General News Regarding Japan and Korea

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Birdjaguar

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Workers in Japan can’t quit their jobs. They hire resignation experts to help​


Yuki Watanabe used to spend 12 hours every day toiling away in the office. And that’s considered a short day.

A typical 9-to-9 workday is the bare minimum. “The latest I would leave [the office] would be 11 p.m.,” said the 24-year-old, who used to work for some of Japan’s largest telecoms and e-payment companies. So intense were the demands that Watanabe - who used an alias to speak to CNN, for fear of jeopardizing future job prospects - began to develop health problems. She had “shaky legs and stomach issues.” She knew she had to quit, but there was one thing in the way: Japan’s notoriously top-down work culture.

Asking to leave work on time or taking some time off can be tricky enough. Even trickier is tendering a resignation, which can be seen as the ultimate form of disrespect in the world’s fourth-biggest economy, where workers traditionally stick with one employer for decades, if not for a lifetime. In the most extreme cases, grumpy bosses rip up resignation letters and harass employees to force them to stay.

Watanabe was unhappy at her previous job, saying her former supervisor often ignored her, making her feel bad. But she didn’t dare resign. “I didn’t want my ex-employer to deny my resignation and keep me working for longer,” she told CNN during a recent interview. But she found a way to end the impasse. She turned to Momuri, a resignation agency that helps timid employees leave their intimidating bosses.

For the price of a fancy dinner, many Japanese workers hire these proxy firms to help them resign stress-free. The industry existed before Covid. But its popularity grew after the pandemic, after years of working from home pushed even some of Japan’s most loyal workers to reflect upon their careers, according to human resources experts. There is no official count on the number of resignation agencies that have sprung up across the country, but those running them can testify to the surge in demand.

More at link:


 
Birdjaguar said:

Workers in Japan can’t quit their jobs. They hire resignation experts to help​


Yuki Watanabe used to spend 12 hours every day toiling away in the office. And that’s considered a short day.

A typical 9-to-9 workday is the bare minimum. “The latest I would leave [the office] would be 11 p.m.,” said the 24-year-old, who used to work for some of Japan’s largest telecoms and e-payment companies. So intense were the demands that Watanabe - who used an alias to speak to CNN, for fear of jeopardizing future job prospects - began to develop health problems. She had “shaky legs and stomach issues.” She knew she had to quit, but there was one thing in the way: Japan’s notoriously top-down work culture.

Asking to leave work on time or taking some time off can be tricky enough. Even trickier is tendering a resignation, which can be seen as the ultimate form of disrespect in the world’s fourth-biggest economy, where workers traditionally stick with one employer for decades, if not for a lifetime. In the most extreme cases, grumpy bosses rip up resignation letters and harass employees to force them to stay.

Watanabe was unhappy at her previous job, saying her former supervisor often ignored her, making her feel bad. But she didn’t dare resign. “I didn’t want my ex-employer to deny my resignation and keep me working for longer,” she told CNN during a recent interview. But she found a way to end the impasse. She turned to Momuri, a resignation agency that helps timid employees leave their intimidating bosses.

For the price of a fancy dinner, many Japanese workers hire these proxy firms to help them resign stress-free. The industry existed before Covid. But its popularity grew after the pandemic, after years of working from home pushed even some of Japan’s most loyal workers to reflect upon their careers, according to human resources experts. There is no official count on the number of resignation agencies that have sprung up across the country, but those running them can testify to the surge in demand.

More at link:


Click to expand...
Afaik the way this works isn't just the top-down bullying. As big, or a bigger problem, is that the way work is structured in Japan, you work as a team, and the team supports each other, but also expects all members to pull out all the stops to make sure they hold up their own end and don't let down the team. That is complicated by a fundamental Japanese ingrained attitude of consideration towards other people that focuses primarily on not becoming a burden.

