General Terms

These are the words used to describe workplace events, specific activities and their consequences, and the materials to do tasks. Since these words are short, there is no need of lengthy explaination. Here i would like to list out a few of the workplace terms along with their meaning.

棚卸　tanaoroshi

This is one of the frequently used words in factories & warehouses for taking stock of product count, checking the quality of products. The term when applied to everyday work, provides a clear picture of inefficient areas, tasks that need to be prioritised, and so on. The other word for this is visualizing tasks and workloads.

たたき台　Tatakidai

The term tatakidai refers to the tool/metal base on which blacksmiths pound hot metal to shape it. At work, the same word tatakidai is used to denote a draft, prototype, or a rough blueprint. The draft will serve as the foundation for further work in order to finalise a plan.

終日　shuujitsu

This term is commonly used at work to denote working hours or the time between clocking in and out.

五月雨式　samidareshiki

The word samidareshiki refers to “Early summer/May rain” that is intermittent. The same word is used to describe a situation in which you contact someone constantly. Usually a word of apology will go along this word in a sentence.

虎の巻　Toranomaki

This term can be traced back to an ancient Chinese text of military tactics. Because the secrets of tactics were mentioned in the Tiger volume of the book, it came to be known as Tora no maki, or the Tiger scroll. Nowadays, the Tiger scroll is an idiom that implies “Key” or “Book of knowledge”. The master text for a specific topic is known as the “Tora no Maki,” which refers to the traditional Japanese technique of writing texts on long scrolls. It is common to see the word Tora no maki at workplace or on the title of books. The word is commonly used for a text book, answer book, reference book, work handbook, guide book, and so on.

Business Practice Terms

These terms indicate a set of ideas, guidelines or ethics in order to bring about improvements in communication flow, risk assesment, problem resolution, quality and efficiency.

報連相　hourensou

In a workplace, having effective communication is vital to building relationships with trust, and for this reason hourensou is exemplified.
Hou-Ren-Sou is an abbreviation of three words: houkoku, renraku, and soudan – reporting, informing, and consulting. Funny enough, it sounds the same as the Japanese word for “spinach”. This method is employed by the great majority of organisations and is strongly embedded in the country’s working culture.

危険予知活動　kiken-yochi-katsudo

Kiken Yochi Katsudo translates to Hazarad Awareness Activities. It refers to the proactive process of identifying potential hazards or risks due to unsafe conditions or actions before they occur so that accidents or incidents at workplace can be prevented.

横展開　yokotenkai　|　水平展開　suiheitenkai

Yokotenkai or Suiheitenkai translates to “best practice sharing”. It is an essential part of long term success in a lean culture. Achieve a result, and then share the results, learn from it & adopt it wherever applicable, and immediately recreate and multiply the success.

ポカヨケ　pokayoke

Poka Yoke means “Mistake proofing” or avoiding inadverdent errors. It is utilised in both the manufacturing and service industries. Its purpose is to eliminate product/process defects by preventing, correcting, or drawing attention to human errors as they occur.

5S

Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, and Shitsuke are the five Japanese words that stand for Sort, Set, Shine, Standardise, and Sustain. The essence of 5S can be summarized as : “Only what is needed, in its proper place, clean and ready for use”. Its simplicity, practical applicability, and visual nature makes it an easy methodology for all types of companies from manufacturing plants to offices.

Katakana Terms

Katakana is typically used to write foreign words and the names of foreign individuals and places. However, katakana is sometimes used to write words that can also be written in hiragana or kanji. This is to emphazise the kanji words or to bring about rhythm in a sentence. The following are some words that are commonly used at work in casual chat or in meetings.

テーマ・ネタ　Topic

This refers to the topic of discussion.

オンスケ　Onschedule　｜　リスケ　Reschedule

The original words in english are on schedule and reschedule. On schedule means the meeting or plan is on schedule. If a schedule change is required, the term reschedule will be used.

クレーム　Complaint

This refers to an opinion or requirement from a customer in case of dissatisfaction w.r.t a defective product or bad service. The customer can demand either improvements or necessary actions.

イラスト　Illustration

The original english word is illustration. An illustration is a visual portrayal of a text, concept, or process that is intended for use in print and digitally produced media.

エビデンス　evidence

The english meaning of this word is proof. At a Japanese workplace this term is used to keep a record of interactions such as meetings, correspondence, and so on that can be retrieved later on.

ブレスト　brainstorming

The English word brainstorming refers to a group creativity process for product planning, new business start-up, team development, and other purposes. Here, efforts are made to collect a list of ideas spontaneously given by its participants.

ヒヤリング　hearing

At Japanese workplace, this term refers to the process of obtaining information through meetings or other formal interactions.

Reference :

• Handy Japanese Proverbs & Idioms
• Popular Japanese Proverbs and Idioms on Self-Development
• Good to know rules for those employed in Japan
• Japanese Workplace Etiquette
• Japanese Work Culture

Immerse yourself in the Japanese wisdom that can help you to unleash your true potential for a purposeful and meaningful life.

Proverbs

親しき仲にも礼儀あり（Shitashiki naka nimo reigi ari）

Good manners are a must even with good friends

This proverb teaches us the importance of boundaries. Even in case of close friendship there will be a line that should not be crossed. Just because a person is close it does not mean that you can take advantage of the person or invade their privacy. There is an english proverb that provides the same meaning, “Good fences make good neighbors”. A relationship with mutual respect will go a long distance.

能ある鷹は爪を隠す（Nou aru taka wa tsume wo kakusu）

a skilled hawk hides its claws

The english proverb that provides the exact meaning to this proverb is, “Still Waters Run Deep”. Those with the least talent and knowledge usually speak the most, speak the loudest, and create the most fuss. However, leaders and individuals who have the depth never make noise. They remain silent because they carry immense silence between their ears and cool head to evaluate both people and situation at hand.

