Finding Diversity in Japan

[tokyointerlopers]

**日本語訳は下をご覧ください** “I think Japan’s work culture is getting better. Younger people are pickier about the companies they’re entering. A lot of people now actually want to be able to take their yuukyuu (paid leaves). That would’ve been seen as a joke at a lot of places 10 or 15 years ago. But now, with buzzwords like karōshi (death by overwork) and burakku kigyō (exploitative employers), and with death by overwork recently occurring at famous companies like Dentsu, we’re seeing more government crackdown, which is a sign of positive change. Although Japan is still behind a lot of countries. So I’m hoping it will continue to progress.

“Even my company is cracking down on overtime. A couple of months ago, we had to fill out stress surveys and seek counseling. I work in graphic design, which is notorious for excessively long hours and overtime. And it’s not really a high paying-job, since many people are willing to do this work, because it’s enjoyable. It’s also very demanding. When you want to create something beautiful, you end up staying until last train or past, till it’s perfect. But then your boss will want to fix it some more or clients will have more feedback about it.

“That’s why there’s a tendency in this industry to have so-called ‘black companies’. Some would say, ‘OK this is your salary, it includes up to 48 hours of overtime pay per month.’ That’s really gray. They should provide a salary for what the government considers to be the amount of work you do a month, plus extra hours on top of that. But that’s pretty much every design company I know. All my designer friends do saabisu zangyou (overtime without pay). At least it’s work you enjoy, as opposed to being a salaryman who’s doing something they’re not really interested in for the same amount of hours.”

https://tokyointerlopers.com/2018/01/10/change-is-afoot/

「この国の労働環境は良くなってきていると思う。若者たちは自分の入る会社をよりしっかりと選ぶようになったし、たくさんの人たちが実際に有給休暇を取れるようになりたいと思うようになった。これは10〜15年前には多くの職場で本気にもされなかったことよ。『過労死』『ブラック企業』等のワードが流行し、電通のような有名企業の社員が過労で亡くなる事件が起こったことで、近年は政府による取り締まりがよく見られるようになった。これは良い兆候だと思う。他国に比べると日本はまだ遅れているけれど、このまま改善されていくことを願っているわ。

わたしの会社でさえ、時間外労働には厳しくなってきた。数ヶ月前にはストレスに関するアンケートにも答えたし、カウンセリングの依頼までしていたわ。わたしはグラフィック・デザインの仕事をしているんだけれど、この業界では超長時間労働も時間外労働も当たり前。仕事は面白くて、喜んで働いてくれる人はたくさんいるから、高収入が得られるわけでもない。そのうえ求められることは多い。美しいものを創り出すためには、終電かそれ以降も働くことになってしまう。完璧なものが出来上がるまでずっとよ。それでも上司に更なる修正を求められたり、クライアントからのフィードバックが入ったりする。

だからこの業界はブラックだと言われているの。『これがあなたのお給料よ、毎月最大48時間の残業代込みで』なんて言ってくる会社もある。これは本当にグレーだと思うわ。本来であれば、政府が認めるその月の実際の仕事量に応じた額が支払われるべきで、残業代はそこに上乗せされないといけない。でもこれがわたしの知るほとんどのデザイン会社で当たり前に行われていることなの。わたしのデザイナー仲間は皆サービス残業をしているけれど、少なくともこの仕事は楽しい。それほど興味がない仕事に同じくらいの時間を費やしているサラリーマンとは対照的ね。」

【翻訳：Junko Kato Asaumi】

[tokyointerlopers]

**日本語訳は下をご覧ください** “I’m half-Swiss, half-Bolivian, and my first contact with Japan was when I was working in the fashion industry in Hong Kong. My boss, who was Japanese, introduced me to high-end denim products that just blew my mind. It was the kind of quality and craftsmanship people pay top dollar for. He also showed me a more sustainable way of dyeing and making denim (since we’re not exactly the most environmentally-friendly industry). Then, after going back home to Switzerland, an opportunity to study abroad in Tokyo came about. I told myself I should take the leap despite not knowing anything about their customs or the language. I figured the challenge would help me confront my fear of the unknown. Plus, people in Hong Kong kept going on and on about how much they love going to Japan on holiday.

