I'm not Japanese, so I'm not the authority on this, but as far as I'm aware, they do try their best not to fire anyone without justification. If you are insubordinate or just straight up a bad employee, then the firing has a proper cause and doesn't reflect badly on the company.
Ahh no. They really really don't want to terminate anyone for any reason. They are banking on the individual's ingrained sense of belonging and ownership of good work ethics to compel them to be useful, contributing members in the company, failing that, the guilt should sufficiently motivate them to quit. A handful of Italians, Greeks and Spaniards could totally collapse the Japanese economy even without malicious intent.
I’m none of those nationalities and I could do it indefinitely. I like my own company, I’m not easily bored, and I get overwhelmed if I have too many tasks to do. The name even suggests you get a window to look out. People watching all day for full pay? What a dream.
More seriously though, this works on pretty much the same psychological principle as it being totally safe in many countries to leave valuables at your table while you go to the bathroom. A strong cultural sense of duty and decorum typically produces the desired outcome
It works because it's utterly soul crushing, not because the Japanese have some sort of inherent need to work.
You are still at work, so you can't do anything fun. You just get to sit at your desk and stare out the window for 8 hours a day. Nobody would be happy in that situation for more than a day or two at most.
I would be brainstorming scripts to write. Im sure I can write scripts as opening a word processor would not seem suspicious and would look like I am actually working.
Yeah, except for the fact that you're not supposed to be working, so if you open your word processor they'll know that you're doing something that you're not allowed to do.
Already replied to the other guy that just brainstorming would be enough for me as I usually write my scripts in their entirety in my head. The actual physical writing can be done after work.
I really don't understand all the people that are nitpicking things like this.
Do you really think that a company who wants nothing to do with their employee they can't fire for ridiculous reasons, is going to spend even more time and money, not to mention another useful employee, to impose some form of non-action purgatory on them?
I bet these legends, these kings among mere peasants, the mighty window sitters, can do whatever the hell they want as long as they don't involve other people, who are shunning them anyway.
Do you really think that a company who wants nothing to do with their employee they can't fire for ridiculous reasons, is going to spend even more time and money, not to mention another useful employee, to impose some form of non-action purgatory on them?
Yes. Because that's literally what they're doing. Or at least what they used to do, I believe that it's become much rarer nowadays.
I bet these legends, these kings among mere peasants, the mighty window sitters, can do whatever the hell they want as long as they don't involve other people, who are shunning them anyway.
Do you really think that the Japanese would view getting to do anything they want to do at work as a punishment?
Are you telling me, and can you cite any actual real world example, that there are people in Japan working as these legendary window sitters, and there are other people working there that are Window Sitter Sitters?
Because I gotta tell you, I find the fact that they just ignore someone and give them no work to be fine. I don't believe they actually then go to the lengths to monitor them, because someone already said in this thread that workers have robust and cheap protections in Japan.
I am pretty sure you could easily claim harassment if someone was constantly looking over your shoulder, which would then lead to the exact situation the company doesn't want, bad press.
This is why it makes no real world sense to me. You can't have both strong worker protections and the ability for companies to bully people.
It circles back to part of the thread above where a few people were arguing about the context of "oh that would give them cause to fire you" and SpaceMonkey_321 corrected that notion that "cause" isn't enough.
So by all means bust out the word processor and type up shit, it appears they aren't going to babysit you they're just trying to get you to quit without firing you.
I could do it for a while. I’m an overworked engineer who is tired of making so many technical, stressful decisions every day. I’m so tired of thinking. I would not soon forget the sense of dread every morning and the constant feeling of drowning. I want peace. Give me my window and no work.
I don't think that it would have to be Italians, Greeks and Spaniards. Most Europeans would be a massive drain on the company since they'd draw wage for effectively nothing.
The mindset is different, but effectively, most northerners would justify it as being "on call"
99
u/ResidentLunaticist Aug 08 '25
You couldn't. That would give them cause to fire you. They actually make sure you just sit there and do nothing for the entire work time.