Quote:
Originally Posted by Aniki
It's a comedy based on a semi-autobiography.
Fear and Trembling
I recommend watching it. The main character remind a lot of JF members who dream to work and live in Japan. |
I have never seen the movie, but was personally not impressed by the book. She goes on as if she knows all about Japan and Japanese culture - and then you find out it`s from a 5 year stay in Japan as a small child.
She expects the company to hire her and give responsibility from the very first day, but Japanese companies simply do not function that way. Especially as she is hired as a general office person - the translation bit she thinks is going to be her job seems more like something she came up with instead of what her actual contract was. (She
assumes that is what she will be doing based on her own qualifications, not what the company is asking of her.)
So instead of accepting office training as is the normal procedure in Japan, she throws a fit that she is not given high responsibility at the start... And as she is on a year contract, instead of messing with unemployment and all the visa issues having to go with firing an international employee, they keep her on until the end of the contract and then do not renew.
It`s been quite a while since I read it, so may be remembering some details incorrectly, but it seemed more like a childish tantrum over seniority.
For me, actually knowing how Japanese companies function, it was a cringe inducing read.
Japanese companies do huge amounts of training inside the company. A degree and qualifications are about 30%, and the rest of work education is all done once you are employed. Employees come in with a certain level of education that is boosted by continual office training. Someone with little work experience does not just hop into a company in a high position based only on their education. I don`t think this is the policy
anywhere, really. You give new graduates time and experience before sticking them into important positions - but this is exactly what the woman wanted to happen in the book. She wanted the company to ignore the fact that she had very little experience, had just started working there, and was refusing to participate in office training... And just stick her in management. And when they didn`t, and instead chose someone who had worked there for a long time, had a good reputation and who was good at their job... but who just happened to have a slightly lower level of education instead - she throws a baby fit.
It was like watching a train wreck, and made even more pathetic by how she thought she was completely right, was entitled to so much, etc...