For just over 2 years I have been working for a small Japanese company doing you guessed it, international sales.
My experience here has been unique. I don’t think this is a ‘black company’ as I’m never forced to do overtime and the pay is good.
There is a lot of overwork here and hundreds of thousands of meetings a day however this is voluntary and just part of Japanese work culture. I think it is the same across most companies.
Anyways, recently sales haven’t been going well so the meetings have increased and I’ve noticed some weird really counter-productive things happening.
We were sent to lectures on ‘how to sell!’ where we learned absolutely nothing.
The sales meetings have been getting more and more depressing.
The real reason the product won’t sell is because it’s not a good product and it’s too expensive (company being greedy), but they can’t see that.
Today I get into work and there’s a book on my desk. A book about how to work hard and how we can fight the Japanese population crisis through hard work! That rubbish.
Apparently this is homework to read for the next sales meeting in a week. This thing is a fat book. I can read Japanese but to be honest even if this thing was in English it would take me forever, certainly longer than a week. I have a family I need to devote time to.
Anyways, I feel pretty hopeless and know really I have to just keep going but I’d just like to hear what people think.
Maybe it’s finally time to look for a job in an international company,
Or go back to teaching Engli-NOPE can’t even finish that….
Seriously though.
Thank you!
39 comments
Time for a new job. Sinking ship mate. When management refuses to look at the actual problem should be telling.
Find something else
Does ChatGPT speak Japanese? I never tried. If so, she may be able to give you an executive summary of the book, in English.
And if your company is so desperate, you may want to start looking for an alternative, in order to stay ahead of the curve.
Run Forrest run, away from this company.
” A book about how to work hard and how we can fight the Japanese population crisis through hard work ”
wow this is next level detached from reality corporate koolaid they trying to feed you
Read it on the job.
I love how people are just saying “get a new job” like its no big deal.
I usually just skim the index and maybe the intro and conclusion of each section if I want to pretend that I read something that I don’t want to read.
That said, I’d start updating my resume in your shoes.
Did they use the word 宿題？Although this normally translates as homework, in a business environment, it really just means tasks, and they can be done on the job. Either way, I suggest you try and get more clarification, and if they say it has to be done outside work hours, make your situation and stance clear. Good luck!
Yeah my man, I feel that. Working in car manufacturing doing supplychain managing, it is rough. I’m a 1 man department which means I am already overloaded but I get asked to work on IT and Engineering issues because I fixed those issues once. I got handed over a 300pg manual on a complex machine and every page has “DO NOT WORK ON THIS MACHINE UNLESS YOU’RE AN EXPERT OR ELSE DEATH OR SERIOUS INJURY MAY OCCUR”, I just noped out.
I hope to quit after I can absorb all the upskilling time/knowledge and make connections in the industry.
A lot of Japanese manufacturers are stuck in the 80s mentality. They think that because they make televisions, they would sell well because you know, everyone wants a television.They cannot acknowledge the fact that the market is now global and now younger generations of customers/buyers will source information worldwide to get the best product at the best price.
If your boss is a boomer, frankly speaking no hope your company would change anytime soon.
You could eventually buy this book and put it on your boss desk though:
## [V字回復の経営―2年で会社を変えられますか](https://www.amazon.co.jp/V%E5%AD%97%E5%9B%9E%E5%BE%A9%E3%81%AE%E7%B5%8C%E5%96%B6%E2%80%952%E5%B9%B4%E3%81%A7%E4%BC%9A%E7%A4%BE%E3%82%92%E5%A4%89%E3%81%88%E3%82%89%E3%82%8C%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99%E3%81%8B-%E6%97%A5%E7%B5%8C%E3%83%93%E3%82%B8%E3%83%8D%E3%82%B9%E4%BA%BA%E6%96%87%E5%BA%AB-%E4%B8%89%E6%9E%9D-%E5%8C%A1/dp/4532193427)
## But the real thing is… time for you to find a new job.
I’d read the first and final chapters and the chapter titles. That should give you enough to go on in terms of understanding for the meeting. I was recently given a book to read about how Japanese businesspeople can be more “global”. I disagreed with the gist of it but obviously told my boss I thought it was very interesting.
just say you read it. and assume everything in that book tells you that work > life and with more work your life magically gets better.
Oo-er I don’t like that bit about the population crisis. That would make be feel like I’m taking crazy pills. Time to discreetly search for another job.
In the meantime, flip through the book and try to grab “inspirational quotes” from each section, make a note of them and say why you agree with them in your meeting. Also throw your book down the stairs a few times, add a lot of sticky notes to the pages and fold a lot of corners to make it look well read.
