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Welcome mat out overseas for Japanese engineers

31 Comments

Despite the political acrimony that's become rampant between Japan versus South Korea and China over the past year or so, the welcome mat is still out for one type of Japanese: Engineers who have left their jobs at Japanese manufacturers and are willing to work for the highest foreign bidders, often companies in the two aforementioned countries.

As reported in Nikkan Gendai (March 21), this situation made the headlines recently when a 52-year-old Japanese engineer was arrested on suspicion of providing research data from Toshiba related to flash memory to a company in South Korea. An acquaintance of the arrested man divulged his motive -- "to have a good time and take it easy for the rest of my life" -- supposedly funded by a substantial bonus from the company that had procured his services.

"The suspect had held a managerial position in a major semiconductor firm, but in 2007 his company demoted him back to a rank-and-file position," relates a business reporter. "A year later, he quit and joined the Korean company."

Japanese electronics firms, particularly those that have incurred heavy debts, have been downsizing and selling off their plants and equipment. While the engineers employed therein might be regarded as redundant at home, to foreign rivals they are seen as "geese that lay golden eggs."

Recruitment activities have been vigorous. Job offers posted by headhunter firms typically contain such listings as "Electronic component development; 15 million yen/year; place of work: Korea"; or "Automotive development; 10~13 million yen/year; place of work: Chongqing, China"; or "Boiler design; 10 million yen/year; place of work: Seoul."

Many such ads also offer such generous incentives as "paid moving expenses," "Income tax subsidy included," "paid home leave" and others.

Major Japanese companies such as Sony and Panasonic typically pay an engineer around 40 years of age an annual salary in the neighborhood of 8 to 9 million yen, so moving abroad usually results in boosted wages. The prospects are said to be particularly appealing to engineers specializing in such ailing product sectors in the Japan domestic market as TV sets and refrigerators, to name two examples, whereas these items are still enjoying strong growth overseas.

For major companies seeking to up the stakes on their market share, the sky's almost the limit on wage offers.

The Reuters news agency reported that one company in Korea's Samsung Group sought to recruit a Japanese engineer under these terms: "Annual salary 60 to 100 million yen; 3-to-5-year contract; bonus of several tens of millions of yen upon signing the contract; personal secretary and car with driver, plus furnished 100-square-meter condominium included."

It's pretty obvious, says Nikkan Gendai, that for a company to justify such generous outlays, the people they hire would be expected to bring with them cutting-edge data. A good analogy would be the lavish salaries that American Major League Baseball teams lay out for Japanese superstars like Yu Darvish and Masahiro Tanaka.

"Foreign companies began picking up Japanese engineers from around 10 years ago, and they have been one of the major factors in supplying the driving force for South Korean and Chinese companies," says journalist Norifumi Mizogami. "With the ongoing collapse of Japan's system of lifetime employment, I suppose that number of talented engineers seeking jobs with foreign firms will increase in the future."

Such examples as semiconductors and electroluminescent panel technology, which had once been dominated by Japanese firms, are now being challenged by South Korean and Chinese firms. Another sector seen as having little future in Japan is nuclear power technology; engineers specializing in this field might be the next ones to leave. This, the article concludes, is how the decline and fall of Japanese manufacturing will no doubt proceed.

© Japan Today

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31 Comments
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How nice.

These very same Japanese workers have to work in countries where many of the people consider them the devil incarnate.

-5 ( +6 / -11 )

These very same Japanese workers have to work in countries where many of the people consider them the devil incarnate.

Don't believe all the hype. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. While the governments of these countries have troubles with each other, most of the common people are fine. I go to China regularly with my Japanese clients and/or staff, and the people we meet with are nothing less than polite and friendly. We've had some great times out drinking after business has concluded.

13 ( +14 / -1 )

I note that this article has no stated author. Is that because whoever wrote it apparently cannot distinguish between industrial espionage and an international labour market.

When an employer says, "Hey, I'll pay top dollar for the skills and work ethic of a Japanese Engineer" that's just the international labour market in action.

When an employer says, "Hey, I'll pay huge sums for secret information from Japanese companies and give you a job afterwards", that's industrial espionage.

How any sane person cannot tell the difference, yet presumes to write an article on the international labour market is mind-boggling.

