I often read a lot of absolutely horrible/ridiculous stories about working here. I guess cause we tend to share more negative than positive experiences.
I myself sometimes lean towards focusing more on negative aspects.
Which is why I’d like to ask what are the things that you LIKE about your job/working here?
If I were to list a few points, they’d be:
1) convenient location in Tokyo – not a typical office district, with lots of things to do and places to have lunch during breaks
2) being allowed to listen to music, podcasts, watch movies on the background while working
3) minimal interaction with people
4) although we have little common topics, I actually feel like my (all Japanese) co-workers are nice people that I can rely on
5) I work exclusively on paper and do not use any tech, meaning no need to stare at computer screen for 8 hours straight
6) and lastly freedom in terms of working hours. I can’t be grateful enough that I can just come and leave whenever I want as long as I get the job done
28 comments
I leave at 5pm, no questions asked – ever. Staff are all internationally-minded, always open to new ideas/and construtive feedback. Managers actually have their staff’s best interests at heart. Meetings are hated by all, so the rare ones that happen are short and to the point.
It’s literally the opposite of every horror story I read on here.
Freedom to explore whatever I like so long as it results in publications for the department.
I love that moderate competence and a smidge of ambition is called excess skill to most salary men 😛
1. I like money, money can be exchanged for goods or services.
2. My employer does not mandate a WFH / In office ratio. I think this is reasonable, as there are people who actually want to go to the office.
3. I have total flexible about when and how I do my work, as long as it is done. So if I want to play video games all day that is fine, as long as I stay up and work in the night.
4. I like my colleagues, they are lovely.
5. Programming is something I love, so work feels more enjoyable to me.
I work from home and get paid in $$$ not yen
1. I like my boss. She has a very western approach on how to deal with things. Very unusual in the eikawa game. We have our disputes ofc but I mean, that happens everywhere
2. It’s close to home. Can never go back to doing the “Tokyo commute”
3. I have a lot of freedom at work ( relative to most eikawas) and I am pretty much free to do what I want when it comes to my own classes.
I get nearly four months off a year, paid.
1 – Work from home
2 – airplanes tickets home for me and all my family (that’s around 10k us of benefit a year)
3 – time spent in airplane is count as normal work day.
4 – co workers all Japanese and funny
5 – free Japanese class
6 – get paid for taking a walk
7 – get free snacks, beer, tea delivery at home for video nomikai
8 – discount buying electronics
9 – core time, I chose when to start and finish working
10 – around 30 days off a year
The hours a short and my classes don’t start until the afternoon, the money is good compared with the workload and the management is fairly easygoing.
Paid well
Good work/life balance
Flexible working hours
Nice colleagues
Opinion respected
Career advancement
Nice coworkers, flexible work style, work is usually interesting. Not much in the way of overtime.
Cute Hanakos always bringing me tea or coffee and saying “すごい！” to everything I say.
I make really good money and I work less than 30 hours a week. It’s basically heaven.
* I love what I do and where I work. I spent 10+ years in school for this and I’m glad I don’t regret it
* Flexibility. Basically I can work form home when I want as most of my job has been digitized. I also have extremely lenient Flex Time and usually work from 11am to 7pm.
* Not having to work directly in a hospital anymore. Hospitals are high risk and I have my own medical conditions to worry about
* Allowing other freelance/part time side work at clinics etc.
* Base salary is good plus two 4.5 month bonuses per year.
* I feel respected and listened to in this position when I suspect a lot of women in the medical field may not feel that way
* Colleagues are all very kind. The company does well, but it is on the smaller side so it’s easy to get along with everyone.
* Relatively high pay
* Remote work
* Tons of time off
* I enjoy my field
* People I work with are smarter than me
I teach English at a day care. My teaching hours are like 1-2 a week max lol. Because of their age it’s more about playing than teaching. I get paid very well. Higher than any Eikawa starting pay. I take naps literally everyday. Get a free lunch. Bonus two times a year . When I’m not teaching I’m just taking care of the kids/watching them / chatting in English . Very low effort job. I haven’t thought about not wanting to go to work since my last Eikawa job. I just happily show up because it’s literally the least stressful thing. I’m not a 保育士 either so my responsibilities are not as strict . Don’t have to change diapers but I do to help them out. My days off are always two days backed to back. 8-4 /9-5 type hours(like america , break included).
13 mins walk from home. The end….
1. No fixed hours – if I don’t have any meetings, I can start at 11 if I want to.
2. No micromanagement – My manager is in the US and only cares if work is getting done.
3. My team requires very little guidance.
4. WFH at my own discretion.
5. Tons of time off – plus half days off Fridays in the summer.
Cons – Can easily make 30-40% more salary at a different company.
Months of paid vacation. Short hours. 4 days a week. Holidays. Extremely helpful staff.
I hate my job. HOWEVER, I can say these things are good:
– It’s only 4km away. I can get to work in under 15 min by bicycle, under 30 min by train.
– My students (children) are mostly delightful little people
– I never have to work on weekends
– In the morning before work, I have free time I can use for freelance writing, teaching private lessons, etc.
1. Money
2. Money
3. Money
Working 3 days a week while still cashing in a full time paycheck…. Or good salary for the 3 days…? Whichever way you think about it, 4 days off in a week? Sign me up!
-no report writing
-can leave at 5, freely take (my many days of) PTO, and no one cares as long as you meet your deadlines
-very rarely there’s overtime, and if there is then I’m usually paid OT to eat and drink
-beautiful location (but there is also remote work so it’s a good balance)
-office is a 2 min walk from a conbini and coworkers often buy ice cream for everyone
-get to learn about and be a part of some pretty cool, and sometimes historical, things
1. Own my own business.
2. Get to live in one of the most historical places in Japan. (Asuka)
3. Respect and admiration from local politicians and ぎぎfor my contributions to the local tourism.
4. EXTREMELY cheap groceries (Asuka has an abundance of produce)
5. Quiet atmosphere.
These posts usually become bragging posts, do we really need to hear this shit?
Work life balance for me! Sure our day starts early, I get to work before 7:50 in the mornings. But I can usually leave before 3pm. I work four days a week and I thoroughly enjoy my job. I’m on Mat leave now and I’m missing my job a lot.
* Boss is awesome, works hard, listens well and is kind.
* Salary is good and gets increased based on the number of certificates you get. (which are paid for by the company)
* Anytime I want to work overtime I can do it from home.
* Everyone leaves 5 min early. (except a few who have no life and spend time talking with coworkers when they finish. Which is still kinda nice.)
* Summer and Winter bonus based on self evaluation.
* Workers compensation is nice. (Back hurts from sitting at the pc all day? Mention it to the boss and get 3 days off to go to the clinic and get it checked out and get a back brace and new office chair paid for by the company.)
* Only do 30min of real work per week. The rest of the time just read books and play mobile games. (I am master of pretend work)
* Got my own work area with air purifier (my request) and air conditioning.
* Can take a day off anytime I want.
* I get anything I request for my office. (So far.)
* Everyone got an iPhone 13 Pro to use for work when they were first released. (We are not allowed to use our own phones at work for security reasons)
* We are government funded and when we are over budget we get a small salary increase for that period. (Rarely happens but it’s nice when it does.)
* Lunch is provided by the company as well as snacks and drinks. (Ice cream and whatnot during summer, free to take as much as you want but everyone is quite modest)
There are bad points too but the good is very good I think.
1. Silence. Nobody speaks, unless it’s necessary. I love it.
2. Good location, easy to commute.
3. No サービス残業 expected.
4. No 飲み会、接待 or other crap like that, not on a regular basis at least.