General Aug 18, 2019
Plan your response before taking on passive prejudice at the office
by Rochelle Kopp
What should you do when one of your Japanese colleagues makes a problematic comment? Sometimes it's best to keep things light.
How-tos Jul 7, 2019
Asking for a raise in a Japanese company
by Rochelle Kopp
When looking for a salary boost at your job it's important to remember that individual effort is appreciated but not necessarily rewarded.
How-tos | Age Wise Jun 26, 2019
Deal with clutter while the choice to toss is still yours
by Louise George Kittaka
A big part of retirement is spent organizing your home and your affairs, but tidying experts advise decluttering well beforehand.
Voices | FOREIGN AGENDA Jun 23, 2019
Cleaning toilets with a smile: The lessons you can learn from a convenience store side job
by Megha Wadhwa
Learning Japanese and want a bit of extra cash? Getting a part-time job in the service industry can teach you a lot more than the language.
How-tos Jun 12, 2019
by Rochelle Kopp
The viral story of how a Japanese chemical company, Kaneka, reassigned an employee to the Western part of Japan immediately after he returned from paternity leave in Tokyo left netizens indignant last week. And the story has also caused many non-Japanese to scratch their ...
Language | BILINGUAL May 27, 2019
Speaking up in Japanese for quality time off work
by Kaori Shoji
Decades ago, the mid-1980s to be exact, I complained to my mom that my dad worked too much. Like legions of middle-aged Japanese salarymen, my father was never home before 9 p.m. and spent his weekends on 海外出張 (kaigai shucchō, overseas business trips). He ...
How-tos May 26, 2019
Getting negative feedback from your boss isn't all bad
by Rochelle Kopp
After I had spent over a year working at a Japanese bank in Tokyo, I felt like something was wrong but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I knew I was doing a good job, and my work was going smoothly, but ...
How-tos | Age Wise May 1, 2019
Stressing over finances? The community at RetireJapan is here to help
by Louise George Kittaka
Ben Tanaka wanted to take more control over his finances and launched RetireJapan.com to share what he has learned.
Language | BILINGUAL Apr 29, 2019
A few parting words in Japanese for when you retire
by Louise George Kittaka
Japan needed to pass a special law before the Emperor was able to "retire," but for the rest of us the process is a bit easier — as long as you know the vocabulary involved.
How-tos Apr 24, 2019
Nobody's perfect, but an apology really helps at a Japanese company
by Rochelle Kopp
What if you were doing something that drove your Japanese colleagues crazy, but you didn't realize it? Conducting seminars for Japanese businesspeople who work with people from other countries, I found a common theme that comes up every time I ask what behaviors of ...
How-tos Mar 27, 2019
How to work with a micromanaging Japanese boss
by Rochelle Kopp
Putting together the slide deck for the presentation had become a never-ending ordeal for Dave. Every time he turned a draft in to his Japanese boss, it would come back with yet another set of things to correct. "How many times do I have to ...
How-tos Feb 25, 2019
In the Japanese workplace, take training into your own hands
by Rochelle Kopp
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 ...