Work & Office Life

Japanese slang for the workplace, corporate culture, and career

Introduction

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.

Themes

All Japanese Slang in This Chapter (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...