Product Description

Why on earth would anyone give up a life on the open road for the regimen of a vast Japanese conglomerate? And is it really so different in Japan from everywhere else? Niall Murtagh spent years as a world traveller - hitchhiking to Istanbul, bussing to Kathmandu and crossing the Atlantic in a home-built yacht. In 1986 he closed the door on his adventurous life and settled down in Japan, eventually joining Mitsubishi as a Salaryman - a man in a shiny suit with a shiny attache case in a conglomerate with 100,000 employees. And what happens when you give up the Salaryman life? The book follows life after the corporation, giving fresh perspectives on the nature of Japanese business culture and the problems faced by outsiders in Japan.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #197329 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Review
Praise for the Hardback edition of 'The Blue-Eyed Salaryman' 'Hilarious' Daily Mail 'Astonishing' Libby Purves, Radio 4 Midweek 'Fascinating' David Thomas, Sunday Telegraph '...A rare inside look at corporate life in Japan, one that is worth more than a dozen business-school studies...' Bloomberg

Harriet Sergeant, The Spectator, 2 April 2005
The book is full of wonderful vignettes and details.

The Spectator, April 2nd, 2005
'full of wonderful vignettes and details'

Customer Reviews

Westerner turned Salaryman
If you've ever wondered how the big conglomerates of east Asia work, what goes on as they turn out all those electronic gadgets, cars, etc., this is the book for you. In recounting his own experience in Mitsubishi, the author tells how company strategy is decided, who gets promoted, who doesn't, who gets shifted to outlying branches, how management react to corporate scandals, how the unions function, how the company treats foreigner employees, etc. The book also shows what ordinary living in Japan is like for a foreigner: company dormitories and apartments, noisy neighbours, how to avoid the commuter rush, marrying into a Japanese family, sending kids to the local schools, handling xenophobic policemen.
The big question is whether an outsider can really fit into such a company. The answer seems to be that it's possible some of the time, if you are prepared to compromise a lot, but not in the long term. The big companies of Japan are just too conservative. The author shows the downside of the old-fashioned management style but he's more sympathetic to the ordinary workers.

Great insight into Japan Inc.
Although the cover review says it's "hilarious", that's a bit hyped. Still, this book has just the right amount of humour and irony to keep you entertained. If it was all humour, then it would be stereotyping and exaggerating, as many other books on Japan have done. The writing style is good, topics change from one thing to another, there are lots of nice anecdotes and you never get bored.

If you know some Japanese, you'll appreciate the names of the people described: Mr Nombiri (Easygoing), Mr Hayakui (Fasteater), Mr Higashi (East), who doesn't know much about the West, Mr Nishi (West), who is a fan of General Electric, Mr Shinsetsu (Kind), Miss Kekko (Nothanks) who doesn't want to go on a date, Prof Erai (Great), Mr Shatai (Carbody), who works for Nissan, Mr Eizo (Screenimage), who works for Xerox, etc. There are also translations of the some of the company rules: some good, some weird, and some funny. The author reflects on career decisions that caused him to switch from hitchhiker to salaryman, before going independent again. He describes how he adapted to the local culture and shows how far an outsider can go -- and should go -- in Japan Inc.

Working in Japan
This book gives a great insight into working as a foreigner in a well-known Japanese company.It is a superb book which gives a personal report on Living,Working and Experiencing the Real Japan.Niall Murtagh does not "run-down" the Japanese,nor has he been blinded by living there for so long.He is determined to give his reader an entertaining view of a Salaryman's experiences of Japanese management. I would recommend this book to anyone as a very enjoyable read,with any interest in the Japanese people and their working lives.