思い立ったが吉日（Omoitatta ga kichijitsu）

There is no time like the present

The literal meaning of this proverb is that the auspicious day to start a task is when you have thought about it. This mainly implies that procrastination needs to be avoided. When we procrastinate, we’re not only aware that we’re avoiding the task in question, but also that doing so is probably a bad idea. And yet, we do it anyway. If we can overcome this fierce enemy, we will be able to accomplish more and in doing so better utilize the potential that life has to offer.

芸は身を助ける（Gei wa mi wo tasukeru）

If you have a skill, you’ll always be able to earn a living

This simply means that your talent or skill will help you. If you develop a skill out of interest or as a hobby and in which you become very good at, then such a skill will help you in unexpected circumstances. We have many examples of people who have turned their hobbies into their profession that has helped them earn a fortune.

 転ばぬ先の杖（Korobanu saki no tsue）

Have a walking stick ready before stumbling

This proverb teaches us the importance of being prepared for unexpected circumstances or known future situations in life. It teaches us to take preventive measures always in our life to get away from all sorts of possible dangers. Preventive measures help us to save our health, effort, time and money. There is an english proverb that provides the same meaning, “Prevention is better than cure”.

Four-Character Idiom

有言実行（Yuugenjikkou）

walk the walk

This idiom means to keep one’s word. A person will be identified by his words and actions. It is easy to say things or make promises, but it takes much more effort to actually put those words into action. Hence, showing that you mean what you say by actively doing it  becomes really important. This trait is vital if you want to be a good leader.

一意専心（Ichiisenshin）

wholeheartedly

This idiom means to devote oneself to. People who are characterized as  goal oriented continually strive for learning, growth and achievement. They have a clear vision of what they want and proactively act to make it a reality.

一朝一夕（Icchouisseki）

overnight

This idiom is made of the kanji for one day and one night. This is used to communicate when a task cannot be solved in a short period of time. The english proverb “True success will never be overnight” provides the same meaning. Nothing great happens overnight, just focus on making progress to get closer to your goals everyday.

桜梅桃李（Oubaitori）

cherry-plum-peach-apricot

This ancient Japanese idiom, comes from the kanji for the four trees that bloom in spring: cherry blossoms, plum, peach, and apricot. Each flower blooms in its own time and it’s a reminder that everyone is on their own journey through life. People shouldn’t live their lives comparing themselves to others, but instead value their own unique traits and focus on their own growth.

意思疎通（Ishisotsū）

communication

This is one of the frequently used idioms at workplace. It means mutual understanding. In order to work efficiently at workplace, communication is very important. Proper communication will improve the productivity and reduces the occurrence of mistake/error.

Further Reading :

• Handy Japanese Proverbs & Idioms
• Japanese Workplace Etiquette
• Japanese Work Culture
• Useful Podcasts and Blogs for Personal growth and Well-being
• Profound Sayings from Ancient Scriptures for Personal Excellence

Company Internal Documents

In the corporate world, documentation is very important. The internal documents are intended for use within a company for communication or information exchange. This should result in improving the efficiency of work, implementing new ideas etc. In the following section let us try to understand the various types of internal documents and the purpose of each.

Hierarchical

The following documents follow a top-down or bottom-up flow within an organization.

日報・週報・月報（Daily & Weekly & Monthly Report ）

A daily report is typically a document prepared by each of the team member / team lead to submit to their supervisors. A standard report contains details on how they spent their work day, including any achievements or challenges that they encountered. It gives information about the work an individual / a team has done for the day and how it contributes to a team’s or company’s overall accomplishments.

A weekly report outlines the main points of the week’s projects and tasks, including team and individual accomplishments, completed projects and future work overviews. It is a great way to monitor employee performance and ensure that projects stay on track.

A monthly report provides a summary of all the activities that have occurred and are in progress on a project during a given month. Project Managers use monthly reports to inform the client / the higher management about scope creep, risks to the schedule, budget, or resources, and other issues.

届出書・申請書（Notification Form）

This form is used to report to the company about your current status. Also this can be an application that you submit to your company for approval. This form will be helpful to the company (concerned department) for a smooth execution of the necessary processes. Usually a standard format in word or excel will be provided by the company that needs to be filled and submitted. Some of the frequently used forms are change of address form, commutation expense reimbursement form, certification expense reimbursement form etc.

顛末書（A Circumstantial Report）

In case of an incident or trouble at work, a written statement needs to be submitted that explains the status of the trouble or the cause of occurrence. Also the mitigation steps need to be mentioned before submitting the report to the supervisor.

辞令（Appointment Notice）

This notification is issued by the HR department to an employee, based on the instruction from higher management in case of transfer, promotion etc. This is different from the everyday work instruction sent by an incharge to the team. This document contains changes to employee information like location, wages, position, job profile etc.

通達（Official Notice）

This is usually a notification mail or document sent by the person incharge to a team or all the employees w.r.t matters relating to work or any specific instruction. Some of the official notice examples are change in work timings, new year holiday calendar etc.

Non Hierarchical

The following documents are mostly used between the subordinates, between the concerned members or used by an individual to improve work efficiency.

管理台帳（Management Register）

This is a record to precisely manage the various office equipment, office supplies, IT (software & hardware) etc. Some of the frequently used records are the inventory management record, asset management record, change management record etc. Usually, this is used by multiple people with shared usage permissions while performing a task. Mostly, Excel tool or online database is used for this purpose rather than a sheet of paper.

一覧表・名簿（List & List of names）

Literally ichiranhyō means a chart or a table. This term is frequently used to refer to any list that you prepare at work including names. However meibo refers to a list or directory of people only.

手順書（Procedure Manual）

This document tells us about the steps to be followed to execute a process or task. Anyone who goes through this document should be ready to execute the actions instantly. This document will be helpful while executing a task, when the task is being assigned to another person, while training a new employee, in case any improvements are to be made to a process.

