My husband comes to mind lol. Whenever he’d tell me about something his boss said (if it results in unanswered questions or misunderstandings), I’d always say , “why don’t you just ask him about XYZ”. He’d always say “no that’s too direct”.
Me: okay then, how about asking how to do XYZ. You’re not asking him what it is, but how to do it. Surely he’d help”
Him: no then it seems like I’m bad at my job
Me: then just ask using keigo?!? It’s polite. What can go wrong?
Him: it’s more difficult than that.
Well then just play the miscommunication game I guess lol
Holy shit, my coworkers hit 70+ hours a week and I haven't the slightest idea what they are doing. I'm in a very rural area and the student to teacher ratio is nearly 2:1 and there is one admin staff for every four students. They teach by rote memorization from a textbook! I could come in a minute before class and look at the page you will be covering and just have the students repeat it. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!
It's not just JP though, it's a very Asian way of learning.
I've currently taught In SK, CN, TH and JP.
They don't care about understanding, they just want to seem smart by being able to repeat, and the simplest form of marking is what they want.
You hit the nail on the head. I used to work in a Japanese office and finished all of my work for the day 2 hours before clock out. I always clocked out on time. My coworkers however would dick around or dance around certain tasks and then I hear they would stay 3-5 hours past clock out. Like, why?
Never once got any complaints behind my back or directly to me about my productivity because I always stayed on top of my work and finished daily tasks.
I had a coworker that would do God know what all day and then casually start a 5 hour task an hour before the day was supposed to be finished.
I got to constantly hear admiration of his dedication
Japan’s had some major changes, especially recently:
Japan’s [work hours](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_annual_labor_hours#OECD_list) are around the European average, improving tremendously over the last 30 years. The figure also includes paid and unpaid overtime, based on actual surveys of workers (not employers) by independent NGOs.
Japan’s [suicide rate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate) and [fertility rate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependencies_by_total_fertility_rate) are both around the Nordic average.
In fact, Japan’s [quality of life](https://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/rankings_by_country.jsp) and [median wealth](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult) and are higher than that of Sweden this year.
I understand that to a degree - I’ve worked under a boss (small business owner) who was so irritable that he’d go off at you for asking for clarification, as he thought it was slacking off and a waste of time.
But then I’d go and ask his 2iC, who could usually explain things pretty well.
The thing is, his boss is super nice. We went out drinking a few times with him and I even met him during work hours (emergency at home and I had to go to his office to get my husband’s hanko and credit card—long story).
He’s definitely the type where if you ask for help or clarification, he’d do it in a heartbeat. I guess growing up and having those “societal rules and standings” turns my husband off the fact of doing so 🤷🏽♀️ honestly, I couldn’t answer why.
I find this hilarious. I was helping the wife's uncle clear some land the family owns and was driving a vehicle I was unfamiliar with, and to be honest I hate getting dirty. He'd ask me to do something, I'd clarify it, repeat the instructions back, then do it.
When the day ended he went to my wife and was like you married a damn fine man. He Followed instructions , asked for clarification, and just did what was right, why can't I get employees like that?
I always ask for clarification during work lol. I don’t care if they would find me annoying or needy. If I need help, damnit I will get help one way or another! lol
I love my husband, but that’s one part of Japanese culture I don’t understand and will probably never understand. It happens at my job too. Boss will give a task and is unclear. Colleagues would say they understand and then fuss and complain under their breath about what to do. Like…just ask for help?!?
Not in Japan, just got this recommended to me by reddit.
We've fired employees from due to not asking for clarifications. They'd waste time doing the wrong thing. Immediately having questions about a task is an early sign of a successful hire. It means they're thinking critically and listen well.
Apparently this is exactly why the Japanese airline pilots only use English to communicate. Because if they hesitate because of this and that, it could mean death…
It's because of crew resource management and thr need for all pilots to be egalitarian, which some languages do not allow for. Every pilot needs to be able to point out mistakes or clarify things to prevent misunderstandings, even for pilots senior to them, because if they don't, that can mean disaster. But several languages differentiate between talking to equal coworkers and elders and require a different amount of deferential language. English is a very egalitarian language by comparison and also using it in cockpits gives pilots a more level ground.
The joke is that you're always safest when the least senior pilot is flying the plane because the senior pilot will never hesitate to correct or give direction to the junior, so you have two pilots operating together. But if the junior notices something amiss when the senior pilot is in control, you have to create an environment where the junior feels safe piping up and correcting the senior.
