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New anime studio employee gets his first paycheck…and is shocked at how small it is

Casey Baseel
Jan 5, 2016
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There’s a reason why the same parents who encourage their kids to become doctors or lawyers don’t try to steer them into becoming anime studio employees.

Japan
(anime • business • crazy • economy)

The number one movie in Japan last weekend awakens to be…Yo-kai Watch!

Master Blaster
Dec 23, 2015

What were you expecting?

Japan
(box office • business • movies • Star Wars • The Force Awakens • Yo-Kai Watch)

China could give 100 million people new identities in a bid to save its economy

BUSINESS INSIDER
Dec 12, 2015

Chinese officials are set to discuss ways to stimulate the country’s sputtering housing market during its Central Economic WorkingConference later this month, according to Chinese state media.

China
(business • China • economy • Housing • migrant workers)

Chinese woman, 25, demands workers’ compensation, says “Overtime made me an old lady”

Master Blaster
Nov 23, 2015

On November 18 a young woman was spotted on the streets of Shenzhen City in Guangdong, China carrying a sign which read: “Overnight and overtime work has made me into an old lady. Both my love and work lives are miserable. I request approval for workers’ compensation.”

It was an unusual yet straightforward demand that triggered debate and reflection on the state of working conditions in the country.

China
(business • labor • lawsuit • overtime • workers' compensation)

The new “Snow Turtle” train is slower than running, but at least you won’t get tired

Master Blaster
Nov 16, 2015

Japan is famous for fast trains, but one new line crawls along at 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) per hour! Can the ultra-slow Snow Turtle save an endangered company?

Japan
(business • Hokuetsu Express • Hokuriku • Snow Rabbit • Snow Turtle • trains • travel)

Japan’s rags-to-riches Nepalese restaurant “Daisuki Nippon” closes doors after five years

Master Blaster
Nov 5, 2015

November marks five years since Vikas Pradhan sent out his first tweets in broken Japanese describing the hardships of starting a restaurant. In response and a heartwarming show of support, the Twitter community rallied behind Pradhan not only online but in actual paid visits to his Nepalese cuisine restaurant Daisuki Nippon, putting it firmly in the black.

However, in a rather sudden turn of events, Pradhan tweeted that as of 31 October the original Daisuki Nippon had closed down.

Japan, W Asia
(business • Daisuki Nippon • Nepal • Pradhan Vikas • Restaurant • twitter)

Meetings and more meetings: Foreigners list the pros and cons of working at a Japanese company

Mike
Oct 23, 2015

It’s no secret that Japan may be headed for a bit of a labor crunch, as the population ages and many older workers reach retirement age with fewer young up-and-comers to replace them. And, while the Japanese government seems reluctant to take measures to replenish the shrinking workforce with foreign laborers, non-Japanese workers are nevertheless entering Japanese corporations and workplaces in record numbers.

But Japanese offices are also notorious for their long hours, slow pace of advancement, and frequent, long meetings. Traditional Japanese companies seem stuck in an old-school work culture even as companies in the rest of the world offer increasingly progressive work-life balance programs, workplace perks, and office hours.

With this stark contrast in mind, our Japanese sister site tracked down seven non-Japanese workers to get their for-realsies impressions of what it’s actually like to work at a Japanese company.

Japan
(business • culture • life in japan • society • work)

Japanese employment site reimagines web developers, accountants, and more as anime RPG heroes

Casey Baseel
Oct 10, 2015

Career arcs in Japan used to be simple. You finished school, got a job, and worked there until it was time to retire. Along the way, you were paid a salary calculated strictly on the basis of how long you’d been with the company.

That’s not necessarily the case anymore, and as more and more Japanese switch employers, and even industries, they need a baseline from which to evaluate the pay of potential posts, which is where Japanese website Kyuryo Bank comes in. Yes, Kyuryo Bank has all the salary-related numerical data and progression charts you’d expect, but it also has something truly unique: awesome anime-style illustrations of professions ranging from public accountant and lawyer to web designer, pro blogger, and yes, even “chicken sexer.”

