Work in Japan

Taking Leave - Regular Holidays rules-Part 2

 

On sick leave: To tell the truth, being paid to be sick is not a concept that traditional Japanese firms understand Most Japanese companies –especially the smaller ones  still don't give sick leave, so thats why I have previously advised  on storing up some unused holidays.  .. However, recently in an effort to attract better employees, some larger firms and some multinationals are now starting to offer sick leave. However, this is company-by-company and it is not a right. Often what they do at more open-minded or international firms is to give an extra 3 days holiday, which functions as a provision towards covering ordinary sickness. The only difference in this case is that it’s not allowed to carry these extra 3 days over to the next year.

Annual holidays attract a special long service loading in Japan. For each year you serve, up to 6 1/2 years (typically), you get an extra day or two of holiday each year. Thus after 6 1/2 years, you can take up to 20 days paid leave a year. Beyond this term, some companies continue to add more days, but most cap it. The actual years served and days leave earned are as follows:

1 1/2 years　　　　　　　　　　1 additional paid day off
2 1/2 years　　　　　　　　　　2 additional paid days off
3 1/2 years　　　　　　　　　　4 additional paid days off
4 1/2 years　　　　　　　　　　6 additional paid days off
5 1/2 years　　　　　　　　　　8 additional paid days off
6 1/2 years or more　　　　      10 additional paid days off

A special note is that after you have been with a company more than 7 1/2 years, you can take up to 40 days paid leave in a single year. Clearly this would be in cases where you had paid leave carried over from a previous year because the company was too busy or had internal problems.

 

Taking Leave - Regular Holidays rules-Part 1

Think the holidays part is also a necessary thing to discuss about as the system slightly differs from the Eropean or American standard  schemes. As always, with articles like this, I encourage you to use the material as a guideline only, and seek proper legal advice before acting.

If you've ever wondered what the rules are for holidays in Japan, look no further. I will try to give a run down on what's normal and what the labor law says.

According The Japanese labor law, an all full-time employee is due 10 days paid leave after he or she has a satisfactorily finished 6 month period of employment. "Satisfactory" usually means that they have attended the workplace for at least 80% of the required total workdays. So, even if you've been sick during your first 6 months, so long as you hit the 80%, you should be able to get your holiday allowance.

Once you receive the 10 days allowance, you are allowed to take this time off all at once, or to space it out until the next allocation, one year later (at the 18-month mark). I think the best  is if you always leave a couple of days unused, so in case you get sick, you’ll have some paid days off to recover. Your holidays can typically be carried over 2 years, in order to know this better, check the Work Rules displayed at your office, or your own employment contract because some companies allow also a longer period.

 

To be continued…

Job hunting from another perspective- Part 3

 

Where as the ACCJ is large enough to give you individual groups based on industry and sector, other foreign chambers of commerce tend to be more focused on nationality and/or interaction between their region and Japan. These chambers can give you more variety (because you are not pigeon-holed) and potentially better access to senior management in companies from those particular locales. The German Chamber for example gives you access to the foreign leaders of certain famous car and manufacturing companies, while the French and Italian ones can give you access to top people representing brands and fashion.

You can find a list of 14 foreign chambers of commerce in Japan, along with their contact details at http://www.fcc.or.jp/index-e.html, a page in the Finnish Chamber of Commerce website. This list is quite Western-centric however, so for a more extensive one, go to the JETRO search page http://www.jetro.go.jp/en/invest/directory/, and check the Foreign Governments and Organizations boxes. You will get a surprising 150+ list of groups that represent foreign interests in Japan, easily enough to provide you with some ideas and ambitions.

Another type of organization to look for is that of special interest groups. Starting with a business focus, we have the Entrepreneur's Association of Tokyo (EA), http://www.ea-tokyo.com/index.php; the Foreign Executive Women (FEW) organization, www.fewjapan.com; and the Association of Women in Finance (AWF), www.awftokyo.com/.

Then there are the work-specific groups, such as the International Computer Association (ICA), www.icajapan.jp; Society of Editors, Writers, and Translators (SWET), www.swet.jp; and the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan (FCCJ), www.fccj.or.jp. There of course many more organizations than this, and many outside Tokyo. Get on the Internet and start searching. You'll be surprised how many special interest groups are catered for in this country - and that's just among the foreign communities.

In the next article , we will take a look at Japanese organizations.