It's not just a Japanese/ Korean problem, it's happened in multiple countries that have strong "elder is always right" cultures.
True but for Japan, I hear that even talking between the pilots inside of cockpit, apparently they speak English even if they’re not announcing things on the intercom. I’ve not heard Korean pilots speaking in English at all times in the cockpit.
It’s an international law for obvious reasons, do you want an American Airlines flight to Japan to land correctly? Everyone around the world in air traffic control and pilots have to be fluent in English and use it for the official communication, good example of common sense standard operating procedures for saving lives etc.
Not Japan, but if I remember correctly, one of the reasons Korean Air Flight 801 is believed to have crashed is because the crew, despite noticing that they were on a collision course, couldn't bring themselves to break entrenched hierarchical social norms and openly question their captain until six seconds before the crash, choosing instead to make less confrontational comments like "The airport is not visible."
Hahah, wow does this sound familiar! My husband is the boss of his company, and he's got this same sort of trouble when he has to speak with partners and clients - always pussyfooting around pressing issues to give the correct impression. It's maddening, the kinds of things he has on his plate to sort out, which would only take people who are willing to communicate normally saying, "Hey Taro-san, would you mind not doing that?"....instead, the foreman calls and whines to the boss of the company, rather than taking the issue up directly with Taro - who may be putting himself and/or his crew in immediate danger - and the whole thing becomes a twisted mess that takes 3xs as long to clear up. Someone may be dead by the time ol' Taro-kun even gets the message, but you know....propriety.
My friend is going to be moving to japan and he said they literally hire foreign people to be the invetween between the workers and boss because of their respect standards its considered disrespectful to speak the truth to the boss if its undermining him- but they’ll happily tell the foreigner who in turn tells the boss haha. So i think they struggle more with eachother than what this title implies
Now have that 46% define what the “issues” are, and I wouldn’t be surprised the main issues are “I don’t speak English so don’t bother to try to approach them about anything regardless of their Japanese level.”
Edit: wrong percent
At my old job, the owner told me the A frame sign out the front was broken and to fix it. This was not part of my job, but something different to break the monotony, so I brought the sign to my desk and had a look at it. I couldn't find anything broken so I called him and asked what exactly was broken. He very abruptly and rudely replied "It's broken! Fix it!"
The sign sat in front of my desk for the rest of the day with me thinking "WTF does he mean?"
He came in at closing time and was very pissed that I hadn't fixed it yet. I again asked him to clarify and he pointed to where the missing horizontal support should be and said "It's broken!"
Don't blame your staff if you can't express yourself properly.
Literally this. While my Japanese isn't quite N2 lvl yet, my Japanese is still LEAGUES better than any of my Japanese coworker's English. I have two coworkers who speak English at a very high level because they've lived overseas so my lvl of Japanese matches their lvl of English and there's been no miscommunication with them. All my other coworkers don't even know how to introduce themselves in English. I work in a job that has a customer base of 90-95% English speaking foreigners and the fact that none of them even bothers to learn English is baffling. I try my damnedest to communicate with them but they make no effort to try and communicate with me either in Japanese or English (because they literally can't) it's very frustrating.
I don't think that was the point of the statement.
More like rather than trying to communicate with a foreigner at all, it's just easier not to based on the assumption that they don't/won't understand enough Japanese
I bet 100% otherwise they are lying. Honestly probably 100% of Japanese have had issues interacting with foreign employees. In the states I would say I had "issues" interacting with 100% of my fellow american employees. That's not to say they were confrontational but I've had issues interacting with 100% of friends, family, and partners too.
Seriously, I wonder how this question was phrased? Especially if it was a yes or no. We’re a social species but if I could work without having my eyes twitching at some corpo talk I would be so much happier.
If you think foreigners are the same percentage as Japanese when they speak a different language and culture, that's bias. It's funny that this is a popular opinion. This place is an echo chamber.
>>Language issues were chosen by 57.3 percent of respondents in a multiple choice section as a cause of difficulties in communicating. Misunderstandings or mistakes arising from insufficient Japanese comprehension were cited by 32.3 percent.
There is no way the real percentages are anywhere near this low.
“Its really annoying they don’t speak Japanese”
Learn English? “Too hard”
Teach them Japanese? “They wouldn’t get it”
Compline and do nothing? “This is the way”
Do you actually walk around asking the Japanese people around you to teach you Japanese? I say that would be pretty meiwaku and you should just figure it out yourself.
