Life as a Salaryman in Tokyo

[sammichoffate]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po8IPh64rVM
:(

[BurningHammer]

What about Sunday? :confusedshrug:

[fiddy]

#nukejapan

[Cangri]

No wonder they have the highest rate of suicides in the world.

[robert de niro]

No wonder they have the highest rate of suicides in the world.
but they don't

[Cangri]

but they don't

My bad then, I think I heard something like that a while ago, I guess they should be in the top countries at least?

[Kungfro]

What about Sunday? :confusedshrug:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QetvK6ldl2s

[BurningHammer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QetvK6ldl2s
I expect more of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35hCo_grAqw

[gigantes]

but they don't
japan DOES have one of the highest suicide rates of males in leading economic countries. in fact it looks like it's around #1 by that measure.

you can see why people in desperate and shitty places around the world would have reason to kill themselves or get involved in drugs / violence that would indirectly get themselves killed, but japan is almost the reverse of all that. i mean sure, they're stuck in 25 years of a recession, but their standard of living and wealth and all that is still very impressive.

being a salaryman sounds like a pretty frustrating, empty kind of life. as in, you bust your ass like mad through high school and college in order to wind up in a company you'll be working for the rest of your life. casual sex sounds pretty nonexistent in japan, so you'll either have to pay a fortune for it one way, or find a wife and then barely get to see her for the rest of your marriage. the work hours and off-time are a farce, and you constantly have to suck up to your superiors and go along with whatever they want... like staying out late and getting drunk when you're really too exhausted to, getting short-changed on sleep day after day.

japan is an endlessly weird and fascinating country, but i think it generally sucks balls to be a salaryman or a long-term foreigner living there.

[fiddy]

japan DOES have one of the highest suicide rates of males in leading economic countries. in fact it looks like it's around #1 by that measure.

you can see why people in desperate and shitty places around the world would have reason to kill themselves or get involved in drugs / violence that would indirectly get themselves killed, but japan is almost the reverse of all that. i mean sure, they're stuck in 25 years of a recession, but their standard of living and wealth and all that is still very impressive.


I think there are books in Japan written about how to kill yourself without being a hurdle for people around you. Sick bastards

[LJJ]

This type of life is mostly a thing of the past and on the extreme ends of the spectrum though....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_time#Average_annual_hours_actually_worked_ per_worker

[DonD13]

Japanese work crazy hours

unfortunately, they're not very efficient

[DonD13]

This type of life is mostly a thing of the past and on the extreme ends of the spectrum though....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_time#Average_annual_hours_actually_worked_ per_worker

the limit exists only on paper, same with their vacation, nobody dares to take them

Karōshi (death from overwork) is still a real thing

[gigantes]

This type of life is mostly a thing of the past and on the extreme ends of the spectrum though....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_time#Average_annual_hours_actually_worked_ per_worker
i don't think a salaryman's actual hours are expected to show up in charts like that.

officially their hours are reasonable, but in reality it is generally a serious breach of etiquette to leave work before your boss, who is likely to do the same thing for his boss and right on up. then you have the after-hours hanging out and stuff which, again, is in effect mandatory.

from pretty much every source i've read / watched, these poor suckers wind up working six days a week and get home exhausted, barely able to see their wives and kids. what they have to look forward to is getting to retirement age one day, being able to really enjoy themselves and travel and stuff... but unfortunately quite often finding out that they're not really compatible (or have grown apart) from their spouse.

[gigantes]

Japanese work crazy hours

unfortunately, they're not very efficient
a lot of it is just shuffling papers and looking busy, dedicated and loyal, apparently.

[DonD13]

that OECD chart is deeply flawed

[LJJ]

Maybe the OECD chart is flawed, or maybe your personal perception based on extreme stereotypes is flawed. :confusedshrug:

Or maybe both.

[DonD13]

Maybe the OECD chart is flawed, or maybe your personal perception based on extreme stereotypes is flawed. :confusedshrug:

Or maybe both.

haha probably both

i do know people who work and/or worked there, they told me that, i'm not making this up
for example, nobody dares to go home as long the boss is still there
nobody takes the vacations
Toyota made the headlines in 2006, that's not THAT old

at the same time, I live in Switzerland and nobody works less than 42hours per week. the chart probably includes people who don't work at all too

idk personally, do you have experience on the contrary?

[LJJ]

I have a couple of Japanese friends, but nothing really beyond anecdotal evidence. They definitely work harder than I do on average, but they also all have time to go on holidays, enjoy hobbies, etcetera.

The OECD chart shows ~1800 hours per year. The video in OP suggests ~4000 hours a year. I'm sure hidden overtime exists, but come on. Japanese folks don't literally stay in their office twice as long.

[highwhey]

At what point will this man begin to live? We have so much potential as humans to experience incredible events and moments, but they exist outside of the workplace.

[DonD13]

I have a couple of Japanese friends, but nothing really beyond anecdotal evidence. They definitely work harder than I do on average, but they also all have time to go on holidays, enjoy hobbies, etcetera.

The OECD chart shows ~1800 hours per year. The video in OP suggests ~4000 hours a year. I'm sure hidden overtime exists, but come on. Japanese folks don't literally stay in their office twice as long.

nah, sure, need to get those youtube views somehow



At what point will this man begin to live? We have so much potential as humans to experience incredible events and moments, but they exist outside of the workplace.

he claims to have done this for 3 months

[highwhey]

Did anyone see his new video? He left Tokyo to move back to London.

Also, I suspect Stu is ghey. He's sus.