予定表・スケジュール表（Schedule）

This refers to timetable or calendar that lists events and times at which they take place. Some of the frequently used ones are the Outlook calendar, work/shift schedule, task schedule etc.

議事録（Record of Proceedings）

This is also known as minutes of a meeting that provides instant written record of a meeting or hearing. Minutes may include agenda, date & time, place, list of attendees, outline, issues & responses, comments.

チェックリスト（Checklist）

A checklist helps to reduce mistakes by compensating for potential limits of human memory and attention. It aids to ensure consistency and completeness in carrying out a task. A simple example is a To-Do list that can be used at workplace to enlist the tasks to be carried out in a day/week, enlist the steps to be carried out in order to execute a task successfully.

伝言メモ（Message Memo）

A message memo is used frequently when the concerned incharge is absent. On behalf of the incharge, necessary information is taken note of inorder to convey when the concerned person gets back.

Company External Document

These documents are either business related or invitation/notification issued to clients. Among other types there are etiquette and legal documents as well. Hence these documents need to be polite and should be carefully written.

Business Related

見積書（Quotation）

This document is submitted during the bidding process and will contain details like the price, conditions etc.

請求書（Invoice）

An invoice is a simple document with a list of all products, price descriptions, tax breakups that establishes an obligation on the buyer/client to pay the seller for the purchased goods or services.

注文書（Purchase Order）

A purchase order is an official document that buyers/customers send to sellers to document the sale of products and services to be delivered at a later date.

Invitation/Notification

案内状（Invitation Letter）

This is a document to invite the customers to an event that is to be held at your company.

通知状（Notification）

This document is used to notify a candidate about the acceptance or rejection of candidature or used for communicating any administration related information.

Socializing

挨拶状（Greeting Card）

This is sent to convey good wishes to the customer. Usually, greetings are sent to the customers during the new year, summer time, new business unit opening, transfer etc., This is used within a company to greet each other as well.

礼状（Letter of Thanks）

This is sent to customers or to any superior at your company from whom you have received a favor.

Legal

契約書（Agreement）

A negotiated and typically legally binding arrangement between parties as to a course of action.

Further Reading :

• Important documents information for those employed in Japan
• Japanese Work Culture
• Good to know rules for those employed in Japan
• Japanese Workplace Etiquette
• A View of Japan Business Environment

What is Year End Adjustment

Under the Year End Adjustment, an employer is supposed to calculate the amount of income tax payable by the employees, and compare it with the tax amount withheld in advance from the salaries and bonuses paid to the respective employees during the year. If there is any shortage, such shortage shall be withheld additionally from the last salary/bonus. If there is any excessive amount, such excess shall be refunded to the relevant employee/s by the employer.

Due to the withholding tax system, most of the employees in Japan do not need to file a tax return. In fact, employees only need to file a tax return if at least one of the following conditions is true.

• if they leave Japan before the end of the tax year
• if their employer does not withhold taxes (e.g. employer outside Japan)
• if they have more than one employer
• if their annual income is more than 20,000,000 yen
• if they have side income of more than 200,000 yen

What is needed

Below are a list of documents that may be needed depending upon your current situation. However, the below first and second form must be submitted by everyone who is eligible for year end tax adjustment.

• Dependent declaration or MARUFU form / 給与所得者の扶養控除等(異動)申告書
• Basic exemption form and Exemption for spouse form and Exemption of income adjustment amount form / 給与所得者の基礎控除申告書 兼 給与所得者の配偶者控除等申告書 兼 所得金額調整控除申告書
• Exemption for insurance premium form / 給与所得者の保険料控除申告書
• My number or individual number
• Documents to be attached if applicable
  • Remittance statement
  • Dependent relationship certificate – English translated copy
  • Dependent passport copy

Method to fill the documents

First let us look at the Dependent declaration or MARUFU form / 給与所得者の扶養控除等(異動)申告書 . Below is a picture of the form.

The highlighted area in the red frame in the above picture is what will be the must be entered area for anyone who is eligible for tax adjustment. Since your respective company will be providing the above form, the area adjacent to the the red frame will be pre filled by your company. The section below the red frame is optional based on your present situation. The documents to be attached as mentioned in the earlier section will be applicable based on your entry here.

The next form to be submitted by everyone is Basic exemption form and Exemption for spouse form and Exemption of income adjustment amount form / 給与所得者の基礎控除申告書 兼 給与所得者の配偶者控除等申告書 兼 所得金額調整控除申告書. This has been introduced from the year 2020. Below is a picture of the form.

Even here the minimum areas to be filled is marked in red frame. Other areas can be filled if applicable only.

The remaining form ,i.e, the insurance premium form needs to be submitted by one who is paying for any life insurance, earthquake insurance, social insurance other than that being paid at company, small business mutual aid premium etc. This may not be applicable to most of the foreigners working in Japan so i will not go into the details here. However, you can go through the reference links below that explains in detail on how to fill each of the form.

Submission

Some companies send out the above forms to the employees by post that needs to be filled by the employees and sent back with all the necessary documents. However, some companies provide online service. Here they provide user name and password to the employees to login wherein the employees can perform the process online. Once completed the employees can take a printout, sign and submit the documents offline.

References :

• Life in Japan Year End Adjustment (年末調整) (hovermind.com)
• 令和3年分給与所得者の扶養控除等（異動）申告書｜国税庁 (nta.go.jp)
• 令和3年分・基礎控除申告書の書き方
• 令和3年分の「保険料控除申告書」の書き方を教えます！
• 年末調整に必要な書類と書き方まとめ（従業員向け）

Further Reading :

• Important documents information for those employed in Japan
• Good to know rules for those employed in Japan
• Japanese Work Culture
• Japanese Workplace Etiquette
• A View of Japan Business Environment

Spirituality

I was not much familiar with this word 5 years ago. But today if you ask me about it, I can say it to be one of my sources of strength to overcome life’s challenges. As all the learnings in Japan were self taught, even spirituality was self taught, the source being online videos. If I recall the starting point of my spiritual journey, I can only remember my curiosity for new things that guided me into it.