“Now that I’m here in Tokyo, I’m overwhelmed by the lights and all the noise. The streets are overflowing with people, information and advertisements. So many distractions, like parties and events. One time, a trip to the grocery store with some friends turned into drinks at a bar, which led to meeting another group of friends and we ended up getting home around 6 am. You can easily lose focus, your money, or even your mind here. It’s too much consumerism even for a city girl like me. That’s why now I try to escape from Tokyo every two weeks by visiting temples in Kyoto or going somewhere close to nature, to find my inner peace.”

私はスイスとボリビアのハーフで、初めて日本とコンタクトがあったのは香港のファッション業界で働いていた時でした。ある日、日本人の上司がハイエンドでちょー衝撃的なデニムを紹介してくれました。人々が大金を払う、良質で職人技が光るものでした。さらにその上司は、より長持ちするデニムの染め方や作り方(環境に優しい産業とは言えないので)があることも教えてくれました。 そしてスイスに戻ると、なんと東京に留学するチャンスがやって来たのです。日本については何にも知らないけれど、それでもこのチャンスに飛び込まなくちゃと自分に言い聞かせました。この挑戦を、未知の物事に対する恐怖と立ち向かうきっかけとして受け止めることにしたんです。それに香港の人たちが、自分はどれだけ日本が好きかってことを何度も話してくれていたし。

今は東京で、やっとこの明るさや騒がしさを乗り越えることができました。どの通りも人や情報や広告でいっぱい。パーティーやイベントのように、気をそらされるようなこともいっぱい。一度、友だちと食料品の買い物に出かけたはずが、なぜかバーで飲むことになって、そこで出会った別のグループの人たちと朝6時まで遊んでいたなんてこともありました。気をつけていないと、目的やお金や自分自身さえも簡単に失ってしまう。私のようなシティガールにとってさえも消費者主義が強すぎるところがあるなって感じます。だから最近は2週間ごとに東京を離れて、京都のお寺に行ったりどこか自然の多い場所に行ったりして、私の心の平安を見つけるようにしているんです。

【翻訳：Tomomi Yuri】Photo credit: www.timfranklinphotography

[tokyointerlopers]

**日本語訳は下をご覧ください** “I used to share some of the not-so-good views that some Koreans have about Japan because of the way Japan is portrayed in the Korean media. That changed in high school when I met Japanese overseas students and Koreans returning from abroad. They showed me how nationality does not equal personality and that we can be good friends, despite political issues between our countries. I then decided to come to Japan for college, and for a while it was great. Pretty much everyone I had come in contact with had been exposed to foreign culture, so I didn’t experience any conflicts with them.

“But when I joined a company after graduating, I suddenly found myself dealing with ‘real’ or ‘domestic’ Japanese people for the first time. Unlike my friends, some never had any interaction with a foreigner. I would get frustrated and blame them for not being open-minded and accepting of different views. In contrast to my classroom experience where I could choose which lectures to take, and who to sit next to, this ‘real’ Japan was difficult for me. I wanted to leave and go home to Korea.

“Then a colleague said, ‘Why not be more understanding? If you’re in Japan, then your Japanese client or colleague probably doesn’t know much about the outside world. So at the very least, conduct yourself in a professional Japanese manner. After all, you’re getting paid a salary to do so.’

“I realized it wasn’t always my way or the highway. I was complaining too much and being closed-minded myself when I expected others to adjust to me. It’s possible they’re just simply not aware of where I’m coming from. I should be able to understand them better, rather than the other way around, since I studied here.

“Although that doesn’t necessarily mean I have to change my personality. I can still be myself in private. I only have to maintain a professional Japanese attitude in business settings. Outside that, I’m me. It’s the perfect compromise.”

以前の私は、メディアのせいか日本にあまり良いイメージを持っていませんでした。それが変わったのは、高校で日本からの留学生や海外から帰国した韓国人と出会った時です。国籍は人の性格とイコールではないこと、国家間の政治的な問題に関わらず一人一人と良い友人関係が築けることを学んだんです。それで日本の大学に入ることにしたんですが、その時は本当に楽しかった。当時出会った人たちは外国の文化にもとてもオープンな人たちだったし、国籍の違いで摩擦を経験するなんてことも全くありませんでした。

