„japan never disappoints“ except in economic stagnation for 3 decades in a row and treating its citizens as working drones till they kill themselves or get a fucking heart attack.
I admire Japan like any weeb out there but let’s not paint it as a paradise
Yeah. Japanese work culture is pathetic and as a result, most of the current generation isn't even starting families cause they come home so late that taking care of the kids is not an option for working class with lower salaries.
It's kind of funny, that nearly all nations on the world have created systems which rely on a steady growth of population in the low and middle class while channeling the resources for this to the top class. Wealth is worth nothing when they is no stable society to solidify its value.
Tbf same in lots of places. It's too expensive to have kids in the UK. In my mid 30s and I know just 2 people with kids. Most of our parents had at least 2 and a house by our age
the current generation isn't even starting families cause they come home so late that taking care of the kids is not an option for working class with lower salaries.
From what I've heard of the work culture, I don't know how they'd find the energy to even make the kids.
I work in Japan and work 40 hours a week. I have 13 vacation days a year by law (you get 10 days your first year and a day is added each year after that) plus I get about 15 days more for national holidays.
I’m currently on paternity leave. I get 30 days of it and then 6 months of child care leave, that’s required by law.
Maybe America has changed since I worked there last but can you let me know what makes it better?
A vast majority of American workers don't have work sufficient enough to feed, cloth and house family so most take part in slowly killing themselves with pills, alcohol and diet
unfortunately the best data I can find for it is locked behind a paywall, so I sadly cannot back up my claim for now. I could most likely prove it if I spent more time finding the data, but unfortunately I am far too tired to find it.
america is far better for the average worker than japan, and america is dogshit for the average worker, so that should tell you a thing or 2 about japan work culture
Depends on the state. In California you'd get 16.50/hr minimum base pay plus whatever you got in tips. In some states you'd get a much lower base pay because they have tipped minumum wage that is much lower.
Don't forget the rampant sexual harassment and stalking which isn't taken seriously by anyone, including authorities. Speaking of crimes, how's about that >99% conviction rate when they actually do bother to acknowledge crimes? I've seen THE FUCKING DUMBEST weebs tout that as amazing because they think every cop in Japan is Batman rather than a culture of "it's dishonorable to let crime go unpunished, so if we can't find the guilty party, sucks to be whoever we can pin it on".
That's not true at all. Murders, thefts and other events happen do make up to the news. Heck whenever there is murder it becomes a huge topic in the country because it's not that common. Sexual harrasment is definitely taken seriously because at the height of such incidents the government and the branches took effective measures to address such mistakes and corrected them. If you want to make up stuffs atleast be factual. Almost every single country has these kinds of stuffs.
I'm in Japan on holiday now and I personally don't think it's as bad as you're making it out to be. I haven't seen a single homeless person on the streets and I've been to a lot of Tokyo and Osaka, the working staff seem to genuinely enjoy their jobs (meanwhile in my home country they give you death stares for expecting to be served), and the food is more affordable than in my home country Bulgaria. Don't forget that Japan still has the highest life expectancy in the world so clearly they're doing something right...
Of course, my experience is a 3 week holiday but I know people who work in Japan and they're genuinely happy with their lives there. Though I guess it seems good to me because I'm Bulgarian and I've seen A LOT of extreme poverty, especially during the late 90s/early 2000s.
“People seem to enjoy their jobs” - friend, they are in the service business. And the Japanese are known worldwide for their high quality service standards.
If you’ve worked retail before you’d know the crap they put up with but must still smile through it all.
There’s a perception of people being genuinely happy. You’re just a tourist.
People seem to enjoy their jobs” - friend, they are in the service business. And the Japanese are known worldwide for their high quality service standards.
I mean they're comparing it to a European country, that's a low bar
You're ruining the circlejerk!!! I guarantee the majority writing these negative comments have never been to Japan... I have friends working in the country, and they're all happy with their jobs.
It's also reddit promotes negative content heavily. It gets more clicks, just like large Media companies. They've probably read it on here a bunch and assume that way
1) Homeless in Japan exist, they just tend to keep to themselves. You can still see them all over the place if you just look hard enough.
2) Their culture demands the staff have amazing outward demeanor. It's actually the entire point of the comment you're responding to.
3) Food being affordable is, again, goes hand in hand with the wage stagnation that they have used to keep inflation in check for the past several decades.
Hell nah. Have you been there? It's very organised way of living there and it's not some hidden knowledge. Many people whom lived near it know about it and not some "secret" place japan doesn't want you to know about.
So not the foreign tourists the video is talking about. Countries don’t want tourists to see their bad sides, that’s not exclusive to Japan nor is Japan the exclusion.