Videos of many highly knowledgeable spiritual teachers can be found online. Till now I have been influenced by the lectures on Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Swami Vivekanandas teachings, Karma yoga etc. I still remember spending one of  my Japan long holidays on a lecture series on mind control that was based on the ancient scriptures.

Spirituality will give us the inner strength to overcome hardship, thus enabling a positive outlook towards life. Spiritually strong people can find meaning and purpose in difficult situations that enables them to endure, bounce back and lead happy lives. Spiritual practices like meditation, yoga, prayer or even journaling have proven to promote physical or mental wellness. I only wish that I had known about spirituality much earlier in life.

Meditation and Yoga

I have made this a separate topic as there is too much to write about. First let me take up meditation. I still remember the way the started meditating. I used to turn on a guided Vipassana meditation video on YouTube and start meditating. I made it sure to select the shortest length video of 5 or 10 minutes. It was difficult to sit with the eyes closed and focus even for such a short time initially. Earlier to starting meditation I had listened to numerous podcasts about people meditating for 45 minutes to one hour. I was amazed as to how anyone could meditate for such a long time as it was difficult to sit even for 5 minutes.

I made it a point to atleast meditate for 5 minutes daily, initially with the YouTube video and later with the audio version of the same. Once i got a hold on meditating for 5 minutes, increased the time to 15 minutes, initially with the guided meditation audio and later with a timer of 15minutes. As I got hold of meditating for 15 minutes with the timer on, I slowly started meditating without the timer. Gradually my meditation shifted from being time focused to being calmness focussed. This meant that my meditation time increased to 30 minutes and sometimes 45 minutes as well. On hectic days to reach the calm state with very less thoughts it would take a longer time and on not so hectic days the calm state was reached much earlier.

Till now I had mentioned about my journey from being an alien to meditation to becoming a consistent meditator. It is really important to highlight what I gained from meditation. Its been more than a couple of years now and I can feel the calmness of my mind after meditation. I am able to concentrate more on any activity I take up. I am able to be more aware of my thoughts and actions. Among other benefits, handling situations and people better, handing stress better are a few of the things that I can highlight.

Yoga practice is the only topic here that is not learnt newly but rediscovered. I got trained on yoga long back but discontinued it somewhere down the line. However, more than three years back I started with a short version of suryanamaskara to start with and slowly added other asanas, meditation. As far as I can remember, the office start time offered some flexibility that led me to start with the morning yoga practice. Later on as I changed company, the office start time flexibility was not there. But, I made it a point to get up early and keep up with my morning routine. The benefits of yoga is known world over. I feel good that I rediscovered the practice that has helped me to stay healthy.

Journaling

As mentioned in the About me section I am doing serious journaling from the past 3 years. I have tried to publish atleast one blog per month on this career blogging site. The effort gone into writing each and every blog was immensely satisfying. The learning curve has only increased since I started blogging.

Apart from the career blogging, I make it a point to journal at the end of each day. This journal will include major activities of the day, issues encountered and the next day major activities. This is extremely helpful to focus my thoughts on things that I want to achieve. It is a known fact that the ancient Greek emperor and Stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius used to keep a journal. Many Stoic philosophers used to journal as a means of improving different areas of life. Now the same technique is used by many successful people world over.

Health and Nutrition

Like the other topics in this post, I started focussing on health and nutrition from the past couple of years. The trigger to this lies in the health podcasts that I used to regularly listen to. It is important to mention the before phase as well. Earlier, i used to follow a specific routine blindly that included a light and not so healthy breakfast, not so nutritious lunch and a heavy dinner. At present, I make it a point to intake nutritious breakfast, lunch and dinner. My quest to become healthy started with the podcasts and is still continuing in the form of online videos as learning never ends. That too in this covid-19 pandemic time, building immunity is of highest importance.

I will move on to another topic of periodic health check-up. In Japan there is a rule that every working individual should get themselves checked yearly once. I missed out on the health check-up for the years 2019 and 2020 due to some reasons. When I checked myself in the year 2021 I had myself to blame. Even though I had focussed so much on health and nutrition the test results told me that I need to learn more. One more learning I got was to never miss on the yearly health check-up wherever you are.

Being Concious

This is an invaluable skill that I could gift myself through the process of continuous learning. Right from our childhood we are moulded based on the surroundings we grow up. This happens unconsciously. When we grow up we carry most of the trait that we learnt in the childhood which may be good or bad. Since most of us are in an auto pilot mode we perform almost all of our actions in this mode.

The moment you become aware of your thoughts and actions is the moment of awakening. You start unlearning the unwanted traits and activities you have been practicing all through your life. Being concious is being more responsible for your actions. You are not controlled by your mind but you are in control of your mind and actions. I have no words to thank the spiritual gurus who opened my eyes. Also in this electronic era, mind control techniques are improving day by day. As mentioned in “21 lessons for the 21st century” book, governments and companies are remote controlling people. If we become concious of our thoughts and actions we can decide for ourselves what is right for us and avoid being remote controlled by devices.

Further Reading :

• Beneficial Yoga Exercises That IT Professionals Must Try
• Meditation for self growth
• Importance of Karma Yoga in Today’s World
• Wisdom of Vedanta for Self Development
• Boosting Immunity in the times of COVID-19 Virus Pandemic

Though i came across the minimalism term recently, i have tried to know more about it through various articles and videos. The understanding that i have gained about the concept is that there is no particular rule laid out to follow, but it depends upon the individual to implement it to a level that makes life better. By being a minimalist, one can become more conscious about the material things one buys, in terms of lifestyle there will be a conscious effort to choose the ones that add value, in terms of managing the self ,i.e, the physical and mental well being there will be a conscious effort to choose the ones that promote physical well being like healthy food, exercise and practicing meditation to be more mindful that promotes mental well being. The list can go on and on.

