Japanese blue collar workers
Encyclopedia
The blue collar worker ( in Japanese) encompasses many different types of jobs, skilled and unskilled, including factory workers, construction workers, and agricultural workers.
In the context of Japanese culture, the blue collar worker can be viewed in relation to its converse: the white-collar worker
or the stereotypical Japanese “salaryman
”. In Japanese culture, the salaryman is seen as someone whose goal is to be a successful businessman regardless of the impact on his family or on his own personal happiness; commitment and loyalties lie more with the company than the family. The Japanese white-collar worker is generally University educated, while a blue-collar worker normally only has a high school diploma or has attended a trade or technical school.
The Japanese blue-collar worker on average works 40 hours a week from 9am-5pm with occasional overtime work. The white-collar worker may work over 12 hours a day/60 hours a week and can spend the majority of his time working and commuting to work, as well as traveling for months at a time for his job. He rarely is able to have any time with family or friends and can be seen as absent in family life. Research shows that the amount of time a person is required to work can have a large impact on physical and psychological well-being.
There are documented cases of karōshi
(death by overwork) and karojisatsu (suicide by overwork) in Japan. It is estimated that “more than 10,000 workers die annually owing to cerebral/cardio diseases caused by work overload.” Only a small percentage of these cases are that of blue-collar workers.
In the context of Japanese culture, the blue collar worker can be viewed in relation to its converse: the white-collar worker
White-collar worker
The term white-collar worker refers to a person who performs professional, managerial, or administrative work, in contrast with a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor...
or the stereotypical Japanese “salaryman
Salaryman
refers to someone whose income is salary based; particularly those working for corporations. Its frequent use by Japanese corporations, and its prevalence in Japanese manga and anime has gradually led to its acceptance in English-speaking countries as a noun for a Japanese white-collar...
”. In Japanese culture, the salaryman is seen as someone whose goal is to be a successful businessman regardless of the impact on his family or on his own personal happiness; commitment and loyalties lie more with the company than the family. The Japanese white-collar worker is generally University educated, while a blue-collar worker normally only has a high school diploma or has attended a trade or technical school.
The Japanese blue-collar worker on average works 40 hours a week from 9am-5pm with occasional overtime work. The white-collar worker may work over 12 hours a day/60 hours a week and can spend the majority of his time working and commuting to work, as well as traveling for months at a time for his job. He rarely is able to have any time with family or friends and can be seen as absent in family life. Research shows that the amount of time a person is required to work can have a large impact on physical and psychological well-being.
There are documented cases of karōshi
Karoshi
, which can be translated literally from Japanese as "death from overwork", is occupational sudden death. Although this category has a significant count, Japan is one of the few countries that reports it in the statistics as a separate category...
(death by overwork) and karojisatsu (suicide by overwork) in Japan. It is estimated that “more than 10,000 workers die annually owing to cerebral/cardio diseases caused by work overload.” Only a small percentage of these cases are that of blue-collar workers.