Vault 35

The company I worked for in Japan was typical enough. Imagine I am your manager at a Japanese company and you are a new hire. The following rules apply to the Japanese staff and their management:

If you have a problem with the way your manager does his or her job, complain about it in the bar after hours. Never do it in the office. If you do it in the office, then you do not belong at this company.

If you have a problem with the way your manager does his or her job and you go over his head, you are being childish and unreasonable and the big boss will agree with me.

If you don't do your job, you get fired--no excuses, no appeals.

If you are a sales manager and you don't meet expected monthly sales figures, you will be removed from that position the next day. You may not get fired, but you will be moved and placed in a lesser position.

If you are caught taking personal calls in the office, you will be given a warning. If it happens again, you're fired.

If an angry boyfriend or girlfriend ever calls this office and anybody else gets wind of it, you're out fast.

Turn off your personal cel phone in the office or it will be confiscated. If you have a problem with that, then you do not belong at this company.

Hair color. If you change your hair color and your manager tells you to change it back to your natural color, do it or you're out. If you get a perm and your manager says to undo it, undo it or you're out. The same goes for nails, excessive makeup, colored contacts, jewelry, and anything else they we can think of.

Follow the dress code or you don't get in the door. Don't even think about setting foot on company property if you are not fully dressed--that means your tie better be on and tied properly before you get to the office--none of this standing in the office toilet to finish doing your tie. Skirts will be a specified length and you ladies will wear only the type of hose specified in the code.

If one single yen is not accounted for at the end of the day, you will stay in the office and account for it before you leave--even if you have to pay for it yourself.

Tattoos will not be visible. If you have tattoos on parts of your body that cannot be covered by business attire, you probably will never be hired in the first place.

If someone is harassing you and you can't deal with it like an adult, request a transfer to another branch or resign and seek life elsewhere.

We don't simply believe the customer is always right. We believe the customer is God.

Don't get romantically involved with customers. If you do and it goes bad, you will be fired if your ex-sweetheart causes us any trouble at all.


You can be fired for no reason. We will usually give you a reason but we don't have to.

These are just a few of the rules the Japanese operate under. Mind you, the Japanese were a bit more forgiving with us western foreigners because, of course, we are ignorant barbarians. They had other bi-lingual western foreigners manage us on a day to day level but the Japanese management had ultimate power over them, of course.
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I forgot to mention that you might find more resources on the internet if you use the keywords "Japanese corporate culture" in the search boxes.