Origin and Spirit of Minimalism

The origin of minimalism cannot be traced back to a single source. However in case of Japan, minimalism can be said to be derived from the Zen Buddhist philosophy that spread over from China, where it became popular after getting initiated by an Indian monk Bodhidharma. Most of the time, people are chasing fulfillment through consumerism. It’s not just social pressure that makes us buy things, it also gives us meaning and helps us struggle through the day when there are no other goals available. Buddhist philosophy, a subset of the Indian Vedic philosophy redirects our attention back into ourselves and is based on the principle of tolerance of sense perceptions.

Out of the many minimalism concepts available in Japan, i would like to mention a concept called “danshari” that has become popular around the world. This concept was introduced by yoga instructor Mashiro Oki in 1976. It is an application of the yoga training of “dan” (stop unnecessary things from entering our life), ”sha” (discard what we do not need) and “ri” (depart from an obsession with material things).

Lockdown Takeaways

The “danshari” concept can be used to gauge many people’s behavior during the “stay-home” weeks under the state of emergency and should be applied to review and design new styles of work. Though the emergency has been lifted in Japan at present, the pandemic effect is still there due to which companies have provided employees extended “stay-home” or “work from home” options.

I came to know through news articles that, many people in Japan embarked on a big home clean-up during this period. Service companies that dispose of large items have been extremely busy. The household garbage during 10 weeks between Feb and May increased by 4.9 percent from a year earlier – an extraordinary jump. On the other hand, garbage from offices and stores decreased by a huge 25 percent, reflecting the government’s request to close or reduce their business hours. Also, according to a survey company, close to 50 percent of the respondents began cleaning up their homes – by far the top item among the things that they began doing under the stay-home period. The practice of danshari did not seem to stop with belongings. Some people applied it to improve their relationship with people whom they truly appreciate, while the rest seemed to disappear from their list.

Now back to the question of what to continue and what to throw away in our styles of work. According to a survey company, the number of people who want to continue to work from home even after the pandemic is over remains relatively low: around 20% of employed workers up to the age of 60 who have families. But another survey by a different company shows that close to 80% of those who experienced teleworking for the first time during the emergency want to continue to work from home.

One of the reasons that people may prefer the current work from home trend, is due to the long workhours that is a symbol of Japan’s input-oriented society. Until now, output has been raised by increasing working hours, i.e., by increasing input. Though there are new laws restricting the work hours, the impact has been minimal. However, the work from home trend may shift the focus from presence oriented to output oriented style of work. As per the information from a few companies, the new normal of people working from home has not affected the quality of work, so companies may go for reduction of physical footprint ,i.e, shedding of empty office spaces. Regarding other activities, many people have found online meetings to be efficient and effective, and some have started wondering whether so many face-to-face meetings are needed.

There are people who approve of danshari and people who do not approve of it. Great challenges lie ahead in applying danshari to styles of work. People need to decide what to stop (such as face-to-face meetings involving many people and no clear agenda), what to discard (numerous paper forms to fill in and approve), and what to depart from (the mass recruiting of new graduates, and so on). This viewpoint does not apply only to Japan but to the companies all over the world. This is a rare opportunity that needs to be made use of to the fullest to bring about major transformation of various aspects of organizations and society.

References :

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2020/06/09/commentary/japan-commentary/not-apply-danshari-work-life/#.XuDbY8BS-M8

Input Modes

To start with, you can open up notepad (or your favorite word processing app and give it a try).  To access notepad, you can simply type notepad in the search window of the start menu and press Enter.

Now, you can see that your IME has switched to Half-width alphanumeric by default and displayed as ‘A’ in the IME bar. When it is in this mode, you can type in English like a regular keyboard. If you switch to Hiragana mode, by clicking on the ‘A’ in the IME bar and selecting Hiragana, you can type in Japanese.

IME Option

In hiragana mode, you’ll see romaji/english letters on the screen until you make a proper japanese word or letter.  For example, if you type hjkly, it’ll show up as romaji.  You must type a valid japanese word/kana and then it will automatically switch to the kana.  So if you type the letters konnichiha, you’ll get こんにちは.  Now if you hit enter, it will simply leave the kana as is.  If you want to use the kanji, you have to hit the space bar.  This will give you the IME’s best guess as to what kanji you want to use.  If you hit the space bar again, you will see a pop up menu where you can select the kanji that you want to use.

Note, this is also the way you can get katakana without having to select it in the IME. Some kana have several kanji available for them. If the kanji or often confused (they have similar meanings, same pronunciation, but different kanji) then there are notes available to help you differentiate. Unfortunately these notes are in Japanese only.

Half-width Katakana characters are displayed at half their normal width (a 1:2 aspect ratio), instead of the usual square (1:1) aspect ratio. For example, the usual Full-width form of the katakana ka is カ while the half-width form is ｶ. You can also convert to katakana (full/half-width) characters when entering a reading in Hiragana input mode. Press the SPACE key after you enter a reading, and then select the appropriate katakana from the options list.

Half-width characters were used in the early days of Japanese computing. However, these Half-width characters are not generally used today, but find some use in specific settings, such as cash register displays, on shop receipts, bank book, web based forms, Japanese digital television etc., Half-width characters are typically English/Roman (romaji) characters and numbers. You are often required to enter phone numbers and email addresses in half -width on web application forms. Do note that some forms require your address and postal code in Full-width Alphanumeric, including all the numbers. In either the Full-width or Half-width Alphanumeric mode, enter the alphanumeric text, and then press the F9 key to convert to Full-width Alphanumeric characters or the F10 key to convert to Half-width Alphanumeric characters.

