UNIQUE ASPECTS OF WORKING AS A WOMAN IN JAPAN
I started my first full-time job in Japan about five
years ago. At that time I had just finished my
PhD in International Management in Austria. I had
planned to become a professor teaching international
business, but Austria did not offer any jobs
in the field. By accident I came across an ad for a
position at a small university in Kyushu and decided
to apply for the job. I went to Japan twice
to interview and finally got the job, becoming the
first Western woman hired as a professor by a
very traditional and conservative Japanese university
in Fukuoka
When I moved to Japan in ‘04, I could speak
reasonable Japanese because I held a degree in
Japanese anthropology next to my business degree.
I had also spent about three years in Tokyo during
the ‘90s when I was a student. I assumed that I was
very well prepared for my adventure.
But I was very wrong. My start in a Japanese
company was a very challenging experience. I
had to get used to an entirely different university
system and many so-far-unknown Japanese work
practices. My Western teaching style was not very
successful at first, which frustrated me quite a lot.
Students in the Japanese countryside were not
used to answering any questions in class, nor did
they show any interest in discussions. I also missed
my family, friends, and home country. And I had
to communicate in Japanese all day, which proved
to be much more difficult than I had expected.
Misunderstandings were quite common. One
major problem were handwritten notes that my
older colleagues would send or give me, which
I could not read. I also had some rather curious
experiences, too. I still most vividly remember my
first health check in Fukuoka, which was organised
by the university. I found it very irritating to be
examined next to my boss and colleagues. The
first six months in my first Japanese job, I had
enough experiences to fill a book. It took me
about a year to overcome a major culture shock
and adapt to the Japanese workplace.
Read the full article here
unique-aspects-of-working-as-a-woman-in-japan
This article was originally published in Being A Broad, July 2009,
www.being-a-broad.com,
reprinted with permission’
