Q&A: how long is a working day in japan?
Question by Dany . C: how long is a working day in japan?
hi, i wonder beacuse i live in sweden right now, im at college at sofe(School of Future Entertainment) also, making games, art, or making movies 3d movies like ice age.
working as a beginner in a game company, i get payed 4000 $ a month.
i wonder if i move to japan, work at a japanese game company as a animator, how much would i get a month? and HOW LONG IS A WORKING DAY IN JAPAN?
i allways wanted to live in japan or s.korea, but when it come to wokring hours, i just dont know what to do, i dont want to work as a robot.
Best answer:
Answer by wuzaracer
I am an American, originally from the San Jose (silicon valley) area. I was transferred to Japan to work in our company’s main R&D facility. The hours passively forced onto you in Japan are quite ridiculous and long. The hours are written in policy state 40 hours per week. The reality is you are often forced to work more hours, such as 10-12 hours in a day. I say forced in the sense that there are so many meetings, and in efficient way’s of the office, you are forced to work late because of you dedication and responibility to the job. For example, we can spend hours on a design review, dicsuss, and argue and not come to a conclusion. We decide to put off the decision until the next meeting. Not one person can make the decision, because due to cultural ways, the group must decide and agree. Thus your personal work is sometimes delayed. Since you may have spent all day in fruitless and semi-productive meetings, you will have to stay later in the evening to do you personal work. My company has been trying to make changes in the way we work. As you may know, change does not come quickly in Japanese society. As far as paid holidays and vacation time, I know from my colleagues in Europe and Scandinavia, that you have many holidays. First, junior employees are granted less days/hours per year and as you grow more senior you earn more holidays per year. Now here is the reality, your manager has to approve your time away and if the project is behind schedule, he may deny your request to take a holiday.
Now to be fair, the Japanese has created several holidays which give Japanese more time away from the office. For example, there is Golden Week and New Years holidays, also there are some semi-meaningless holidays like green day or summer solstice holiday that are designated to be on a Monday or Tuesday.
In the end every company is different, but my that is my experience from my work in Japan.
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