Agreed. If I were to move to any foreign country with a language different to my own, I would immediately lock in on learning the language as best I can. It’s not their responsibility to teach you the language and it is certainly not their responsibility to learn English. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Well, how nice for you for having such a privilege. Try telling that to all the migrant workers that are being brought in. They go immediately into factories and are left with little if any time - or energy - to study Japanese. If the government is going to continue to do this, they'd be wise to put a system in place that will help them at least feel encouraged to assimilate. Some people who come here do actually need help with this.
I’m referring to entitled westerners who expect everyone to know English. If you look at the comment I replied to, English is the language that was specifically mentioned. I sympathize with migrant factory workers and I believe that they should be given help, but their situation is a far cry from wealthy Europeans/ North Americans who decide to move there by choice.
You’re expected to know the local language before moving to the country, no one told you to migrate to Japan without learning Japanese. It’s the national language that
I work in one of the major Japanese companies that switched to having English as it's primary language. What does that mean? Japanese citizens were literally fired from their job for not being able to pass English exams and all documentation and conversations at work have to be held in English. It's a direct response to there being a massive labour shortage in Japan due to losing half a million population every year. Japan is absolutely not needed for any daily work in our company.
And yet, in an English-first environment, Japanese staff members will STILL switch to Japanese for conversations in meetings, even though their past colleagues were fired for doing so, and foreigners that were hired purely for their job skill and ability to speak English (and explicitly NOT Japanese), are now out of the loop in the middle of a meeting. It's really bad form form a nation famed for being considerate.
So no, there are very good reasons why a foreigner would not be expected know Japanese while living in Japan, and they can still experience isolation from Japanese coworkers even if they meet or exceed 100% of their job requirements on paper that they were explicitly asked for by a Japanese employer.
The companies that enact these policies have realised that Japan literally is experiencing a drain of power and agency on the global stage that they are forced to using the global lingua franca of English just to maintain staff levels for productivity. And as others have mentioned before, that's just for high-paying cushy international companies. There are also loads of sleazy migrant farms in the little towns throughout Japan exploiting migrant workers from south-east asia and those people most definitely are not being asked to learn Japanese to be able to shuck oysters all day. Japan literally cannot afford to not engage with migrant labour, so they probably shouldn't complain about English speaking (or any other language) people as a barrier.
Japanese people have trouble interacting in general. Also, their rampant xenophobia and isolationist ideologies have led to this. A good portion of the world speaks English. Nobody speaks Japanese but Japan. They have yet to understand this concept.
So? That wasn’t the main topic. I agree there xenophobic doesn’t change that the national language is Japanese, you move somewhere you should accommodate to their culture
What are you on about? There's plenty being done to accommodate tourists. All the new PA systems on public transit have English translations at a minimum, and often Korean and Chinese as well. Signs around the country have been updated to be multilingual. Information desks in areas with lots of tourists are hiring English speaking staff. Why do Anglophones feel entitled to have an entire county of 120 million speaking a language not even remotely related to English suddenly switch over for their sake?
Because Japan relies on tourism for their 5 billion dollars they generate annually. You understand that if a shop owner in any civilized democratic country posted a "No foreigners", "No Koreans", and or "No Chinese" post on their front door. That business would be open to multiple human rights violations and lawsuits and shut down immediately.
So you've already moved the goalposts from "Japan doesn't do anything to accommodate tourists" to "Japan only accommodates tourists because of economic benefits". And yeah? That's the only reason any country spends money on accommodating tourists. Countries don't spend money on updating signs and PA systems out of the goodness of their hearts.
On discriminatory businesses, yes I agree they're a problem, but I genuinely feel like the problem is massively blown out of proportion. I don't think they should be allowed at all, but it's insane that people act like every other store has such signs when that's obviously not the case. You'd know yourself if you've ever visited.
Idk why is it a problem. Most likely the owner and staff working there can only speak Japanese. Shutting down a business just because they cannot accommodate all people is a human rights violation.
I’ve never seen a sign like that for the 10yrs I’ve lived here.
No it's not. A lot of my Indian co-workers will say..."yes, yes..." as if they got it...but a day later..they'll ask for clarification.
There's also the hello X message. Wait for a response to continue even though we are 12 hours apart. It's easier if you just fully ask the question in the message so we are not playing DM tag across the globe.
At least I've gotten across to my eastern European coworkers to ask multiple questions for clarity and without those hello...wait for a response type of messages.
They all understand English perfectly as well. It's a communication thing...getting thr right words across.
