Befriending a white man
I kept seeing Tom but never told anyone else but my friend Sachi. I told Tom to keep it a secret, too, which hurt his feelings. He eventually texted me […]
Tom the “tanpan”
I met Tom through my Waseda friends. He had done an exchange program at Waseda a few years back and returned to Japan when he got a job at one […]
The squad
The department head, Mr. Takano, was in his early 40s, short and spectacled but looked pompous when he walked with his chest thrust.Mr. Takano had started his career at one […]
Miss Sasaki
Legal Dept. was different because they were led by Miss Sasaki. Miss Sasaki was the only woman director in the office. She was not even 40 years old when I […]
Women’s roles
The men were exempt from menial tasks because they had women who submitted the expense reimbursement form and procured stationaries for them. The landline telephones were placed only on the […]
The assistants
It was lunchtime when the meeting with Mr. Kamoi ended. Mr. Iwata told me to go out for lunch with the women. A tall, round-faced woman and a short, pointy-jawed […]
First day
The majority of new graduates in Japan start their new job on April 1st. There was a ceremony at a hotel close to where the HQ was at. The company […]
Founder the great
The newly hired new graduates gathered together again for the weekend-long training before the job started on April first. We separated into two groups, one for the creators – artists […]
Shifting wind
My family was glad that I secured the job at a company publicly listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The videogame industry was relatively new but […]
Shima the artist
A few months after I received the job offer, my to-be employer held a day-long orientation in a hotel conference room in Tokyo. Over 100 new graduates came together, including […]