Off-topic : keeping it all in the family

There is a fascinating article over the New York Times of the day. The title is "Many in Japan Are Outsourcing Themselves". I am not sure the link functions but access is free once you register.

Here are the juicy morsels :

"Japanese outsourcers are hiring Japanese workers to do the jobs overseas — and paying them considerably less than if they were working in Japan."

The examples cited are of call-centers catering for Japanese customers, but outsourced abroad for cost reasons.

"Such outposts cater to Japanese employers who say they cannot do without Japanese workers for reasons of language and culture. Even foreign citizens with a good command of the Japanese language, they say, may not be equipped with a sufficiently nuanced understanding of the manners and politesse that Japanese customers often demand. "

"Many large Asian cities — including Bangkok, Hong Kong, Jakarta, New Delhi, Shanghai and Singapore — have three to four Japanese job placement agencies each. "

"Some overseas Japanese workers, like Ms. Natori, are not unhappy with their jobs, despite the low salaries. They say their lives abroad have given them a new sense of liberty. "

"If you are willing to live off local Thai restaurants, you spend only 30 baht for rice with eggs, vegetables and meat,” she said. “My rent currently is only 6,000 baht, and utilities are at most an additional 500.” She lives in a roomy studio in a condominium in central Bangkok with security and a swimming pool that is open 24 hours. Life is better in Thailand, she said, because she is free from some of the social and workplace pressures that ate into her private life in Japan. “The moment you step outside, you are in a foreign country here,” she said. “That allows me to have separate workplace and private lives. I am actually able to concentrate on work better because of the clear separation."

Did you know that Okinawa is Japan's Third World?

"“The salary as a local hire in Indonesia wasn’t very different from what you’d get in Okinawa, actually,” she said. “Considering how important Asia is going to be for Japan, I figured it would be a good opportunity.” "

And the appeal to leave Japan and the perspective to care for one's aging parents must be tremendous for some.

"While Transcosmos executives recognize that some Japanese have sought work in Thailand because they could not find employment at home, they say that the job performance of their Thai-based operators is superior to that of counterparts in Japan.
“It is possible that workers in Thailand are able to perform well because they have fewer things to worry about in life,” said Hiroyuki Uchimura, general manager of business process outsourcing services at Transcosmos in Tokyo."

Keeping things in the family ...

"While Japanese companies could save even more if they hired only locals overseas — some experts say locals could be hired at half the cost — the preference for Japanese nationals is likely to endure"

Even telepathy is strictly local ... granted it works.

"“You say one thing and Japanese employees will understand three things,” he said. “In Western cultures, you might be straightforward with what you want your staff to know, but a Japanese manager would want you to understand it without having to say it.” "

I can't get out of my mind the recent buzz about Rakuten and Fast Retailing going full English in Japan, and for Fast Retailing at least, preparing to hire a squadron of foreigners (read "Chinese" first), and send a bataillon of local hires abroad.

The best way to deliver Japanese service abroad is to hire Japanese national. So women, first, go West, or South-West, or North-East. A Uniqlo mega shop in Europe staffed with Japanese only (girls) would make a mega hit and allow to exclude even the thought of creating a worker syndicate. I would not be surprised for Fast Retailing that this idea is in the pipe already.

The move toward going English all the way through stirs smiles and jokes, especially when thinking about the reality of the state of English here, but more deeper, when considering the lack of multiculturalism in Japan. But there are speakers and would be speakers who would certainly agree to call it quit, leave the Japan ship and be a part of New York, Shanghai or Paris. Actually, at SME's level, I have already met with several students here in Tokyo ready to move to Paris to work for local offices. Japan will export its incompetence at opening up, not much by filtering entries, but by exporting cool and willing Japanese abroad, and keep it all in the family.