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It can be unfortunately uncommon to read headlines about some Japanese companies not offering much in the way of relief when it comes to working hours and vacation time, with a heavy workload to boot. Japanese idol group otaku can count on at least one company, however, to offer some special reprieve specifically geared towards their fandom.
President of Hiroro Inc. @itaru9Z recently made waves on Twitter for revealing that his company would offer paid leaves for fans of idols who needed to take time off to grieve or celebrate should their favorite member of an idol group leave due to graduating from said group or get married.
The president of the company shared the above Tweet stating that "It's been decided that an employee's favorite idol will graduate, so the company has added a congratulation or condolence leave clause to its work rules." The new clause refers to the "graduation" of an idol, which is the term used for when a member departs from the group they perform in.
The clause is being called the oshi kyuuka, with oshi being common lingo in the idol community for "favorite member", although it can sometimes refer to the fan of that performer themselves. The clause states that in addition to allowing employees to (if they apply a week in advance) leave work early or take a day off in the event of an unannounced or guerrilla live concert, they are also allowed to take 10 paid days off should their favorite idol member graduate, and even three paid days off for "second favorite" members and subsequently ranked members.
All days off are paid in full, and a final clause says that in the case of emotional or mental damage to the employee, additional recovery days can be added as necessary.
As for the reasoning behind such special idol fan specific leave, it's apparently because the president and the company itself are close to the situation by nature. Hiroro Inc works in a variety of entertainment-related ventures, including holding live idol events and producing a photo book of singer Kanna Murata.
According to Yahoo News, @itaru9Z stated " "I just talked to the employee in question and they were in a state of depression that I felt really bad for, so I realized that this system is absolutely necessary for otaku to work."
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18 Comments
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Ricky Sanchez
Men can't get baby leave without being shamed, but can get leave due to an "event" with an Idol? This system is so messed up. lol. All I can do is sit back, drink my Coffee and laugh...just spit out my Coffee reading this, laughing so hard.
Mickelicious
OK, so your favourite member of PTQ47 leaves the band and you're so heartbroken you can't function. Bottle it up for a week and then take one off?
Mocheake
This is beyond childish and silly but if my company ever adopted it, I would use it to my advantage. It's just like when smokers got unlimited smoke breaks, I suddenly became a really heavy smoker too, although I never actually lit up. Play the system don't let it play you.
snowymountainhell
These ‘staged’ depictions are always laughable.
starpunk
So you don't get a paternity leave but if your juvenile heart is broken because your favorite girlie quits a phony lip-synching overchoriographed band made for little kids and pervs and you get paid leave to sobby sobby sobby over this 'tragedy'. OK, man. Alright, uh-huh.
Some people got their priorites badly misplaced. Some people got rocks in their heads.
kohakuebisu
The question here is whether you have to declare your favourite idol in advance or can just change it whenever you fancy a holiday.
Are idols like schoolkids and graduate at a certain time of year? Is there a band whose members always graduate during the ski season?
Harry_Gatto
Don't get too hysterical about this folks, it's only one tinpot little company:
divinda
@Mickelicious
Band? PTQ47 has only 1 member.
He is a French archer.
https://twitter.com/ptq47
Sven Asai
I think it’s a very unusual and great idea , because it is first time considering what really matters to such people. You probably all would get days off if family is involved, in some cases your bad father or strict mother dies, who beat you or raped you or almost made you commit suicide, nobody cares, you have to grieve and are once more pressured to tribute to what you detested for years or decades...So why not better like in this case , get days off if someone is disappearing from entertainment who is your deep-hearted idol, someone you really admired or were fond of and made you happy everyday?
Brian Wheway
I think some companies/someone have got there priorities wrong.
Chottobaka
This company is in the entertainment business. This has nothing at all to do with values or priorities. It's classic bazuru marketing and obviously had the desired effect. Smart!
GBR48
The level of conceptual perspective-taking in this thread is hitting a new low.
Would you empathise with someone whose football team had just been relegated, or would you tell them it was just a game?
Would you empathise with someone whose 10-year companion, best friend and child-substitute 'fur baby' had just died in their arms, or would you tell them to just buy another one from the pet shop?
People are different. Things may matter quite differently to others to how they do to you.
'Compassionate leave' is common and is used flexibly by good managers, as culturally and individually appropriate. Japan being Japan, as with bullying, there seems to be a specific term for each of many variants of a very similar thing.
This may just be clever marketing, but some of the posters in this thread are not covering themselves in glory.
In a country with such a high suicide rate amongst the young, this is an issue teachers should certainly be aware of. The stress on young people in the Japanese workplace is also quite fearsome. If people are being pushed to the edge, you never know what might be keeping them going.
We could all be a lot kinder to each other, particularly online.