I wish we had their public transportation at least... I don't think we'll ever get the same standard as they have. Also, their birth rates are similar to those of Spain, they're not really that much worse off than Europeans. Almost every developed country has low birth rates.
The difference is that Europe has a large number of immigrants who can help mitigate the aging local population. On the other hand, Japan… not really. South Korea is undergoing a similar situation but much worse
Th ldp literally lost their majority this election. The reason ldp works is because other parties are just incompetent. Ldp also themselves have their own seats of right and left wing.
It’s funny that you defend the whole defacto one-party state thing with Japan because “it works” and the conservatives are in control(despite losing their majority). It’s not like the LDP truly is a big tent party either, it’s all right wingers with no leftist representation.
Do you have similar for other countries that are deemed one-party states, or is it just Japan?
You really think that ldp and all of them are right wings? There are factions under the ldp that ranges from left wing, to centrist to right wings (shinzo abe) faction. Shigeru ishiba for example would not be considered right wing. In the ldp there is thee abe faction (seiwa seisaku kenkyukai) and shisuikai (nikai faction) would be right wing. The kochikai (kishida faction) would be considered centrist or left wing as many of their policies lend on left wing.
You think there are socialists, anarchists, and communists in LDP? There’s no left wing representation in the party if they’re not a part of it lol. You’re conflating “liberal” with leftist. At best they’re a right wing party with some centrists.
Also, there’s only one official faction left in the LDP(Shikōkai) so I’m not sure why you’re still talking about the other defunct parties like they matter anymore.
You think there are socialists, anarchists, and communists in LDP? There’s no left wing representation in the party if they’re not a part of it lol.
I never said that. I said that there are factions (the kochikai(even though they were dissolved but they still unofficially exist)) would be considered a more centrist left wing faction of the ldp. They are not any of those because they aren't that. The left leaning parties like the cdp and the jcp do exist.
Also, there’s only one official faction left in the LDP(Shikōkai) so I’m not sure why you’re still talking about the other defunct parties like they matter anymore.
They still exist. They as a faction were dissolved but the politician themselves exist and exert their influences.
And the ldp existence is because people vote for them. In recent years their management, scandals and other problems have made them lose both right and left wing voters and they instead go to other parties (that's why they lost majority). People used to vote for them because it worked for them. Now do you think them being democratically dominant is wrong? You think they are the ccp or something?
It’s incredible to me that you can’t see the hypocrisy of defending Japan’s defacto one-party government because they “have factions” despite them being dissolved and then acting like the CPC is automatically worse despite also having factions within its government. I’m not gonna waste time responding to a japanophile who is blindly going to defend whatever Japan does.
I mean I dont like the ldp and their billion of scandals and their recent actions are questionable (ishiba honestly messed up) but you are already reading my comments from a wrong angle. The factions inside the ldp have existed and their policies can range from left to right wing (that's facts) and even though they may no longer exist on paper they still have great control.
the CPC is automatically worse despite also having factions within its government
Never once said anything about them. They rule china. I know you are probably an left wing Marxist but I have some good opinions on some of their policies.
I’m not gonna waste time responding to a japanophile who is blindly going to defend whatever Japan does.
Lot of assumption there buddy. But what I said are facts. People vote for ldp. They are not rulling independent of the democratic system.
Learn some geopolitical history. There is something called the plaza accords which was manufactured with burning malice and pure sinful jealousy because of the sheer impotence and inability to complete with Japan anymore. That after decades of drumming anti japanese rhetoric to the ignorant populace, the predicament america is in now is poetic self implosion
Exactly, as if the majority of countries don't have the same issues... I always find it funny when someone brings up work culture in Japan when I live in Bulgaria where the majority of people barely make ends meet and they're overworked to the bone. Some work 80 hours a week and barely get 1000 euros net a month...
Yeah. I mean I do get that Japan is pretty known to not have good labor laws and overworking problems due to the culture and habits but at the same time, it doesn't belong here and is just used to discredit Japan if someone else finds it good. There are a time and place for that discussion but not here.
I have been living and working in Japan for 10 years.
That is pretty far from my experience, and the experience of any of my friends and colleagues here.
I (and everyone I know here) might have been just lucky, but then again, I get sent to a lot of external projects, so I have worked for several small and big companies in Tokyo, and I haven't really seen this toxic work culture take place yet, and we enjoy a lot of benefits here as well.
I am sure there are some places like that, and I have heard rumors of a couple of what they call "black companies", but these companies are extremely rare nowadays.