So an overwhelmed employee will tend to buckle down, work even harder, not just to overcome the personal adversity, but more importantly to not make themselves an imposition on the team. Because if an employee does not hold their own end up, for whatever reason, it is the colleagues in the team who are forced to pick up the slack, and get even more work. So these "shy employees" aren't just battling uncaring employeers, they know for a fact they are making themselves a problem and an imposition on their nearest colleagues – their team – and if they have tended to work 80+ hours per week for years, these people de facto tend to currently be closer to them than their own family. So when the team does work, it is also the primary support structure of the individual, And when not so good, it might still be that, only not so supporting... In either case, making trouble for the team, or leaving it, can mean becoming very alone and vulnerable.
 
Verbose said:
Afaik the way this works isn't just the top-down bullying. As big, or a bigger problem, is that the way work is structured in Japan, you work as a team, and the team supports each other, but also expects all members to pull out all the stops to make sure they hold up their own end and don't let down the team. That is complicated by a fundamental Japanese ingrained attitude of consideration towards other people that focuses primarily on not becoming a burden.

So an overwhelmed employee will tend to buckle down, work even harder, not just to overcome the personal adversity, but more importantly to not make themselves an imposition on the team. Because if an employee does not hold their own end up, for whatever reason, it is the colleagues in the team who are forced to pick up the slack, and get even more work. So these "shy employees" aren't just battling uncaring employeers, they know for a fact they are making themselves a problem and an imposition on their nearest colleagues – their team – and if they have tended to work 80+ hours per week for years, these people de facto tend to currently be closer to them than their own family. So when the team does work, it is also the primary support structure of the individual, And when not so good, it might still be that, only not so supporting... In either case, making trouble for the team, or leaving it, can mean becoming very alone and vulnerable.
Click to expand...
That sounds literally like a cult.
 
Not China and not Hong Kong related news.

Anyway.

Overpopulation anywhere leads to a rigid hierarchy where many are opressed. The Sinosphere and Confucianism-based cultures call it "harmony".
 
Must be a slow news day! Mou muri in Japanese means “I can’t take this anymore,” so they could have included that at least. I heard about this a while ago that there was a company doing these kinds of resignations-by-proxy, and when it comes to something as contentious as quitting one’s job can be I can see where there would be a small market for it.
 
Don't other countries have similar testing?
 
My country at least doesn't have this

Ensuring that the exam runs smoothly is a nationwide effort. Shops and the stock market opened late on Thursday to reduce traffic congestion, and authorities adjusted public transport operating hours and put more than a dozen spare trains on standby in case of breakdowns.

More than 10,000 police officers were deployed, including some tasked to ferry students to school during emergencies.

Besides grounding planes to minimise noise disturbances during the 20-minute English listening test, authorities have also asked bus and taxi drivers to refrain from honking while the tests are taking place.
Click to expand...
 

Are K-pop stars workers? South Korea says no​

They've sold more albums than any other K-pop girl band last year, have tens of millions of fans worldwide and are arguably one of South Korea's hottest acts.
What the members of NewJeans aren't however, are workers, according to the government.
The country's Ministry of Employment and Labor on Wednesday dismissed claims of workplace harrassment against a member of the group, saying celebrities were not seen as workers under the country's labour law - and were therefore not entitled to the same rights.
The decision has drawn its fair share of scorn - and unsurprise - with some saying it is just the latest to come from an industry known for its punishing schedules and intense competition.

This is the latest scandal to hit NewJeans, which has for months been embroiled in a public feud with its record label, Ador.
With slick pop songs like Super Shy, OMG and Supernatural, NewJeans were the eighth biggest-selling act in the world last year, and were nominated for best group at this year's MTV Awards.
Formed by label Ador in 2022, the group has five members - Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein - whose ages range from 16 to 20.
The incident started after 20-year-old Hanni and the other four members of the band raised concerns about their treatment by Ador during an impromptu YouTube livestream on 11 September.
In the band's YouTube video, which has since been deleted, they made claims of workplace harassment, among others, which culminated in Hanni saying she would testify in a hearing about bullying in the music industry.
The Vietnamese-Australian singer, whose real name is Pham Ngoc Han, told lawmakers that she felt "the company hated us".
She described how senior members of Hybe ignored her and her bandmates, and gave them cold shoulder. She also alleged that employees of the agency bad-mouthed NewJeans on internal communication app and asked a journalist to downplay the group's record sales in one article.
Hybe had previously denied the accusations. The CEO of Ador, which is a subsidiary of Hybe, said at the hearing that she would "listen more closely" to her artists.
Her allegations prompted fans to file a petition about workplace bullying to the government.