Two shortcuts that will definitely come in handy are the keyboard to switch between languages (SHIFT+ALT) and the shortcut to switch between alphanumeric and hiragana (ALT+`). Microsoft IME will remember what you are using in what window. So, for example, if you are typing in Japanese in Wordpad, you should be able to switch to Firefox and type in English without changing it in the IME.

Advanced Features

• Use special characters
  Having an IME makes it much easier to use the special characters like arrows, stars, hearts, shapes and more, that are available on most computers nowadays. While these characters don’t always display properly on every computer and in every software environment, they are becoming more usable all the time and are particularly well supported in Japan. To type a special character, you simply need to know the keyword that will call it up in your IME. Examples are kigou 記号, suuji 数字, hoshi 星, yajirushi 矢印, maru 丸, ongaku 音楽, kakko 括弧 etc.,
• Register custom words
  The IME has some built in functionality for detecting which conversions you use most and prioritizing them, and detecting non-standard conversions you use and automating them. However, there may be cases where it would be easier to just add a certain word to your IME’s dictionary. In the above figure “IME Options” select the Add Word option and enter the required information like the kanji to be displayed, reading of the kanji, user comments if any and part of speech(Noun/Place name/shortcut etc.,) in the respective boxes to add it to the dictionary.
• Mini hiragana characters
  The hiragana characters あいうえおやゆよつ and corresponding katakana アイウエオヤユヨツ can all be sized down at will to meet your needs. Simply prefix the sound as you would type it normally with an L or l (for “little”). For example, L + U = ぅ. This only works with the vowel characters, ya/yu/yo & tsu and are the only ones used in down sized form in japanese.
• Reconverting
  In case you are proof-reading an email or something you wrote in Japanese and notice you accidentally entered the wrong kanji for a word and want to change it. There are two ways to correct the word to the right kanji, one is delete and retype it and the other method is to reconvert it. Select the word you want to change, right click and choose “Reconversion” which will display the kanji list to choose from. Reconverting via right-click isn’t possible in all settings.  If your IME is on but you don’t get the reconvert option, try copying the text into a different application.
• Excel IME
  We already know that, Microsoft IME will remember what you are using in what window. But for people who use excel frequently in data entry, they may need to change the IME setting each time they move to a new cell/column in a sheet. In order to overcome this, Excel has an inbuilt provision for IME ,i.e, navigate to Data > Data Validation > IME Mode tab and select the appropriate mode for each column or cell beforehand and see that the input mode changes automatically as you move to the respective cell/column.

Excel inbuilt IME Option

Repair IME

Sometimes you might face issues related to IME like kanji conversions are not happening or proper kanjis are not showing up during conversions. In such cases we can use the “Repair dictionaries” option. Navigate to Properties > “Advanced” button > Dictionary/Auto-tuning tab – “Repair dictionaries” button, now the “Microsoft IME Dictionary Repair” window will pop up wherein we need to click on “Yes” to start the repair. Once the repair is completed, another pop up will show that the repair operation is completed. Now cross check whether the IME issue is rectified or not.

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Withholding Tax Slip / 源泉徴収票 (Gensen Choshu Hyou)

This is a document issued by an employer, who pays salaries and has the obligation to settle the procedures under the Withholding tax system. An eligible employer is supposed to issue the Gensen Choshu Hyou for each of its employee at the end of every year. Another instance wherein the Gensen Choshu Hyou is issued is when the employee quits a company. Usually within a month of the employee quitting the company this needs to be issued. This is an important document that will need to be submitted at the next workplace or during the Kakutei shinkoku procedure.

Gensen Choshu is the procedure in which the income tax is deducted beforehand from the salary paid to each employee per month. However this is just an approximation and the exact calculation will be done at the end of the year in december by a procedure called Nenmatsu chousei. Here any possible tax adjustments will be calculated for each employee before the income tax is finalized for the year. In case the employee himself/herself calculates and submits the income tax return the procedure is called Kakutei shinkoku.

Dependent declaration form for tax deduction / 給与所得者の扶養控除等(異動)申告書 (Kyuyoshotokusha no Fuyokojo nado shinkokusho)

This is the main document to be submitted by each of the employee with/without dependents for the Nenmatsu chousei/Year end tax adjustment procedure. The adjustments may be done for salary fluctuations if any during the course of the year. Adjustments also apply in case of any change in the number of dependent family members, special exemptions for spouse, life insurance premiums, damage insurance premiums, etc. The purpose of adjustment is to calculate the difference between the total salary or bonus tax withheld by the employer and the actual tax amount you have left to pay or be refunded at the end of the year.

The tax deduction form will let you update information regarding dependents. Separate forms will be provided by the employer for private insurance contributions, social insurance premiums, etc and needs to be submitted if applicable.

Income Tax certificate / 市民税・都民税 課税(非課税)証明書 (Kazei/Hi-Kazei Shomeisho)

This is one of the required documents that must be submitted to the Japan embassy when you invite someone to japan. Issued by municipalities where you live/lived, a tax certificate provides proof of income from January 1 to December 31 of the indicated year and the amount of inhabitant tax you paid on that sum. Because income is shown along with the amount of residence tax you paid for that year, this can also be used to certify that you had no income. In case of no income it is called a “tax exemption certificate (Hi-Kazei Shomeisho).”

Residence Tax notice / 市民税・都民税　税額決定納税通知書 (Shiminzei Tominzei Zeigaku kettei nozei tsuchi-sho)

If you are self-employed or if you have changed jobs and haven’t instructed the new company regarding deduction of Juminzei from salary, you will receive a tax notice from the Municipal Taxation Office or Municipal Taxation Branch Office. The annual amount due will be divided into four installments: June, August, October, and January of the following year. You will be asked to pay them by the end of these months. It will be calculated on the basis of your previous year’s income in Japan. You will not be required to pay for the first year if you lived abroad the previous year. You will be required to pay Juminzei to the city where you live on 1st January. Even if you move out on 2nd January to another city, you must pay the amount of Juminzei calculated based on the amount in the city where you lived on 1st January.

