Working style in Japan

I’m working for a small Japanese IT company in Tokyo.

Our staff are just under 30 people, but half of them are from 7 countries different.

And I have some foreign friends who are from several countries.

We sometimes talk about the working style of each country.

Most of them said to me that Japanese work too hard.
(They are working for Japanese companies.)

One of our coworkers is Danish.
He suggested us that if we could change our working style, some good things might be happened.

(He said that for example, it was good for us to work for 4 days and rest 3 days.)

He and other foreign coworkers(American,Australian) have the same way of thinking about an appropriate
working style.

By the way I also sometimes guide foreigners around Tokyo.

All of them also said to me that Japanese work too hard.
(Some of them came to Japan for business.)

Their home countries are different from each other, so now I think the “Japanese” working style is the strangest in the world.

One day, I said to my Korean coworker that I would change my working
time.

Now, my company starts at 9:00am and finishes at 6:00pm.

But I often must do over time.

So I sometimes finish my work too late time(for example,9:00pm or 10:00pm)

If I didn’t have so many jobs, I could meet my friends, learn English or other languages, read books, do house work, practice the Shamisen, run, and more after my work.

So, I talked about this topic to my Korean coworker.

But he said to me that our client’s schedules are the most important thing.

I think so too, therefore I like my job.

But I think that more important things in our life are good health of the body and mind, and good relationships between our families and friends.

He addied mind that, in Korea, the circumstance is worse than Japan.
The Korean social security system is 10 years behind than Japan.

He said that he guesses the Chinese social security system is much worth.

But, I heard from my Chinese coworker, in China, that the people’s working style is similar to Europe.

In Japan, to continue working for young woman who have children is very
difficult.

But in China, to continue working for a woman is easy, because her family generally supports her.

I think job is very important for us, but a side from our jobs, there are many important things.

In Japan, our parents and teachers had never thought us about the meaning of jobs.

So when we graduated from school and started working, we were confused.
But, then we didn’t have any chance to think about our jobs, because we are all very busy everyday.

I’m very lucky to know about some working styles in several countries.

I’m 30 years old, I like my job and I want to enjoy my life more.
But time is coming which I must decide about my future.

So I’m thinking about this topic.

How about in your country?

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in Tsukuba

I went to Tsukuba space center with my friend on June 1st.

He and I met in Korea by coincidence. We stayed at the same guest house in Seoul and talked about many topics and ate lunch together, so we became friends.

He said to me, he is a researcher of solar batteries and he is working at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

It sounded very interesting! So I wanted to go to his office.

He said to me there is tour to visit the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency 4 times per day.

He kindly reserved this tour for me.

I arrived at Tsukuba station early in the morning, because I had to join the practice of AWA-ODORI in Koenji from 4:00pm.

We didn’t have enough time to visit there and eat lunch, but he kindly fitted in around my schedule.

This day was a special day for all Japanese, because a Japanese astronaut, whose name is Hoshide, went to space.

His mission was very important.

In space, 15 countries are forwarding their plans to develop an International Space Station.

Japan are involved this project and developed “Kibo” which is the first manned facility for Japan.

Hoshide’s mission was to fix the robot arm on Kibo.

At Tsukuba space center, we could some real parts of “Kibo”, rockets and artificial satellites!

It was very amazing!

If I had had these experience when I was a child, I would have been interested in space and wanted to be an astronaut.

I found out that only 1 astronaut is woman!

He said to me, it was a rare experience for him, because he has been working there everyday.

After visiting of the center, we ate Soba at an old house with windmill.

I like this style of house very much, because I like the local areas of Japan!

After lunch, we went to a famous cake shop which he recommended to me.

We ordered 3 cakes and shared them. I like cake….

I left Tsukuba at about 2:30pm, and joined the AWA-ODORI practice.

I was very satisfied with such a wonderful experience.

by the way, Tsukuba is not so far from Tokyo.

There is the Tsukuba express from Akihabara to Tsukuba. We can go to Tsukuba from Akihabara in about 1.5 hours.

In Tsukuba, the air is very clean and there is a lot of nature. I wanted to run there.

I want to go there again, and try to running or climbing Mt.Tsukuba someday.

Trip to Korea vol.5

On the fifth day, I came back to Seoul at about 7:00pm.

I stayed at a guesthouse which was very cheep( only 2500 yen)!

I ate so much everyday in Andong, so I was worried that I was getting fat?

I didn’t eat a dinner that day.

The next day, I went to a big park near Han River.

I saw many people who were running, cycling, walking, etc.

If I caught a cold, I would run!(My hobby is running)

Afterwards, I moved in the direction of Seoul City Goverment.

I was lucky! I could see an event named “Hi Seoul Festival“.

Many people gathered at a square to see an international show.

I could see a traditional Japanese dance named “YOSAKOI“.

But I wish I could have seen “AWA-ORODI” in Seoul, because my hobby is dancing”AWA-ODORI”.haha

These are photos of AWA-ORODI.

It was a really good trip and someday I want to go back to Korea!

Thank you for reading the long diary.

Trip to Korea vol.4

I stayed at my guides house for 2 nights.

He lives with his wife. But his mother is 93 years old, so his wife lives with his mother most of the week.

His wife couldn’t speak Japanese except for a few words.

However, his mother could speak Japanese.

I was really surprised, and I thought about the war between Korea and Japan a long time ago.

I really liked his family because they were very kind and treated me as their daughter.

His wife taught me how to cook Kimchi and Jijimi. It was a lot of fun!

The recipe of Kimchi was not so difficult. I think that homemade is better. It is healthy and cheap.

His wife, called “OMONI” in Korean, which means “Mam”, asked me to perform the shamisen again.

So I played it for her. And my guide taught me 2 traditional Korean songs.

I knew the first song, titled “ARIRAN”. It is popular in Japan.

But I didn’t know the other one. It’s title was”KIKYOU”.

He said to me that if I were to play these songs in front of Koreans, they would be surprised.

My guide was good at singing and he taught me for about 1 hour! His wife sang with us.

I wish I could have performed those songs at the Church!

On the last day in Andong, I performed those songs in front of them.

We had a good time!

Oh, I must say.

The dishes OMONI cooked were all delicious! I really liked her dishes!

In Seoul, I couldn’t try Korean home cooking, but in Andong, I could it.

When I left Andong, I was very sad.

I like to travel so that I can exchange culture with local people, but I always feel sad when I leave.

To be continued.