←back to thread

How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

(www.tofugu.com)
178 points rawgabbit | 10 comments | 18 Nov 24 04:02 UTC | HN request time: 0.4s | source | bottom
Show context
Daz1 ◴[18 Nov 24 06:16 UTC] No.42170181[source]▶
this is mostly fantastical nonsense. I go home at 6pm everyday. go outside at 6pm and you will see businesspeople everywhere also on the commute home.

also it is nearly impossible to fire anyone in Japan for anything

replies(4): >>42170378 #>>42170477 #>>42170514 #>>42170530 #
1. goykasi ◴[18 Nov 24 06:58 UTC] No.42170378[source]▶
That is my experience too. In my neighborhood, by 8pm, the streets are crawling with drunk salarymen (and women) stumbling out of izakayas on their way to a snack and/or karaoke -- 5 days per week. They clearly werent working overtime with how often I see them.
replies(2): >>42170780 #>>42170852 #
2. saagarjha ◴[18 Nov 24 08:45 UTC] No.42170780[source]▶
So they start work at 12?
replies(1): >>42170822 #
3. goykasi ◴[18 Nov 24 08:54 UTC] No.42170822[source]▶
I would guess they start around 8 or 9 in the morning.
replies(1): >>42170842 #
4. saagarjha ◴[18 Nov 24 08:57 UTC] No.42170842{3}[source]▶
So they’re working 12 hour days 5 days a week? That sounds like overtime to me.
replies(1): >>42170900 #
5. bouncycastle ◴[18 Nov 24 08:59 UTC] No.42170852[source]▶
the nomikai is part of the work, where the social status is being reinforced (pouring drinks while deeply bowing to the boss, getting forced to drink, the speeches, the clapping, etc)
replies(1): >>42170936 #
6. goykasi ◴[18 Nov 24 09:12 UTC] No.42170900{4}[source]▶
Not sure why youre being a contrarian. It seems like you didnt bother to understand my post. But yah, start work at 8-9, knock off at 6 to start drinking heavily at the local izakaya, hammered by 8 or 9 and stumbling towards the snack until last train (or later if the company pays for cabs).

I see the same thing everyday.

replies(1): >>42170969 #
7. goykasi ◴[18 Nov 24 09:19 UTC] No.42170936[source]▶
Im not disputing the fact that nomikai exists. Ive been to my share. I was simply agreeing with the OP that it is more likely that most Japanese people arent working insane amounts of overtime and black companies arent in the majority. I provided a personal anecdote to reinforce that.

Most people are more than likely getting off at regular hours and going home or out for dinner and drinks (whether you consider that work or not -- they arent being paid). Otherwise the bars and trains wouldnt be packed full of people at 6pm and happy hour wouldnt exist.

8. saagarjha ◴[18 Nov 24 09:26 UTC] No.42170969{5}[source]▶
That’s still 9-10 hours a day. The typical workweek here is 40 hours.
replies(1): >>42171046 #
9. goykasi ◴[18 Nov 24 09:45 UTC] No.42171046{6}[source]▶
Well your "here" is clearly not Japan. Your confidence about inexperience is weird though.
replies(1): >>42171254 #
10. saagarjha ◴[18 Nov 24 10:40 UTC] No.42171254{7}[source]▶
Where I'm from people call doing 10 hours a day and then being socially pressured into going to the bar with your boss afterwards to be overwork. You are welcome to call it whatever you want but going "yeah we do it that way here" doesn't make it any better. And, just to head off the usual response, what we do here also has its own issues. But I definitely will not be going "oh I saw a guy on the train at 3 PM clearly he is slacking at work".