ILO Office for Japan Future of Work Interview Series
#5: “Voices: Workers in Non-standard Employment"
14 March 2018
According to the experts that participated in the interview series so far, the number of workers in standard employment can greatly decrease in the future while workers are expected to have diverse work styles. In this interview article series, the ILO Office for Japan asked people working as freelance or part-time workers, and one who moved to a rural area about their experiences in having non-standard forms of work.
Will you tell us about your background which led to your current work?
A (Illustrator): As a child I was not very good at talking to people. In elementary school, when a drawing of a mouse that I drew got great reaction and I got lots of compliments from classmates, I decided to make it my career in the future. After graduating from an art university, I was working with design firms but understanding client requests and developing designs as per the requests was hard work, and I thought that was not for me.Luckily, my spouse was in the position to financially support us at the time, so I ventured to become a freelance illustrator to draw what I really want to draw. It took a while to get the business on track and I put in a lot of effort and activities such as sending my portfolio to publishers, applying for competitions, and funding private exhibitions out of pocket. There were numerous occasions when jobs I received was not profitable. Today, the range of my work has increased, and the business is profitable enough for me to be financially independent.
B (Translator): I decided to become a translator and began the work by applying for trial translation with several translation companies. Doing a good translation job leaves a good impression on the focal persons at translation companies, which can lead to a next job. It also builds good relationships leading to stability in work. This requires accepting jobs continuously, which also means repeated deadlines. At times, I feel like a hamster on running wheel.
C (Japanese-language teacher): I was working for a company, but my husband might have had to relocate abroad, and I knew that re-entering the workforce would be difficult after resigning from work. I thought I needed to have professional skills, so I went to graduate school to learn Japanese-language teaching method, which I studied at university. I was able to work as a Japanese-language teacher when we moved abroad for my husband’s job. This experience helped me to work part-time at a university once we returned to Japan. Today, I continue to work part-time at several universities. Recently, the decreased ability of Japanese students in Japanese language has led many universities to have courses on communication such as honorific speech and writing a research paper, which gives opportunities for Japanese-language teachers.
D (Subsistence farming): I am engaged in subsistence farming mainly through natural farming based on the principle of “no-till, no fertilizer, no-agrichemical, insect-and-weed-friendly farming.” I harvest rice, soybean and wheat in the rice fields, grains and seasonable vegetables in the fields, and shiitake mushrooms and seasonal items such as wild vegetables and grass in the mountains. In the past decade, I spent most of my time preparing for meals in a wider sense. I also produce fermented condiment and preserved food such as miso, soy sauce, malt sugar and soy milk, so I rarely need to go shopping. I do use the internet.
After graduating from university, I worked for a foreign IT company in Tokyo for 22 years. I never changed jobs but since the ownership of our parent company changed from Italian to American, and then to Dutch, it was as though I had switched jobs. A year before I left the company, it became a subsidiary of major Japanese company, so I decided to leave in the fall the year before the 2008 global financial crisis. Since I do not tend to fit in the normal Japanese company structure, I thought it would not be the best for me to work in a traditional Japanese company. Also, I had been questioning the sustainability of Japan’s monetized economy and mass consumption society focusing on efficiency and was not comfortable to march on beyond my 50s. So I moved to my mother-in-law’s house which has fields and mountains, while my wife, who worked for a company in Tokyo, stayed behind. Originally, I thought I would move back to Tokyo in a year, but I enjoyed working in the fields and living surrounded by nature so much that I forgot about re-employment and started to plant rice in the second year. It was literally a “fruitful” experience. Despite some challenges and strong opposition from people, in the third year my wife quit her work and joined me, and we sold the house in Tokyo to start this new life.
How is contract negotiation conducted? Are there usually market rates?
A: For illustrators, there are market rates, but they are quite different between advertising and publishing. My jobs are usually in publishing and the conditions also vary by publisher. They do not usually present contracts, and occasionally, I don’t know the payment amount until I receive it in my bank account. Jobs are requested sometimes directly from the publisher and sometimes the orders come directly from the designer. There are unspoken rules such as when you accept a job in adverting such as to draw illustrations in calendars, you are not supposed to accept jobs from another firm in the same sector for a few years. Recently, I finally began to present my expectation for remuneration and conditions, but when I was younger, I could not speak out this as I was worried that this might be considered annoying. I hope that there will be more understanding for the rights of illustrators.
