Search for "Ippanshoku" or "Ippan Shoku". The Japanese characters are 一般職. The more oldschool the company culture and the farther away from major cities (esp.

Search for "Ippanshoku" or "Ippan Shoku". The Japanese characters are 一般職. The more oldschool the company culture and the farther away from major cities (esp. Tokyo/Osaka) you get, the more common it will be. It is very common throughout the Toyota Group where I used to work (which is coincidentally the same geographic area as where patio11 worked). It's actually a fairly effective social arrangement, though it is understandably very odd from a Western perspective (I was initially appalled, having grown up in SV).