conclude that the cultural background of Japan provides a tolerant or in some cases, even encouraging environment for suicides, as long as people die for so-called “good deeds”. The social expectation is also one of the key factors that had pushed some Japanese people to killing themselves. In many reported cases of Karo-Jisatsu and Karoshi, many victims overly blamed themselves for failing to live up to other people’s expectations and therefore this phenomenon can be interpreted as a way of “face-saving” (Kawanishi, 66), meaning that they failed to maintain a decent reputation or did something unfavorable or wrong that is not favorable to the people around them and thus feel extremely shamed about it. Those employees who had committed suicides
…show more content…
Unlike the comparatively casual western ones, many Japanese employers put a great emphasis on employees’ personalities. Of course, basic requirements such as coming to work on time, finishing work before deadline, or communicating with each other well are important criteria of a qualified employee, but according to the values of a typical Japanese employer, fulfilling the basic requirements is not enough. Merits like personality, attitude towards his or her work, the way of thinking, and many other immensurable things are also favorable (Kawanishi, 67). For instance, in order to show that one is willing to help others with their work or considerate to his or her peers, an employee is expected to work overtime or even take up other people’s work as well. Thus, if one wants to maintain his position in the company, he has to do much more work than he is assigned because in some extreme cases, even if an employee is not capable enough for the position, as long as he has a right attitude or a considerate personality, he can still work in the position and compete with those who are more capable than him but with a worse attitude. In the case of Suwa Tatsutou, who is an ordinary white-collar worker and does not have a college degree, he wanted to prove his good personality and working ability to his boss through working overload so as to get a promotion opportunity which he can never reach if he work only on regular hours or regular amounts (Kawanishi, 70). As a result for the expectations of the employers, the amount of work assigned to every employee is greatly increased by a tacit agreement, from both the employers and
Unlike the comparatively casual western ones, many Japanese employers put a great emphasis on employees’ personalities. Of course, basic requirements such as coming to work on time, finishing work before deadline, or communicating with each other well are important criteria of a qualified employee, but according to the values of a typical Japanese employer, fulfilling the basic requirements is not enough. Merits like personality, attitude towards his or her work, the way of thinking, and many other immensurable things are also favorable (Kawanishi, 67). For instance, in order to show that one is willing to help others with their work or considerate to his or her peers, an employee is expected to work overtime or even take up other people’s work as well. Thus, if one wants to maintain his position in the company, he has to do much more work than he is assigned because in some extreme cases, even if an employee is not capable enough for the position, as long as he has a right attitude or a considerate personality, he can still work in the position and compete with those who are more capable than him but with a worse attitude. In the case of Suwa Tatsutou, who is an ordinary white-collar worker and does not have a college degree, he wanted to prove his good personality and working ability to his boss through working overload so as to get a promotion opportunity which he can never reach if he work only on regular hours or regular amounts (Kawanishi, 70). As a result for the expectations of the employers, the amount of work assigned to every employee is greatly increased by a tacit agreement, from both the employers and