[ohio]

Interesting response to our seeming reverence of the Japanese company/employee relationship:
http://economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10424391&CFID=5406545&CFTOKEN=2ff2e90a2d0d88f6-6ACC00DA-B27C-BB00-01297F13661F3636

In short, Japanese companies are being forced to change, and long-time "salaryman" are expressing some regrets about having sold their lives to a corporation.

 

[Silver]

There was another small story in the Economist a couple of weeks ago about how "overwork" is a cause of death that is recognized by the courts.

http://economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10329261

Not overly different from the idea that "salaried employee" means "I own your ass 24/7" that some employers seem to have over here, minus the job security, of course.

 

[LordOpie]

Interesting response to our seeming reverence of the Japanese company/employee relationship:
http://economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10424391&CFID=5406545&CFTOKEN=2ff2e90a2d0d88f6-6ACC00DA-B27C-BB00-01297F13661F3636

In short, Japanese companies are being forced to change, and long-time "salaryman" are expressing some regrets about having sold their lives to a corporation.

These labour-market forces manifest themselves in several ways. They affect gender equality, as more women enter the workforce. They touch on immigration, as foreigners are called in to do jobs that the Japanese reject.

Just like here... chicks and mexicans ruining everythign.

 

[valve bouncer]

There was another small story in the Economist a couple of weeks ago about how "overwork" is a cause of death that is recognized by the courts.

http://economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10329261

Not overly different from the idea that "salaried employee" means "I own your ass 24/7" that some employers seem to have over here, minus the job security, of course.

There's an actual word in Japanese that means "death from overwork". It's a f*cking retarded set-up. The boss can't be seen to be a slacker by, god forbid, going home at a reasonable hour so he stays late to create an appearance of diligence. The underlings of course can't go home before the boss so it's a viscous circle.

I've got this student who works for the city council. He's 26 and is obviously going places, very ambitious but the only thing he ever does is work or study (hence my class) so the only thing I can talk to him about is his job. I asked the other day how work was and he said he wasn't so busy and he'd been getting home by 11pm recently!!!! His class is 8.15pm and he always goes back to work after the class. His boss lets him go to class because he thinks studying English is a worthy thing to do. My student is a lovely bloke but I can't see him keeping up this schedule long term, it's bound to have health repercussions eventually.

I wish I could say this was unusual but it's not. There's a million more stories I could tell you about the Japanese drones I see everyday. My overwhelming feeling is "thank f*ck I'm not doing that".

 

[N8 v2.0]

There's an actual word in Japanese that means "death from overwork". It's a f*cking retarded set-up. The boss can't be seen to be a slacker by, god forbid, going home at a reasonable hour so he stays late to create an appearance of diligence. The underlings of course can't go home before the boss so it's a viscous circle.

I've got this student who works for the city council. He's 26 and is obviously going places, very ambitious but the only thing he ever does is work or study (hence my class) so the only thing I can talk to him about is his job. I asked the other day how work was and he said he wasn't so busy and he'd been getting home by 11pm recently!!!! His class is 8.15pm and he always goes back to work after the class. His boss lets him go to class because he thinks studying English is a worthy thing to do. My student is a lovely bloke but I can't see him keeping up this schedule long term, it's bound to have health repercussions eventually.

I wish I could say this was unusual but it's not. There's a million more stories I could tell you about the Japanese drones I see everyday. My overwhelming feeling is "thank f*ck I'm not doing that".

when do they have time to ride single track??

 

[BurlyShirley]

You could have at least told us what that word is VB.

 

[LordOpie]

You could have at least told us what that word is VB.

MMike.

 

[valve bouncer]

when do they have time to ride single track??

When they're on the train to and from work.

Shirl the word is "karoshi" (過労&#27515

 

[N8 v2.0]

When they're on the train to and from work.

Shirl the word is "karoshi" (過労&#27515

Odd... i thought it was written as: ブッカケ

???

 

[valve bouncer]

Odd... i thought it was written as: ブッカケ

???

That's death from overwanking.

 

[MikeD]

That's death from overwanking.

I want that on my tombstone.

 

[valve bouncer]

I want that on my tombstone.

Hmmmm

 

[MikeD]

I guess it's better than "died saving his family from the wreckage of a destroyed sinking battleship."

Still, I think it works best in the original language.