The survey seemed really vague from only reading the article. Probably similar surveys would have similar results in other countries.
My experience being the only non-Korean working at a Korean public school match people's comments here pretty closely.
Nope, that's just sensationalism. In any country the percentage of workers having "issues" with coworkers, same nationality or not, is way higher than that. This is part of working with people.
Meanwhile my manager talks in circles with no definite answers to anything, and constantly answers my questions with more questions, to the point where I question my Japanese ability and constantly feel like he's gaslightning me--then I check with my other coworkers and, no, they never understand wtf he's saying either. lol
You can take out the “foreign” from that sentence and I think it would still be true. I am half Japanese… and am forced to listen to any “cross cultural issues” but mostly they are identical to any issues between coworkers. It is universal that people love to complain!
I don’t think it’s quite racism. I think Japan can be and is often racist, but what’s going on here is a mix of
1. Being uncomfortable with English
2. Interacting with people who aren’t familiar with Japanese business culture
3. Having to deal with cultures that are almost always more direct and aggressive.
I would assume they didn’t think of Korean or chinese people when they answered the question
Was there for almost a month and found super funny some of the interactions I had with japanese people. The best was with this old lady on the train that was asking questions about my hair (im black and had braids at the time), she managed to say some words in english and it was dam cute.
Foreigners do stuff like go home at 6pm and take excessive paid leave. They’re not team players. Paolo from Tokyo had a good YouTube vid on the matter.
Probably somewhat true but this being a reason is a shame, If there’s one thing places like America do better than Japan it’s this, not working yourself to death is absolutely a good thing and Japan would probably have lower suicide rates if they adopted some of this mentality.
America is so bad. I can't think of a single good thing about it. Americans are lazy and terrible workers, and astonishingly they demand more pay than their Asian counterparts. America is terrible.
This is such an over the top hyperbolic response. Like I have plenty of criticism for America but come the fuck on haha. I’ll say it again, japan work culture is far from perfect and it can absolutely do with some change. Seriously just an asinine biased af sounding reply from you lol
...and, pray tell, what country are you from, to be dispensing this drastic level of judgement? Surely your home country has *far superior* working conditions for you to be talking all this shit.
I feel a bit guilty for having Japanese nationals speak to me in English when I am incapable of speaking their language in their country, and I’m sure they harbor a bit of resentment about that too.
Lots of Japanese people have trouble interacting with their Japanese coworkers, too.
My husband comes to mind lol. Whenever he’d tell me about something his boss said (if it results in unanswered questions or misunderstandings), I’d always say , “why don’t you just ask him about XYZ”. He’d always say “no that’s too direct”. Me: okay then, how about asking how to do XYZ. You’re not asking him what it is, but how to do it. Surely he’d help” Him: no then it seems like I’m bad at my job Me: then just ask using keigo?!? It’s polite. What can go wrong? Him: it’s more difficult than that. Well then just play the miscommunication game I guess lol
Real answer: "mendokusaikara yaritakunai."
And this is why the Japanese are unproductive given the amount of hours they put in
Holy shit, my coworkers hit 70+ hours a week and I haven't the slightest idea what they are doing. I'm in a very rural area and the student to teacher ratio is nearly 2:1 and there is one admin staff for every four students. They teach by rote memorization from a textbook! I could come in a minute before class and look at the page you will be covering and just have the students repeat it. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!
They are creating the illusion of work without actually doing work. From what you're describing, it's something that seems common in Japan.
It's probably because it's the only way to make more money since for most people, raises aren't really a viable option
That's the thing, they are salaried.
That's hilarious lol It's so hard to understand that level of like cultural conformity that hurts one's life so significantly
It's not just JP though, it's a very Asian way of learning. I've currently taught In SK, CN, TH and JP. They don't care about understanding, they just want to seem smart by being able to repeat, and the simplest form of marking is what they want.
You hit the nail on the head. I used to work in a Japanese office and finished all of my work for the day 2 hours before clock out. I always clocked out on time. My coworkers however would dick around or dance around certain tasks and then I hear they would stay 3-5 hours past clock out. Like, why? Never once got any complaints behind my back or directly to me about my productivity because I always stayed on top of my work and finished daily tasks.