それが日本の企業に入って初めて、自分が"本当の""内向的な"日本人とコミュニケーションをしようとしていることに気がついたんです。友人とは違って、外国人との関わりが全くないような人たちでした。考え方の違いを受け入れず閉鎖的であることにイライラしたし、そんな人たちを責めたりもしました。学生時代の、どの講義に出て誰の隣に座るかを自由に選べるような環境とは違う、この"リアルな日本"が本当につらかった。韓国に帰りたいって思いました。

そんな時に同僚に言われたんです。「もう少し日本の文化を理解するように努めたらどう？日本のクライアントや同僚はきっと日本の外の世界のことをあんまり知らない。だから少なくとも日本のマナーをしっかり身につけてプロフェッショナルに振る舞えばいい。結局のところそれで給料がもらえるんだから。」

気に入らないならやらなきゃいいってもんじゃないんだってことに気づかされました。文句を言うばかりで、周りの人が合わせてくれることを期待して自分からはオープンになろうとしてなかった。周りの人は私がどこから来たかなんて知るわけないんだし、私自身がもっと周りを理解しようとするべきだったって。

だからって私が自分の性格を変えなきゃいけないっていう意味ではないんです。プライベートでは本来の自分でいていい。ビジネスをする上で日本人のプロフェッショナルな姿勢を持ち続けていればいいだけ。それ以外は全て私。これが最善の妥協だと思っています。 【翻訳：Tomomi Yuri】

[tokyointerlopers]

“Don’t second-guess yourself. That’s the advice I would give my younger self if I could go back in time. I was offered to do a tour for this guy, G.E. Smith, who used to be the leader of the Saturday Night Live band. A friend of mine was playing in the band and he told me he’d put in a good word for me. But when I heard the pay wasn’t great and it was only for six months, I have to admit it scared the crap out of me. I mean I already had a stable job with insurance, and everything in New York works systematically job-wise. You get 3-5 percent routine raises every year. Sure he can put in a good word for me and maybe they’ll take me. But will that catapult me into doing something that builds into a career or will I just be another struggling guy? I was looking around me and the people who were doing it, well, their lives weren’t that cushy. They were always struggling to find new gigs. They seemed like they were kinda like me so I thought, ‘Why am I gonna jump off a cliff just to be where I am?’ Looking back now, I should’ve at least tried. I didn’t even go to the audition. At least try. Even if you don’t make it, it would have been a great experience just for that. But you know, hindsight is 20/20.

“So moving to Japan is a way of rehashing that feeling. I have a lot more confidence in my playing and my abilities now. It’s cheaper here, too, compared to New York, where I probably would’ve gotten eaten up. Plus I needed to make a change and I recently got a divorce. I wanted to move to Japan so I was like, ‘I’m gonna do this now before I get way too old.’ I feel I can redo everything here; start over. I can go into music immediately and be like, ‘I’m a musician. I wanna do this. I wanna meet people. This is what I wanna do.’ But I wanna do it my way.”

(Darryl Baker is a marketing consultant, drummer for Audible Bond, and golf instructor.)

https://tokyointerlopers.com/2017/03/01/2020-hindsight/

[tokyointerlopers]

"The bizarre thing about me being in Japan is that I keep coming back here even though I associate it with a few unpleasant moments in my life. It was never Japan’s fault, but bad things kept happening back in Europe while I was here. 2015 was not a great year for me. More than 10 deaths in the family, friends of friends (and their relatives), and some people I went to high school with—all in one year! I couldn’t be there for them and I had to deal with it while in Japan, where people don’t really show their emotions outwardly and where I had few friends. I was like, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ That’s why when people say their year abroad was the best year of their life, that there were no hiccups, I’m not sure I want to believe them. For me, my year abroad was more about seeing whether I could live here and not go insane.

"To balance things, I’ve always liked Japan for some reason, ever since I was a kid. I mean I can’t remember not liking Japan. There’s even a picture of me in a kimono when I was 3. Food played a big part; it's one of the reasons I decided to study Japanese in the first place. I remember being jealous of a girl sitting next to me in a kaiten sushi restaurant (conveyor belt sushi place) when I came to Japan for the first time. She could order directly from the chef, including my favorite unagi (conger eel), which wasn't on the conveyor belt. To this day, it doesn’t matter which part of the world I’m in, if it’s my birthday, I’m having Japanese food. It's probably more than a minor obsession of mine. And at least now I can order properly.”