B: It varies by translation companies, but usually both parties agree on a basic contract, and individual translation jobs are discussed through email exchanges. There are mostly agreed upon rates for translation fees, so there are not so many issues once you start working. Wide range of people are involved in the market for translation, and thus the fees usually correspond to the quality. There are exceptions, but often people that request higher fees produce quality translation. People with certain level of skills and experiences usually do not face trouble in negotiating for higher fees. It is an industry in which one’s ability tends to be evaluated realistically. However, it would be difficult to support the entire family with just general freelance translation work. I think it may be possible to support yourself and one more person with income from translation, but no more.
C: Today, it is difficult to find a job at any university even if it is part-time, including for Japanese-language teachers. I have eight course-hours per week in different places, but it would be difficult to live off only that income. It requires some time to prepare for classes and grade test answers, which do not count as working hours. Also, no matter how good my classes are, this does not lead to increased wage as there is no such system of evaluation. Japan will probably accept more foreigners in the future and there will also be a need for Japanese-language teachers. However, current Japanese-language education in communities relies heavily on volunteers. There should also be public assistance, but this is unlikely to be addressed soon. All in all, there is a need for Japanese-language teachers, but we cannot expect conditions to improve. These points lead me to think that this field is unlikely to grow, which makes me worried about the future of promising students who are studying to be Japanese-language teachers.
D: I work in subsistence farming so in a way I employ myself, but put simply, I earn no income. I was never involved in agriculture since I grew up in a small city and started with no knowledge or skills in this area. I am still not at a level where I can earn cash income through agriculture, although my basic food, clothing and shelter needs are guaranteed. For the first few years, I did some translation and part-time work as I was worried about not having any stable income. To earn more stable income, I thought about starting a business such as a green tourism restaurant or guest house or producing unique agricultural products through managing the entire process of cultivation, processing and selling. However, I’m no longer considering this.
Our current monthly expenditure, excluding taxes and social security, would be less than 100,000 yen and we have some savings. Given that we will also have pension when we are retirement age, I do not see the need to invest our precious time securing cash income. I do not spend money compared to when I had salaried employment, but our quality of life has improved greatly. As I gain more knowledge and skills in utilizing the blessings that nature and the fields have to offer, our daily lives will be more enriched and there will be less need for money. This will create a far better rate of yield than competing to earn money or taking risks to manage and increase financial assets to address financial concerns for the future. Above all, I truly enjoy the daily “work.”
What do you do to improve your skills?
A: I think the only way is self-help efforts. I go to exhibits to learn, and exchange information with other illustrators. I draw illustrations by hand and scan them to store them as data. Purchasing equipment such as computers and software is not easy for freelancers. I also need materials such as paints and papers. I might be digressing but until recently I wrote invoices by hand. As I do everything by myself, I am busy with just keeping up and it can be difficult to try out new things.B: Day-to-day work leads to an improvement of skills. It is important to do the best for each job and get feedback as much as possible. I also do the work of checking documents that others translated so I also learn a lot from that work. It is often overlooked but the most important aspect of translation from English to Japanese is not the English language ability but the Japanese language ability. It would not be an overstatement to say that whether you can get a translation job or not depends on your Japanese language ability. The content of translation work varies greatly and there is no easy job.
It is also important to think about what end clients expect from translation. Machine translation might be effective in translating documents with routine writing such as manuals, but for translating non-routine writing it remains a supporting tool. This is because machine translation is still incapable of purposeful translation with readers in mind. It is important to be able to assess the purpose and use of a document, for example, whether it is for marketing targeted to clients, presentation to investors, or newsletter for specialists, and determine the choice of wording so that the intentions of the original document can be appropriately understood by target readers in the context of the Japanese culture. I also do not recommend using machine translation even for preparatory translation of documents with non-routine writing. You can end up spending more time to correct unnatural Japanese.
C: I think the traditional one-way method of teaching will disappear in the future with technological advances, but at the same time machines are unlikely to be able to assess the progress of each student, guide and teach as appropriate. I take initiatives to study and employ active learning method in classes, which I think students enjoy. I try as much to train myself by going to academic conferences and study sessions. However, there is no system to evaluate classes, so there are teachers who do not engage in improving skills.
