YES!!.. awful, stressful..they are hakken gaisha. I talked to the company manager on where I was assigned that time in Tokyo and found out that they require everybody to work from 150-180 hours every month and still pay worth 180 hours to each hakken. So basically there was no reason for us to work our ass off to get the minimum of 180 per month. I found out about this 2 months before I left the company, and it really pisses me off thinking about how they screwed us. Right now, I am just sooo relieved I am out of there. I do not need to stress myself. No shady contract.. taxes and insurance are clearly paid.

@godwine, that is one problem if you work for a very small company , u are "requested" to do your part in making the company grow. I try to avoid companies like this, i still want to have a little bit of social life :vsign:

@kokakora ... not talking while working? really? the only time that happened to me was because there was nobody around to talk to :) I am break the law every now and then as long as it does not hinder my work. Although there was one time an old japanese co-worker said "urusai" to me when I was humming a tune :):mtongue:

Going further on the point of "depends on individual and company" I believe it depends on the nationality also. I have friends (who are Japanese, Chinese, White) who all work at the same Japanese company (in America) and the Japanese are inherently expected to work longer (and if they leave at 5:00pm receive disapproving looks) while their American counterparts are not expected to do. Maybe it's just this particular company...not sure.

I also deal with a gentlemen who is Japanese, working for a Japanese company, who lives in America who stays until 8pm-9pm at night because he starts receiving emails from Japan at night. I can only assume this is true for employees who work in Japan with their counterpart companies in the United States.