Japanese work culture can be many things: diplomatic, hierarchical, conformist, machine-like and even suffocating. Globally, Japan is known for its hard-working salarymen who work long hours for recognition from the company and little extra pay. From how to effectively communicate within a Japanese workplace or stories of being a foreign office worker in Japan, here’s a round-up of the best books to read if you want to understand Japanese work culture.
1. Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata
Keiko Furukura finds her purpose working in a convenience store (shortened to konbini in Japan). She revels in the repetition of her duties, practices greetings every morning and falls asleep to the sounds of the store in her mind each night. Years later, Keiko is 36 years old and in the same konbini position. Although she still adores her work, her perfect konbini world starts to crumble when she decides to take steps to normalize her life, the way her friends and family want her to do.
The author, Sayaka Murata, worked in a convenience store herself for nearly eighteen years. She has painted an affectionate picture of hard-working (but sometimes quirky) convenience store workers, while also wagging a finger at the pressures that come from Japan’s often conformist society.
2. Blue-Eyed Salaryman, Niall Murtagh
Author Niall Murtagh is an adventurous Irishman who traveled the world before eventually settling in Japan. He joins Mitsubishi Corporation as a salaryman, adopting the alias “Murata-san.” Niall and his coworkers do everything asked of them, including the employee with the lowest rank sitting the closest to the door in a meeting room or restaurant because that’s the seat most likely to be attacked if an enemy burst through the door.
The years tick by, and eventually, he finds himself in the category of becoming a Mitsubishi shūshin-koyō, or “lifer.” In Japan it used to be extremely common, especially for large corporations, to hire graduates straight out of university and employ them until retirement (the term literally means “end-of-life employment”). An employer would instill company loyalty into a worker to the point that their own sense of identity would be one and the same with their role in their company.
This book investigates the Japanese corporate business culture and also reveals struggles faced by foreign workers in Japan.
3. The Stationmaster, Jiro Asada
Everyone who takes the train in Japan will have seen a stationmaster at some point. They are unassuming but always present, and help Japan’s remarkably punctual train system run smoothly.
The Stationmaster is a short story about an elderly, hard-working railway man confronting his rural Hokkaido train station’s closure. Where he was once fiercely devoted and filled with pride for his life’s work, his sense of purpose slowly becomes obsolete with the aging station.
The Stationmaster is the first in a collection of eight short stories by Jiro Asada. His characters feel real and explore the extreme mentality of Japan’s “samurai spirit” as they proudly fulfill their life’s calling while enduring modern-day hardships surrounding love and loss.
4. Naoki Hanzawa, Jun Ikeido
Jun Ikeido is known as Japan’s king of oshigoto, or workplace fiction. Before becoming an author, he worked in the loan department of a bank, a similar position held by his main character in the titular Naoki Hanzawa two-part series.
Naoki is a savvy and success-driven salaryman. The kind of character men across Japan look up to for inspiration. However, he finds himself in the middle of a massive scandal and makes a bold move by confronting his powerful and corrupt bosses. By exposing their shady loan deals, Naoki starts the fight of his life.
The novel’s popularity stems from how Japan’s noble salaryman could stay honest and just despite being a cog in the corporate machine.
5. Made in Japan and Other Japanese Business Novels, Tamae Prindle
The seven short stories in this collection are all from old-time kezai shosetsu, or economy novels. All of which had received high praise in Japan between the ‘50s and ‘80s when the sub-genre first emerged.
Tamae Prindle, a professor of East Asian studies at Colby College, translated and compiled these shorts for students, professionals and international audiences to help them better understand Japanese work culture during that time period.
Each of the stories revolves around Japanese corporate culture, featuring everyday people such as bank employees, salespeople, factory workers, and businessmen. Some plot points may feel outdated, but the stories give insight into the pressures of Japanese business.
6. The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business, Erin Meyer
If you work in a multicultural environment, The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business is an invaluable read. The INSEAD professor writes about communication styles across different cultures and breaks them down into eight dimensions that examine how to build trust or how to make decisions. While the book doesn’t just focus on Japan and Japanese work culture, it provides a framework and practical advice for navigating a workplace that operates on a completely different level of “context.”
Understanding the roots of why different cultures interact in a certain way can help you maneuver around the Japanese workplace. Due to Japan’s long history as a homogenous society, awareness of subtle differences in communication increased and reading between the lines became essential.
7. There’s No Such Thing As An Easy Job, Kikuko Tsumura
There’s No Such Thing As An Easy Job follows the life of a 36 year old woman who decides to quit her job due to burnout. She walks into an employment agency and requests a job that doesn’t require much energy.
The book has five chapters and details the different jobs the nameless protagonist takes up after leaving her career behind. From her surveillance job to her cracker packet job, the readers are given a glimpse of her journey of self-realization. This novel dives into the intricacies of Japanese work culture and is often compared to Convenience Store Woman by Keiko Furukura.
8. Fear and Trembling: A Novel, Amelie Nothomb
This fictional, satirical novel tells the tale of a Belgian woman who tries to reintegrate into Japanese society after spending some time away. Readers follow along as Amélie, the protagonist, enters a traditional Japanese company as a translator on a one-year contract. Though largely exaggerated, this book takes a more comical, light-hearted approach to showcasing Japanese work culture. The book also delves into the major differences between Western and Japanese culture through Amélie’s interaction with her bosses and colleagues.
Do you have any recommendations for books to better understand Japanese work culture? Let us know in the comments!
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