Rakuten Culture
what is it like to work with Rakuten Japan as SWE? i see they have asakai meeting which dont bother me so much. is there anything i should watchout? YOE: 3 Years
I live in Japan for 10y: avoid at any cost any company with Japanese management. You would hate your life and the country. They don't work hard, they work bad, which is time consuming. This is the epitome of inefficiency and amount of stupid pointless rules. Just don't come to Japan for a tech related job, it is just not worth it and it is very underpaid (very very). Mind also that Japan is terribly racist and not kawaii tentacles sempai. Work environment is, anywhere in Japan, passive aggressive.
A friend of mine, SWE at Yahoo in the US, wanted to come to Japan. I set him up with a tech recruiter friend and he ended up joining Rakuten. He quit and left the country 9 months later. I’ve interviewed current Rakuten employees. They’re unanimous in hating it. Have a look on Reddit if you want some concrete stories. It’s just not even worth considering. There are good companies to work at in Japan and Tokyo is a great place to live. But the thought of working at Rakuten shouldn’t even cross your mind. It’s a shit company with shit practices. When you apply there you have to read a book written by the CEO and write an essay about it. If that isn’t a red flag I don’t know what is.
Only way to tolerate Japan is: -2y package (no more!) -No contact with Japanese stakeholders -English only environment -No Japanese management -International company Basically an environment leaving no grasp for their perpetual bullshit. May Japan be limited to your supermarket trip and you'll be more or less safe. No Japan in a work environment. You wanna be fired for having your shoes too black or your shirt too pink on pink shirt day? Come to Japan. And yes those examples are real (Nomura company). If it doesn't check ALL the marks, run away.
Better than traveloka