The important websites are to be found in the article

To be continued…

Job hunting from another perspective- Part 2

Believe it or not, one of the best ways is to start hanging out at the same events and locations as those potential employers: business associations, chambers of commerce, sports clubs, sector-specific seminars, charities, personal development clubs, and lobbying groups.

The actual reason for  doing this is to have senior managers in your target market getting used to seeing you around as a peer, and witnessing your language and/or professional skills. This of course means that you should be volunteering for a few different organizations and trying your best to get on the executive committees or board of governors of each as an organizer or leader.

If you're targeting foreign firms as potential employers, the place to start is an appropriate local branch of a foreign chamber of commerce. The biggest of these is the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ), which as far as I know is the second largest American chamber, among the ones outside the US for example. The ACCJ has more than 3,000 members, representing over 1,400 companies, and has chapters in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka. It conducts more than 400 events a year, and so there is plenty of room for you to get involved in one of the many subcommittees - one of which is surely serving the industry you're interested in. By virtual of its sheer size, the ACCJ has also become a lobbying force of some repute and puts out a tremendous number of influential opinion papers in Japanese to help the Japanese government see the non-Japanese point of view.

To be continued…

Job hunting from another perspective- Part 1

In these list of articles or blogs I’d like to write a few more words , information on tactiques in finding a good job for you in Japan in this case i m concentrating more on women’s different possibilities and perpectives, but it’s of course for everyone , as i think this is really the most crucial part of starting a new life in Japan. If anyone thinks they have even more to say regarding this topic, don’t hesitate to write me in the form of comment. I hope these advices help everyone a bit more if only giving some other aspects

"It's not what you know, it's who you know," is an old refrain that works indeed very efficiently in Japan as for job hunting. I have already mentioned the trust part  and the importance , the high importance to be trusted, and in this regard employers are more likely to employ someone who is not extra-skilled for the job, but who they met , they had a good talk with, who they remember either personally or through a trusted friend, family member or company management member or just anyone whose word counts for the director of that company. We can indeed make these happen, to get to know people who might even employ us in the future. This is where internet fails as it ’s wholly impersonal. So, taking all these into consideration, the problem for the job hunter then, is how do you meet these employers?

To be continued…

Handbook on Japan part 3

 Working in Japan part 45                           

 

How to learn more on life in Japan ?  With a help of a great new book!    Part 3

There is a whole chapter on Employment, covering all the basics such as the labor laws, termination, salary and holidays, deductions and taxes, how the social insurance system works, what the difference is between full-time, part-time, and contract workers, and where to go when you need to get help. I have covered many of these topics over the years, but nonetheless found some materials relating to contract workers which covers new ground. While reading, I found myself making a mental note to follow up on this and get more information about it.

Indeed, this is one of the outcomes of reading the Handbook - it prompts you to want to find out more. Although the book has 376 pages, half of it is written in Japanese so that someone who you might be seeking advice from (a lawyer or Japanese friend or "senpai") can quickly grasp the nature of what you are asking, and give you a more specific answer. This means that the Handbook is not only a quick read, but also is intended to be a framework rather than an exhaustive reference manual. Arudou addresses this fact by providing copious notes on where to go to get follow up help.

By the time you read this, you should be able to pick up the Handbook at your local bookstore. But just in case you can't, Arudou maintains a pretty comprehensive website at www.debito.org, and right on the front page there is a link with instructions on how to order a copy. I checked Amazon.com, the retail price is JPY2,415, and my personal opinion is that it is worth every yen. A necessary read for newcomers, and useful "gap filling" information for longer-term residents good reading and good luck in getting it!

Mr. Debito has published several books on Japan, and living and getting by in Japan i will do my best to represent some of his other books in the future, because i think they really do contains very useful information on life in Japan.

Handbook on Japan part 2

Working in Japan part 44                            

 

 How to learn more on life in Japan ?  With a help of a great new book!  Part 2

 

 

 

This is a rather unique book because it takes the view that the reader is at some progressive point in their life in Japan, somewhere prior to first arrival right through to having your remains back home! It gives a general framework of major regulatory issues that each of us as residents in Japan have to deal with in our daily lives. In that respect it is an ideal manual for new arrivals wanting to know what they should and should not do in this rather opaque society. It's also good for general updates for old hands like myself.

