Tokyo Stories
why trivial things are the way they are

Different cultures have different pace of having lunch. In Japan, it seems that people are quite busy on weekdays, that they prefer a fast-serving stands over a proper service and a table.

There can be many reasons why they have quick lunch, but the primary reason is because they have a fixed lunch break. Restaurants are super busy between noon and 1 o’clock, simply because many companies do not allow employees to go out otherwise.

This very strict lunch break is typically not only for having lunch, but also to do your personal chores. Going to the bank, make a few personal calls, they should all be done within this one hour.

In addition, I heard from several sources that companies also restrict the Internet access. Many Japanese companies monitor Internet usage, and you are not allowed to browse freely, except during the lunch hours. One Frenchman told me, “it only takes 15 minutes for my colleagues to finish eating.” They are basically in a terrible rush to make sure they have time to access Internet.

Can a workplace really draw a clear line between what is personal and what not? When we built house and had quite a strict requirements for the built-in speakers, our architect suffered from the lack of free Internet access: Basically he couldn’t check the website that we wanted to him to check.

And another aspect I find irritating, is how do they explain the fact that many Japanese bring work at home, if they are concerned of how people spend time at workspace, shouldn’t families have a right to complain the invasion of their personal space?

I obviously lack a fair viewpoint. After all, I have never worked for a Japanese company.