Under Japanese employment law, layoffs are incredibly difficult to implement – unless the company is under severe financial difficulty and at risk of insolvency in a manner layoffs could alleviate, after other cost-saving measures have been undertaken, layoffs for permanent employees are all-but impossible.
As should be law everywhere.
Though I agree, you’re trading problems: https://www.forbes.com/2009/05/09/japan-downsize-mizhuho-merger-zombies-tokyo-dispatch.html
The youth can’t get jobs because the positions are filled by entrenched creating this “unless you’re the cream of the crop you won’t get a decent job” permiating from school cumulating into your ranking at education all the way through to graduating in university where only the top cream get reasonable jobs, and many don’t. Even that doesn’t even start to scratch the surface since there’s the aging population, negative population growth requiring less “low skill jobs” like trades in construction…
My point is, I wouldn’t want to replicate that either.
With the protections that Japan’s game industry employees have, it makes me wonder if Japan’s ideal solution to their population decline would be to open visas specifically to people with experience in the game industry. They could potentially steal a lot of developers from other countries and become the country that the best games come from.
A company can sponsor an IT worker quite easily. The recipient needs to have a degree or 10 years of experience (though degree is strongly preferred due to paperwork) and can’t have a criminal record (to simplify a bit).
They (employee being hired) should be prepared to make 1/4 to about 1/2 what they would make in the US, almost certainly have full in-person office time, and the exchange rate to USD is the worst it’s been in over 30 years with no sign of recovery (my salary converted to USD is worse now than when I made far less gross salary), etc.
In the case of Americans, the added bonus that the Japanese versions of retirement accounts (iDECO and NISA) are basically off-limits because the IRS taxes them punitively. Several investments are off limits for the same reason (PFICs). They can’t contribute to a 401k unless they have US taxable income which would mean double taxation. If they make over the IRS’s minimum (which is hard with a Japanese salary and exchange rate at the moment outside of FANG and certain fintech), they do get the pleasure of being double-taxed. Either way, they still have to file US taxes every year and likely FBAR as well.
Oh, and if they want to work for any of the major game studios, they will need to read, write, and speak a certain degree of Japanese.
Few banks, medical institutions, etc. have much if any English support (though it is getting better).
If they like weed or anything, it’s still super illegal here and will result in detention for up to 23 days before charging, serving a jail sentence, and being banned for anywhere from 5 years to life from Japan. This could also happen if their family/doctor in the US happens to send them a medication they can’t get here (for example, many types of ADHD drugs are fully illegal here).
Edit: another one! If they want to keep voting, they may need to pay state taxes as well enough if they do not live there and will not set foot there again; it depends upon the state how that is handled.
Edit2: I’m a software engineer (and, as of recently, small-scale farmer) originally from the US and living in Japan for nearly a decade now.
Thanks, I knew Japanese pay was bad compared to the US, but I figured it was probably in line with the cost of living in japan. I forget that the US’ draconian taxes restrict where someone can reasonably immigrate due to double-taxation though (and potentially 3x~4x or more if you’re a freelancer, since companies have to pay half your taxes from their own pockets in the US and you have to make up the difference as a freelancer).
Edit: also the drug/ADHD thing. I’m ADHD and you’ve basically told me I’m illegal in Japan since I can’t function without my medication. Though it looks like my specific medication is legal, albeit with a bunch of hoops to jump through. Apparently Adderall is illegal though, which is strange because it’s been around a lot longer than my medication has.
So the biggest problem, particularly with the currency and economy, is that Japan lacks a lot of resources so a ton of things are imported. This means that a ton of things used by normal people are going up in price, especially since corona opened the floodgates on that (Japanese makers were really resistant to changing prices but corona gave an excuse and momentum came in). For most Japanese, that’s just going to impact goods and services. For most foreigners, they want to go home to see their family sometimes and their wages mean much less and flight prices get higher. Overseas vacations in general are an issue here. If there’s an emergency, it’s even worse.
Two types of long-release ADHD medication are currently allowed for adult ADHD in Japan. Instant release and other varieties are very illegal. Concerta was the only option until fairly recently, but now another one is allowed (though English documentation is probably behind).
Not sure that would jive with their traditional way of development but I’d love to see a game dev mecca show up in Japan
Yeah, it’d potentially be pretty cool. I kinda imagine what’d happen is that you’d end up with a very westernized city where most of the dev studios are, while the rest of Japan would likely continue to conform to current Japanese culture. Kinda like how I’ve heard Osaka is, but more weeb-y and less military grunt-y.
I imagine most westerners who’d immigrate would be more aware of Japanese culture though, so it might not cause as much of a culture clash as you might expect.
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It is already the country that the best games come from.
As a PC gamer, I’d argue most of the best games come from the US, and some from Europe. These days there’s a few Japanese ports around but that’s still not as common.
… basic institutional competence?
What’s happening here is not normal or sane.
Different country, different economy, different work ethics and social values.
It’s mostly different employment laws.
different work ethics
This is a pretty big one that would get overlooked, I think. What we in the west would consider “crunch” conditions are often considered normal, or even bare minimum in some Japanese companies.
