A story of Japanese Workplace Culture

This week I have been reading 私、定時で帰ります (WATASHI, TEIJI DE KAERIMASU / I will not work overtime). The novel and TV drama tells the story of Yui Higashiyama, an employee rebelling against the culture of overtime in a marketing company in Tokyo.

Yui argues with her Dad who represents the generation when in his words 仕事があれば家に帰れない (SHIGOTO GA AREBA IE NI KAERENAI / If you have work, you can’t go home). KAERENAI is the negative potential of the verb KAERU (to go home/return)

Growing up, Yui used to see her Dad humming the advert to a popular energy drink called Regain while getting ready for work. The song-line in the advert is 二十四時間戦えますか　 (NIJUUYOJIKAN TATAKAEMASU KA / Can you fight for 24 hours? ) TATAKAEMASU is the potential form of the verb TATAKAU (to fight).

Watch salarymen scaling skyscrapers and swimming rivers to avoid being late in one of the well-known Regain commercials here:

I can well remember these energy drinks. Convenience stores in Japan are full of them.

When I worked in an IT company in Akihabara, I occasionally walked over to the office vending machine to get a can of Real Gold, a Coca-Cola produced Japanese energy drink. The drink was foul, but I liked the idea of ingesting real gold.

Back in the novel, the fighting spirit is a theme also present in conversations about Yui’s grandad who fought in the Battle Of Imphal, a doomed and desperate attempt to make a breakthrough into Northern India during World War Two. Over 10,000 Japanese soldiers lost their lives in an operation widely described as 無茶苦茶 (MUCHAKUCHA / Crazy)

Yui’s boss finds ways to pressure her into doing overtime. But other employees want to work late. They see overtime as a chance to contribute to the company, to prove something, or to make up for mistakes during normal working hours.

But this pressure to work is dangerous. When Yui’s ex-boyfriend works 3 days straight without going home, she fears the worst. 過労死するかも (KAROUSHI SURU KAMO / He might die of over work). The KAMO is short for KAMO SHIREMASEN (might).

Karoshi is now an English word and a globally recognised phenomenon.

There is humour and warmth in the story such as Yui’s concern and care for the employees under her.

In a New Year prayer at the local shrine, Yui shows she’s a rebel. While her colleague next to her prays for the company’s success, Yui’s prayer is 今年もビールがおいしくありますように (KOTOSHI MO BIIRU GA OISHIKU ARIMASU YOU NI / I pray that this year beer will be as tasty as ever). I am sure that’s a wish well-shared across the world.