If you are an employee of a company, the company will notify you of the amount of tax due. The annual amount due is divided into 12 installments and withheld from your salary every month from June through May of the following year.

Certificate of loss of qualification for health insurance / 健康保険資格喪失証明書 (Kenkohoken soshitsu Shomeisho)

Employee Health Insurance (EHI), as the name suggests, is an employment-based health insurance; meaning, your employer pays half of your EHI premium. The other half is simply deducted from your monthly paycheck. The insurance covers 70 percent of your medical bills (and any of your dependent family members as well).

However, when you switch companies in Japan, you will be disqualified from current health insurance and have to return your health insurance card to your current employer. Your employer will withdraw you from the health insurance after you leave the job and issue you the Kenkohoken soshitsu Shomeisho. Your new employer will enroll you to their Employees’ Health Insurance System afresh and you will be issued a new card. In case your new employer hasn’t joined employee health insurance system, you need to switch to National Health Insurance by yourself within 14-days after you left the previous job.

Notification of the Contracting Organization / 契約機関に関する届出 (Keiyakukikan ni kansuru todokede)

If you’re a mid- or long-term resident who doesn’t have the status of “Permanent Resident”, you are required by law to inform the Immigration Bureau of Japan about any changes in employment within 14 days of that change. Don’t panic if you didn’t know about this law or haven’t done so within the period specified – but making sure to inform the Immigration Bureau “sooner” rather than “later” or “not at all” is always a good idea. Please note that this is a personal responsibility. The current employer may inform you about the process when you leave, but they otherwise have nothing to do with the procedure. However, there is also a possibility that the new company may inform or perform this procedure for you.

Employment Insurance Certificate / 雇用保険被保険者証 (Koyohokenhihokenshasho)

When you switch companies in Japan, this is one of the documents that will be handed over by the current employer. However in some cases, the company hands over the responsibility of safeguarding the certificate to the employee as soon as it is issued by the government organization. When the employee joins a new company, the same social security insurance will be carried forward by submitting the certificate to the new employer.

In the past information society, the common practice was to collect information via the network and have it analyzed by humans. However in Society 5.0, a huge amount of information from sensors in physical space is accumulated in cyberspace through IoT. In cyberspace, this big data is analyzed by artificial intelligence, and the analysis results are fed back to humans in physical space in various forms.This process brings new value to industry and society in ways not previously possible. The growing incorporation of cyber and AI into business and society certainly holds great promise for Japan, a country that has been struggling to implement solutions to address long-standing problems of limited economic growth, an aging and shrinking population, and the decline of rural areas. In this context, highly repetitive jobs that require low skill can be increasingly automated, while big data opens up possibilities for identifying more effective allocation of resources, doing more with less and improving the overall efficiency.

In the field of mobility, new value can be generated through AI analysis of big data in a database spanning diverse types of information including sensor data from automobiles, real-time information on the weather, traffic, accommodations, and food and drink, and personal history. The benefits are making traveling and sightseeing easier by taking weather, congestion etc., into account, making movement smooth by combining car sharing services, public transportation etc.,

Drones could be used to reach people living in remote areas, overcoming issues resulting from shrinking rural populations. Smart energy grids could reduce the overall demand for power by maximizing existing infrastructure. With disaster preparation, new technologies could be particularly important in prevention by improving communications and early warning systems. These are just some of the ways improvements in data management could open up new possibilities for Japan.

Contrary to the above, there are a lot of negative things to consider as well. For instance, while the use of big data and AI may help address a shrinking workforce, it could also result in many people capable of working being unemployed or under-employed. There is a related risk of over-reliance on technology, leaving major weaknesses in the structure of society. Big data and AI algorithms may be a boon for efficiency, but it raises  questions or concerns related to surveillance and manipulation, privacy, responsibility and transparency.

Japan aims to become the first country in the world to achieve a human-centered society (Society 5.0) in which anyone can enjoy a high quality of life full of vigor by incorporating advanced technologies in diverse industries, social activities and fostering innovation to create a new value. However, there is a need for a much more transparent accounting of the possible downsides surrounding this transition as well, and further consideration of how some of the risks can be minimized.

Credits:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2019/06/05/commentary/japan-commentary/security-society-5-0/
https://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/english/society5_0/index.html

On the supply side, young professional Japanese are increasingly shying away from the job-for-life security sought by their parents (and grandparents) at big firms as per the current trend. For the professionally mobile, the recovering economy offers opportunities: there are 1.2 positions for every job seeker in the country. Professionals with technical cum bilingual skills are in particularly short supply. Vendors/Staffing companies are helping to fill the gap in payrolls, especially in Japan-based foreign organizations, and in Japanese companies looking for bilingual staff.

There are various terms used with respect to staffing, namely, 派遣 / haken, 請負 / ukeoi, 出向 / shukkou, 委託 / itaku. In each of these, there is a relation between 2 companies, i.e, the vendor and customer. Let me touch upon each of the terms.

• 派遣 / haken – means causing a employee(s) employed by one person so as to be engaged in work for another person under the instruction of the latter, while maintaining his/her employment relationship with the former. Let us get into the details later on.
• 請負 / ukeoi – means causing a employee(s) employed by one person to work internally on the work order received from another person. Here the worker will work under the instruction of the former and has no relation with the latter.
• 出向 / shukkou – means causing a employee(s) employed by one person so as to be engaged in work for another person under the instruction of the latter, but the difference w.r.t to haken is that the employee will have to sign an agreement with the client in addition to the agreement with the employer. 在籍出向 / zaisekishukkou is what we just learnt about, one more type being 転籍出向 / tensekishukkou. In this type, everything is the same as earlier but the worker will sign an agreement with the client only. In other words, once done the employee will have no relation with the main employer and is equivalent to the employee changing companies.
• 委託 / itaku – 外部委託 / gaibuitaku or outsourcing is the more familiar word and it means to hand over certain task(s) to other company(s) who are specialized in certain field of work. This may sound similar to ukeoi, but the difference is that in ukeoi there are deliverables and the way of implementing it is entirely dependent upon the order receiving company. In contrast, gaibuitaku is more about handing over specific tasks like maintenance etc.

