Here are some of the things they didn't tell me when I signed on to work at Rakuten:
1. EVERY TUESDAY THE ENTIRE COMPANY IS AT THE OFFICE FROM 8 AM
For "asakai." Though, to be fair, most people use a website to get out of it.
2. THERE IS A 50% CHANCE YOU WILL BE GUILT-TRIPPED INTO PERFORMING IN A DANCE COMPETITION
Yeah. I didn't believe it either but you'll train daily for 2 hours--unpaid--and if you don't take part in it you'll be seen as selfish and not a team player. Your opportunities will be diminished.
3. BULLYING IS WIDELY AND OPENLY ACCEPTED
You'd think that as a foreigner, you'd be at least *slightly* immune to the outrageous bullying culture that takes place in Japan--not the case. I have many friends whose entire lives (down to their Facebooks) were monitored, and the humiliation of employees in front of the entire room (THERE ARE NO CUBICLES) is common and accepted
4. YOUR WORK/LIFE BALANCE IS A JOKE TO THEM
I was regularly asked to stay until 11--and sometimes OVERNIGHT--to get things done that simply did not need to be done as quickly as higher ups demanded. However, the authoritarian mindset runs so deeply within many of these people, that their brainwashing forces them to do whatever is asked of them... or else.
Though for some reason, NOBODY gets fired... even when they abuse employees like throwing books at them or sexually harass them, they just get a slap on the wrist and lose a little face. The latter part of this is certainly Japanese, but in my 4 years working in Japan this was the first organization I saw that didn't fire people.