(Kirsty comes from the Netherlands and works for a local magazine in Tokyo. She writes about places to go, things to try, and the people who make up this vibrant city.)

https://tokyointerlopers.com/2017/03/08/testing-the-waters/

[tokyointerlopers]

"I came to Japan right after the bubble burst in the early 1990s. I was six years old and the only foreigner in school. Maybe I was the first foreigner the Japanese kids at my school had ever seen. And perhaps their stereotype of a foreigner was someone with blonde hair and blue eyes. But I looked basically the same as they did. Only I didn’t understand a single word they were saying. They’d follow me around, curious what the foreigner was up to. Wherever I walked, 3 to 5 kids were behind me. What’s funny though was how quick I picked up the language since I moved to Japan from China at a young age. After several months, I started to sound like them. Then they saw me and accepted me as one of their friends. They didn’t know anything about the Nanking Massacre or the sentiment among Chinese and Japanese. They just treated me as one of them. And I think I really enjoyed my childhood in Japan.

"Now I’m a journalist in Tokyo. My mom inspired me to be one. She was a TV reporter in my hometown. I thought it was cool how people from all walks of life would open up to her. It’s not a high-paying job, but it sure is fun. Given the chance though, I’d like to write more stories telling Chinese people what Japan really looks like. Especially now that a lot of Chinese are visiting Japan. But what they know comes from travel agents, who make money off of them. That’s just the shallow side of Japan. Even then, people are still more interested in traveling to Japan. And since I’ve been in Japan for so long and I speak Chinese, if I can write about Japan more, then that would be really interesting."

https://tokyointerlopers.com/2017/04/14/one-of-them/

[tokyointerlopers]

"Sometimes you have to do what others aren’t willing to do. And sometimes you need to endure whatever life throws at you because you have already come so far—no point going back now. I remember coming to Japan on a one-way ticket with just 30,000 yen in my pocket. I told my mom I wanted to come to Tokyo after college in the Philippines. She’s Japanese so I’m half Filipino, half Japanese. Dad passed away when I was 14. Although we weren’t hard-pressed for money, I just wanted to try my luck here in Japan and to stop being a burden at home. So my older brother, who was studying as a scholar in Japan at the time, got me a job at an Indian restaurant to help me get started. There was a time during my first birthday in Japan, I was working long hours till morning. It made me teary-eyed as I was supposed to be having fun, not dipping my hands in grease. But looking back, that taught me how tough life can be. It made me strive harder. Eventually my Japanese improved and I was able to land corporate jobs. I made it a point to never complain and give my all in everything. I had nothing to lose anyway because I came here with nothing. Now I’m happily married with kids, thanks to my lovely wife. I never thought I’d settle down in Japan, but here I am. When they grow up, I want my kids to reach their potential by exploring the world just like I did. So I won’t choke them with rules, just like my mom let me make my own decisions.”

https://tokyointerlopers.com/2017/04/05/nothing-to-lose/

[tokyointerlopers]

“I’ve been a carer pretty much my whole adult life. I practically raised my sister until she moved out last year. I also looked after my mother, who had mental health issues which eventually took her life. Dealing with that and bringing up a child in London, emotionally and financially, certainly made me into the resilient person that I am today. It’s just something I’ve had to be. So I got a graduate job in the banking division of a Japanese automaker, in financial services. They hired me even though I dropped out of university and they even let me train older and more qualified people. This year I decided to head back to Japan. I was born here but moved to the U.K. when I was a kid. Now I’m looking for work whilst rediscovering my heritage. Being half Japanese, half English, it makes sense to me to live in both cultures and be an active, contributing member of both societies. Although I wish the job market here was more receptive to the idea of hiring someone with experience instead of a degree. I know I can offer something valuable that a fresh graduate can't. Guess I’ll have to prove that I’m capable.”

https://tokyointerlopers.com/2017/03/31/will-of-steel/

[tokyointerlopers]

https://tokyointerlopers.com/2016/10/08/ramen-beast/

[tokyointerlopers]

https://tokyointerlopers.com/2016/09/14/566/

[tokyointerlopers]

https://tokyointerlopers.com/2016/09/10/homeward-bound/

[tokyointerlopers]

https://tokyointerlopers.com/2016/09/03/being-a-polyglot/