[kevinmershon]

Rakuten was the first and only bigger corp I've worked at (my life has been startups and boutique shops) and so I have had a hard time understanding why people don't like open office floorplans. Thank you for making me realize why I enjoyed it and might not, at another org.

[pseudalopex]

Was it a Japanese office or a foreign office following Japanese customs?

[ayuhito]

I would say it fits in a third category. It’s a Japanese office that switched to English as its official language and hires a lot of foreign engineering talent. These types of companies are becoming more and more prevalent in Japan.

It is interesting to note that they can integrate the best and worst elements of both aforementioned work cultures.

[pseudalopex]

You worked in kevinmershon's office?

Either way it's interesting such offices are becoming more common in Japan. Could you say more about how they integrate the best and worst of both cultures?

[ayuhito]

I worked at a similar type of office, but I had coworkers who also had interned/worked for Rakuten.

These are based on the accounts of my local coworkers, but their experiences with previous traditional Japanese companies involved strict social hierarchies, long working hours, constant overtime[0] and overall a very oppressive work culture (though this is slowly improving in general). Getting a chance to escape all that while still working for a local company that really understood them is a huge win. As a foreigner, they made it really easy for me to integrate into their work without feeling like an outsider (which is unfortunately a common trope in more traditional offices).

There is a spectrum to this. For example, I’ve heard Rakuten has a lot of bad rep with a bunch of foreign engineers I’ve met. They still have a lot of “traditional” influence in their management culture that I’ve heard has created a high turnover rate on the foreigner side. This Reddit thread last year also was a hot topic that led to a small exodus[1] and some of their Glassdoor reviews are scathing.

On a side note, the government actually takes some interest in these companies too through inspections, as they seem to observe how well-integrated foreign talent can be with Japanese offices. I’m assuming they’re looking long term to increase immigration to compensate the decrease in local talent from the declining population…

Please do take these as stories and not fact. Experiences can wildly differ from company to company and I’m just one perspective.

[0] I recall a story where a company made employees “tap-out” but not actually leave the office to get around government regulations.

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/s/LmIxQUPakW