ビジネス日本語講座

What does ikki-tsūkan (一気通貫) mean in Japanese business? Originally a mahjong term, it has become a common expression in Japanese companies, describing a process handled continuously from beginning to end. You might hear phrases such as “supporting clients from planning to operati...

Why does simply feeling good no longer seem enough? In Japan, sauna culture often uses the word totonou, meaning to feel physically and mentally “reset” or balanced. But I sometimes feel uncomfortable with this idea. Modern life encourages us to give everything a purpose: reading...

Modern life demands that we behave rationally, efficiently, and responsibly. But perhaps human beings also need places where they can temporarily “go crazy.” After trying a karaoke app and watching strangers sing together online, I began thinking about digital communities, identi...

Is giving money to a person begging on the street the same as sending money to someone sharing their struggles on YouTube? In this episode, I explore a crucial difference. Traditional charity ideally aims to reduce suffering until assistance is no longer necessary. On social medi...

What happens when people stop selling only their labor and begin selling their entire lives? In this episode, I use Marx’s ideas about labor and alienation as a starting point to examine YouTube and social media. Today, poverty, loneliness, unemployment, failure, daily routines, ...

What if employee suffering were treated as a hidden business cost? In this episode, I explore how companies carefully track materials, logistics, labor, inventory, and productivity while largely ignoring the emotional and psychological costs of unnecessary meetings, internal poli...

Why does self-help culture turn social problems into personal problems? In this episode, I examine how low wages, inequality, insecure employment, and difficult working conditions are often reframed as individual challenges requiring better skills, habits, productivity, or entrep...

Why does self-help culture love habits so much? In this episode, I examine how ordinary behaviors such as waking up early, reading, exercising, and arriving ten minutes early are transformed into supposed formulas for success. Successful people may have good habits, but that does...

In this episode, I examine the suffering of corporate employees through the language of accounting. Companies constantly try to reduce material, logistics, and production costs, yet the emotional cost imposed on employees is rarely treated the same way. I call this “the cost of s...

In this episode, I explore a peculiar aspect of Japanese corporate culture: the belief that work should involve visible suffering. Producing results efficiently is not always enough. Employees may also be expected to look busy, tired, stressed, and deeply involved in workplace re...

In this episode, I explore why people become psychologically conflicted when they hide their desires behind morality. Wanting money, recognition, success, or status is not necessarily wrong. Problems arise when we fail to obtain what we want and then convince ourselves that those...

What happens when people leave a company but remain employees in their minds? In this episode, I introduce the idea of the “employee in the brain” and “psychological lifetime employment.” After years inside organizations, people may struggle to see their accumulated knowledge, sk...