I caught a report on TV the other day about a unique problem Japanese companies are facing. It seems that the best young employees aren’t that interested in working for companies like Honda, Mitsubishi and Sony, and instead are looking to join Google, Nike, Nokia or Microsoft if they can. These are gaishikei or “foreign capital” companies, a term which is loaded with images of open, flexible corporate culture where individuality and fresh ideas are encouraged rather than hammered down like the proverbial “standing nail.” While working for a Japanese company offers more stability and less fear of sudden risutora (layoffs, from the word “restructure”), young people today prefer to work in an environment where they can make a more active contribution and distinguish themselves. The trend is supposedly happening in China, too, where U.S. firms like Motorola and Intel and are proving better at winning top applicants than Japanese companies. One job-seeker interviewed said, “I have the impression that in U.S. and European companies, I might be fortunate enough to have an idea of mine accepted and turned into a product, allowing me to see the fruits of my hard work. But this would be difficult in a Japanese organization.” It’s a long-term crisis for Japanese companies, I’d say: the kind of bold energy that led to game-changing ideas like YouTube or even Toys R Us just couldn’t have emerged from inside Japan, since so many industries are dominated by large, hide-bound companies. There’s another reason Japanese might prefer to work for foreign-based companies: being able to say that you work at BMW or Intel is extremely kakko ii (kah-ko EE, cool), and anyone with a career with a well-known foreign company will surely become popular with members of the opposite sex.