Boss: Sales are low. What are you going to do about it?
Manager: Don’t worry. I’ve got a solution.
​
Manager: Sales are low. Read this book and then tell us what you’re going to do about it!
Average worker: FML.
The author might be mates with shacho.
Curious about what “black company “ means.
You need to find another job, and there should be **plenty** of options out there for an experienced bilingual salesperson. Update your linkedin and get busy.
A black company doesn’t lose its black status just because it doesn’t force you to do overtime..
Previous company I worked for veered into pointless “education” as well. Boss had everyone read “嫌われる勇気” and “幸せになる勇気”, and had me participate in a six week coaching programme about “Positive Intelligence”.
I’m an IT guy. I don’t do sales, and I don’t give a crap about this stuff. I don’t have to, it’s not relevant to my field…
I don’t work for that company anymore xD
We were forced into these sales training classes. The director joined too but even he got bored middle of the way. It was utterly useless.
Me and the other coworkers vowed that if we ever had to go through sh!t like that again we’d quit.
Yeah, I too would rather be trying to sell a shitty product while attending thousands of meetings a day than teaching…
Just read that shit at work and at work only.
Actually sounds like teaching at an eikaiwa is a good match for you.
Hmm, sounds like perfect case for ChatGPT if you can get an online version of the book. And start looking for a new gig. They will start to cut people. You’ve only been there two years and not in a senior role so I wouldn’t count on them being too generous with a severance package. Remember, finding a job is a job. Have a plan, work it and adjust accordingly.
Time to leave. In the meantime find an online summary of the book. Or make a deal with your coworkers where you all read 1 chapter of it and then share with each other the highlights.
> We were sent to lectures on ‘how to sell!’ where we learned absolutely nothing.
I’ve had similar before, we were the best performing team for sales to the extent of paying the rent of other stores.
Yet we had to attend a ‘How to sell’ workshop put on by some guest lecturer. It was all a vanity project by the CEO and not aimed at us. In your case it seems like the overall mood is that you need to sell more and work harder, which probably means problems behind the scenes at the company.
Thw country is doomed when they said “In order to fight the Japanese population crisis, we need to WORK HARDER”
Maybe feed it to chatgpt and request a summary? I believe something like this is doable.
Don’t read the book. Just mark 3 or 4 sections at random with post-it notes. When you have to speak, say that those sections were most important for you for (xyz) reasons.
Yea.. book aside.. if you’re in a company anywhere selling a bad product at a bad price …. The hand writing is on the wall. Move to a company you believe in or at the very least has better prospects
You could look for a new job and/or, however futile, you could speak up. You never know… it might change things. Proudly declare that you didn’t read the book because it is not the problem, the product and price point are the problem.
コーヒー is for Closers!
u/Kairi911 I actually think your company is great that they are doing these initiatives to help you and the sales team. What other company would invest in their team members? Seriously though, if you can attend those free sales seminars, free books, that will just up your skill, then do it, for free and during the time of your work.
Use chatGPT to get the gist and summary of the book in a few minutes. Then leverage your working hour to apply to a different work position or act busy turning pages of the book.
I once heard the advice of reading a book’s introduction and conclusion (or summary if available). As well as reading a random chapter completely. The idea being that from the first part you get what it is about, and the reading of the random chapter allowing you to make comments and formulate questions on detailed points the writer makes. This gives the impression that you deeply engaged with the material.
Just remember that at the end of the day, the only real reason you’re working for this company is to get paid. The company’s overall performance has little to no bearing on your individual goal of getting paid (unless you’re a director).
It looks like your company is not going to last. In order to continue getting paid, therefore, you might need to find a new one.
In the meantime, it doesn’t matter what you do for your current company, as you’re still going to get paid, which is all that should matter to you. The company gave you a massive book to read? Read it at your desk, or read a summary. Or don’t bother at all, if nobody’s going to check.
Long meetings where you don’t need to personally contribute are generally pretty good opportunities to work on other skills, too – anything you can learn on a computer, like programming, touch typing, excel etc looks like work from anyone else’ perspective – especially if you do it in English.
Some Chinese guy told me he’s never rolled with this bs. Never done any free work they asked him to do and never got fired. He just calmly told his boss it’s not very difficult for him to find another job in a Chinese owned company lol
I’m not sure if he’s a citizen tho.
>how we can fight the Japanese population crisis through hard work!
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Make ChatGPT read it and give you a summary