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by rpnx 862 days ago
They didn't sack him, he quit for better pay.

In Japan companies rarely sack employees and employees rarely quit. People are expected to stay with the same company basically their whole life. That's why he didn't get fired for disobeying orders. Firing someone in Japan is somewhat socially taboo (just like quitting) and therefore rare.

In Japan, companies are considered to be like "family". It would be kind of a joke here in the USA, but in Japan there is a lot of loyalty in both directions.

Part of the reason they sued him is probably the butthurt of him quitting. Quitting, even for better pay, is kind of like a big "fuck you" in Japan.
2 comments
timr 862 days ago
That's sort of true (less so these days), but it's also quite common for companies to treat undesired people like crap in order to drive them to quit. It's what they do instead of firing in the lifetime employment model -- you've been promoted to head of the floor-sweeping department. Ganbatte!

I don't know if that was going on here, but it sure sounds like it. (It could also be that the actual story is completely different than reported here, of course.)

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robocat 862 days ago
> treat undesired people like crap in order to drive them to quit

There is a Japanese word for it:

追い出し部屋 Oidashibeya https://jlearn.net/dictionary/追い出し部屋

A crappy NYT article but gives the idea: https://archive.ph/k84cb

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Exoristos 862 days ago
That's how many U.S. corps still were back in the late Eighties, early Nineties when I started working. I remember the first layoffs in my division and how shocked everyone was.
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