I can only speak from my immediate situation and experience. I am a board of education employee (ie public servant) so my experiences and environment are quite different versus a private corporation. Please keep that in mind as you read. I also paraphrased in the quotes to cut down on the length. Sorry if it makes things hard to follow. My responses were written in response to the full statements.
Originally posted by Gally
-In Japan, is equality promoted or is it important to succeed better than the others in order to "be someone"?
I think that in any corporate structure you are going to have hierarchy and people who want to climb up it. Your job title does help to identify you, and while in the US you might here a "Good morning, Bob. Good morning, Sally." between a boss and her secretary, you will not hear such an informal exchange in a Japanese workplace (discounting the fact that the boss would probably not be female to begin with). However, I think you will find a drive to be promoted in an corporation, Japanese or otherwise.
Originally posted by Gally
--How is it reflected in the education of children? Is it important for them to obtain the best marks as it is possible? Are they encouraged to be very conformistic, or to develop a strong critical spirit and an ability to take personal decisions?... I've heard that, for example, only the best students ... go to prestigious universities ... that there were pretty difficult university entrance examinations... and that there existed a strong hierarchy between the holders of a diploma from Toukyou Daigaku etc and people from less good universities...In other words, what does actually happen in Japanese schools and universities?
I would be pleasantly stunned if a student ever corrected me or challenged my opinions to my face. Expressing my opinion in class, on say the residency tax issue, or child abduction by Japanese nationals, often must be accompanied by the disclaimer "it is important to make up your own mind on the issue, not just listen to me." There is a feeling in education that the only people who get to be creative are the folks who have mastered the art. When you learn by imitation and are graded accordingly, you can't help but become "conformistic." If I spun a big enough tale, I could probably tell them that I ran into Beat Takeshi (a famous comedian) in a bar in Osaka, we painted the town red, and I am going to visit him over spring break. After I got past the initial disbelief, if I really pushed it home, I could use my position to convince them of anything, simply because I carry all the moral authority that comes with a teacher.
I feel it is still very true that the place your diploma came from is as or more important that what you studied when it comes to getting a good job. The pressure is to get into a good school. Once you are there, it is pretty darn hard to flunk out. So pressure to do well on entrance exams is fairly intense. A whole industry has grown to meet this desire, and sure, some kids do commit suicide if they don't get in. I personally have never known anyone to do this, but you hear of it from time to time.
Marks seem to be less important that how you will do on the final test (entrance exams).Grades are less an indicator of potential than a view into how well they paid attention and were able to memorize. Even the kid in one of my classes who sleeps, scores 20% on exams and in general is as thick as a brick will not be held back a year or disciplined because of his/her low grades. I have heard, though not related to him/her directly, that taking such actions against a student would hurt his/her self-esteem. Of course, not much is expected from them, as they can't do well on tests and get into a good school, but neither is he/she being dragged kicking and screaming into special classes to being his/her grades up.
Originally posted by Gally
--Do colleagues get along well, or do they feel they are in competition with one another? Do they strive to be the first one to get a prestigious position in the hierarchy?
Since being a public servant is a bit like being in the military (if you do your time you move up) there is not a lot of pressure to compete with your coworkers. If anything there is competition at a broader level between departments to do a better job than the next office two towns over, but it is far from cut-throat.
Originally posted by Gally
--What about the condition of women? Are they felt to be equal to men? Do they have to work more than men in order to get the same positions? Proportionally to men, do a lot of women occupy leading positions?
Here we get into tricky water culturally and socially. While the standard practice of women leaving their jobs once they get married or have children might seem sexist to western vaules, to the women involved it might not seem that way at all. Being a housewife/mother is a major force in Japanese society and a very respected position. They often control the home, the finances, raise the children, and before a force to be reckoned with. They can set their own schedules to a much greater extent than their husbands and they don't have to put up with all the stuff he goes through at work (drinking to late hours, long, long bouts of "voluntary" overtime etc.) Many women I have spoken to find domestic life to fit them just fine. It is not that they havenﾂ｡ﾂｯt been out in the world, they have made the choice that they want to stay at home.
What needs to be looked at through a more exacting lens however, are the conditions that surround a woman's choice to leave the workforce. If there is active or subconscious pressure on the part of co-workers and employers to edge the woman out of her position or imply she is a bad wife/mother if she doesn't leave, then red flags should be going up all over the place. However, here we get into the gray areas that often confound cross-cultural analysis. This is when it becomes important to talk directly to the women themselves (both the ones who stayed and the ones who left), or rely on studies that have done so, in forming a picture of women in the Japanese workplace. I will go no further than saying that often when trying to apply western standards to the status of women in the workplace, it becomes a much trickier issue than many would like.
There are plenty of stats out there on women vs. men in the workplace out there (numbers of employment and such) and as I don't have them at hand, I won' comment. In my situation, the women / men balance in terms of employees is balanced quite well as well as at the two schools I visit. One elementary school has a female vice principal, and I am told it is not uncommon to have female principals as well. Both of my immediate bosses have also been women, as well as a female section chief (bucho) before the last standard cycle of departmental transfers.