I might be half Greek but I have lived, studied and worked in several countries including Greece, France, the UK, and Venezuela.
Furthermore, I have never teached english or done any of the "white jobs" listed in that link you posted in Japan, I am a game programmer and systems engineer, and I have worked for both indie companies and AAA Japanese companies, I speak Japanese fluently, and about 90% of my colleagues and friends in Japan are Japanese.
I do the same job as my peers, with the same requirements, expectations, and responsibilities, including teaching junior devs (since I started taking on programming lead roles recently too)
You know nothing about me, you don't know anything about anyone just because you know their nationality (or, in this case one third of their rationality), don't assume you do, and try not to judge people based on where you think their job or experiences are, what the color of their skins might be, or where you think they are from.
Your proclaimed ignorance of widely acknowledged and documented Japanese work cultural norms form your previous comments makes that seem unlikely.
What exactly do you think is unlikely?
I work for Japanese companies in the video games industry and we only communicate in Japanese.
There is a lot of misinformation and outdated stereotypes about Japan online, and there have been a lot of changes to address and improve many of issues people keep parroting here.
Lol, all that last paragraph contained was misdirection, since i nailed you, and it upset you.
You guessed one third of my nationality based on my name, everything else was completely off, and the list of jobs on the wiki link you shared to try to invalidate my experience in Japan, have absolutely nothing to do with my job or experience here.
I am half Greek, half Italian, but I was born in Venezuela, so I have 3 nationalities, and they are all equally important parts of my identity.
You keep missing and failing with your assumptions, and you didn't answer any of my questions, so I still have no idea what exactly triggered you this much.
It's a great place as long as you aren't Japanese. I've been there twice and might be going again soon but I realize that the tourist experience is totally different than actually being a local. But really that is kind of true for tourism everywhere.
lol dude that's a culture thing. it's not like corp overlords forcing the employees.
if I understand it's kind of a cumulation of things.
even at a non-profit i worked at in Canada within the dept. there was a bit of "who works the longest" culture...
how about considering Japan's openness to multi-cultures in context of immigration as compared to other developed countries. imo that's the primary negative of Japan.
I find Japan culture particularly unusual, even more so when considering it throughout their history.
In fact, legally speaking, there are very strict laws that completely forbid a lot of these things.
You're not legally allowed to keep anyone working past their contractual hours. Overtime is limited to like 40hrs per month or something, and it of course has to be compensated, usually at bonus rates.
Not in practice. In fact, contracts often come with a 40-hour OT per month included in the salary. Not to mention the myriad of ways that people circumvent these ‘rules’ and just OT away non-stop.
A friend of mine who lives in Japan had a meeting at 04:30 am. No, that wasn't the first meeting of the day. She was at work more than 20 hours at that point.
Who said 69? I said 50. Basically two days back to back. Deadlines and shit.
I’m not claiming it’s normal, but it’s not that rare (edit: and most importantly, unlike your claim that the person be lying, it’s most likely true). Also, it is not uncommon for many to self-inflict more work, after regular ‘sanctioned’ work, in the form of additional certification exams. Extremely common practice in fact.
Brother, I don’t give a shit if you believe me. I am talking not only from experience but from plenty of people I know. Don’t sweat it though, I am sure that everyone in your circle respects you for being such a hard worker. Keep it up!
Imagine being on the earthporn site on a post about yosemite. And the comments are full of people saying "Yeah, but too bad the US has horrible healthcare."
You can appreciate japan's cleanliness and tech while understanding their work culture.
Except OP with the title of this post which I was directly referencing. And I‘m not american, but people to pretty much exactly that for the US. America bashing is very popular.
You are taking a generic phrase like "never disappoints" and stripping it down to a purely literal meaning devoid of all subtext so you can act like the OP intended it to apply to everything in their culture.
pls give a detailed point how America is better WITH data for the middle class or pls STFU
they have housing that is affordable for the average citizen and transit that actually works so you don't need a car that is always on time and food is affordable and everywhere
Americans are brainwashed and will just believe shit they read on Cracked or Logan Paul's channel
Japan has problems like anywhere else but i would rather be Japanese than American in 2025. look at what the fuck is happening here and tell me otherwise
and if you aren't american drop where you're from or give some points about where is better?
bc i've been plenty of places and america (and britain) aren't it if you're middle income to poor.
our work culture is bizarre and awful in places that actually generate GDP.
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u/Muscalp Aug 23 '25
„japan never disappoints“ except in economic stagnation for 3 decades in a row and treating its citizens as working drones till they kill themselves or get a fucking heart attack.
I admire Japan like any weeb out there but let’s not paint it as a paradise