Slave to the Grind - The Salaryman Shuffle
You see them everywhere in Tokyo. They mostly wear black or blue suits with white shirts and dark ties. On hot summer days, cool biz is OK, so you see them sans ties, their suit jackets draped over one arm while the other holds a briefcase. 
Some have that world-weary look while others have the eye of the tiger, looking straight ahead and ready to take on whatever challenges come their way. Many of the older ones are the bricks with which the once mighty (and still powerful) Japanese economy was built. Many often toil in un-airconditioned offices until 8 or 9 pm to finally be set free for a trip to the local yakitori bar for a few skewers of various chicken parts and a couple of overpriced cold brews. From there, it’s home for a soak in the tub and then bed. Others, especially younger ones, often spend hours after work drinking with their bosses. Fortunately for them, there’s an abundance of after-a-long-night-of-drinking energy drinks available to pick them up during the next day at work.
Many are family men with little time to spend with wives and children. Indeed, many children feel their salaryman fathers are mysterious men who often only show up in their lives on weekends. I wonder if the trend for many young men here to appear as feminine as possible these days has anything to do with the fact that they rarely, if ever, get a chance to bond with their fathers.
Of course, there are many salarymen who love their families, particularly their children. I know a few who tell me that they spoil their kids every chance they get because they have such little time together. I can understand the feeling, but a couple of these kids are such selfish little shits that I sometimes take a pass on visiting their homes.
Of course, there are salarymen who finish work on time and get home at a decent hour on a regular basis; guys who spend a fair amount of time with their families and have very fulfilling lives. Who knows, they may actually make up the majority. But, there are enough of the other types out there to give anyone the impression that your average salaryman is just a slave to the grind.
Sure, there are people who are slaves to the companies they work for in most countries, but surely Japan beats them all, hands down, when it comes to sheer numbers of them. Given that Japan is well past its post-WWII rebuilding phase, is it really necessary to maintain such a demanding work ethic? Would Japan continue to be the Japan we know today? Something tells me that those who have the power to effect any kind of real change here are afraid that a break with the work ethic that has persisted for the last 63 years would result in some kind of economic catastrophe rather than allow people to work happier and be productive for reasons other than feeling some sense of obligation to the companies they work for and to society itself.
I guess all this discussion of salaryman lifestyles begs the question, will the Japanese develop a new work ethic over the next 10 years? 20 years? 30 years? If you look at the number of freeters and other individuals who don’t hold full-time employment in Japan these days, you might think that things truly are beginning to change. A lot of younger people are saying that they don’t want the the kind of salaryman lifestyle their fathers had. They want to enjoy more personal freedom as well as time with their friends and families. Will this generation get the chance? Who knows?
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The Salaryman Shuffle …
Could you hack it in the salaryman’s world?…
If they don’t to have that salryman lifestyle, they need to start thinking differently. They still should get a good education but then they should start thinking outside the box. They should create their own businesses. Become entreprenuers. Be creative. They still have to work their asses off. But they don’t have to be like ants and follow all the other salarymen.
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This is interesting! It would be great to see you write about the OL too ^_^ (unless you have already….?)
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No, I haven’t yet. But, that’s a great idea. I know a couple of OLs who’ll give me the straight scoop.
Thanks, Catherine
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Well, considering that most days I get off work at 9 pm I may very well be living this kind of lifestyle. Although, I have no kids.
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No doubt the typical Japanese salaryman has long hours, but does he actually “work” long hours? It seems to me the length of time he spends in the office is used as the measurement of hard work as opposed to how much work actually gets done. Let’s face it. If he worked hard and got everything finished by 4pm, would he go home? No way! People would think he was lazy, and in this country, what everybody else thinks determines what you actually do.
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Good point Nick. In addition to being viewed as lazy, how many companies pay their “seishain” employees overtime when they stay after 5? I have a friend who works at an electronics manufacturer, and I hear that the “seishain” employees slack during the day (sometimes sleeping) and stay for the extra pay.
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I worked in a Japanese office for 12 years and it was definitely the case that there were salarymen who just hung around the office and dragged out the work so that they looked vaguely busy, but got little or nothing done. The OLs worked a lot harder than the salarymen, though they were contract workers and weren’t allowed to do over time (because they’d have to be paid for it). The salarymen just had to linger during the hours the shacho was in the office. They didn’t work hard, but they did put in a good show.