Japan
(anime • art • business • cool • funny • illustrations • jobs)

Chinese mushroom picker discovers monstrous beehive

Jamie Koide
Oct 4, 2015

Now that it’s October, fall is slowly beginning to creep up on Japan, which means seasonal favorite dishes including pumpkin, sweet potato, and mushroom will again be arriving on dinner tables across the land in no time. As for the lattermost, people from the countryside are more likely to pick or grown their own rather than buy mushrooms from the supermarket, and some varieties like matsutake can easily retail for a few hundred dollars.

Unfortunately matsutake and other kinds of mushrooms don’t fetch quite as high of a price in China, but while one man was gathering mushrooms, he stumbled across something that was worth much more: a giant bees’ nest.

China
(bees • business • Hunan Province • nature • scary • wtf)

Top 11 tweets to make you feel glad you don’t work in Japan

Scott Wilson
Sep 15, 2015

It’s no secret that working in Japan can be pretty miserable. Long hours, unpaid overtime, power harassment, and mandatory drinking parties with coworkers are just some of the factors that contribute to workers all over Japan leading stressful lives.

But misery loves company, so that’s why we present the top 11 tweets to make you feel glad you don’t work in Japan. Some of them are attempts at encouragement, some of them are commiserating, and some of them are so painfully sad that you can’t help but cry. So read on and see how your own work compares to Japan!

Japan
(business • salarymen • society • working in Japan)

Japanese Twitter user reveals why taxi drivers flock to Big Sight during Comiket

Preston Phro
Aug 19, 2015

Comiket 88 is over now, sadly enough, but the Internet is still awash in the afterglow of dojinshi and cosplay. Of course, everyone is already looking forward to the next event this winter, from cosplayers to artists to taxi drivers.

Yes, you read that right, it seems that fans and artists aren’t the only ones who love Comiket! Apparently the massive event draws taxi drivers from all over Tokyo because it’s the best place to make money, according to one tweet that captured a ton of attention in Japan last weekend.

Internet, Japan
(business • Comiket • taxi • twitter)

Rules of tea, business cards, and bowing – 10 Japanese business manners young people are tired of

Casey Baseel
Aug 8, 2015

The corporate culture at RocketNews24 is pretty casual, but before I joined the team I spent several years working in the service and hospitality sectors. As a country that takes both work and etiquette very seriously, it’s probably not a surprise that Japanese business etiquette has a detailed code of proper conduct, all in an effort to foster an atmosphere of mutual respect and smooth cooperation.

Still, even for some people born and raised in Japan, the list of dos and don’ts can feel a little too long, and those who’d rather not have to stand on ceremony compiled a list of their own of the top 10 Japanese business manners young adults could do without.

Japan
(business • culture • manners • tea)

Top 10 acts of customer service that Japanese men would rather do without

Audrey Akcasu
Jul 27, 2015

In Japan customer service can be pretty unreal. Little things like taxi doors opening or closing automatically and complimentary reading glasses at check-out counters are harmless and go unnoticed by many locals, and are probably under-appreciated. Sometimes, however, the desire to please the customer and attend to their every need is a little over the top and some people find it just down-right annoying.

Online research group iResearch surveyed a group of 200 male 20-somethings for their thoughts on “Which services do you secretly wish people would stop providing?” Some of the results are pretty understandable, but some of them make you wonder if the guys surveyed just hate people in general!

Japan
(business • culture • customer service • survey)

Clock in with a kitty at this shared workspace in Japan where you can play with the resident cat

Casey Baseel
Jul 15, 2015

As information technology continues to evolve, telecommuting is becoming increasingly feasible and popular in Japan. Still, sometimes mobile workers find themselves in need of more business-oriented facilities than their home office has, and make use of shared workspaces like the ones we previously looked at.

But while all of those communal offices have amenities such as Wi-Fi, power outlets, and meeting areas, only this one has a resident cat that you can play with when you need a stress-relieving break from work.

Japan
(animals • business • cats • cool • pets • shared offices)

10 Japanese words you know now that irritate some Japanese businessmen (because they’re English)

Casey Baseel
Jul 7, 2015

One day in college, my business operations management professor was talking about Japanese automaker Toyota, and about the huge impact of its production processes and corporate culture on the business world. “Toyota owes much of its success to its kaizen system,” he told us, and while I largely agreed with what he was saying, I didn’t really agree with how he was saying it.

