What Surprises Non-Japanese While Living in Japan? (2): diagnose personality by blood type
There is a tendency to diagnose personality by blood type in Japan. “Before coming to Japan, I had no idea what my blood type was,” says Christine, a 21-year-old Swiss woman studying at a Japanese university. “But time and time again, Japanese friends would look so disappointed when I said I didn’t know. Finally, I […]
What Surprises Non-Japanese While Living in Japan? (1)
Heated bidet toilets and convenient store rice balls top the list of Japanese things foreign residents love about this country. “The toilets freaked me out at first. But now I’ve looked into bringing those seats home with me. It’s too bad though American bathrooms don’t have electric outlets in the right places,” says Jeremy, an […]
Who is the decision maker in a Japanese company? What is “Senpai” and “Kohai”?
Who is the decision maker in a Japanese company? What is “Senpai” and “Kohai”? “Senpai” and “Kohai”: Japanese-style hierarchy within a company In Japanese companies, ranking is based primarily on age and length of service. Things are changing, but most Japanese multinationals follow the traditional lifetime employment model for their elite employees. New hires enter […]
Shiseido’s Eudermine
Shiseido Eudermine When speaking of a representative cosmetics manufacturer in Japan, the first one that probably comes to most people’s minds is Shiseido. Shiseido was early to promote sales in China and other foreign countries and has now become a proud Japanese brand throughout the world. Did you know that the cosmetic product that Shiseido […]
Japanese Factory Robot with AI technology (video 2)
It selects and picks up only the triangle-shaped objects that are placed randomly and rearranges them neatly. Like a lunch box, it is used to arrange food on a tray.
Useful Japanese word (5): 手締め（てじめ） “tejime”
“Tejime” “Tejime” means closing with handclapping. It is a sort of ceremony marking the successful end of an important activity. But nowadays it is commonly done at the end of a casual drinking session with your coworkers or bosses. All of the participants do a series of claps in unison. Variations include ippon-jime, in which […]
Japanese Factory Robot with AI technology (video 1)
Robots are appearing in human workplaces. There are concerns that combined AI and robotics services will take over human jobs, but the race to develop robots and AI continues amid the coronavirus pandemic. What can Japanese robots do?
What is the Technical Intern Training Program for Foreigners? An easy-to-understand explanation of the new system!
What is the Technical Intern Training Program for Foreigners? An easy-to-understand explanation of the new system! The number of foreigners currently living and working in Japan was more than 2.8 million as of June 2019, an increase of 98,323 (3.6%) from the end of the previous year, a record high. Most of them have permanent […]
Undesirable traits of newly entered (newly employed) graduates
Yesterday we reported the results of our survey on the problems faced by new employees, but today we show how others in the same company are dissatisfied with those newly employees. It is important for foreigners who are planning to work in Japan to avoid these complaints. Undesirable traits of newly entered (newly employed) graduates […]
What do you worry about the most when entering into the workforce?
Anxiety and expectations are mixed when you get a new job. In particular, what kind of anxiety do university students feel when they start to work for the first time after graduation? This is a questionnaire asked among Japanese university students. Do you feel the same way? What do you worry about the most when […]