When one of my friends recently went to work sick, I asked, “You worked today despite being sick?” Then he started saying that Japanese people work the hardest and go to work even when they’re ill, and he was talking as if no other country does this.
People in my home country are constantly pushed to come in to work when they are ill and get guilt-tripped if they call in sick, so all of my friends back home suck it up and show up to work and give it their all. This is just a normal thing worldwide isn’t it? You don’t get sick pay and lose money if you are ill and potentially face being fired if ill too many times, so everyone does their best to come in regardless of the country?
I work remotely for a company which has offices based all around the world, including Tokyo. Without going too far into it, the Japanese office has done very badly when compared to the offices in other countries. When we pull up stats at the end of the month, Japan are always bottom or at least in the bottom section and not doing anywhere near as much as the UK, USA, EU etc. The staff members in Japan have pulled sick days and I’ve seen them on that same day uploading instagram stories of them doing DJ shows and hanging out with friends drinking and they eventually got fired.
I can’t help but feel very frustrated when Japanese people constantly make out that they’re some type of supreme race and talk down on other countries, only to find that when compared to other countries, they are not as good as they say they are.
I know that this is a ‘cool story bro’ kinda post, but I just wanted to rant….again…. sorry hahaha.
44 comments
what’s the real challenge for you here?
No, *I* work the hardest!
Also the smartest.
And more…
Just ignore them lol
This was the case when I first moved here but I never really here this anymore, that could have something to do with the fact that I work in schools and the only adults near me are teachers, who tend to be much more informed….but yeah when I first moved here and I was teaching adults, I would hear that shit non-stop
I once pointed out that South Korea and the USA both work more hours on averager per year than Japan, and the best result I ever got was awkward silence, so I just left it alone.
My boss admits himself that Japanese do not work the hardest, but 100% work the longest.
Japanese people don’t “work hard”, from what I’ve seen. They ***look*** like they are “hard at work”.
It’s more important to **seem like your working** then *actually producing any results.*
**It’s pretty damn dumb if you ask me…**
Looks at the cops in the koban
they “seem” like they are working hard because they work very long (but not exactly producing results)
Work smart not hard – those who work hardest do so because they can’t think for themselves.
It seems there’s a common theme amongst Redditors that Japanese work culture relies on looking busy. If a job takes one hour to complete you should try to double or triple it’s time. This way your counter parts will think you are putting in an effort.
Even as simple as an email – at lunch the other day someone told me – emails are excessively long in Japan because it’s considered polite by showing the amount of content you added. Opposed to being forward and straight to the point 🫠
We work long but we don’t work hard. Whilst working in an office, some people take a nap. Sometimes, during a meeting they do so as well.
In my opinion, North American office workers usually work harder than Japanese people.
japanese salarymen are good at acting like are working hard and being hard at work. And then then the traditional showa mindset of japanese work place is there will be rewarded for those try their best, regardless of whatever is the output.
But when we look at the numbers, Japan has more public holidays comparing to other developed countries, less effective output compared to even neighbors.
Stagnation of the economy has to do with this mindset of acting hardworking but with lots of mundane unproductive activities, no initiatives, no prioritization, uncompetitive unskilled office workers, mass recruitments of newbies.. working culture.
What can you tell to your bragging worker:
he may work hardest but also work slowest. High effort low output is the worst for corporation
It’s the nihonjinron mindset. If it makes you feel better, people are often just ignorant. They don’t know any better because they grew up hearing that Japan is the best from older people and on the TV. (Variety TV is one of the major culprits of this)
I just ignore it most of the time. Sometimes if I have a chance I’ll make some light hearted comment to counteract a claim, but if you try to get too serious people can get very sensitive, like you’re trying to shit on Japan.
I dealt with a psycho at my previous workplace who destroyed my coat after an exchange we had. She would often speak in very broad terms about Europe and had this fantasy image like it was all like the towns in the Ghibli movies, but it was weird because she’d say “I wish I could live in Europe, but then I couldn’t eat fresh sushi. I said something like, “yeah, but if you like Salmon, Scottish and Norwegian salmon is really good.” And she snapped at me like “it doesn’t compare at all.”
I kind of left it that time, but another time she mentioned she wished she could live in Europe because there is no suicide there. I explained that actually the Scandinavia and Eastern Europe have very similar or even worse suicide rates than Japan in some cases. She just said “あっ、そっか” and left. Then at the end of my shift I went and found the inside of my coat had been covered in ink.
I immediately suspected her and went to speak to my boss, but she had already gone ahead and reported that I had made racist claims about Japan and made light of suicide here. Long story short, neither of us work there anymore, she was removed (not before spreading more lies about me to colleagues) and I was forced to apologize and then removed from my team (I shortly left after.)
Hard working long hours not working hard to finish at 5pm
I don’t think I have ever heard anyone say that.
Work more, maybe.
Work harder, I don’t think so.
Work better, no.
One of the bad things I see is that if you work harder or better, your reward is… more work.
One of my co-workers was the best and smartest of all of us. He was a victim of his own competence. The higher-ups just gave him more stuff to do.
He quit this past spring because that was the only way out of being overworked.
Do Japanese people say to themselves,Japanese people are the most diligent! Have you ever met a Japanese who says that?
That is just because foreigners have such an image of Japan on their own.
Japanese people are kind, Japanese people are clean, and so on.The bar is set too high for the Japanese.
there’s all kinds of “wrong” interpretations, but the one that gets me are the japanese ppl who insist on doing things the hard way – literally like going around your elbow to reach your asshole – when there’s much easier and efficient ways to accomplish the same thing, and calling that hard work. nope, that’s just plain stupid!