0 ( +12 / -13 )

Yeah, it's definitely fear-mongering hype.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

That may be true in your case Strangerland, but let us not forget the riots of the past few years where Japanese businesses and products were torched to the ground, and citizens assaulted in China based on tensions between China and Japan.

0 ( +8 / -8 )

You do realize that the media only makes money by emphasizing the bad events, right? If they reported an accurate balance of the good and bad of things regarding Japanese in China, the news would be boring.

There are literally tens of thousands of Japanese living in China.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

They're giving your unemployed people, good jobs. Shouldn't you be grateful?

These very same Japanese workers have to work in countries where many of the people consider them the devil incarnate.

-3 ( +8 / -11 )

I guess it's cost efficient to bribe rival companies' employees than to actually spend on R&D.

Deduced to mere assemblers.

http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/phone/news/view.jsp?req_newsidx=119527

-1 ( +8 / -9 )

Japanese firms should make their R&D staff sign non-disclosure agreements and be prepared to enforce them vigorously. Likewise for international patent and trademark infringements -- although Chinese courts prefer not to concern themselves with such minor details.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

The suggestion that it's Japanese engineers that are the driving force for increased competitiveness in the markets in China and Korea is a bit much (why only those nations mentioned, if Japanese are being recruited elsewhere?), but there is cause for concern over the 'brain-drain' here when it comes to engineers. And it's not just the tech market, but also engineers in the field of nuclear tech. Many graduate here but don't want to work here after Fukushima, so there are a minimal number of people actually manning the stations, never mind that they are still off-line.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

'These very same Japanese workers have to work in countries where many of the people consider them the devil incarnate.'

Strangerland beat me to it. Many of our staff have been transferred to China and given that most are open-minded and have learned the language, they have found their time there interesting and rewarding. I've spent over a year in China overall and have unfailingly been treated well. I have come across a few who regurgitate nationalist nonsense when the word 'Japan' comes up but they tend not to be businesspeople, have never visited Japan and wouldn't want to. I've met some in Japan who react in the same way to China. A pity.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

ok, thanks for the info Strangerland and Jimizo.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Perhaps is more J-companies treated their staff better(haha I know) then the grass wouldn't be greener outside Japan, BUT often it can be, just sayin!

Another good reason to learn a second language, then one isn't STUCK where they were born, options are a good thing.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

GW hit the nail on the head here. A lot of J-firms underpay and overabuse their engineers. Paying Software Engineers 4 million yen a year for a 12 hour work day... Ouch.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I guess it's cost efficient to bribe rival companies' employees than to actually spend on R&D.

Rather, if they can do competitive R&D at all, since those two countries are known for copying and plagiarism.

http://zenkimchi.com/featured/a-culture-of-copying/

http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/25/why-do-the-chinese-copy-so-much/

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

It's really the fault of the Japanese job market, or lack thereof.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Engineers can pretty much go where ever they can work in the language. And the knowledge in their heads is transportable so why bother stealing the IP when you can hire the engineers?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Braindrain happens everywhere. Even on so very different islands.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"Braindrain happens everywhere. Even on so very different islands."

I think this is very true. It's something any declining economy like Japan has to cope with. The terms on which Japanese companies tend to hire domestic and foreign IT engineers are comparatively onerous -- long work hours, unpaid overtime, low and stagnant base wages and a general lack of innovation. Certainly the pay is far lower than Hong Kong, New York, London or even Seoul.

I'd imagine that this will become a strong trend in Japan and the rest of Asia, and that the lifetime employment system is probably going to quickly become one for the history books... as it did in Europe and the Americas.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I highly doubt working at a Korean company could be better than working at a Japanese company.

Yeah... well maybe the pay is better.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

"Japanese firms should make their R&D staff sign non-disclosure agreements and be prepared to enforce them vigorously"

Seems a bit hypocritical to me being that many Japanese firms copied or are using discontinued U.S. products as models for their product lines. Many people dont know that allot of products in Japan have their origin in the U.S. I have seen this done, and it seems to be the order of business in not just Japan but allot of Asia. Let the U.S. take all the risk, then Japan can copy/improve.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Having experience traveling as an engineer to Japan and seeing how my Japanese counter parts worked is like comparing Japanese baseball players vs US baseball players salaries! The companies get all the money make the JP engineers work hard to get little money, in the US the get paid better salaries. I can see why Japanese engineers can be bought!! The salaries are less than starting salaries for college engineering graduates in the US straight out of college.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

biznasMar. 24, 2014 - 06:50PM JST Seems a bit hypocritical to me being that many Japanese firms copied or are using discontinued U.S. products as models for their product lines. Many people dont know that allot of products in Japan have their origin in the U.S. I have seen this done, and it seems to be the order of business in not just Japan but allot of Asia. Let the U.S. take all the risk, then Japan can copy/improve.