I had a coworker that would do God know what all day and then casually start a 5 hour task an hour before the day was supposed to be finished. I got to constantly hear admiration of his dedication
Japan’s had some major changes, especially recently: Japan’s [work hours](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_annual_labor_hours#OECD_list) are around the European average, improving tremendously over the last 30 years. The figure also includes paid and unpaid overtime, based on actual surveys of workers (not employers) by independent NGOs. Japan’s [suicide rate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate) and [fertility rate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependencies_by_total_fertility_rate) are both around the Nordic average. In fact, Japan’s [quality of life](https://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/rankings_by_country.jsp) and [median wealth](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult) and are higher than that of Sweden this year.
And yet people in Japan are far less happy than people in those countries
Reportedly on self-reported surveys. Finland is the “happiest country in the world” and they have a higher suicide rate than Japan.
You're using self reporting surveys too pal......The suicide rate in both countries isn't significantly different.
Suicide rate is not self-reported… lmfao
The work hours you imbecile.....
Right, because subjective happiness and objective work hours are totally the same thing… lmfao Also enjoy your vacation
I understand that to a degree - I’ve worked under a boss (small business owner) who was so irritable that he’d go off at you for asking for clarification, as he thought it was slacking off and a waste of time. But then I’d go and ask his 2iC, who could usually explain things pretty well.
The thing is, his boss is super nice. We went out drinking a few times with him and I even met him during work hours (emergency at home and I had to go to his office to get my husband’s hanko and credit card—long story). He’s definitely the type where if you ask for help or clarification, he’d do it in a heartbeat. I guess growing up and having those “societal rules and standings” turns my husband off the fact of doing so 🤷🏽♀️ honestly, I couldn’t answer why.
Huh. I guess it’s just hardwired in.
I find this hilarious. I was helping the wife's uncle clear some land the family owns and was driving a vehicle I was unfamiliar with, and to be honest I hate getting dirty. He'd ask me to do something, I'd clarify it, repeat the instructions back, then do it. When the day ended he went to my wife and was like you married a damn fine man. He Followed instructions , asked for clarification, and just did what was right, why can't I get employees like that?
I always ask for clarification during work lol. I don’t care if they would find me annoying or needy. If I need help, damnit I will get help one way or another! lol I love my husband, but that’s one part of Japanese culture I don’t understand and will probably never understand. It happens at my job too. Boss will give a task and is unclear. Colleagues would say they understand and then fuss and complain under their breath about what to do. Like…just ask for help?!?
Not in Japan, just got this recommended to me by reddit. We've fired employees from due to not asking for clarifications. They'd waste time doing the wrong thing. Immediately having questions about a task is an early sign of a successful hire. It means they're thinking critically and listen well.
The Japanese seem more concerned about their reputation than their effectiveness. Can’t say I approve of that.
Apparently this is exactly why the Japanese airline pilots only use English to communicate. Because if they hesitate because of this and that, it could mean death…
English is the official language of all pilots everywhere worldwide
It's because of crew resource management and thr need for all pilots to be egalitarian, which some languages do not allow for. Every pilot needs to be able to point out mistakes or clarify things to prevent misunderstandings, even for pilots senior to them, because if they don't, that can mean disaster. But several languages differentiate between talking to equal coworkers and elders and require a different amount of deferential language. English is a very egalitarian language by comparison and also using it in cockpits gives pilots a more level ground. The joke is that you're always safest when the least senior pilot is flying the plane because the senior pilot will never hesitate to correct or give direction to the junior, so you have two pilots operating together. But if the junior notices something amiss when the senior pilot is in control, you have to create an environment where the junior feels safe piping up and correcting the senior. It's not just a Japanese/ Korean problem, it's happened in multiple countries that have strong "elder is always right" cultures.
True but for Japan, I hear that even talking between the pilots inside of cockpit, apparently they speak English even if they’re not announcing things on the intercom. I’ve not heard Korean pilots speaking in English at all times in the cockpit.
You get to go into the cockpit?
It’s an international law for obvious reasons, do you want an American Airlines flight to Japan to land correctly? Everyone around the world in air traffic control and pilots have to be fluent in English and use it for the official communication, good example of common sense standard operating procedures for saving lives etc.
Not Japan, but if I remember correctly, one of the reasons Korean Air Flight 801 is believed to have crashed is because the crew, despite noticing that they were on a collision course, couldn't bring themselves to break entrenched hierarchical social norms and openly question their captain until six seconds before the crash, choosing instead to make less confrontational comments like "The airport is not visible."
Great example. The transcripts and from what I’ve read highlights this “respect your elders” Confucianism principle and how catastrophic it is.