 

In several chapters, the Handbook gets quite specific, offering advice on what to do if something not so positive happens to you - such as if you get arrested, need to get divorced, get fired unfairly, get discriminated against, etc. These are things that are not spelled out in an authoratative way anywhere else that I can think of, and thus make the publication something you'll want to keep handy all the time.

The Handbook starts out by defining exactly what documents you need to get into Japan and be legal for various types of activities - in particular for work. It does a good job of clarifying just what documents are needed to get into Japan and how a visa is not the actual certification that lets you stay here, a Status of Residency (SOR) is. It personally took me years to find out how the immigration system works - now you can read about it in just 12 pages.

To be continued..

Handbook on Japan part 1

Working in Japan part 43                            

 

 How to learn more on life in Japan ?  With a help of a great new book!  Part 1

I must say i have read many many books on all aspects of Japan so far, in every language available in every form available i was collecting all info I could on Japan. So, when I heard not too long ago, that there is something new on the market on Japan - intended to help foreigners learn and understand the regulations of life in Japan and how to plan ahead for unexpected situations,-  I jumped at this chance  to get a preview copy somehow instantly.

 

The truth is that the japanese don't make it that hard for foreigners to come and work in Japan, but once you get here, you ’ll soon realise that no one really seems to know what the actual rules are - whether for visas, finding and keeping a job, taxes, getting married, retirement allowances, etc. Visiting the many Internet information boards can yield some information, but it is often out of date or wrong due to the writer's lack of legal knowledge and it’s a fact with all the best will in the world you can’t keep all that info on the internet up to date J

Well, and so, the news is, that there is now an authoratative guide on how to get to and live in Japan. It is called HANDBOOK for Newcomers, Migrants and Immigrants to Japan ("Handbook" for short) and is written by Arudou Debito, a well-known blogger and writer who naturalized as a Japanese citizen in 2000, and his co- writer, Higuchi Akira, a certified Administrative Solicitor (Gyosei Shoshi).

I ’d like to say a few words on this special book, it’s content and why is important to read such books for everyone who is interested in travelling, staying and living in Japan. So, here’s your chance to know more on this book, in the next 2 parts

 

To be continued..

Some need-to-know on the recruitment process in Japan part 4

Working in Japan

 

Some need-to-know about the recruitment process and candidate interviews in Japan

Part 4

Company strategies and their advantages and disadvantages

Upcoming problems, questions on canditates that a company needs to be answered Nr 1

There are basically 2 company types that have special difficultires in finding a good staff for themselves, and also to conduct more interviews which are the small companies and the ones established by a foreigner or a foreign company in Japan

 

Let’s look at the situation of the small firms first. These companies may have been running for some time and the hiring is probably mostly done by the owner or founder of the business. The disadvantage that small firms all have is that the interviewer is usually the the one person with whom the new employee will work with, so that means that any of their decisions might be based on   a personal reason or preference more and not on the  professional experience ns capacity of the employee at first. But also I can add that many small things in the outlook can count as much as any professional experiences, especially in case of any problems with the look itself.

Apart from small companies, the other type of foreign firm that has trouble doing balanced interviewing is the start-up subsidiary or fresh joint venture of a major firm overseas. Not only are these companies hampered by the tyranny of distance, and in particular the remoteness of their HR recruiting professionals, they also have the challenge of cultural differences.

to be continued..

some good-to-know on Japanese recruitment Part 4

Working in Japan

 

Some need-to-know about the recruitment process and candidate interviews in Japan

 

Part 4

 

 

Company strategies and their advantages and disadvantages

Upcoming problems, questions on canditates that a company needs to be answered Nr 1

 

There are basically 2 company types that have special difficultires in finding a good staff for themselves, and also to conduct more interviews which are the small companies and the ones established by a foreigner or a foreign company in Japan

 

Let’s look at the situation of the small firms first. These companies may have been running for some time and the hiring is probably mostly done by the owner or founder of the business. The disadvantage that small firms all have is that the interviewer is usually the the one person with whom the new employee will work with, so that means that any of their decisions might be based on more because of a personal reason or preference and not because of the employees professional capacity at first. But also I can add that many small things in the outlook can count as much as any professional experiences, especially in case of any problems with the look itself.

 

Apart from small companies, the other type of foreign firm that has trouble doing balanced interviewing is the start-up subsidiary or fresh joint venture of a major firm overseas. Not only are these companies hampered by the tyranny of distance, and in particular the remoteness of their HR recruiting professionals, they also have the challenge of cultural differences.

 

to be continued...