It's the opposite, actually. Here's noted HNer patio11 on Japanese work culture (https://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/11/07/doing-business-in-japan/ https://www.kalzu

It's the opposite, actually. Here's noted HNer patio11 on Japanese work culture (https://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/11/07/doing-business-in-japan/ https://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/11/07/doing-business-in-japan...): --- Japanese folks consider at-will employment to be an alien institution, much like you might be thinking about the salaryman system. [...] If you hire full-time employees in Japan, you can only dismiss for cause, and the bar is relatively high. Imagine having the following conversation with the relevant authority: “Incompetence at one’s job is only a reasonable cause for termination if you’ve dutifully discharged your duty to retrain the employee, documented several months of poor performance subsequent to the retraining, and explored options for other jobs they could do for you. After all, everyone starts out at incompetent, right? If we let any company just up and fire anyone merely for not being able to do their job, that would contravene the social purpose of employment.” If one wants to terminate an employee for poor performance in Japan, the most efficient way is dealing with them like an unwanted New York or San Francisco tenant: offer to buy them out. If they don’t take the buyout and don’t wish to leave, your escalation options are limited and fairly high-stress.