See, while Toyota’s ideal of continually looking for better, more efficient ways of handling tasks is nifty and all, there’s nothing particularly special about the word kaizen, which just means “improvement.” Even as someone who’s spent most of his life looking for excuses to speak Japanese, insisting on using the word kaizen, when otherwise speaking English, has always seemed a little odd to me.

Oddly enough, though, right now there’s probably a Toyota employee sitting at his desk and scratching his head over one of his Japanese coworker’s penchant for using foreign loanwords, many of which might be on this list of the top 10 commonly used English business terms that Japanese businessmen wish their colleagues would use Japanese for.

Japan
(business • culture • Japanese language)

Rolling suitcase with built-in desk is perfect for mobile businesspeople and cosplayers alike

Casey Baseel
Jun 25, 2015

Modern technology makes it easier than ever for people to work anywhere, not just in a traditional office setting. But every telecommuter or creative type knows the frustration of grabbing your laptop and any other necessary items, then carrying them to your local cafe, anxious to punch in and get some projects done, only to discover there’re no available seats.

Sure you might not need a whole office, but not even having a small desk to work on can really hurt your productivity. Here with a solution is ambitious and creative design house Bibi Lab, which is now selling a wheeled suitcase with an attached desk and chair that’s not only great for mobile professionals, but for artists, cosplayers, and all sorts of other people on the go.

Japan
(business • clever • cool • cosplay • suitcases • travel)

Chinese company Ninebot buys out Segway

Master Blaster
Apr 17, 2015

It’s hard to imagine life before 2002 when the Segway standing scooter thing hit the scene completely revolutionized the way we get about, just like everyone predicted it would.

Its staggering success has made it an American institution. Like many of you, I have fond memories of making out with that special someone in the back of my Segway at the Segway-in movies during those hot summer nights.

But now, the vehicle we have all welcomed into our lives is entering a new chapter having been bought out by Beijing-based Ninebot Inc. I guess we won’t be able to use the old cliché “it’s as American as a Segway” anymore.

China, USA
(business • Ninebot • Segway • Xiaomi)

Five ways to piss off your older Japanese coworkers at a new job

Casey Baseel
Apr 10, 2015

Going out to see cherry blossoms, regardless of the weather, is by far Japan’s favorite springtime activity. But there’s another tradition that’s almost as enthusiastically followed: veteran employees complaining about the new hires at their company.

The business year starts in April in Japan, which means that right now at companies across Japan older employees are grumbling about how the younger generation just doesn’t get it. But with Japanese homes not having lawns for their upset elders to yell at them to get off of, just what are young professionals in Japan doing that’s rubbing their coworkers the wrong way?

Japan
(business • culture • Japanese language • youth)

Fear of failure could be behind the extremely low happiness rate among Japanese men

Audrey Akcasu
Apr 8, 2015

Recently the world got a look at the busy world of salarymen in Japan via a viral video, but there were also some slight reassurances that these company men didn’t necessarily hate their lives. We may have been a bit too optimistic, however, because a study done last year found that less than 30 percent of Japanese man can confidently say, “I am happy.” Well… that’s some statistic.

What’s behind the unhappiness factor among Japanese men? Bad marriages, work problems, convenience store diets? Accomplished Japanese author Reiko Yuyama gives her two yen on the root of the problem.

Japan
(business • culture • Japanese men • salarymen • unhappy)

Japanese netizens rewrite fairy tales in modern corporate situations so real they make us weep

Joan Coello
Apr 7, 2015

In this modern age and day, most of us spend our days running the rat race and getting worn down by work and school, which is probably why some of us fantasize about the happy endings of fairy tales to get away from real life for a while. But then reality slaps us in the face and reminds us that the birds and mice aren’t going to help you with your chores even if you can sing like Celine Dion, Prince Charming is not coming to whisk you away from your office desk, and your bills aren’t going to vanish even if you fall into a deep, deep sleep.

If the heroes and heroines in fairy tales existed in modern-day and had to work like the rest of us, would their stories still be filled with all that magical glitz and romance? Perhaps not. Japanese Twitter users have been re-interpreting some fairy tales from a corporate perspective, which was supposed to be a creative and entertaining activity, but the new tales were so close to home they couldn’t even laugh over them.