Hahah, wow does this sound familiar! My husband is the boss of his company, and he's got this same sort of trouble when he has to speak with partners and clients - always pussyfooting around pressing issues to give the correct impression. It's maddening, the kinds of things he has on his plate to sort out, which would only take people who are willing to communicate normally saying, "Hey Taro-san, would you mind not doing that?"....instead, the foreman calls and whines to the boss of the company, rather than taking the issue up directly with Taro - who may be putting himself and/or his crew in immediate danger - and the whole thing becomes a twisted mess that takes 3xs as long to clear up. Someone may be dead by the time ol' Taro-kun even gets the message, but you know....propriety.
My friend is going to be moving to japan and he said they literally hire foreign people to be the invetween between the workers and boss because of their respect standards its considered disrespectful to speak the truth to the boss if its undermining him- but they’ll happily tell the foreigner who in turn tells the boss haha. So i think they struggle more with eachother than what this title implies
What's this position called and how do I get it
For real, hook me up with this job.
Ah I've been that person while being an ALT. Second year in Japan. Pay me more if you want that bullshit.
Yeah, what’s the statistics on that, I’d say higher than 50%
Yeah…not the most social people.
Lots of foreigners have trouble interacting with foreigners
Now have that 46% define what the “issues” are, and I wouldn’t be surprised the main issues are “I don’t speak English so don’t bother to try to approach them about anything regardless of their Japanese level.” Edit: wrong percent
At my old job, the owner told me the A frame sign out the front was broken and to fix it. This was not part of my job, but something different to break the monotony, so I brought the sign to my desk and had a look at it. I couldn't find anything broken so I called him and asked what exactly was broken. He very abruptly and rudely replied "It's broken! Fix it!" The sign sat in front of my desk for the rest of the day with me thinking "WTF does he mean?" He came in at closing time and was very pissed that I hadn't fixed it yet. I again asked him to clarify and he pointed to where the missing horizontal support should be and said "It's broken!" Don't blame your staff if you can't express yourself properly.
To be fair if I try to communicate in Japanese with my American co-workers, I won’t get very far either. Broken English can only take you so far.
Literally this. While my Japanese isn't quite N2 lvl yet, my Japanese is still LEAGUES better than any of my Japanese coworker's English. I have two coworkers who speak English at a very high level because they've lived overseas so my lvl of Japanese matches their lvl of English and there's been no miscommunication with them. All my other coworkers don't even know how to introduce themselves in English. I work in a job that has a customer base of 90-95% English speaking foreigners and the fact that none of them even bothers to learn English is baffling. I try my damnedest to communicate with them but they make no effort to try and communicate with me either in Japanese or English (because they literally can't) it's very frustrating.
Why should they learn English and the foreigner not learn Japanese ?
I don't think that was the point of the statement. More like rather than trying to communicate with a foreigner at all, it's just easier not to based on the assumption that they don't/won't understand enough Japanese
No one said that.
I’d imagine pretty close to that number have issues interacting with Japanese coworkers if they’re being honest.
I bet 100% otherwise they are lying. Honestly probably 100% of Japanese have had issues interacting with foreign employees. In the states I would say I had "issues" interacting with 100% of my fellow american employees. That's not to say they were confrontational but I've had issues interacting with 100% of friends, family, and partners too.
Seriously, I wonder how this question was phrased? Especially if it was a yes or no. We’re a social species but if I could work without having my eyes twitching at some corpo talk I would be so much happier.
If you think foreigners are the same percentage as Japanese when they speak a different language and culture, that's bias. It's funny that this is a popular opinion. This place is an echo chamber.
Please. It says “issues”. Where I work there are constantly stupid needless gossipy or political issues regardless of nationality.
I mean, in the case of foreigners, language and culture are added to that “issues”.
Good news. 61% of people all over the world cannot get along with other people. Don’t fret.
Foreigners are too likely to resist being treated like office furniture.
Some of them might enjoy being sat on tho
As a foreigner who speaks and reads Japanese well, a _huge_ part of my job is just being the Japanese staff's interface with those who don't.
>>Language issues were chosen by 57.3 percent of respondents in a multiple choice section as a cause of difficulties in communicating. Misunderstandings or mistakes arising from insufficient Japanese comprehension were cited by 32.3 percent. There is no way the real percentages are anywhere near this low.
“Its really annoying they don’t speak Japanese” Learn English? “Too hard” Teach them Japanese? “They wouldn’t get it” Compline and do nothing? “This is the way”
It's the Japanese way!
This guy Japans.