Just show them the global data on average hours worked per year by country. Japan is decidedly middle of the pack. The US and Canada work way more hours per year. Korea is crazy high.
Basically the difference between work ethic and productivity/efficiency
They are taught at school that Japanese people have good manners, care about others and work hard. And then this is reenforced on TV everyday with Japanese propaganda and shit talking other countries. This is one of the reasons I refuse to watch any Japanese TV.
From my experience working in a Japanese office, 95% of the people were good at looking busy by shuffling papers around and telling anyone that will listen how busy they are. Just the same as back home! It’s all BS.
It used to annoy me, and I’d correct people on it and all I’d get is a そうなんだ. Basically they didn’t believe me. So now I put it in a pile of phrases that I just ignore.
Japanese people are always on time. You’re in time. You’re so Japanese.
Foreigners don’t use chopsticks.
You said thank you to someone who did something nice to you. You’re so Japanese.
Japanese people work so hard.
You’re still here. You haven’t gone home yet. Staying late at the office; you’re so Japanese.
You have such good manners. You’re so Japanese.
**Japan, in a nutshell:**
Japan’s GDP in 1994: US$5 trillion
Japan’s GDP in 2020: US$5 trillion
USDJPY rate at end of Dec 1994: 99.72
USDJPY rate at end of Dec 2020: 103.06
Japan’s 1994 population: ~125 million
Japan’s 2020 population: ~126 million
I love my life in Japan but there is little denying that the country has been stuck in neutral for most of the past 30 years.
Yep. My country has the longest working hours in western Europe last time I looked (UK), it mightve changed now.
You get the THIRD degree if you try to call in sick back home. So we just take strong over the counter drugs , and which arguably you can’t get in Japan, but some cant afford to or don’t have time to buy them.
Here, people just coast through the day if they’ve come in and aren’t well (also not allowed back home)
And of course I don’t care , it’s better for companies and places to be flexible and understanding of sickness, but it’s just not the image I had.
Also theres this thing going round about white privilege, which I’m sure exists in certain circles, but definitely not in working class British circles, as those people are some of the toughest grafters you will ever come across.
Harder not smarter
One thing for sure is that they works the hardest with the least work.
*Glory to Arstotzka, friend.*
Japan is globally ranked 25th for labor productivity, so I’d say they work harder but stupider than 24 countries.
I was one of the “just ignore them” brigade. But it doesn’t work. Just like ignoring bullies and harassers does not work.Now, when they hit me, I hit back. And it worked. Maybe they still brag about how great they think they are, but at least they don’t do it in front of me anymore.
Example from a couple of months ago: One of my colleagues kept saying that gaijin can’t work that hard, and they don’t care about being punctual, that’s why they’re めちゃくちゃ。My reply: that’s why you work overtime every day and still you missed every single deadline this year.
They are the master of appearing to work hard.
I don’t care about that crap in the work place and, likely as a result, my personal wellness/wellbeing level was nearly maxed out when we did one of those emotional IQ assessment tests where as my Japanese co-workers’s scored petty low.
Japan has law to limit overtime work but we don’t have that in my home country. When I was working for a few jobs in my home country, the whole team was still working at 12am (remotely).
Japanese still sticks on their low wage job and work overtime. Employers have no motivation to raise wage even market has shortage of labour.
Some people just don’t know anything about anywhere else, I suppose.
The weirdest thing to me is that Japanese somehow both are all working hours and hours of overtime, and yet the trains from 6pm to 8pm are ALWAYS the most packed.
no, because im not insecure
My manager used to always make comments about how I leave work “early” to which I’d always ask what my contracted hours are.
After a year or so everyone in my office started leaving at 5:30 on the dot. Granted, it’s only 5 of us but we’ve probably got the best work/life balance of anyone else in the building. My boss – not to be outdone – is often the first out.
They might work the hardest….but like my dad always says “Work smarter, not harder”
I see a lot of people working themselves to the bone without taking a minute to reflect why they are doing what they are doing and how could it be more efficient
Japanese people work with a cost of their life while having the lowest productivity among G7 nations.
https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h01196/
Just sitting in the office and showing being occupied with useless meetings and Excel sheets doesn’t make the work done.
The same culture is in South Korea.
Working hard should reflect in countries’ economies and peoples lives. Japan’s economy sitting in the same place as 30 years while their competitors China grown exponentially.
I wanted to take a week summer vacation, and the manager made me feel guilty for asking it. This is Japan.
No, because people don’t say this to me.
I don’t know what your issue is here. It’s just this individual’s opinion. Why would you care about it? Why do you feel annoyed by it? Even many people say that, I’d not care at all.
My experience here in Japan with most Japanese people is that they work hard, but not smart. Perhaps low productivity is synonymous with working smart for many of them?
It’s literally a certain type of individual you encountered, not an entire race. You can 100% find the same type of person in every country in the world. This post screams personal hate.
I’ve always seen people that go to work while sick as being either incredibly selfish and ignorant or poor (in which case their boss is the selfish/ignorant one). Stop spreading illnesses!
I’d be willing to bet covid wouldn’t have been half as bad (may never have even been a big deal) if people didn’t continue going to work/school when sick.
Yes they think they are the supreme race of the universe
Yeah, it’s pretty bullshit. It is more like most people just sit in chairs and waste time, or make an effort to look like they are working rather than… work.
I worked way harder in Canada because I’d be “laid off” if I didn’t give 110% all day everyday.
Japanese think long hours and pointless meetings which go nowhere = hard work.
Moronic
People’s in your country are being pushed to work when they are ill. Maybe that shouldn’t be the norm or the standard to compare Japanese people against.
It’s time for sick days in Japan.