.... oh you have to be kidding me. Japanese products are cutting edge in most areas of manufacturing otherwise they wouldn't be able to compete, and here you're making out that they're using discontinued U.S. products? Who are you trying to fool here, because if you seriously believe that the U.S. is so great that they're decades ahead of everyone else then you've been drinking a little too deeply from the fountain of U.S. propaganda. The simple fact is that most G8 countries are pretty much the same in terms of technology. Some countries have a slight edge in certain areas, but mostly they're roughly on a par in terms of technology.

And in ALL the major manufacturers around the world, both in the U.S. and Japan, it is standard practice to purchase and reverse engineer their competition's products and see what makes them tick.

-11 ( +2 / -13 )

Salary in Japan is extremely low compared to the rest of the world

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I hear Samsung pays some Japanese engineers around $1,000,000 a year. Usually, they get a five year contract.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The article is absolutely right, I don't know if we can ever say for sure just what impact the "internationalization of the labour market" has had on Japanese firms.

I think the main problem in Japan is the salary-to-cost-of-living index. Costs are going up, yet salaries are stagnating. Many Japanese companies are not willing to pay employees a fair share of profits, and that's exasperated by a tradition which prevents early promotion based on performance and bureaucracy which makes innovation virtually impossible; as a result I can see why a lot of Japanese Engineers would be tempted to flee to other markets with their knowledge and experience (and possibly corporate secrets).

Especially 2nd and 3rd generation from abroad or those of mixed ethnicity Japanese (often looked at as outsiders), who would be even more tempted to go to a country if they spoke the language and got the right offer.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Frungy,

Got to be kidding you? your saying that the Japanese have invented everything they export? All invention/innovation came from abroad, the Japanese only improve on it or change it. Sure their products are superior to the U.S. in some regards, but they didnt originate the idea. By the time the Japanese get the idea, the U.S. has already moved on to something else. Ive worked at so many places where they take something from abroad, change it, then sell it domestically.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Well the Japanese do have the most high tech toilets in the world. China, Japan, and Europe has leaders in train technology. I think Germany has a bit of a lead in MegLev over Japan. In aerospace, the US has a lead over Europe. In Space tech, the US has a lead since the only private companies directly involved in Space are US companies. Apple is still a world leader as is Microsoft. For war planes, the Russians may take the lead soon. Even though Japan loves robots, the US may be leading. Biomed and Pharmaceuticals, I'd give the a grudging lead to the US.

But since China and Korea are direct economic threats to the Japanese economy, a brain drain to these countries are much more of a threat but the J-Gov seems to be clueless.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

biznasMar. 26, 2014 - 07:43PM JST Got to be kidding you? your saying that the Japanese have invented everything they export?

No, I didn't.

All invention/innovation came from abroad, the Japanese only improve on it or change it.

No, it didn't.

Sure their products are superior to the U.S. in some regards, but they didnt originate the idea.

Every idea? No. Some ideas? Yes.

By the time the Japanese get the idea, the U.S. has already moved on to something else. Ive worked at so many places where they take something from abroad, change it, then sell it domestically.

No. Just no. Japan does its own fair share of stealing ideas and technology (as does every manufacturer across the world), but there are many things that have been invented in Japan. The first CD player was made in Japan, the first pocket calculator, the first glass integrated circuit, the first flash memory chip.... there's a huge list of inventions and innovations from Japan, just as there is from the U.S., the U.K. and so forth.

I heard a similar argument from someone else recently claiming that the Thai couldn't innovate, and as such would never be able to compete with the Japanese. This sort of thinking, asserting that an entire nation of human beings is unable to think/innovate/jump/etc. is pure and utter nonsense and racism.

-11 ( +1 / -12 )

It's a question of compensation. The average engineer in Tokyo makes absolutely nothing compared to many other major cities such as New York, London, Paris or even Seoul.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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