Work & Life

Anyone starting a job in Japan quickly learns that the workplace has its own rules: who sits where, who leaves […]

In Japan, a business meeting often begins with a short ritual before anyone says a word about the agenda: the

Why do Japanese office workers bow to an empty meeting room or their own desk? The Shinto-rooted habit of showing respect to spaces, not just people.

Does lifetime employment still exist in Japan? Shushin koyo, the ‘three sacred treasures’ of postwar work culture, and why the old system still shapes careers today.

What is shukatsu, and why do Japanese students all wear identical black suits to job hunt? Japan’s synchronized new-graduate hiring system explained.

Why don’t Japanese employees use all their paid vacation? Guilt, presenteeism, and the 2019 law that made companies force staff to take at least five days off.

Why do Japanese employees stay at their desks long after the work is done? The history, laws, and slow decline of zangyo overtime culture.

In Japan, where you sit is not a matter of preference. In meeting rooms, at izakaya, in taxis — seating

For most of Japan’s postwar history, leaving your company was not a career move. It was a statement — and

For Japanese office workers, the workday does not end at six o’clock. The nomikai — the after-work drinking gathering —