In Japan, virtually all full time employees get a salary and a bonus as part of their compensation. As stated in the article, the bonus is often as much as the

In Japan, virtually all full time employees get a salary and a bonus as part of their compensation. As stated in the article, the bonus is often as much as the salary. Japanese employees usually get bonuses either once, twice or three times a year on a regular schedule. Usually the bonuses are essentially fixed, although you don't officially know what they are until you get paid them. They are fixed enough that if there is a big change, it is usually a big surprise. The system is different for each company, but often salary is based on seniority/position and bonuses are based on how well your department performed -- though some companies also do bonuses based on seniority/position. Again, different companies do things slightly differently, but it's not uncommon to use this system so that everyone knows exactly what salary they should receive based on their seniority/position, but then the company can adjust it arbitrarily based on how happy they are with you.