D: It is basically through self-learning. There is something to be learned from repeating the daily work of going to the fields and the mountain and preparing food. When I want to learn new skills, I contact and visit people that I want to learn from. I also deepen my learning through organizing regular monthly sessions in my place to show people the practice of agricultural work, ways of organizing daily life and have them actually practice these, as well as answering questions from people coming to grow rice in the fields. Sometimes, I host workshop-style events or attend other events.
Do you ever feel at disadvantage in terms of social security? Is there a system for mutual help among people in your profession?
A: I recently joined an association for people in my profession. Members can post information on the website that the organization manages and join an insurance association. It also allows for exchange of information among the peers and to jointly organize exhibitions. B: I haven’t especially felt disadvantaged but filing tax returns is a bit of a burden. I think most people struggle more or less as it is too expensive to do it through outside professional services.
Except for the time when translation work is divided and assigned to several translators which requires coordination such as in wording, translation work is usually done alone, placing responsibility solely on yourself. I try to work diligently every day and anticipate unforeseen circumstances in setting my deadlines. It is quite difficult to manage my own time. Fortunately, I have never had the experience of not meeting a deadline, but it can feel like I am always under pressure with deadlines, which can be stressful.
C: Social security only includes public pension and national health insurance and does not cover unemployment insurance. Part-time work is very unstable as there is no guarantee for a job next year. There have been calls to create a union for Japanese-language teachers but there has been no progress. While full-time work at a university or Japanese-language school is stable, there are very few people that can get to that position. Since network among peers and senior colleagues is strong and important in the industry, I think it would be difficult for people that do not know much nor have network in the industry to find a job.
D: I am engaged in agriculture and have interactions and mutual help relations with people engaged in self-disciplined way of life in areas such as cooking, architecture, craftwork and textile dying, which is inspiring and extremely helpful at times.
I joined national health insurance and pension. There may be unexpected circumstances of illness or injuries, but I am now free from mental stress and physical pain of commuting long hours in packed trains and lead a healthy lifestyle in nature looking very carefully after my health. In fact, I do not have the issues of high blood pressure and high cholesterol anymore and my wife, who used to have severe problems of pollen allergies and shingles, doesn’t have these problems anymore. Our health is steadily improving year by year.
When are you happy to be doing what you do?
A: There are very few illustrators that are well-off economically. In the past, I knew of a male senior colleague who gave up having a family because of the unstable work. Those that have families usually have partners with salaried employment with companies. Experiences count, but there is a tendency for getting fewer jobs with age. This is because those that order the work such as editors and designers get younger. When you are young, there are jobs for illustrations for maps and fortune-telling in magazines, but it is difficult to rely on this type of work after your 40s and 50s. There is also a continuous emergence of younger illustrators, requiring you to find and develop your strength to be able to work long term throughout a lifetime career. For me, I thoroughly enjoy researching the topics that I become interested in. Recently, I published a book in which I expressed what I researched about a modern literature author through writing and illustrations. This could be my strength, and it is a great joy to be able to produce such work.B: The biggest advantage is to be able to work anytime, anywhere as long as I have the internet and a computer. For instance, it could be difficult if you have a family, but you could one day decide to move and live in Okinawa. It’s also possible to change places to live by seasons. Other benefits include always having opportunities to gain new knowledge through work. I get to read documents that people normally do not have a chance to read and have opportunities to translate professional documents that are yet to be well-known in Japan. Day in and day out, I work appreciating the opportunities that I have.
C: By interacting with students from various countries, everyday there are new discoveries and learning. It is very rewarding and fills me with lots of joy to work with young students full of hope. While the work might not be great financially, and probably there is no future for Japanese-language teachers as a profession, education remains to be an important field. I would like to expand the scope of my work and continue to be engaged in education-related work. Working with foreign students, I can feel that the world is greatly changing and moving forward, while in Japan we have an illusion that we are still in the past age of glory.
D: Each day, it brings me much joy to be in the fields or organizing and preparing food and life. Even if income might not be great, the greatest advantage of leading a self-sufficient life is to have the responsibility to decide and lead my own time and work. To work is to live my life without encroaching on others’ space, to serve my roles and duties, and to grow as a person until the last day of my life. To live is to work and work is joy of living itself.