Blogs and Articles from Third Way Forum Membrs

· According to headhunters in Japan, the recent trend is to hire Japanese-speaking foreigners. Especially those who can work with Asians. Also, companies prefer those who already live in Japan. More and more Asian residents in Japan seem to fit to this set of requirements. Generally speaking, Asian people seem to adapt the Japanese culture better. But when it comes to innovation and creativity etc, Westerners still seem to have a lot to offer.

· Many IT professionals and blue collar workers have been sought after and brought over to Japan in recent years. Most jobs foreigners take require Japanese language skills. Only senior expat roles in big global companies may still require no Japanese.

· Expats sent from the head office are usually focused on their future career at the head office. So their attitude is quite often to do their time successfully in Japan and go back. Their commitment and willingness to adjust themselves for the Japan’s market needs are limited. But due to COVID-19 and cost challenge, the number of Western expats with full expat package is getting less and less. Foreigners who are long-term local residents in Japan are playing more leadership roles in the Japanese business society nowadays.

· The most frequently given #1 advice for foreigners is to understand the importance of being a part of the team in Japan. But due to the long remote work practice triggered by COVID-19, the traditional concept of team in Japan is changing.

· The most frequently mentioned #1 frustration of foreigners in Japan is the hierarchy causing slow decision making, slow promotion & salary raise, many meetings and unproductive tasks etc. But due to the recent shift toward the job style company from the traditional membership style company in Japan, clear job descriptions and pay for performance culture are gradually weakening the hierarchical culture.

· The difficulty of developing Japanese employees to become global professionals is caused by Japan’s education system. As long as very domestic Japanese teachers are teaching Japanese children in a very domestic way based on very domestic curriculums, students will become adults who totally lack international viewpoints.

· Even if there is a Muslim student who can not eat pork due to the religious reason, Japanese schools serve pork at school without any consideration and try to force the kid to eat it or to go hungry.

· Japanese schools do not even have the international day where people from different countries bring their traditional food and games and introduce their cultures. The lack of international exposure of the Japanese people runs deep. It has to be fixed at the early educational stage.

· In the corporate world, we probably need the onboarding program for the Japanese people to become international business persons.

· The Japanese are always talking about “reading the air” but what they need to do more often is “making the air!”.

· The Japanese leaders must create a speak-up and call-out culture in a positive way.

· While tradition, history, harmony, peace and fairness are the frequently used words by the Japanese to describe about the Japanese society, the word “Progress” is seldom mentioned.

· Progress happens by integrating something different and new. That is what foreigners can bring. Tremendous progress was always brought about by foreigners in Japan’s history. Rice harvesting came from the continent, Buddhism came from China, Portuguese brought guns, Westerners influenced the modernization of Japan in Meiji era, and democracy came from America after the world war II.

· It seems that Japanese are great at “maintenance” but not so much at “progress”. On the other hand, Japanese are very skillful in improving the imports. Often, the imported technology or goods (like automotive) become very competitive globally after improving in Japan.

· International people like us in Third Way Forum who understand both Japan and outside Japan could offer a lot of ideas in order to encourage the Japanese leaders to embrace progress.