A third major contributing factor to the salaryman's psyche is the continuing impact of WWII - yes, even today. During the 1950's, Japan almost became a communist nation - the principle of group dependency had been one of necessity after the war, and the socialist ideal of everyone being treated fairly and equally was extremely attractive to a population that was...

The worst situation for a manager, and indeed for a company, is an employee who has been fired but who won't leave. Although in theory Japanese companies can hire and fire as they need to, it is the gray zone of the labour law and the power of the Labour Standards Inspection Office (Roudoukijun-kyoku) which holds most companies back from doing so. As a number of foreign firms...

In conservative Japan, one of the most important acts you can perform as a manager is to let a staff member go. Not only are there legal issues, but also a political minefield to negotiate if you want to maintain the morale of your remaining staff. Firings happen for many reasons. While in the West...

Thanks to those readers who responded to my Surviving the Weeding Process series. I had one good piece of feedback from a guy who wondered if my advice of getting certified really was a productive thing to do when in fact experience is probably much more important and useful to future employers. I would agree with him 100% that experience beats certification in this current market, especially since I'm a high-school drop-out myself! However, the point of the series was...