Work & Office Life

Japanese slang for the workplace, corporate culture, and career

はじめに

Japan’s intense work culture has generated its own slang vocabulary. From 社畜 (corporate livestock) to ブラック企業 (black company = exploitative employer), these terms capture the realities of Japanese working life.

This chapter covers slang related to jobs, office culture, and the daily grind in Japan.

テーマ

この章のJapanese Slang一覧（80）

• 社畜 A corporate slave — someone who works excessively long hours with blind loyal...
• 根回し Behind-the-scenes consensus building — privately discussing and gaining agree...
• 忖度 Guessing and proactively catering to a superior's unspoken wishes or intentio...
• リモートワーク Remote work or working from home, typically using a computer and internet con...
• テレワーク Telework — the official and governmental term for working remotely, often use...
• ワーケーション Working remotely while on vacation — combining work and leisure in a travel d...
• 副業 A side job or side hustle done in addition to one's main employment.
• フリーランス A freelancer or self-employed independent worker who takes on projects from v...
• ノマドワーカー A digital nomad — someone who works remotely from various locations like cafe...
• 終身雇用 The lifetime employment system where employees work at one company from gradu...
• 年功序列 The seniority-based system where pay and promotions are determined by years o...
• お局 A senior female employee who acts bossy or bullies younger colleagues, especi...
• 窓際族 A sidelined employee who has been given no meaningful work and essentially si...
• 名ばかり管理職 A manager in title only — someone given a management title but with no real a...
• サービス残業 Unpaid overtime work — working extra hours without receiving overtime compens...
• 過労死 Death caused by overwork — typically from heart failure, stroke, or suicide d...
• ワークライフバランス Work-life balance — the concept of maintaining a healthy equilibrium between ...
• プレミアムフライデー Premium Friday — a government campaign encouraging workers to leave at 3 PM o...
• 働き方改革 Work-style reform — the government's comprehensive initiative to reduce overw...
• 就活 Job hunting activities by university students — the structured process of see...
• 転職 Changing jobs or making a career switch — leaving one company to work at anot...
• 退職代行 A resignation agency service that quits your job on your behalf — you never h...
• FIRE Financial Independence, Retire Early — the movement of saving and investing a...
• 脱サラ Quitting a salaried corporate job to start one's own business or pursue a com...
• ゆるブラック A company that's easy and relaxed but offers no career growth, skill developm...
• 静かな退職 Quiet quitting — doing only the bare minimum required at work without going a...
• 上司ガチャ The luck of the draw for getting a good or bad boss — implying that your boss...
• 報連相 Report-Contact-Consult — the fundamental workplace communication framework of...
• 空気を読む Reading the room — sensing the unspoken mood, expectations, or social atmosph...
• 意識高い系 A pretentiously ambitious person who ostentatiously displays self-improvement...
• キャリアアップ Career advancement — improving one's professional position through promotions...
• スキルアップ Improving or upgrading one's professional skills through training, study, or ...
• リスキリング Reskilling — learning entirely new skills to transition into a different care...
• オンボーディング The new employee onboarding process — structured activities to integrate a ne...
• OJT On-the-job training — learning skills through actual work experience rather t...
• フレックス Flextime — a flexible working hours system where employees choose their start...
• 裁量労働 A discretionary work system where employees are paid based on deemed working ...
• 有給 Paid leave or paid vacation days — time off from work with full salary.
• ズル休み Playing hooky or faking sick — skipping work or school without a legitimate r...
• ノー残デー No-overtime day — a designated day when employees are expected to leave work ...
• 定時退社 Leaving work right at the scheduled end time without doing any overtime.
• 持ち帰り仕事 Work taken home from the office; invisible or unpaid overtime done outside th...
• ぶら下がり社員 An employee who coasts along doing the bare minimum, relying on job security ...
• リストラ Corporate restructuring, especially layoffs and workforce reduction.
• 肩たたき A subtle hint or gentle push from management for an employee to resign volunt...
• 天下り A retired government bureaucrat parachuting into a cushy executive position a...
• コネ入社 Getting hired at a company through personal connections or nepotism rather th...
• ジョブ型 A job-based employment system where employees are hired for specific roles wi...
• メンバーシップ型 The traditional Japanese employment model where employees are hired as genera...
• エンゲージメント Employee engagement; the level of motivation, commitment, and emotional inves...
• 心理的安全性 Psychological safety — the belief that you can speak up, make mistakes, and s...
• 1on1 A one-on-one meeting between a manager and a team member, typically held regu...
• 多様性 Diversity — the concept of embracing varied backgrounds, perspectives, and id...
• ダイバーシティ Diversity; the English loanword version used as a corporate inclusion buzzwor...
• タスク管理 Task management — organizing, prioritizing, and tracking work items and to-do...
• デッドライン Deadline; the final date or time by which a task or project must be completed.
• MTG Meeting; an abbreviation commonly used in Japanese workplace schedules and ca...
• アジェンダ Agenda; a list of topics or items to be discussed in a meeting.
• リマインド A reminder or follow-up nudge, typically sent to confirm deadlines, meetings,...
• CC爆撃 CC-bombing — the practice of adding excessive numbers of people to the CC fie...
• チャットで Let's discuss it on chat (Slack, Teams, etc.) — a common redirect phrase when...
• ボトルネック Bottleneck — a person, process, or factor that slows down overall progress or...
• 炎上案件 A project or situation that has gone disastrously wrong, spiraling into chaos...
• デスマーチ Death march — an extremely grueling work period with unrealistic deadlines, m...
• ブレスト Brainstorming session — an informal meeting where team members freely generat...
• ローンチ Launch — releasing a new product, service, or project to the public.
• コミット To commit — pledging firmly to deliver specific results or dedicating fully t...
• PDCA Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle — a management methodology for continuous improvement...
• KPI Key Performance Indicator — a measurable target or metric used to evaluate su...
• ジェネレーションギャップ Generation gap — differences in values, communication styles, and work attitu...
• Z世代 Gen Z — the youngest generation currently in the workforce, born roughly from...
• 氷河期世代 The ice age generation — people who graduated and entered the job market duri...
• テレハラ Telework harassment — unfair treatment, invasive monitoring, or excessive pre...
• マミートラック Mommy track — the career stagnation that women experience after having childr...
• エア出勤 Fake commuting — pretending to go to work while actually being unemployed, on...
• ギバー A giver — someone who proactively helps others at work, shares knowledge, and...
• テイカー A taker — someone who primarily takes from others at work, seeking personal b...
• フルリモ Fully remote work — working entirely from home or another location without ev...
• リモハラ Remote harassment — invasive or inappropriate behavior targeting remote worke...
• クソ上司 A crappy boss — a blunt, vulgar complaint about a terrible, incompetent, or t...