[HitandRun Reggie]

Only 13.5 hours a day. I don't see the big deal. As long as you are getting a decent wage to go along with it.Your average truck driver in the US works close to the same hours.

[niko]

Its not like this for everyone but I do know people like this (or their husband is like this) and it's as miserable most of the time as it sounds. My wife when she was in Japan had a holiday break coming up and the company MADE her go on vacation with her own company instead. i also recall meeting her after forced dinners with the company that would last four hours. None of this is neccesarily bad on it's own but when you work ridiculous hours already it's painful.

One of our friends, her husband has health issues that left him in bed for a month. He's back to the never ending work schedule like 2 months after. His daughter (only 3) is scared of him because she barely sees him.

Shit is terrible. You can see it on the train too, if you take it during the time people are traveling it's like the walking dead in suits. They are just fried.

[AlphaWolf24]

japan DOES have one of the highest suicide rates of males in leading economic countries. in fact it looks like it's around #1 by that measure.

you can see why people in desperate and shitty places around the world would have reason to kill themselves or get involved in drugs / violence that would indirectly get themselves killed, but japan is almost the reverse of all that. i mean sure, they're stuck in 25 years of a recession, but their standard of living and wealth and all that is still very impressive.

being a salaryman sounds like a pretty frustrating, empty kind of life. as in, you bust your ass like mad through high school and college in order to wind up in a company you'll be working for the rest of your life. casual sex sounds pretty nonexistent in japan, so you'll either have to pay a fortune for it one way, or find a wife and then barely get to see her for the rest of your marriage. the work hours and off-time are a farce, and you constantly have to suck up to your superiors and go along with whatever they want... like staying out late and getting drunk when you're really too exhausted to, getting short-changed on sleep day after day.

japan is an endlessly weird and fascinating country, but i think it generally sucks balls to be a salaryman or a long-term foreigner living there.


Disagree.....

when I was living there I was slaying J's left and right...

J's were horny asf.....( could be a combination of me being american + extremely handsome :confusedshrug: ......but all the J's I met were DTF)

[sammichoffate]

Did anyone see his new video? He left Tokyo to move back to London.

Also, I suspect Stu is ghey. He's sus.He's straight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_5bfA35lcM

[falc39]

I was on vacation last year in Tokyo. It was strange but common seeing guys in a suit and briefcase on the metro late at night. Sometimes as late as 10pm & 11pm, even on Saturdays, but it was less common than weekdays.

[highwhey]

These nvggas working hard to prevent a godzilla attack

[gigantes]

Disagree..... when I was living there I was slaying J's left and right...

J's were horny asf.....( could be a combination of me being american + extremely handsome :confusedshrug: ......but all the J's I met were DTF)
salarymen don't got nothin' on you, bob sapp, and azrael the famous english-teacher!


seriously, i think it's close to the groupies - rock star principle. smaller than a death star... bigger than a fetish.

[gigantes]

here's another example: look at the average hentai manga and imagine what type of dude needs women to be trembling little violets like that.

FIRST the girl offers a tiny amount of resistance, only to flow like niagara falls when challenged... then their world is absolutely ROCKED by the average japanese dude with the world's most legendary hard-on. :lol

[sundizz]

Working is not the right word. You basically just have to be there. The concept of life and family is different there.

Men basically spend all their time at the office. Women (that may not necessarily work) spend all their time being full-time caretakers of children helping them get the necessary education.

Neither is truly working 14 hours - but both those (worker vs. mom) require being present for about that amount of time.

Japan are all about the harmonious society and a big part of that is respecting the chain of command. The old men in the company stay late because it's not like they have any great relationship with their wives + no big meaningful connection with the kids so they like to stay where they have the power. As underlings the rest of the staff must also stay there (and so the cycle continues).

Another big thing is that a lot of Japanese men have girls on the side. And this is both accepted + common in Japan. Many college girls have a "sponsor" (both due to cost + the general accepted behavior of it). Sometimes, they even have boyfriends who know about it. A lot of times it starts out as the older guy + the girl because the older guy just wants someone to talk to/flirt with him etc because the wife doesn't care about that anymore (it's not her responsibility anymore to do that according to custom).
There are agencies that do this too so it's easy/not looked down on. The funniest thing my Japanese friend told me is that sometimes the boyfriends will even know the sponsors (somewhat of a weird perverted dad figure i guess) and they'll be like oh i talked to your sponsor to get us a nice room for this weekend.

[ShaqTwizzle]

Only 13.5 hours a day. I don't see the big deal. As long as you are getting a decent wage to go along with it.Your average truck driver in the US works close to the same hours.

What??
14 hours a day is ridiculous.
That means you have literally no free time for anything during work days.

You just sleep/work/eat/get ready for work + travel to work/sleep/work
No time for anything but sleeping/working.

I think 40 hours over 5 days is already quite excessive and leaves little free time as it is.
I would probably kill myself too if I had to work 14 hours a day for even 5 days a week let alone 6... jesus.
Unless it was a job I enjoyed...

[Hawker]

I've worked before like the guy in the video but I always had time off (4-7 days) in sight so that always kept me going.

A lot of the times you feel like you aren't even working. You're just doing the minimum and hoping nothing goes wrong. There are times where you can add input to the situation to increase efficiency but you just don't because you're too tired to make the effort.

Definitely not a way to live and I'm glad he apparently moved back to London. Next step is to move out of England since that place is a shithole.

[Segatti]

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/33DE/production/_84187231_workhourstweaked.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/d65wZ6k.jpg

wtf mexico :eek: