The March 26 article on immigration to Chile inflamed my interest in emigration to "exotic" countries. In the comments to her, someone advised Gaijin Engineer in Tokyo , who discovered a curious insight into the life of a foreigner in Japan. I sometimes see this country as a destination for migration, and judging by the comments, people are interested, so I decided to translate this article.

The author of the original article writes in a very peculiar style, mixing "Reddit language" and normal English. I tried as best I could to endure this style. In case of claims to the translation, prepare your own version.

Source - article " Gaijin Engineer in Tokyo ".

Engineer gaijin in Tokyo

Being a software developer in Tokyo being a foreigner has its pros and cons. If you work for the same foreigners, then, most likely, you are not in danger. One thing, if you work in a real Japanese company, you will find many shocking, funny, and definitely frustrating moments.

Here I will go over my own observations, so keep in mind that the above may be biased. I am sure that someone faced situations better or worse than I described here. Let this story serve as food for the mind as a developer looking at work at a Tokyo company, or as a voice of reason for those whose mind is too clouded with idealistic pictures of life abroad.

Prehistory

I moved to Japan to work in a startup headquartered in Tokyo. I knew basic Japanese even before the move, so the idea itself didn’t seem to me to be particularly insane. The adventure, planned as a short-term contract, turned into a five-year epic in the land of ascending skyscrapers. The story of how I got the first job and the next ones and how I moved does not fit into the framework of this post. Someday I may write about this, but for now I will focus on my experience working in Japan.

I see the need to anticipate my life story as follows: I absolutely do not regret the time spent in Japan in general, and with my colleagues in particular. I believe that Japanese culture, like many cultures, fascinates with its entanglement. The reason I am writing about this is plainly simple: everything that you read can form a negative opinion in you, but do not rush to conclusions. All that is written below is my personal observation. I believe that to truly appreciate any culture can only be fully aware of the reality in which it exists. This reality has its drawbacks and interaction with it is not always pleasant, but it is they who constitute the very essence of culture. Do not take what is written as ultimate truth, but do not overly abstract yourself. Working in Japan can be a great adventure, but be prepared for the complexities and nuances.

I also apologize for my terrible Japanese and equally terrible translations into English, but I hope that at least you can understand them.

Most of this post is not about development and not about work in general, but since I worked as a programmer, I will write from my bell tower. You can write so much about work that I don’t even know where to start (but I’m open to suggestions if anyone is interested).

Okay, foreigner, now we are ready to work in Tokyo.

You're not from here

You are a stranger. You were him before the arrival, they will stay in Japan. And even for the Japanese outside of Japan, you will be a stranger. This moment will not be smoothed out and will be fundamental in many situations further. Do not forget that you are not from here, because they will not forget.

Welcome

You have just been hired by a Japanese company. You will have to tinker with the development, language and a number of cultural differences. What a delight! What adventures await ahead!

Development

Note: non-developers can skip this chapter.

If you fall into a normal company, you are waiting for the same tools as at home. Cpntinuous integration, a variety of development environments, and enterprise software such as Java. This is where the fun begins.

UTF-8 vs Shift JIS and EUC-JP

The clue about Unicode has already stopped, right? Haha

In keeping with religious worship Excel uses one of two popular encodings for Japanese: Shift JIS for Windows and EUC-JP for Mac. The logic here is not so obscure: for most people, Excel is configured to work with Shift JIS, so when you give them Unicode, they get cracked . Of course, you can simply reconfigure Excel to work with UTF-8, but then what to do with Legacy? English speaking such a problem is unfamiliar. Thus, the debate about the chicken and the egg continues to this day.

Fatal flaw

Despite the fact that many companies use Google services for collaboration, Desknets and Garoon are also popular here - home-grown solutions in the form of a scheduler and other administrative operations. They often contain terrible bugs before the laugh, such as the impossibility of adding a person to a rally after creating it in Garoon (workaround: to incline a rally, add a person, save, delete an old rally). I hope this is fixed in new versions. You will also find that local companies often use local applications like ChatWork instead of the usual one (although the Slack community in Japan is very large). This is not unusual, and the reason, most likely, is low cost (if you ignore the total cost of ownership) and greater confidence in local brands, or, indeed, true love for the product. Although, it seems to me, this is more about the dominance of American software abroad than about Japan.

Paper books

In the west, of course, paper books are read, but usually only very valuable and with great re-reading potential. There are a lot of paper book lovers in Japan, and at work you will often come across people who buy magazines and books for any occasion (like books about how to use the LINE messenger correctly). Of course, having a reference at hand is very convenient, but this anachronism seems funny to me. Also, do not be surprised by the impressive number of people reading paper newspapers on public transport, but that’s another story.

In the Valley, people usually buy only well-known books to put them on the shelf and seem smart (this is also funny). It seems to me that this is also true for Japan, but the books here are very specific.

Developers by vocation

You will often meet developers without Computer Science degrees, which, in general, is not very unusual even in the Valley, but you will also meet people who have not programmed at all before joining the company. Most likely, this is the result of the Japanese education system, where the specialty often has little to do with the future profession. Usually, a year before graduation, you frantically respond to vacancies and run around the city in a suit , trying to convince the company to hire you. If you are lucky, you get to work, and if you are very lucky, go to the training before starting work. Sometimes this does not happen.

As a result, many specialists are self-taught (which is impressive!). But we all know that self-education often gives rise to not the best practices: copy-paste instead of refactoring, funny names of variables, strong connectivity, etc. This is often reflected in the code with which you have to work, and discussions that you have to lead, so hold on.

The typical situation is that development companies survive by the hard work of several excellent self-taught engineers. There are many excellent developers in Japan, but many of them get bored with the local corporate culture and they leave. The minority, which, even if it helps to make things better, remains a minority, surpassed by the number of ordinary employees. If you meet such a developer, do not skimp on the help. Perhaps you will save his sanity.

Cultural differences

Someday you will have a difference of opinion with your Japanese colleague. A good number of such cases will end in a simple "a, it must be just a cultural difference." (文化 の 違 い)

Cultural differences explained to me the following:

• Lack of testing (or insufficient testing) before deploem
• Long and useless rallies
• Anything irrational and without a clear logical explanation

Of course, not everybody does this , and the best of colleagues will always try to keep a logical conversation, but remember that you must come across this at least once.

True cultural differences

Good or bad, but the Japanese corporate community often knows the herd instinct: fear of shame, fear of failure, and a desire to avoid conflicts and preserve peace. This leads to some desperate situations.

Fear of making

Decisions are the first step to failure, and no one wants to fail. But decisions need to be made. How is this philosophical question resolved? Rallies. Endless meetings and emails, planning, pre-planning, post-planning, documenting meetings and endless discussions about everything. It is believed that if everyone is involved in the decision making, it is impossible to blame someone in particular. That's all the solution.

Of course, this is not a solution . Moreover, such solutions give rise to many new problems, but here another “awesome” side of work in Japan manifests itself.

Ambiguity

If they do not talk about the problem, then the problem is solved. If you cannot achieve two mutually exclusive goals, ignore both. Or do not talk about them. When someone talks about them, repeat the learned banalities:

• す り ま せ ん (surimasen) - sorry
• そ う で す ね (sōdesune) - you are right (but I will not do anything)
• 仕 方 な い で す (shikatanadesu) - nothing can be done (it is inevitable )
• さ あ (sā) - who knows? (I don't know, maybe nobody knows?)

Dialogue example:

Me: It definitely does not work!
Tanaka: Yes, you are right.
Me: Shouldn't we do something?
T: Nothing can be done.
Me: But it's easy to patch right there!
T: Sorry.
I: Who wrote this?
T: Team X.
Me: Someone from our team should talk to them.
T: Yes, you are right.
I: Can I talk to them?
T: Yes, it is possible.
Me: So, can I?
T: Who knows?
I: ...

Suppose I went to talk with team X. The dialogue can go like this:

Me: Here is a set of patches to fix that bug.
Suzuki: Yeah, I see.
Me: Can you give a review?
S: I'll see later.
Me: But these patches fix that bug. I did your work for you.
S: Oh, thanks. I'll see later.
I: Okay ... tell me, what if something is wrong.
S: Ok, thanks.

As you probably guessed, nobody does anything. All patches are forgotten.

Stadny instinct

If you ask a question being among the Japanese, events will sometimes develop in the following sequence:

1. Everyone looked at each other.
2. One person starts trying to say something
3. Everyone agrees with him on the sly

The need to preserve social harmony permeates society so much that this sometimes happens in friendly activities, and even more so at work. If on social issues it is generally admissible, then something related to work is better to be clarified one by one.

Social pressure

You will sometimes notice how bosses or colleagues put pressure on others to get more work done on them. In Japan, it is known as power harassment . As a foreigner, you probably don’t care, which will greatly affect your relations with managers and colleagues. Instead of asking you to do something, they will go to their colleagues, on which to put pressure on prose. I tried to stop the insolent ones, taking on some of the work, but sometimes the requests were so absurd that I was forced to say no, even if I knew that it was someone who would care. It's horrible. You can try to teach people to say no, but that means fighting alone against one of the most serious problems of Japanese society.

I will do everything possible

Sometimes you trust someone to work and get in response, "I will do my best" (頑 張 り ま す). In practice, this means that even if a person finds work impossible, he will try to do it no matter what. On the one hand, it delights, but on the other hand it is at odds with reality. If someone answered you like this, review the deadlines or the essence of the task to make it more realistic.

The culture of "doing everything possible" even to the detriment of health is one of the most serious problems of Japanese culture. On the one hand, some types of work are indeed carried out "faster", at least in the short term, on the other, it is detrimental to physical and mental health. I personally saw people working to ailments and coming to work even when they were sick. One day, a person ended up in the hospital as a result of the side effects of stress, and then experienced difficulties with returning to a working society . People praise the Japanese love for work a lot, but sometimes it seems to me that the price is too high.

Office culture

Some things here seemed funny to me. They may not be unique to Japan, but, compared to the Valley, they were very unexpected.

Print all!

Do you have a rally? Print slides, per set of copies per person. Do you have a design rally? Organize high quality mocap printing for each person in the room. Then mark them up with your hands, make changes on the computer and type again. Poor trees ...

This, however, is not only about offices. Whatever you do, you will be given a piece of paper. I do not know where this love for printouts comes from, but perhaps the very feeling of something in the hands, something tangible in the software world, where the fruits of all our labors are ephemeral, has a direct bearing on this. I am ready to accept any assumptions and discussions on this topic, for I am still at a loss.

Silence is gold

As a developer, I wholeheartedly hate openspaces for the abundance of distractions. But here I was pleasantly surprised by the silence with which most people worked. Of course, foreigners like me sometimes find themselves very stunned by such silence, so I write about this separately. Of course, everything is not so rosy if you have a sales department or technical support with you, but, in general, people will not be discussing too much (except for insensitive people who are in any part of the Earth).

Gaidzin and Gaikoku

This topic is already littered online and offline, but I still allow myself to remind you are a stranger here. Did not you forget? Gaidzin (外人) literally means "person outside" and is an abbreviated form of "gaikokudzin" (外国人) - "foreigner" from Japanese. I personally believe that most Japanese use the word "gaijin" because it is shorter and friendlier, and not from special malice. They will sometimes call you politely - "gaijin-san" (外人 さ ん) - Mr. Foreigner, speaking to you in the third person.

You will often be called gaijin at work. And in the face. Of course, I really want to be offended, but remember that most people do not consider this word insulting or inadmissible. Some people will try not to use it in order not to offend you, but most don't care.

Gaikoku (外国) simply means “other country / countries”, but often people use this word as if such a country really exists and accommodates the whole world, but often by “nut” it means the West or only the United States. Often you will hear the word "kaygai" (海外), which means "abroad" and is used when it comes to the whole world and oubei (欧米), which means only Europe and America (as exactly!).

Sometimes you hear this:

• Is there an X in nutcracker? (I was once asked if there was a drink in the nut)
• How in the world react to X? ( foreigner reactions often attract more attention than the event itself)
• Japan is not like haikoku (an attempt to explain something strange by cultural differences)

Sometimes you hear something that sounds almost like racism. I sometimes say that in Japan there is "random racism." Not that the Japanese are trying to insult you, they just rarely think that their words can offend a foreigner.

Team of foreigners

For foreigners in Japan, it is usually to work in the same group, either because they themselves are drawn to each other for safety and sanity, or because they are easier to manage. In some companies, integration with Japanese teams is more, in others - less, but almost always foreigners will be concentrated in one place.

This is, in fact, not so shocking. A similar phenomenon is present in the United States, when foreigners work here. What is funny: since foreigners are not inclined to “pull out” themselves in the same way as most Japanese, they are perceived as “difficult to control” (read: they are hard to push). I think this allows you to make a special contribution to Japanese society, but also in a particularly dangerous moment. Finally, you have the opportunity to modernize processes and improve things, but at the same time, the danger of destroying inner harmony is such that a catastrophe will be inevitable. Use your position wisely and carefully consider the consequences of your actions. Much more attentive than you did at home.

Foreign Names

In Japanese, the surname is put before the name. In an official speech, for example, at work, you will refer to a person named "Tanaka Taro" as "Tanaka-san", using the last name. Sometimes, after dating, and, in the case when your age is more or less the same, you can use "Taro-san".