Originally posted by Gally
--I've also heard that in Japanese, there are a lot of levels of formality and that the hierarchical relationships between people will always be strongly marked in the vocabulary and formality level used. What is true and false about what I've just said?
Your statement is true. Business and social life is usually clearly stated or implied by language and other means of social communication. In my experience people are often clearly aware of the hierarchy around them and where they fit. However, I have read that in the larger corporations, there has been a move away form the use of titles and suffixes on peoples' names to encourage a free exchange of ideas.
Originally posted by Gally
--In Japan, what is the most important between work and leisure? Is work one of the most important values of Japan? ... Is it important to have a good job to be respected by other people?
There is still a strong ethic to put in long hours at work. This is even more so that the economy is depressed. As for working for a sense of identity, "teacher" is a status position in Japan that carries with it social responsibilities beyond the classroom. If this sense of identity transfers into other professions I am in no position to say. I would say there is a normal amount job-identity association in my situation.
Originally posted by Gally
--How are unemployment, sick leaves, part-time work and retirement regarded? Are their seen as normal and matter-of-fact, or are unemployed etc people looked down upon because they are "non-productive"?
People often do not take vacation outside of the normal holidays. Doing so would mean canceling classes or closing up city hall, something the public sector cannot easily do. There are slow times and heavy times when no one takes vacation, and I have never known a public school teacher to take a special holiday unless it is for something like a funeral or wedding (weddings are often at night or on the weekend to accommodate this.) Part-time work and retirement are viewed as normal depending on the stage of life someone is in. I have no experience with unemployed people in Japan, but I think others consider the situations that cost that person their job when making a moral judgment on unemployment.
That said, I have heard of trends with recent graduates from college that they also want a higher quality of life in terms of leisure time and family time when the go looking for a job. This apparently surprises the old-timers and recruiters. Things might be changing. There is certainly more talk these days that time outside of work is important too.
Originally posted by Gally
--What about strikes and demonstrations? ... Do they often happen? What do they look like? What about trade unions? ... what are the names and "political colours" of the parties and of their corresponding trade unions? Are employees well defended by those trade unions?
Unions are often co-opted into the corporate structure when they are at a nascent stage, thus cutting of any real route for strike. I cannot recall a strike in all my time in Japan. The most vocal unions I know of are ones made up by, and mainly for, foreigners (NOVA's comes to mind, I know they have a website). I do not know of any political associations.
Originally posted by Gally
--I've heard stereotypes about e.g. salarymen, karoshi and people that withdraw into themselves and refuse to work because of the pressure of heavy work conditions. ... what are the conditions for them to obtain indemnity? In other words, how is karoshi integrated in the Japanese law? Are Japanese employees badly considered by their employers, the employees and society if they refuse to do overtime hours? Do some employees sometime happen to spend the night at their work place or to work during the week-ends in order to get more work done?
The lower down the ladder you are, the more initial enthusiasm you need to show at work. This means long hours of overtime for which people often won't report. From what I know, the courts have been slow to act in cases when a person or family claims damages against an employer. Also, there is no system of punitive damages in Japan. You can only sue and be awarded an amount in real terms. No multi-million dollar karoshi settlements.
Since I am a contract worker, I do not have to do overtime. In fact they send me home to prevent it. My fiance, on the other hand, is more typical. She will go to work most days around 9 or 10 am and not get back from work until 11pm (early day) or 1 am. The vast majority of this time is overtime, for which she doesn't report on her timecard. No one at her company does. Doing so would be seen as selfish. Even when she gets home she has to get ready for the next day, often not making it to bed until 3am or 4am. If she didn't do overtime, it would reflect poorly on her and her chances for promotion. While she has never spent the night at work, she has gone several weeks working her off-days as well, or doing other things the company has asked her to do. It doesn't help that she is one of only a few employees who can do her type of work (and that she does it so well).
Needless to say, she is quitting in late March. She will have lasted about one year.
Originally posted by Gally
---Are there so many female homemakers in Japan? I imagined there were more women doing careers in companies and such.
All of the married women in my office or that I know have at some point been a housewife. The Japanese corporate structure and environment is not conducive to female executives nor high promotion. The New York Times did a nice article on this. It would be worth your time to check out their online archives. It might cost you a few bucks, but the NYTimes is much more reliable source than this BB
www.nytimes.com
Originally posted by Gally
---"can they (housewives) actually find a long-term full-time employment after doing part-time jobs? A female Japanese student and I was able to talk ... for about... two minutes... told me that young mothers who did part-time work weren't allowed to do full-time work afterwards.
"Weren't allowed" is probably wrong. They might meet considerable difficulty. Some of it is structural (it is very hard to find daycare in Japan) and part social. Older moms (who have been moms longer/ have older kids) certainly can go back to work. All of the married women I work with have been stay-at-home moms before, including the vice-principal I mentioned. However, keep in mind I do work in education, a traditional place for women to work, and so the environment might be more accepting that the larger corporate world.