Working on Saturdays in Japan

[erbiumfiber]

Today I came to work on a Saturday. Normally, you would not find me anywhere near work on a Saturday. However, we have an enlightened work policy where you can work on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday and take that day off later in the same pay cycle (no saving up for a month off). So it's hot and crappy in Tokyo and I need to go to the US next month for some personal business so I figured I'd go in to work. And it seems EVERYONE IS HERE except for the secretaries. Some come in early and leave early, some come in late and leave late. I came in early but forgot to hit the timeclock until two hours later so I'll be here from 10:30 AM to 9:30 PM. THERE ARE PEOPLE HERE WITH ABSOLUTELY NO WORK THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE. One guy's job is to train new people. We have no new trainees and we wouldn't make them come in on a Saturday. So then I find out that there's a "lunch bunch"- the President of the company will pay for lunch for anyone who wants to come (yes, of course the President is there every week). Then there are "afternoon snacks" which this week was ice cream.

So then I realize, "Holy Shit, this is people's big entertainment for the week!" Talk about no life. Everyone was asking if I was really busy because I was there on a Saturday. I explained I was just working a substitute day. But the other American attorney comes in EVERY FREAKIN' SATURDAY and just catches up on e-mail (he has no computer) and studies Japanese (he's way ahead of me). Of course, he looks really busy but it has nothing to do with work.

I used to think the people I saw going off to work on Saturdays had something to do. Now I see it's just an extension of looking busy during the week or stretching out your work so that it takes up your Saturday as well.

So people working in Japan- have you been to your workplace on Saturday and, if so, is anything actually getting done? Do people feel they must make an appearance on Saturday as well as working ridiculously long hours? Or are people just "lost" without work so they come in for the hell of it?

Anyway, it's creeping me out and I have two more Saturdays to go. Yee- ha! I can't wait to find out next week's restaurant or what afternoon treats will be served. Gosh this week was such fun I'm going to do this EVERY week...Not...

I thought my company was relatively sane, up until now...

[Pierrot le Fou]

Yes, and no, nothing ever gets done. They have to put in face time, just like staying late, for no other reason than that it's the status quo. It's crap, but it's Japan.

[hanacker]

When I worked in a factory, Saturday work was the same as any other day. Maybe that's because the job was more structured and there were quotas to meet and people were generally always busy. Maybe the engineers could slack off a little, but they looked pretty busy. The workers in the factory were definitely always working as long as the machines were on.

The absolute worst thing was that any time we'd have a holiday on Monday we'd have to come in on Saturday. The three-day weekend did not exist.

[PopCulturePooka]

Working at Nova means Saturday work.

Saturday is the bsuiest day in the week and is just fucking crawling with Salarymen avoiding their families.

[Beebs]

In general, the Saturday night students (the ones wanting to learn English at 9:00PM on a Saturday :eek: ) suck the life force right out of me. I take pride in choosing the most boring topics conceivable as way of payment for said sucking of life.

"How do YOU hold YOUR chopsticks?"
"Man, trains sure are crowded. Do you like to hold on to one or two handles at a time?"
"What's your favourite letter of the alphabet?"
"I like chemistry. Do you like chemistry? Wait, let me draw a benzene ring first. Want to see a carboxyl group attached?"

:cool:

[stillbornsinger]

18+ hours a day on average

monday through sunday, holidays included

much of the time is spent looking busy, when something is going wrong then more time is spent doing something.

I don't work for a Japanese business though, I work for the US Government!

[Marblehead]

18+ hours a day on average

monday through sunday, holidays included

much of the time is spent looking busy, when something is going wrong then more time is spent doing something.

I don't work for a Japanese business though, I work for the US Government!

Been there, done that. :p There were plenty of days that we did absolutely nothing until a half an hour before we were suppose to get off. We'd spend the next three trying to get done that day what we could have just waited for tomorrow to do. :p

[Jess]

As a JET I rarely worked on Saturday. But summer vacation was much the same thing. I would show up for an hour or two, to say I came in, and unless something like speech contest practice was going on, take off as soon as I could. My neighboring teacher, the ichinendan English teacher, once, while I watched in amazement, spent 2 hours with ONE TISSUE, rubbing it over her desk to "clean" it. O_o What a colossal waste of time. So I tried to strike up a conversation with her. She was sweet and kind, but couldn't speak English at all. Thank goodness I draw a lot and had a smattering of Japanese, or we'd've never be able to communicate anything.

[MaverickHL]

Saturday is also for me my busiest day when teaching English, surprisingly when I asked the kids what they did each Saturday I find them doing clubs and stuff that suck the life right out of them. Then I think to myself, why the heck are you coming here when u are already tired and zombified from the rest of the week? And so I go on teaching English not that they listen or anything :p

[hapacheese]

While nobody in the business sectors of my company work on weekends, everyone in development does. Sure, a lot of them are simply there to put in face time, like Pierrot said, but a lot of them are working their asses off. In the game industry, horrible work hours are not confined to Japan, so it's more symptomatic of the industry itself, not of Japanese work ethics.

[decswxaqz]

Am I the only one that finds this disconcerting?
People trying to be lazy or not do work? I admit to not wanting to do work sometimes, but if there is work, I'll do it. At my current job, I'm not doing anything. It's really boring. I want work to do. I feel really bad when I'm not working, someone is paying me to work, and if I'm not working, I shouldn't be paid in my opinion. That's my opinion anyway.

If I was an employer, I wouldn't pay people to come in on Saturday unless they were doing work-related work =/. I'm sure you lot are the same, so why do it?

[erbiumfiber]

Umm, people are on salary. They get paid exactly the same whether they come in on Saturday or not...