Expectations about work in Japan are
vastly different than those in the United States. We talk about them, about
differences, and how our own personal histories affect our work expectations
and experiences.

Transcript

K: So, lately I’ve been thinking
about work expectations in Japan and by lately, I mean since last week. I’ve
been thinking about, like, what are the work expectations in Japan of employers
and what are the work expectations in Japan of employees.

C: I feel like you’re really lucky
that you’ve only been thinking about it for a week because the Japanese
employees I know are always thinking about work expectations.

K: Yes. And so I should say that it
crosses my mind from time to time because all of the people who see me, almost
all of the people who see me as a therapist, are employed in Japan or employers
in Japan. I do have some people who aren’t working, but the majority of people
that I work with are actually working.

C: At jobs?

K: Yeah. (laughs)

C: Because I know if they come to
you for therapy, they’re working their therapy.

K: Oh yes. I’m very much “we’re
going to do some work today” kind of therapist. I’m not the kind of therapist-
and it’s sad that I’m not the kind of therapist that you can just complain to
without wanting to take action steps. I do have clients that I have to explain
to them that we’re not compatible because that’s what they see a therapist as,
and there are some that want analysis more than therapy. And analysis is where
you just do your stream of consciousness talking and the person listening
doesn’t say anything and takes notes and sometimes they like, sit behind you or
out of view, and you just go in and talk about and find your own truth. And I’m
also not that kind of therapist.

C: I don’t think that’s sad, I think
that’s just a function of the market. That you’re trying to help the people who
you can help most, and you don’t believe that that kind of thing is a urgent or
as helpful to people as what you do.

K: No, I think it is as urgent and
as helpful. It’s just not temperament compatible. So I don’t have the
temperament for it. And I just really want action steps. I really feel
satisfied with action steps, so everybody gets homework, even people who only
come to see me for the free consultation, they get homework. So, looking at
work expectation for the Japanese government, they actually have no
expectations of me as a therapist other than keeping confidentiality. There’s
no hours suggestions, there’s nothing. 

C: Right.

K: So, the Japanese Psychological
Association doesn’t have anything suggested hours or any of that, but the
American Psychological Association does. And so I find that interestingly
enough, there were more work expectations of me in the United States than there
are here in Japan. 

C: I think the Japanese
Psychological Association is more of a… update group to keep people informed.

K: Yeah, because they do a lot of
conferences, and so does the APA, the JPA does a lot of conferences. They send
out a lot of reports and latest research and all of that. I think they’re
comparable. I just think that the laws are different.

C: I think the APA has a large
lobbying component that the JPA doesn’t.

K: Yeah, that’s true. So, for me, my
work expectations are reduced being in Japan. I don’t have as many expectations
of me. And before I was a therapist, I was an English teacher. And I’ve done
almost every type of English teaching there is in Japan. So I’ve worked for the
conversation schools, eikawa, it’s where I got my English teaching start. And
then I worked in a kindergarten, an English language kindergarten that did from
like eighteen months up to, I think it was grade three. And then I’ve done dispatch.

C: Right.

K: And I also worked for a company
that did just a