That’s not to say all of them do this, but a sizable portion do.
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Referring also to Nick’s point and Billy’s question - could Japan survive without the salaryman’s overtime. The answer is yes most definitely in the short term - inasmuchas “efficiency” and “productivity measures” do not seem to be in the Japanese lexicon and their are soooo many ways which things could be done in less time and by less people. HOWEVER in the long term I’m not sure - the West’s efficiency kick (which has lasted the last 30 years or so) has simply meant less jobs full stop and less job security, and a large and ever rising gap between the comfortable (let alone the rich) and the very poor. Sure, it’s not India poor but more and more Australian families live in cold, rundown housing out of which they can be evicted at any moment, with utilities regularly switched off between bills and poor meals irregularly - all because of a lack of real jobs and yet the economy is doing fine.
Personally, I think they need a nice middle way - just enough efficiency to allow the Japanese man to discover what it’s like not to be a stranger at home but not so much that “efficiency” and money for the shareholders becomes the more important principle than employment for as many people as possible (and I mean a living wage - not the 14hrs work over two weeks which the Australian Government statistics deem as being “employed”.)
/end rant ^_^
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Noway could I hack it there, and nor would I want to!
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Out of curiosity, who do you define as a salaryman?
I ask because while you’ve outlined here a lot of the stereotypes about how a salaryman lives, you didn’t really say much about who they actually are. That is, when you say ’salaryman’ are characterizing Japanese workers in general, or just a certain segment?
It’s important to draw that distinction because in the West, the term ’salaryman’ seems to represent the old stereotype of Japanese workers as a million identical worker bees slaving away for their companies at the expense of everything that we value: personal freedom, family and social time and anything resembling a fulfilling life outside of work.
On the other hand, Japanese use the term more to describe a certain pathetic class of worker, not just every worker who is a company-man (seishain). It’s the kind of guy who has 24/7 ass-breath, wears cheap Aoki suits, will never move up beyond middle management and simply goes through the motions at work in order to collect his paycheck and bonus. Those guys are ridiculed, but the average company-man is pretty widely respected and regularly ranks as one of the top desired jobs among young people.
So while ’salarymen’ are certainly high in number and much more easily visible than those who have actually made it in business, I think it’s misleading to characterize all Japanese workers or even the majority as being that way.
It’s funny though, this kind of stereotyping actually goes both ways. My Japanese boss complains endlessly about the American employees in the US office because whether or not they’ve actually finished their work or not they all head out at 5 pm. There also seems to be a general idea that American workers are lazy because they aren’t nearly as anal retentively obsessed with details as Japanese workers.
Anyway, fun article and interesting intro to salaryman for the unititated.
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Many of the salarymen practice presenteeism more hard work. When I was the girl friday at a Tokyo office, I was shocked by the long hours the people put in, yet they got so little done. A lot of the management of office data was done by hand when there are software packages out there to handle these things; people took long breaks; a lot of time was spend doing housekeeping, and not work-related stuff; and meetings ran ridiculously overtime and were not focussed enough to treat topics and then allow for action.
Nope, these guys are working long hours because it’s habit, it keeps up appearances.
What would happen if offices in Tokyo were mandated to close at 6pm, lights out, doors locked? I think the average family would go buggy for a while until they figured out what to do with the previously absent dad, now home for dinner and at loose ends after. Maybe hobby shops and sports gyms would boom or something….
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Why was my comment deleted?
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Not deleted, Luke. It just went into the moderation queue.
As far as my definition of ’salaryman’ goes, I’m sure it’s a mixture of several stereotypes. It certainly doesn’t include a generalization of all or even the majority of Japanese workers, though.
Thanks for the detailed comment, Luke.
Cheers!
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I work in a Japanese orifice, and I get to work at 9:00 on the dot and leave at 6:00 on the dot. Don’t know what the others are doing outside of those hours, and don’t care, but I’m pretty sure it’s not work. I don’t mind doing overtime, but I won’t do it just for appearance’s sake. And not being paid for it sort of decreases the motivation as well.
And yes, the use of “orifice” was intentional.
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“presenteeism” I love it!! Is it commons licensed?
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@ Nick Ramsay - interesting point.
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