When I asked on Instagram what questions people had about working in a Japanese company (outside of English teaching), the response was huge. So huge, in fact, that I had to break everything into multiple posts. This first one tackles a big topic: What is it actually like as a foreigner in a Japanese workplace? Am I treated differently? Are expectations different?

For a little background — I’ve been working in Japan for six years, all at small and medium-sized companies in the Kansai area (Kyoto/Osaka/Hyogo). I don’t have big-corporation experience, so everything here is based on my own journey in SME environments.

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Do I feel included, or like an outsider? Am I treated differently as a foreigner?

Honestly… yes and no.

I’ve never felt blatantly excluded. Every company I worked for welcomed me into the team, invited me to drinking parties, events, and meetings, and treated me like part of the “company family.” And if you know Japanese company culture, you know that family doesn’t mean emotionally close — but it does mean you’re a member of the team, day in and day out.

A big reason I didn’t feel like an outsider was because I made it a point early on to:

• Learn the culture
• Learn the “why” behind things
• Ask questions
• Observe first before suggesting anything

This mindset is everything when working abroad. If you arrive with your own cultural lens and never adjust it, the people around you won’t know how to work with you. A silly example: think of Emily in Paris. She arrived, didn’t try to understand the culture, and immediately pushed her own ideas — of course people pushed back. Japan can be similar. You need curiosity and humility before anything else.

But even with that mindset, the closest I ever came to feeling “treated differently” was early on, when:

• my Western mindset clashed with expectations
• my Japanese ability wasn’t strong enough
• I spoke up too quickly before understanding the structure

In Japanese companies, people don’t always give opinions unless asked. And when changes are made, they require detailed reasoning and approval through several layers. So when I showed up suggesting ideas right away (thinking I was being helpful), it often came off as disruptive — not because I was foreign, but because I wasn’t following the cultural flow yet.

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About that “wakaru?” (Do you understand?)

In the beginning, hearing wakaru? all the time felt condescending — like my intelligence was constantly being questioned. But in reality, my coworkers were trying to prevent mistakes.

A mistake from me impacted everyone, not just myself, and since my Japanese wasn’t strong yet, they needed to double-check often. As my Japanese improved, the “wakaru?” stopped. It wasn’t about underestimating me — it was about protecting the workflow.

Looking back, I honestly didn’t understand a lot at first. I only had conversational Japanese when I started my first job in 2014, and full-time business communication is a different world entirely.

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Do I have the same expectations as my Japanese coworkers?

Yes — and also no.

The core expectation is universal: do your job well.

But there are additional cultural expectations too.

For example, one of my first companies required all employees to use three paid vacation days during the summer shutdown. For me, those three days meant losing time I needed for international travel to see my family. I tried to request to work instead so I could save my leave, but the answer was no — I needed supervision, and the office was closed.

At the time I thought, “This is so unfair.”
But the reality was:

• I chose to live abroad
• Japanese companies value collective rules over individual needs
• Everyone followed the same policy — including me

It was a hard but important lesson:
Being foreign doesn’t make you exempt from the system.

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Do I have to follow the same rules as Japanese workers, or do I get more freedom?

If it’s a company policy, then yes — everyone follows it.

If it’s an unspoken cultural rule, it depends. I pick and choose based on:

• what will affect team relationships
• whether it impacts others’ workload
• whether it infringes on my personal time
• whether the company culture genuinely values it

For example:
I don’t do unnecessary overtime. I never stay just to “look busy,” which is still a thing in many companies.

My commute is three hours round-trip (pre-COVID), so unless there’s a real reason to stay late, I leave exactly on time. If something urgent comes up or a meeting runs late, I stay — but performative overtime is not for me, and fortunately, my current workplace respects that boundary.

On the flip side, for things that do affect the whole group — like taking long vacations — I always follow the cultural rule of checking with my boss first and preparing a game plan. If I’m gone, someone else has to either cover my tasks or put their own work on hold, so it’s polite to coordinate beforehand.

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Final Thoughts

Working in a Japanese company as a foreigner comes with unique challenges and lessons, but I’ve rarely felt singled out because I’m foreign. The tougher moments came from cultural misunderstandings, language gaps, and me learning to adjust my approach.
Once I understood how things worked, everything became so much easier.

Part 9 | Part 11

*Revised November 2025 for Grammar and Context