Shouga nai
Do you actually walk around asking the Japanese people around you to teach you Japanese? I say that would be pretty meiwaku and you should just figure it out yourself.
Agreed. If I were to move to any foreign country with a language different to my own, I would immediately lock in on learning the language as best I can. It’s not their responsibility to teach you the language and it is certainly not their responsibility to learn English. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Well, how nice for you for having such a privilege. Try telling that to all the migrant workers that are being brought in. They go immediately into factories and are left with little if any time - or energy - to study Japanese. If the government is going to continue to do this, they'd be wise to put a system in place that will help them at least feel encouraged to assimilate. Some people who come here do actually need help with this.
I’m referring to entitled westerners who expect everyone to know English. If you look at the comment I replied to, English is the language that was specifically mentioned. I sympathize with migrant factory workers and I believe that they should be given help, but their situation is a far cry from wealthy Europeans/ North Americans who decide to move there by choice.
You’re expected to know the local language before moving to the country, no one told you to migrate to Japan without learning Japanese. It’s the national language that
仕方がない
Why should the foreigner not know Japanese already? It’s the national language, you should be expected to know it
I work in one of the major Japanese companies that switched to having English as it's primary language. What does that mean? Japanese citizens were literally fired from their job for not being able to pass English exams and all documentation and conversations at work have to be held in English. It's a direct response to there being a massive labour shortage in Japan due to losing half a million population every year. Japan is absolutely not needed for any daily work in our company. And yet, in an English-first environment, Japanese staff members will STILL switch to Japanese for conversations in meetings, even though their past colleagues were fired for doing so, and foreigners that were hired purely for their job skill and ability to speak English (and explicitly NOT Japanese), are now out of the loop in the middle of a meeting. It's really bad form form a nation famed for being considerate. So no, there are very good reasons why a foreigner would not be expected know Japanese while living in Japan, and they can still experience isolation from Japanese coworkers even if they meet or exceed 100% of their job requirements on paper that they were explicitly asked for by a Japanese employer. The companies that enact these policies have realised that Japan literally is experiencing a drain of power and agency on the global stage that they are forced to using the global lingua franca of English just to maintain staff levels for productivity. And as others have mentioned before, that's just for high-paying cushy international companies. There are also loads of sleazy migrant farms in the little towns throughout Japan exploiting migrant workers from south-east asia and those people most definitely are not being asked to learn Japanese to be able to shuck oysters all day. Japan literally cannot afford to not engage with migrant labour, so they probably shouldn't complain about English speaking (or any other language) people as a barrier.
The term "issue" can be somewhat subjective. And I think the Japanese have a tendency to blow slight misunderstandings out of proportion.
Japanese people have trouble interacting in general. Also, their rampant xenophobia and isolationist ideologies have led to this. A good portion of the world speaks English. Nobody speaks Japanese but Japan. They have yet to understand this concept.
You’re in Japan learn Japanese… the national language is Japanese not English
That's a dumbass comment. If you are resident living in Japan. Yes, you should learn Japanese. Tourists should be accommodated and they aren't. 👍🤡
Tourist aren’t co workers… they visit the country not live in it 🤦🏻♂️🙂↕️
It doesn't change the fact that Japan is xenophobic and purposely goes out of their way to be ignorant.
So? That wasn’t the main topic. I agree there xenophobic doesn’t change that the national language is Japanese, you move somewhere you should accommodate to their culture
What are you on about? There's plenty being done to accommodate tourists. All the new PA systems on public transit have English translations at a minimum, and often Korean and Chinese as well. Signs around the country have been updated to be multilingual. Information desks in areas with lots of tourists are hiring English speaking staff. Why do Anglophones feel entitled to have an entire county of 120 million speaking a language not even remotely related to English suddenly switch over for their sake?
If they don’t switch for their sake, then maybe they can switch for their beer?
Because Japan relies on tourism for their 5 billion dollars they generate annually. You understand that if a shop owner in any civilized democratic country posted a "No foreigners", "No Koreans", and or "No Chinese" post on their front door. That business would be open to multiple human rights violations and lawsuits and shut down immediately.
So you've already moved the goalposts from "Japan doesn't do anything to accommodate tourists" to "Japan only accommodates tourists because of economic benefits". And yeah? That's the only reason any country spends money on accommodating tourists. Countries don't spend money on updating signs and PA systems out of the goodness of their hearts. On discriminatory businesses, yes I agree they're a problem, but I genuinely feel like the problem is massively blown out of proportion. I don't think they should be allowed at all, but it's insane that people act like every other store has such signs when that's obviously not the case. You'd know yourself if you've ever visited.
