I wrote this just after graduation but that's supposed to be a happy day so I'm posting it early!
Here are a few things that make it hard to work in Japan.
* Everyone stays really, really late.
* Everyone goes to work even when they are really sick.
* Constructive criticism and feedback doesn’t seem to exist.
* You are only supposed to say what is expected of you, not how you feel.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my job here but I sometimes wish that the politics of the workplace weren’t so hard to follow. It’s a bit like driving down the road at night when your lights aren’t working. Maybe I’m just stuck in the “Western” way but it makes much more sense! For example:
* I work hard from 8 to 5 and then I want to go home. When I have finished my work and there is nothing for me to do I don’t want to sit and “look busy”, I want to go and clean my house, cook dinner or see friends.
* When I am sick I want to curl up in my pj’s on the sofa until I get better. I’m not talking about a little headache but when you can’t talk or breathe, when your throat hurts, your nose is running, you have earache and can’t walk 5 steps without getting dizzy, then I would like to have that day off and not feel bad about it.
* If I make a lesson plan or have an idea that the teachers don’t like I wish they would just tell me. I’m not going to throw myself off a bridge because you didn’t like my ideas!
* Which one do you think I say?
“Good morning. I’m fine thanks, how about you?”
“Good morning. No, I’m not very genki today because I really love working here but I just seem to be having a crisis of confidence right now. Let’s all go for a crazy road trip next weekend and tell our life stories around a camp fire.”
Sorry for the rant, the good days far exceed the bad but today just happens to be one of the latter.
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