But on Wednesday, South Korea's labour ministry rejected these claims, saying given the content and nature of the management contract signed by Hanni, she is not regarded as a worker under the country's Labour Standards Act.
"Individuals must meet the criteria under the Labour Standards Act... to be considered workers. This includes having fixed working hours and providing labour under the employer’s direct supervision and control. Celebrities, including singers, are typically classified as independent contractors," Chunghwan Choi, senior partner of Yulchon law firm in Seoul explained.
The government also cites the nature of Hanni's income, which is deemed to be "profit sharing, rather than wages", according to local reports, adding that she pays business income tax rather than employment income tax.
One expert has called the response "utterly unfair and yet unsurprising".
The work for K-pop idols is "emotionally and physically exhausting", according to her, as they work "incredibly long hours, often seven days a week for months in a row...[with] no clearly defined periods of rest", says CedarBough Saeji, Assistant Professor of Korean and East Asian Studies at Pusan National University in South Korea.
"Exploitation of the workers is accepted because they are not regular employees and there is no labour union, or clearly we can now see, no governmental agency to advocate for humane working conditions for them," she argues.
There are currently no specific laws in South Korea that provide protections for the working rights of celebrities or artists, says Mr Choi, saying that this "underscores the urgent need for reforms to address longstanding issues in the entertainment industry".
One measure that could be put into place to safeguard the working rights of artists is something similar to the Talent Agency Act in Hollywood, which requires talent agencies to obtain licenses and prohibits unfair or exploitative contracts, adds Mr Choi.
However, he adds that "while there have been discussions about implementing laws similar to the Talent Agency Act, no such legislation has been enacted yet".

'Idols are Workers'​

On Wednesday, New Jeans fans rallied under the hashtag "IdolsAreWorkers" in support of the band.
Others pointed out that the decision had a legal basis, as celebrities were not technically seen as workers under the law, but called for greater reforms in the industry.
"I get what they're saying about the role not qualifying for the legal defintion of workplace harrassment, but this just shows the need for reform in the K-pop industry", said one user on X.
Hanni has yet to comment on the government's decision.
Hybe, which represents massive K-pop groups such as BTS and Seventeen, is South Korea's largest music firm.
South Korea’s entertainment industry is known for its high-pressure environment, where celebrities are held to strict standards over their appearances and behaviour.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jyvmew0njo
 
Yep, dystopian country. Ironically, it's their northern neighbour who get the limelight, but most people don't realise how horrible the situation in South Korea is as well, just not so obvious
 
Broken_Erika said:

Are K-pop stars workers? South Korea says no​

They've sold more albums than any other K-pop girl band last year, have tens of millions of fans worldwide and are arguably one of South Korea's hottest acts.
What the members of NewJeans aren't however, are workers, according to the government.
The country's Ministry of Employment and Labor on Wednesday dismissed claims of workplace harrassment against a member of the group, saying celebrities were not seen as workers under the country's labour law - and were therefore not entitled to the same rights.
The decision has drawn its fair share of scorn - and unsurprise - with some saying it is just the latest to come from an industry known for its punishing schedules and intense competition.

This is the latest scandal to hit NewJeans, which has for months been embroiled in a public feud with its record label, Ador.
With slick pop songs like Super Shy, OMG and Supernatural, NewJeans were the eighth biggest-selling act in the world last year, and were nominated for best group at this year's MTV Awards.
Formed by label Ador in 2022, the group has five members - Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein - whose ages range from 16 to 20.
The incident started after 20-year-old Hanni and the other four members of the band raised concerns about their treatment by Ador during an impromptu YouTube livestream on 11 September.
In the band's YouTube video, which has since been deleted, they made claims of workplace harassment, among others, which culminated in Hanni saying she would testify in a hearing about bullying in the music industry.
The Vietnamese-Australian singer, whose real name is Pham Ngoc Han, told lawmakers that she felt "the company hated us".
She described how senior members of Hybe ignored her and her bandmates, and gave them cold shoulder. She also alleged that employees of the agency bad-mouthed NewJeans on internal communication app and asked a journalist to downplay the group's record sales in one article.
Hybe had previously denied the accusations. The CEO of Ador, which is a subsidiary of Hybe, said at the hearing that she would "listen more closely" to her artists.
Her allegations prompted fans to file a petition about workplace bullying to the government.

