Shain (社員) is the everyday Japanese word for a company employee. In law, the same word means a member of a company or an association. The encyclopedia Nipponica notes that in everyday use the word means an employee. The encyclopedia MyPedia adds that an employee called shain is not a shain in the legal sense.
The Digital Daijisen defines the legal shain as a member of an incorporated association. In a stock company, it adds, these members are called kabunushi, shareholders.
At the Musashi factory of Hitachi, a worker refused an order to work overtime. The work rules stated that overtime could be required under the 36 agreement with the workers. The company dismissed him as a disciplinary measure.
On November 28, 1991, the Supreme Court held the dismissal valid. A summary by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare explains that the work rules were reasonable and formed part of the employment contract. The dismissal was not an abuse of rights.
On Mount Kōya, the center of Shingon Buddhism, Japanese companies have built graves of their own. A 1993 study by Nakamaki Hirochika counted 103 company graves on Mount Kōya and 23 on Mount Hiei.
The study describes what they hold. The company graves contain the graves of founders and memorial towers for employees who have died.
Nyūshashiki (入社式): the ceremony of entering the company. An HR glossary by the company Kaonavi defines it as the ceremony at which a company formally welcomes its new graduate employees. In Japan, it is usually held every April.
The glossary gives its purpose. The ceremony is meant to make new employees aware of themselves as working adults and as members of the company, kigyō no ichiin.
Article 16 of Japan’s Labor Contract Act reads: Kaiko wa, kyakkanteki ni gōriteki na riyū o kaki, shakai tsūnenjō sōtō de aru to mitomerarenai baai wa, sono kenri o ran’yō shita mono to shite, mukō to suru. A dismissal that lacks objectively reasonable grounds and is not considered appropriate in light of general social norms is invalid as an abuse of rights.
In February 2010, the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training surveyed employees about their working hours. Among those who worked overtime almost every day or three to four days a week, 9.8 percent of non-managers and 6.2 percent of managers gave this reason: Shūi ga zangyō shite iru node, saki ni kaerizurai kara. Others are working overtime, so it is hard to go home first. Each person could give up to three reasons.
The report, published in 2011, also looked at the statement Jōshi ga taisha suru made kitaku shinai, I do not go home until my boss leaves. For both non-managers and managers, agreeing with it went with ten or more extra hours of work a month.
Japanese employers can fix in advance the days on which employees take their annual paid leave. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare explains the keikakuteki fuyo seido, the system of planned granting. An agreement between labor and management assigns the leave days ahead of time.
To use the system, a company must first provide for it in its work rules.
In July and August 2015, the Japanese government ran a campaign to change the summer lifestyle of national civil servants, with work in the morning and early departure. Every Wednesday during the campaign, the government buildings in Kasumigaseki and elsewhere were, as a rule, to turn off their lights by 8 p.m. at the latest.
Employees who had come in early in the morning were, as a rule, to leave at the regular closing time.
In October 2013, the trading company Itochu began to move away from a way of working that took night overtime for granted. Overtime after 8 p.m. was banned in principle and needed advance approval. Work after 10 p.m. was banned, and overtime was shifted to the next morning.
Newsweek Japan reported that work between 5 and 8 a.m. carried a wage premium of 150 percent.
Oyasumi o itadakimasu (お休みをいただきます): I will receive a day off. The humble verb itadaku, to receive, presents leave as something given by others. An article in President Online describes a request for leave that begins with an apology: Sumimasen. Raishū oyasumi o itadakimasu node. Excuse me. I will be taking a day off next week.
Ana o akeru (穴をあける): to make a hole. The dictionary entry for ana, hole, includes a gap left where a needed person is missing, with the example jin’in ni ana ga aku, a hole opens in the staff.