Haken

My point of focus in this blog will be haken, which is used by most of the local and Japan based foreign companies/staffing agencies to dispatch employees to client side. There are two types of haken:

(1) “Specified worker dispatching undertakings” whereby a Vendor/Staffing company hires employees on a regular basis and sends them on assignment to work at its client companies on temporary basis.

(2) “General worker dispatching undertakings” whereby a Vendor/Staffing company registers temporary employees and sends them to its client companies on a contingent basis by signing a per-job contract each time the agency receives an assignment from its client companies.

Worker Dispatch Flow

As regularly employed type dispatching secures stable employment of dispatched workers, Specified worker dispatching undertakings are considered to be preferable over the General Worker Dispatching Undertakings.

Conditions for employee dispatching services

The Vendor/Staffing company must clearly indicate labor conditions when labor contracts are concluded, must clearly state the amount of dispatching fee when dispatch employment starts at a client company (haken saki), and clearly specify employment conditions.

With the revision of the Worker Dispatch Law in 2015, working on the same job at the same establishment as a dispatched employee for more than three years is basically not allowed. After going through certain procedures, working for more than 3 years is possible, but the employee is required to move to a different “section”. Since September 2018, if a worker is being considered to be dispatched to the same “section” of the same establishment continuously for 3 years, it is possible to receive the employment stabilization measures (obligation) stated below from the dispatching vendor (haken gaisha). Those who are expected to be dispatched for more than a year but less than 3 years are subject to the same obligations but with certain efforts from the Vendor side.

The Vendor/Staffing company needs to take any of the following measures from #1 to #4 ,i.e, employment stabilization measures. In addition, when #1 fails to lead to direct employment, it is necessary to choose from one of the measures from #2 to #4.

1. Request for direct employment to the client company (if the company agrees to the request, the dispatched worker becomes their employee)
2. Provide new employment opportunities (dispatch destination) (The conditions are limited to reasonable items in light of competence and experience of the dispatch worker)
3. Offer indefinite employment (mukikoyou) in the dispatching company other than as dispatched employee.
4. Other measures to stabilize employment

Annual leave, Overtime pay etc.,

Labor laws, such as Labor Standards Act and Equal Employment Opportunity Law, are applicable even in dispatched labor.

Employers are required to grant annual leave with pay to employees who have been employed for six consecutive months and present at work for more than 80% of those working days. Annual leave may not be kept in reserve. The right to annual paid leave expires after 2 years. In principle, it is illegal to convert unused paid holidays into cash.

Employers must complete certain legal procedures to have employees work beyond legal working hours or on rest days. Employees who work beyond legal working hours are eligible for extra pay of more than 25% above the normal hourly or daily wages, and for work on rest days, a rate of 35% is applicable.

Onboarding formalities

Employees hired directly by a Japan based company, or the ones transferred through intra-company method for long term work in Japan will require the following during their tenure. Appropriate visa stamping being a prerequisite before landing in Japan.

• 在留カード / Residence Card – A residence card shall be issued to a foreign national who stays in Japan for a mid- to long term as a result of having obtained permits relating to the status of residence.This shall issued at airport/muncipal offices and updated with residence address at municipal government offices. A residence card contains the important part of the personal information held by the Minister of Justice, such as name, birth date, gender, nationality/region of origin, address, status of residence, period of stay, and whether or not he/she can work. If there is any change in these matters, the relevant person is obliged to notify the change.
• 住民票 / Certificate of residence – A Juminhyo is a registry of current residential addresses maintained by local governments in Japan. These resident records have been made for “medium-to-long term residents” who are residing in Japan for the medium-to-long term. When proof of residence is required in Japan, you will often be asked to submit a Juminhyo. If a foreign resident moves to a different municipality (city/ward/town/village), you must report your move out to the former municipal office, and to the municipality having jurisdiction over your new residence. Unless you complete these reports, you will not be issued a copy of your Juminhyo.
• 健康保険証 / Health insurance card – Employee Health Insurance (EHI), as the name suggests, is an employment-based health insurance; meaning, your employer pays half of your EHI premium. The other half is simply deducted from your monthly paycheck. The insurance covers 70 percent of your medical bills (and any of your dependent family members as well).The premium for this insurance depends on your income. To register for this type of insurance, all you have to do is become an employee; the company’s human resource department will take care of the paperwork, and you will soon be issued an insurance card.

The coverage under the Employees’ Health Insurance (EHI) and the Employees’ Pension Insurance(EPI) is compulsory by law, and it is not a contract which employers or employees may opt for the coverage or may withdraw.

The Japanese pension system is mainly composed of national pension insurance (kokumin nenkin) and employees’ pension insurance (kosei nenkin). All residents of Japan who are between 20 and 60 years of age, including foreign residents, are required to enroll in the national pension plan. Employees’ pension is mainly for those who are employed by private business corporations. Contributors to the employees’ pension are entitled to future pension payments and also to the use of various welfare facilities. When you are enrolled in the employees’ pension at work, you are also automatically enrolled in the national pension; you are paying extra premiums in addition to the national pension premiums.

Credits:
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/0000077386.html
http://www.s-i-a.or.jp/en/qa/222
http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/tetuduki/kanri/hituyou_syorui.html
https://japanhealthinfo.com/japanese-healthcare-services/japanese-health-insurance/
Knowledge & Experience