You are a foreigner (do not forget?), So you will be contacted by name and, most likely, its abbreviated version. Sometimes your name is short enough to call it as it is. “Alex-san” was usually addressed to me, because my surname is very difficult to pronounce (Americans, by the way, also found my name difficult, therefore even in the USA they called me Alex). It will constantly remind you of your "foreignness", even if it was not thought of. Get used to it. I can assure you, the Japanese are just as uneasy when strangers call them by name (sign of intimacy, acquaintance or superiority).

Formal language

Note: skip this chapter if the language does not interest you at all from the word. It is quite long, but remember that this is the essence of my experience in Japan.

The official Japanese language is not so difficult, but understanding how to turn to when you should speak and so on raises the threshold of entry a little. It turns out that the extremely ritualized language of Japanese letters somehow entered the world of emails . Since you are a foreigner, the Japanese will forgive you for inaccuracies, alone, if you write letters "incorrectly", some may not like it. This will increase the perception of your "foreignness" and increase the discomfort in talking with you.

Here you have a letter that I could write to a colleague from another team, a little older than me, with whom I sometimes work, but not so often as to allow myself too much liberty. I ask him to do something, which means I am indebted to him, so I must write in this style. But not too much, I'm not talking to a client or a stranger. You understand the meaning? Good.

(My bad Japanese)

田中さん お疲れ様です。 ほげほげチームのアレックスです。 先日お話した件の続きですが、ほげほげチームの調査によりますと、gitのマージが正常に実行出来た様です。 恐縮ですが、もう一度コードをpullして試して頂けないでしょうか。 お手数ですが、宜しくお願いします。 アレックス ほげほげチーム 

(Bad translation of bad English)

 -, .     "".  ,      .  ""  , , ,    .      ,         ?  ,      ,     .   "" 

Good English (as I would write in the USA)

 , ! ,      .  git pull  , . ,   .  , -  

To go nuts

Yes, go nuts. Get used to it. About this you can write a whole article.

Technical jargon

In the process of working with Japanese developers, you will discover a few fun things. For example, local jargon.

Borrowing and words from Japanese English

Obviously found in the names of companies and products. In addition, there is a whole category of words called ビ ジ ネ ス 用語 (business language). Some words from there one-to-one are displayed in English (win-to-win situation), and others you might not hear at all, but there will always be people screaming "but this is from America!" As if you must know everything that is borrowed from there. For example:

• SNS (Social Network Service) - a social network, yes
• PDCA (Plan Do Check Act) - plan-do-check-act, "work"
• KPT (Keep Problem Try) - this is not my idea, lol. Google and most of the results will be in Japanese
• Hearing - rally, where you will be the only one speaking (no, this is not about the court, do not worry)

You can make huge lists, but this is a topic for another post. The bottom line is that it is worth getting ready to learn new "English" words.

"English" words from European languages

When the Western world turns into one big family, people will certainly assume that everyone speaks English there. The Japanese are very perplexed when you do not understand the words they say. For example, "enquête" - "survey" in French. Used frequently.

Many words written in Chinese characters ( Kanji )

Many terms are taken from mathematics, which the Japanese have known for a long time. Therefore, the fact that most of the words came from the Chinese, there is nothing strange. Here are often used:

• 関 数 - function
• 再 帰 的 関 数 - recursive function
• 変 数 - variable
• 引 数 - argument
• 不 具 合 - bug
• 再 起動 - reboot

Some words are taken from English:

• メ ソ ッ ド - method ("mesoddo")
• バ グ - bug ("bagu")
• デ バ ッ グ - debaggu

And others - from the "English":

• パ ソ コ ン - PC ("pasokon", short for "paasonaru konpyuuta", ie personal computer)
• ロ ー ル ア ウ ト - roll out (yes, roll out) - deploy a new version of the program; not that it is used very often, but often in unfamiliar contexts, for example with respect to server software

Jobs in Japan are amazing, but full of nuances

Each country and culture is full of its own subtle points, pros and cons. I could write a whole laudatory post about life in Japan as a whole, but, as far as the working atmosphere is concerned, purely for me, there are more problems than advantages here compared to the Valley, which in itself is a huge bubble with its cockroaches.

There are still a lot of things that could be written about, but then I will have to give up all hope that the size of the post will be at least sane. I hope that this record was, if not informative, then at least amusing.

Working and living in Japan at a Japanese company will be an unforgettable adventure, I guarantee it. And most likely, you will not regret the time spent, but I hope that this post will serve as a reminder to look at both when entering a difficult and incomprehensible working environment.

Well, that is, go ahead, have fun! Japan is an awesome country. Experience from the lessons that will make you take such a journey will expand your view of the situation in companies at home and around the world.