When I graduated from college and went to work for a consulting firm in Chicago, for the first week I was asked to sit next to someone who had worked there for a couple of years in the same role, who methodically took me through everything I needed to know in order to do my job.

So when I took a position at a Japanese bank in Tokyo two years later, I expected a similarly thorough orientation. Instead, I was surprised to find that the extent of my training was my boss taking me around the department and introducing me individually to each of my co-workers. After that I was completely on my own to figure out what I should be doing and how best to do it.

Larger Japanese companies typically have extensive training for employees fresh out of college or university, but unlike the job-specific explanations I experienced in Chicago, the Japanese method is more a general orientation that focuses on things like how to correctly use keigo (polite language) with customers. All the new graduates attend such training as a group, so it doesn't go into anything detailed about their roles. Then, once they are assigned to their workplaces, learning how to do their jobs happens through on-the-job training, which Japanese frequently refer to with the acronym OJT.