But on Wednesday, South Korea's labour ministry rejected these claims, saying given the content and nature of the management contract signed by Hanni, she is not regarded as a worker under the country's Labour Standards Act.
"Individuals must meet the criteria under the Labour Standards Act... to be considered workers. This includes having fixed working hours and providing labour under the employer’s direct supervision and control. Celebrities, including singers, are typically classified as independent contractors," Chunghwan Choi, senior partner of Yulchon law firm in Seoul explained.
The government also cites the nature of Hanni's income, which is deemed to be "profit sharing, rather than wages", according to local reports, adding that she pays business income tax rather than employment income tax.
One expert has called the response "utterly unfair and yet unsurprising".
The work for K-pop idols is "emotionally and physically exhausting", according to her, as they work "incredibly long hours, often seven days a week for months in a row...[with] no clearly defined periods of rest", says CedarBough Saeji, Assistant Professor of Korean and East Asian Studies at Pusan National University in South Korea.
"Exploitation of the workers is accepted because they are not regular employees and there is no labour union, or clearly we can now see, no governmental agency to advocate for humane working conditions for them," she argues.
There are currently no specific laws in South Korea that provide protections for the working rights of celebrities or artists, says Mr Choi, saying that this "underscores the urgent need for reforms to address longstanding issues in the entertainment industry".
One measure that could be put into place to safeguard the working rights of artists is something similar to the Talent Agency Act in Hollywood, which requires talent agencies to obtain licenses and prohibits unfair or exploitative contracts, adds Mr Choi.
However, he adds that "while there have been discussions about implementing laws similar to the Talent Agency Act, no such legislation has been enacted yet".

'Idols are Workers'​

On Wednesday, New Jeans fans rallied under the hashtag "IdolsAreWorkers" in support of the band.
Others pointed out that the decision had a legal basis, as celebrities were not technically seen as workers under the law, but called for greater reforms in the industry.
"I get what they're saying about the role not qualifying for the legal defintion of workplace harrassment, but this just shows the need for reform in the K-pop industry", said one user on X.
Hanni has yet to comment on the government's decision.
Hybe, which represents massive K-pop groups such as BTS and Seventeen, is South Korea's largest music firm.
South Korea’s entertainment industry is known for its high-pressure environment, where celebrities are held to strict standards over their appearances and behaviour.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jyvmew0njo
Click to expand...
I am not sure, and this whole "gig economy are not workers" thing is messed up, bu this is hardly the most exploitative example. When managers are lecturing "self employed" delivery drivers about their english language skills I hardly think we can call out South Korea for this.
 
That seems more like a case of a scummy CEO at the individual level (though of course the culture of scumminess is innate throughout the system).

But the entire K-pop scene is extremely toxic and brutal. It's like an overblown satire of capitalism and showbiz, but acting out in real-life.
 
Bonyduck Campersang said:
That seems more like a case of a scummy CEO at the individual level (though of course the culture of scumminess is innate throughout the system).

But the entire K-pop scene is extremely toxic and brutal. It's like an overblown satire of capitalism and showbiz, but acting out in real-life.
Click to expand...
I am sure there is better and worse, as everywhere, but the whole of showbuisiness sounds extremely toxic and brutal to me.
 
Sure, but K-pop is specially terrible (of course it maybe just that we know more of their behind-the-scenes workings than other entertainment industries).

Think of Britney Spears but scale it to an entire industry.

Here's one example of how absurdly insidious the whole business is: certain K-pop stars aren't allowed to date anyone to make them seem more "accessible" and "available" to their fans. Higher-ups control almost every aspect of their stars' lives, both professional and personal.
 
Could be worse. Could be gymnasts.
 
Literally, I don't know. What's going on there, Mr. President?
 
President Yoon said, he want to shut down the National Assembly because they are all North Korean Communists. :crazyeye:
 
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