Comments on: Learning about the unwritten office rules http://whatjapanthinks.com/2009/03/29/learning-about-the-unwritten-office-rules/ From kimono to keitai; research Japanese facts and figures through translated opinion polls and surveys. Thu, 10 Apr 2014 22:29:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.2 By: Drew http://whatjapanthinks.com/2009/03/29/learning-about-the-unwritten-office-rules/comment-page-1/#comment-156004 Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:28:15 +0000 http://whatjapanthinks.com/?p=1732#comment-156004 Agreed with the difficult translation of the word 先輩 (sempai). For any benefit of others, your sempai is anyone who is your senior, but the use of the word implies
you are in a situation of being assisted by them, or expected to be assisted by them. Similarly, you being the 後輩 (kouhai), the “junior”, puts you in the role
of being expected to be helped by others who know more than you in your surroundings situation, and invites assistance.

It’s more than just help, it’s also involved in sharing responsibility- blame for something wrong can be shifted around if you were not properly informed of something
by your sempai, and similarly, you can avoid total blame in some cases for being the unknowledgable kouhai. It’s supposed to be a give/take system, and sometimes
it works really well.

]]> By: Ken Y-N http://whatjapanthinks.com/2009/03/29/learning-about-the-unwritten-office-rules/comment-page-1/#comment-155937 Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:01:31 +0000 http://whatjapanthinks.com/?p=1732#comment-155937 It’s the oldest woman in the pool of OLs (Office Ladies), the most senior female employee, who – well, I don’t really know what she does, but the term used, O-tsubone-sama, is the title for the most senior lady in a samurai/daimyo’s concubine, the top dog. I suppose you have to treat her right so that the rest of the female staff will cooperate with you?

]]> By: amuchmoreexotic http://whatjapanthinks.com/2009/03/29/learning-about-the-unwritten-office-rules/comment-page-1/#comment-155853 Sun, 29 Mar 2009 10:11:30 +0000 http://whatjapanthinks.com/?p=1732#comment-155853 What do they mean by “the veteran female employee”?

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