Essay

It's tough being a salaryman

By Kaori Shoji

The streets are thronged with rookie salarymen in their spanking-new suits. Everyone looks fresh and newly scrubbed, in the manner of that old commercial: Pika pika no ichinensei (bright, glittering first-year rookie). Now, a few reflections on the changing state of the Japanese salaryman:

There was a time when being a run-of-the-mill salaryman was perfectly acceptable if not wholeheartedly commendable. The term futsu no salaryman struck a delicate balance between mock self-deprecation and a certain confidence. It indicated a sense of belonging to the main ranks of, and being protected by, Japanese society. Until about 10 years ago salarymen knew how to coast through life on the adage: The nail that sticks out is the nail that gets hit. They did not need to prove their personal worth.

Now such unobtrusiveness is considered uncool, clueless or plain middle-aged. Now it's good to stick out, and the more hitting you get the stronger you supposedly become. Plus, you're also expected to have a great and likable personality, to be scintillating, interesting, individualistic and other traits heretofore unheard of in the salaryman vocabulary.

If the workplace has gotten tougher, things are hardly better at home. The demands to update salarymen have accelerated. The old operating system does not do.

I remember how my father would come home, sit down with the paper and occasionally say things like: "Hmm, so the prime minister may go to China'' or "I'll have another beer'' without bothering to look at my mother. This was OK by her. She was married to a steady, reliable, hard-working salaryman who preferred to drink his beer at home than elsewhere. What more could she ask for? Now, if a husband did the same thing, it would be grounds for divorce. At the very least, he would have to get his own beer.

The truth is that society changed too fast in the past 30 years for the salaryman to adjust. Meanwhile, other segments of the population, like working women and young people, haven't had that problem. It's just not enough anymore for the salaryman to work 12-hour days, commute on crammed trains for three hours, and hone the art of modesty. It's not OK for him to be boring at home.

Call me antiquated but I think I speak for many with this remark: Give me a break!

Shukan ST: April 18, 2008

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