Motivation
In my opinion, the attitude towards work in the Netherlands is clearly different from the attitude in Japan. In the Netherlands we have several laws dealing with people who are not able to work or to work full-time. I also know that each country has his own system to deal with this problems. Last year I went to Italy and I have spoken to Italians and French and they told there system is different from ours. Probably in Japan they have also there own specific system, laws and attitude towards work in general.
Although in the Netherlands being part of the working society is considered to be important for personal status, a social life outside from the working society is also regarded as relevant. Japan, however, is known for its hard-working employees and its own "labour-culture". In this context I'm curious to learn and to known more about the Japanese society, which is often discribed as a mixture between "western" and "eastern" culture, treats persons with a labour disability. The Japanese culture will probably have its own specific effects on the physical and mental condition of the Japanese employees. As a consequence, the approach towards reintegrating incapacitated persons into work might be different. For example, I'm anxious to know do the Japanese know diseases like RSI, Repetitive Strain Injury or burned out? How do they deal with work stress, illnessess and handicapped persons.
Because I'm working in two teams, in the brain damage team in the rehabilation center and in the labour exploration team, I would like to gain insight into the concept behind Japanese enterprises as well as into the concept and treatments in rehabilitation centers. I hope to find new points of view in looking at the Dutch concept and to discover possible better of alternative options in delivering services to our clients.
Program
During my stay in Japan I visited a rehabilitation centre in Hyogo in connection with my vocational day. It was a very nice, modern building and the way they work in this rehabilitation centre has many similarities with the rehabilitation centre "Het Roessingh" in Enschede. They have also a unit like the "labour exploration", where I'm working. The main difference is that they train people, but after that they have less facilities to guide the clients to a suitable job. This has two reasons. First, the Japanese government doesn't financially support the reintegration of the person with a labour disability. Secondly, it isn't financially attractive for an employer to employ a person with a disability. This makes it very hard for a person with a labour handicap to find a suitable job.
In connection with my vocational day I also spoke with several physicians and physiotherapists. I asked them if they know diseases like whiplash-syndrome and Repetitive Strain Injury. A lot of people in The Netherlands suffer from these diseases and have therefore the status of "a labour handicapped person". In Japan they also know these diseases. In Japan it's necessary to prove damage or deviations as a result of the injury to have the right to receive money from the insurance company. Another difference between Japan and The Netherlands is the loyalty of the employee to his company and on the other hand the loyalty of the employer to his employee. In Japan, lifetime employment is common, although this is changing. Lifetime employment means also that in case of a labour disability of the employee, the company will try to find suitable work for the employee. The employee will not be dismissed. In The Netherlands, the employer is obliged to search for suitable work, if this isn't possible or the employee is not able to work anymore the employer is allowed to dismiss the employee after two years. Maybe it's also easier for a Japanese employer to find a suitable job because of the great amount of "easy working activities" in companies. One of the most striking examples of such easy working activities were the persons in uniform waving with their flags or sticks to lead you to the entrance of the company or to the parking place of the supermarket. In The Netherlands we don't have jobs like that.
As a labour consultant I analyse and visit the working place of the client. I examine the working posture and give ergonomic advice. My experience during our visits of several companies is that ergonomics is no issue in Japan. We have seen people working under bad working circumstances. For example, they work in a very hot environment, sitting the whole day on their knees, with no daylight at all, with computer screens positioned in the corner, which means continue working in a rotated posture etc. I asked some employees if there would exist laws to regulate the working conditions. However, they told me that there do not exist laws which oblige the company to obey to rules for the working conditions and the employer doesn't appreciate complaints about the working circumstances. I think also that the loyalty of the employee and the lifetime employment don't stimulate complaints about bad working conditions. I can imagine that the relationship between employer and employee will change in the future and therefore the employer will have to pay more attention to working circumstances.
In The Netherlands people with a full-time contract work 36-40 hours a week. Of course there are people who are working more and there are also a lot of people who are working part-time, for example 20 hours a week. In contrast to Dutch people, Japanese people have in general long working days. Most of my host fathers left their home early in the morning and came back from work at 7.00 or 8.00 p.m.. The sons in my host families even worked until 23.00 p.m. in the evening.
In general working in Japan means to have less private time. If they have, they like watching sport. The number one sport in Japan is baseball. Every evening you can see baseball games on television. I was so lucky to visit with one of my host fathers, Mr Kushida, a baseball game in "Osaka drome". It was a very nice baseball stadium with a closed roof and special lights with no shadow. The atmosphere in the stadium was impressive and I enjoyed it very much. The fans had all kind of rituals, like specific songs, dances and there was also "lucky seven". This means that all fans let go a pink balloon into the air. It was very nice to see.
One of the highlights of the whole team was to visit the sumo-wrestling tournament in Osaka. We thought that it would be very common in Japan to visit sumo-wrestling games. This does not seem to be true since only one of my host families has visited these games once. Each year in March there is a sumo-wrestling tournament in Osaka. We were so lucky that we arrived just in time in Osaka to visit the tournament. It was great to be in the stadium and to taste the atmosphere. For us it was an unique experience and we enjoyed it very much. We had a little problem with our sitting places because there was place for 4 persons and we had to share approximately 1.5 square metre. With an average height of 1.75 metre it's not so easy, but after some "exercises" we managed to take our place.
I also went with one of my host-mothers, Mrs Masuda, to her aerobic-class. For me it was also a personal highlight to sport together with the Japanese people and experience the way they sport. I experienced again that they move more easily and graceful than I do. Of course that has to do with the way they are physically build and their height. If you know that my height is 1.80 metres, then you probably understand that my place was at the back of the hall. It was a surprise for me to see that the aerobic class was almost the same as the aerobic class in The Netherlands; the same movements and the same steps.
Conclusion
The events I have mentioned above contributed to the great time I had together with my other team members. To be among the Japanese people, who are so friendly and the great hospitality of our host families made this GSE trip a unique experience, which nobody or nothing can take away from us.
Marjo Evers
