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How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

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178 points rawgabbit | 3 comments | 18 Nov 24 04:02 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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infotainment ◴[18 Nov 24 04:44 UTC] No.42169771[source]▶
> "I can't quit the job. If I say I'm going to quit, I'll be threatened that I will have to pay damages for quitting."

Interestingly, this is actually possible under Japanese law/legal precedent. If an employee, for example, decides to put in notice and then half-ass their job until their departure date, a company could actually sue the employee and win.

Other Japan-labor-law fun fact: if you are a contract worker, it is literally illegal for you to quit prior to your contract expiry date. Hope you like that job you signed onto!

Obligatory disclaimer: IANAL

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vr46 ◴[18 Nov 24 04:48 UTC] No.42169791[source]▶
All this has gone a long way to make me feel better about not keeping up my Japanese language skills after university. My youthful deep reverence for Japan and its culture shifted into realpolitik as I learned more and more, and I think another watch of Fear And Trembling is in order…
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ninetyninenine ◴[18 Nov 24 04:56 UTC] No.42169820[source]▶
I kinda want to go there and purchase a 10k house in a village and chill. It’s basically a place where you can retire. I know a bunch of white people who have already done this.

Just like how Japan isn’t characterized fully by anime it’s not fully characterized by corporate culture either.

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mc3301 ◴[18 Nov 24 06:01 UTC] No.42170097[source]▶
Do you actually know many people (not through social media) that did this? I live here, and I know a few but they mostly fall into one of two camps. 1) Moving into and maintaining the house/land/community relationships is a labor of love, which involves a lot of work or 2) They don't last long once they realize the physical labor, the mental load of the language/culture/isolation.

I'm in the process of buying a house here. I have helped other with the process, too.

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1. ninetyninenine ◴[18 Nov 24 06:14 UTC] No.42170169[source]▶
I Airbnbed in the place of one guy who did it. And I know one more. The rest are on social media like you said.

I think if a bunch of people just go into town and do it together it will be less isolating.

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2. ujikoluk ◴[18 Nov 24 06:41 UTC] No.42170297[source]▶
I don't think building an island is the answer. It will make it even difficult to integrate into the culture. And if you don't want to integrate into the culture, why are you there in the first place?
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3. shiroiushi ◴[18 Nov 24 09:23 UTC] No.42170955[source]▶
>And if you don't want to integrate into the culture, why are you there in the first place?

A lot of immigrants leave their home countries not because they love the culture of their new country, but because they found living in their old country unbearable for some reason. Or just for economic reasons.

Not everyone actually wants to integrate into a new culture; many don't. Just look at how many people in the US don't speak English, even though that's obviously the dominant culture.