e-Jan! Work Style

Japan has a reputation for being a culture of workaholics, but there are of course many allowances for taking time off. Paid time off is given to employees, and companies encourage their employees to use their vacation days.

About a month ago, I was invited to visit India, and go on numerous client visits together with our colleagues in India. This would be an opportunity for me to see firsthand the Indian market culture and how it runs. I was quite excited but wasn’t exactly sure on what to expect.

Different cultures mark the beginning of the year in different ways. There is the calendar year, for example set by the Gregorian calendar or lunar calendar. There is the academic school year, the start date for which differs vastly by country and region. Japan uses the Gregorian calendar to mark the start of the year as 1 January, but it is one of the countries where the fiscal year starts in April. (Other countries that follow this schedule include Australia and New Zealand.) The academic school year also starts in April; this is thought to coincide with the fiscal year.

We have an activity called study session which is created by me. It was made only around three months after I joined e-Jan. It was quite impressive because people were open to ideas even though it was from a new employee like me. I would like to explain more about the study session.


Before I explain what the study session is, I would like to write about its background. I got a motivation to create study session from my team leader. Once every two weeks, my team leader and I will have a “one on one” meeting for an hour. In the meeting, the leader couches me to become better professional. He asked me what my dreams are when we had our first meeting. One of my dreams was to become senior-level developer. Next, he asked me what to do to achieve my dream. I said I need to read books, write code frequently, and have many discussions as well as communications. Everything else is fine, but a lack of communications is the problem. My leader gave me a homework that I need to start discussions somehow. To fulfill this mission, I created the study session.

先日、「東京カイシャハッケン伝」という冊子に弊社のことが紹介されました。この冊子は、「中小企業しごと魅力発信プロジェクト」の一環として東京都産業労働局が発行しているものです。
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A leaflet name “Kaishahakkenden (Discovery of companies)” was published last month. This leaflet introduces small and medium-sized enterprises in Tokyo and is used for recruitment purposes.

日本では、育児をしながら働く女性が増えています。
家計に必要なお金を稼ぐことはもちろんのこと、好きな仕事を続けたい、キャリアを積みたい等、理由は様々です。
昔は妊娠後は退職し育児に専念する女性が多くいましたが、現在は夫婦で働き、育児や家事は分担する家庭が増えていると感じます。

政府も企業も、人口が減少する中、労働人口を確保する改革を進めており、出産後も働ける環境づくりや女性の就労支援が広がりつつあります。

In Japan, there is an established tradition of women giving men chocolates on Valentine’s Day. There are two ways that chocolate is given: Honmei-choco is chocolate given to a romantic partner, while Giri-choco (‘obligation chocolate’) is given to friends and coworkers and has no romantic meaning.
On the flipside, unique to Japan is March 14, White Day, in which men who have received chocolates on Valentine’s Day give gifts in return.

This week’s guest post is written by ‘Y.I.’on her past experiences of Valentine’s Day while working at a different, more traditional Japanese company.

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シンガポールなど、東南アジアの日系企業に赴任する日本人駐在員が第一に驚くのが「ローカルスタッフが定時で退社する」ことでしょう。

※ローカルスタッフ：本国から派遣された駐在員ではなくその国で現地採用されたスタッフ
文字通りLocally Hiredされているというだけで、差別的な意味はありません

午後5時30分が定時であれば、5時35分にはほぼ全員のローカルスタッフはオフィスからいなくなります。
日本人だけが遅くまで残っているというのはよくある話であり、日本人にとっては違和感がありますがそこには文化的背景があります。
いくつか理由を挙げてみましょう。

I hope no one is offended by the click-baiting title, but isn’t it what people usually ask from the bottom of their heart? Many programmers are from Taiwan at e-Jan, and one of them told me that one must have a science degree in order to become a developer in Taiwan. During the job interview for a position of developer, the interviewer expressed concern because I studied economics (which is a liberal art) in university.

In my opinion, having opportunities to express yourself at your company is really important especially when it comes to international companies. At e-Jan Networks, we have some interesting ways to express ourselves. So, I would like to introduce some of those self-expressing opportunities at e-Jan Networks.

转眼之间到e-Jan快半年了。已经渐渐习惯了刚刚来到这里时的那些“惊喜”（有在上一篇讲到过哦）。“惊喜“过后随之而来的是不断的学习。对于一名，被分配到一群充满个性的清一色的男性”码农“中间当PM（项目经理）的MBA毕业生，这个工作真的是一次不小的挑战。你可以想象，当我们在外面聚餐，服务员弄错了我们预定的菜单时，大家脱口而出的是”啊，404了。“”不对，这应该是403。“……

私のオフィスでは、多くの中華系スタッフが働いています。
その中には、日本語がとても上手な人もあれば、そうでない人もいます。
今回の「Working Japan Blog」では、一緒に働いている中華系スタッフに声を掛ける際に使える「簡単な中国語」をご紹介します。