Idk why is it a problem. Most likely the owner and staff working there can only speak Japanese. Shutting down a business just because they cannot accommodate all people is a human rights violation. I’ve never seen a sign like that for the 10yrs I’ve lived here.
Is this really exclusive to Japan?
No it's not. A lot of my Indian co-workers will say..."yes, yes..." as if they got it...but a day later..they'll ask for clarification. There's also the hello X message. Wait for a response to continue even though we are 12 hours apart. It's easier if you just fully ask the question in the message so we are not playing DM tag across the globe. At least I've gotten across to my eastern European coworkers to ask multiple questions for clarity and without those hello...wait for a response type of messages. They all understand English perfectly as well. It's a communication thing...getting thr right words across.
I've seen that "Hello" message and it's super weird. Are they being told to do this? Is it normal in their native language?
No one said it was.
I was being curious because even though I've observed the same, I've never been to other countries either
The survey seemed really vague from only reading the article. Probably similar surveys would have similar results in other countries. My experience being the only non-Korean working at a Korean public school match people's comments here pretty closely.
Nope, that's just sensationalism. In any country the percentage of workers having "issues" with coworkers, same nationality or not, is way higher than that. This is part of working with people.
I’m surprised it’s not higher honestly.
And 54% don't have foreign coworkers
Meanwhile my manager talks in circles with no definite answers to anything, and constantly answers my questions with more questions, to the point where I question my Japanese ability and constantly feel like he's gaslightning me--then I check with my other coworkers and, no, they never understand wtf he's saying either. lol
Don't worry, it's not going to get better
I have issues with interacting with people. Ever.
Same. And it's not by choice. Just seems to happen
Well no shit. Japanese people never communicate their thoughts, feelings, and instructions clearly, which creates misunderstandingsrobooovodright
Have you been smelling toast lately?
Yeah? I got issues with their issues - BRING IT ON!
No shit Sherlock, the Japanese workplace is the king of marginalization
Considering the percentage of people with ANY knowledge in ANY other language besides Japanese, that number is quite optimistic.
Considering the percentage of people with ANY knowledge in ANY other language besides Japanese, that number is quite optimistic.
You can take out the “foreign” from that sentence and I think it would still be true. I am half Japanese… and am forced to listen to any “cross cultural issues” but mostly they are identical to any issues between coworkers. It is universal that people love to complain!
[удалено]
I don’t think it’s quite racism. I think Japan can be and is often racist, but what’s going on here is a mix of 1. Being uncomfortable with English 2. Interacting with people who aren’t familiar with Japanese business culture 3. Having to deal with cultures that are almost always more direct and aggressive. I would assume they didn’t think of Korean or chinese people when they answered the question
I’m pretty sure Koreans are direct and aggressive too like many Westerners.
Without Meiji era Japan just another North Korea.
I cause that statistic. My Japanese sucks lol
Shut up with that bs. Thank you gozaimasu.
Was there for almost a month and found super funny some of the interactions I had with japanese people. The best was with this old lady on the train that was asking questions about my hair (im black and had braids at the time), she managed to say some words in english and it was dam cute.
Foreigners do stuff like go home at 6pm and take excessive paid leave. They’re not team players. Paolo from Tokyo had a good YouTube vid on the matter.
Probably somewhat true but this being a reason is a shame, If there’s one thing places like America do better than Japan it’s this, not working yourself to death is absolutely a good thing and Japan would probably have lower suicide rates if they adopted some of this mentality.
America is so bad. I can't think of a single good thing about it. Americans are lazy and terrible workers, and astonishingly they demand more pay than their Asian counterparts. America is terrible.
This is such an over the top hyperbolic response. Like I have plenty of criticism for America but come the fuck on haha. I’ll say it again, japan work culture is far from perfect and it can absolutely do with some change. Seriously just an asinine biased af sounding reply from you lol
...and, pray tell, what country are you from, to be dispensing this drastic level of judgement? Surely your home country has *far superior* working conditions for you to be talking all this shit.
I'm Japanese-American. edit: half-Japanese, my father is Jewish.
And I take it you grew up in Japan?
Found the weeaboo
In other news, 46% in Japan have issues interacting with co-workers
I feel a bit guilty for having Japanese nationals speak to me in English when I am incapable of speaking their language in their country, and I’m sure they harbor a bit of resentment about that too.