Hi everyone.
I was formerly a designer at an agency in Japan. (Been living here since 2014). Due to abysmal management, the agency lost one of its biggest clients, and the newly joined General Manager decided that they needed to let some people go. Funnily, instead of letting go of the people responsible for the losses, she decided to kick me out despite me being one of their best performers. The company’s reasoning was: they wanted to save some effort instead of establishing a formal digital team, and since there are no prospective projects at the moment, they had no choice but to let me go. Of course, it’s not 解雇 (since they have no justified reasonings) but rather 退職勧奨 (会社都合). However, as 退職勧奨 doesn’t mean firing, and I can decline or accept it, I decided to decline it at first. But, in a typical Japanese way, the company started escalating the issue and threatened to demote me or give me a pay cut, and, even worse, fabricated claims stating that I wasn’t doing my job properly. I asked for a redeploy to a different unit but that was also blocked because “the agency deemed that I wasn’t suitable for the job” despite the manager of that unit vouching for me. I gave in at the end because it was mentally exhausting, and it was also in my plan to leave the agency in 2024. This is the second time I got into this scenario.
That being said, now that I’m back to job hunting, the mental exhaustion from my previous job is affecting me severely, and receiving rejections or being ghosted is making things worse. The market is unforgiving toward the end of the year. Knowing that my visa is severely affected and that I need to find something within 3 months is also not helping at the moment.
I’m writing this here hoping to receive some advice on what I should do next. I know the obvious thing would be to tough it out and pray that something is coming soon but is there anything I can do to really cope with the mental stress and anxiety?
TIA.
4 comments
That’s tough. I hope you got a decent severance package. Can you move into one of the companies you worked for maybe as part of the marketing team? If you have any decent relationships or ways in, that might be helpful. Also, are you on garden leave? If so, you are technically still employed until the actual termination date, so if there is anything you need to do or renew or apply for connected to being employed you might want to do that. I literally bought a house and got a mortgage while on garden leave.
>I need to find something within 3 months
Are you on the HSP(i) visa? If you’re on HSP(i) then you have 3 months. If you’re on HSP(ii) then you have 6 months
Otherwise, If not HSP(i) or HSP(ii), then because you’re physically in Japan and actively job hunting, and paying your dues such as taxes, pension and health insurance (at least I hope you are) then immigration consider you still actively engaging in your status of residency, and abiding by Japanese laws. Meaning you would be good until your SOR expires.
Just keep a record of all your job hunting in case immigration summon you for a hearing (which they can start after 3 months unemployed)m
Also have you registered with Hello work?
First of all, don’t panic about your visa: as others have said, the MoJ *can* initiate procedures to revoke it if you go 3 months without engaging in the activities it specifies, but they don’t do it by default, and if you’re actively hunting for another job, in reality you have until your visa’s expiration date until you might have to change statuses.
I’ve been in a situation very much like yours, so a lot of your story rings very true. In my case I was abruptly given the chance to move to a new department (human resources) to do something very specific, and, having had a terrible ogre of a manager before that and wanting to try something different, I excitedly took them up on it.
But my new manager wanted to change my employment status from *seishain* to *shokutaku* (a limited-term contract), and I did what you did:
> 退職勧奨 doesn’t mean firing, and I can decline or accept it, I decided to decline it at first.
And because I stood on my rights, the new manager’s reaction was the same as yours:
> But, in a typical Japanese way, the company started escalating the issue and threatened to demote me or give me a pay cut, and, even worse, fabricated claims stating that I wasn’t doing my job properly.
(Well, for me, not every claim was *fabricated*; I was taking far too long to get used to my new manager and her hectic, meeting-filled, task-switching-all-day style.)
So I did what you did:
> I asked for a redeploy to a different unit but that was also blocked because “the agency deemed that I wasn’t suitable for the job” despite the manager of that unit vouching for me.
…and the *buchō*’s reaction was about the same as yours.
> I gave in at the end because it was mentally exhausting
I’m sure you’ve been wondering to yourself whether you should have just “read the air” and taken that 退職勧奨 like they wanted. I think about my decision all the time and wonder if it was the right one.
Much later, I discovered that my predecessor had abruptly quit (so they needed someone new, quick) and his reason for leaving was that the stress of the job was going to make him “explode” (爆発). Our company’s rules require that you get your job back if you go on mental/stress leave, but only if you’re a *seishain*. *Shokutaku* don’t get it, so when I saw his exit interview, I finally understood what my manager’s motivation probably was. I’m guessing that there was something happening in your company in the background, which you had no way of knowing about, that made them pick you for the mistreatment.
In your situation you should have been eligible for unemployment benefits from day one; were you? It sounds like they did things exactly by the book in paying out your accumulated PTO but not offering anything above that, and not attempting to cheat you out of anything. If you had hired a lawyer and fought, you might have been able to get severance, but the mental stress of fighting your own employer and turning an already-strained relationship adversarial might not have been worth it.
Still, remember that you’re not alone; companies do this stuff all the time. Your visa is fine for now, so unless you’re in dire financial straits, put your mental health first and maybe work part-time until you’re healed.
I wish you the best!
seek a good recruiter. I’m working in digital almost 10 years and I think it’s not a bad time at all to search if you have 7 years experience.