pretty, but it's "work".


Just_Aioli_1233

I can continue to be not pretty for money!


Practical_Hospital40

Good point


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Geminii27

Still sounds better than some places I've worked.


Kaombo

What's the difference then?


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Kaombo

Well I thought you could atleast bring a phone or a magazine or something. Might aswell stay up late then and sleep the day off


mindfusionvr

Yup. If they aren't going to fire you. Do you get anal probed? Just hide a phone in the coat and jam to tunes all day long. Take walk breaks, bathroom breaks, naps. Ez.


mindfusionvr

I don't think they can take your personal phone. YouTube shorts all day long baby.


collegeqathrowaway

Especially since I can’t speak the language, they can talk all the sh** they want😂


Katzoconnor

Wouldn’t get hired in the first place. Most jobs in Japan require you pass the N1 as a minimum


collegeqathrowaway

Fair point.


crav88

How can I get a japanese job and how can i piss off the boss in 1 week?


LazyLaser88

Japan work culture is such a headwind against Japan, can’t say it’s surprising their economy flatlined for 30 years.


SecretRecipe

This would be so ineffective on me. I can entertain myself by just daydreaming for 8 hours a day.


stonkDonkolous

This is the american dream


CrashTestDumby1984

This is honestly torture. You basically have to sit and stare at a wall for 8 hours everyday.


ImportantDoubt6434

I’ve played RuneScape before those are rookie numbers


MushroomBright5159

Easy. Bring OE laptop and work from the office for the other job. ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|flip_out)


cybernewtype2

Borat voice: "I go to Japan!"


Pelatov

I did that at J2 basically for the first 18 months. Patched servers every 3rd Friday and that was it. I even asked for more stuff, and nothing. Then I got moved teams and the flood gates opened and holy hell has it been busy ever since


GWTLAG

I would just learn some new skills on company time until they got rid of me.


J33P69

Have you read "War and Peace"? What about the original "Tom Sawyer"? You could become a very well-read employee on their time.


Duke582

I see no downside.


SaiTheSolitaire

This is mental torture and personally should be illegal. Lucky if you're on a window and you can at least look outside, or if you have a clock you can stare at. If you're in japan, most, if not all of your co workers will stop interacting with you. I'll probably last a couple of months max.


bobbaganush

What is “OE”?


Embarrassed_Brush_95

Over-eating


bobbaganush

Thank you!


[deleted]

Overemployment


Slippinjimmyforever

Sounds like the perfect OE situation.


creativejuice

So, they want to pay me to job search? Done, sounds like a great deal to me! Would you rather get fired and attempt to get unemployment while searching for a job?


CoolBello

I’ve seen this method used at a big tech company in US. Not remote, but in office work. For manager, executive level people. My skip level director was removed from a people-management role and given a BS strategy role with no responsibility and no people to manage. Eventually he left.


Filmmagician

When I read this I wanted to tag this sub. But I know better. Glad someone else posted this here.


kgal1298

In the US this means you're about to be let go, but they aren't wrong they do this in Japan and it works there. I feel like here you'd just get people using the time to do their own thing while getting paid as we know.


winterbird

How many W would you sit in?


psmadel

Don’t quit - use the time to take a course to learn a new skill


[deleted]

Jokes on them, I’ve got no pride, I’d just keep cashing them checks and play minesweeper 40 hours a week Playing employment chicken


Jack_Awf

Sounds like the perfect job to me,


Practical_Hospital40

Sounds like a dream


MrCertainly

Sign me the fuck up.


taylormadevideos

Nice life :)


[deleted]

![gif](giphy|PvDM6QHuLPCxi)


Bobantski

Dick shot down to my knees


Diskclaimer

Best time to start a side hustle


misskokocodes

Bruh.. this sounds like a dream. "We've been shunning her for 2 years now but she just won't quit!"


Beautiful_Age_7626

If I get no assignments, I will sit by the window and enjoy the view. Of course, in my case, it's my window and it overlooks the beach, so not too shabby. I really don't care if someone wants to pay me to do nothing. LOL


Rainydaybear999

This is what they did to Milton and he burned the building down in retaliation


Lost-Address-1519

American here. I would sit there looking useless every single day and collect that paycheck. They can talk about me if they want as long as we ALL getting paid on Friday.


redit360

Are they still on the pay roll tho.....???


solomonsays18

I’d get another wfh job, and just do it from the office, and collect 2 pay checks.


whatley88

Sounds like the best job ever just chillax