Now, there is a minimal wage which has been lifted 5% recently to 1092JPY per hour in Yamagata. Something that is important to realize about that wage, before

Now, there is a minimal wage which has been lifted 5% recently to 1092JPY per hour in Yamagata. Something that is important to realize about that wage, before breaking out a calculator and converting to USD for an 'ours is higher' comparison, is the real purchasing power of a weeks wages at minimum earnings. Total tax, pension and healthcare withholding will max at ~17% for minimum wage employees working over 30 hours per week. This withholding amount is matched by the employer separate from wages, which for a full time position nets just over 145k JPY per month. In my town, 2 Bedroom 1 Bath, Dining, Kitchen apartment costs 25k to 40k JPY per month, and a 3Bed 2 Bath house can be rented for about 45 to 50k. That's living space for a couple to a family of four on between 28 to 35% of a single full time minimum wage job, with pension and health insurance. Electricity, LP gas, water and septic (the bill includes both by volume), and two cell phones work out to around a little less than 40k per month total. Add another 40k per month as groceries for two, plus eating out for a couple of ramen shop lunches or curry house dinners every week - a bit high because we each drink way too much of the wonderful 3.8% Hokkaido milk and a couple could still be living comfortably within 90% of that SINGLE full time minimum wage paycheck. If the second person has even 3/4 full time work at minimum wage, that's another 108k JPY every month and the total cost of a normal life is slightly over 51% of 1.75x FTE at minimum wage earnings. It doesn't matter how many USD that equals, because it's not realistic to expect to be able to support a family of two on a single minimum wage job anywhere in the US and it hasn't been that way since at least 1981, and the ~17% withholding rate covers fully comprehensive health coverage and pension without deductibles or surprise out-of-pocket bankruptcy level events. Do some workers living in the busiest and most expensive parts of Tokyo fall victim to social and societal pressures to 'outlast' coworkers by not leaving, even to the extent of clocking out and returning to their desk and appearing to work? Sure. Its unhealthy and performative. They pretend to work, and the company isn't actually paying them for not working. So, yeah, a-hole bosses and brown-nosing coworkers seem to be ubuquitous in every over-corporate environment, but that's not actually 'Normal' for most of the country. I have personal friends who were born and raised in the Tokyo societal realm, and work in quite large and productive roles with immense pressure, but they don't pretend to work, or work off the clock. Large, productive, and efficient businesses don't thrive by pretending to be good at something. My friends do work long hours, but also have specific time off and participate in raising their own children, and take annual family vacations which include skiing in Nagano and Zao, regular weekend trips to zoos and educational amusement, and has spare time to meet us at the Airport or go to an early lunch at the Ramen Museum if given them enough lead time and there isn't a real project constraint that cannot be worked around. So, stressful and busy? Yes. Well compensated and appreciated at work? Yes. Also very much not senior management, nor frontline labor, just a mid-grade logistics professional with good work-life balance and a partner who is a full time parent and manages the houshold budget with clear purpose and effective planning. Another 15 years when we both reach retirement age and decide not to retire because of the facts about ageing populations in Japan, he'll still already be worth a couple of million dollars (US) because of these facts about wages and cost of living. So would I be, if 30 years ago I had taken the minimum wage job on offer and stayed in Japan. But no, I could only see that i would make a bigger hourly wage if I moved and worked in the US. I was pretty stupid in my youth, it's been an expensive lesson to learn. Don't do what I did, if you get offered a minimum wage job in Japan and are qualified to do the work, say yes, be patient with the endless paperwork and interminable waiting, and then show up and be a reliable helper.