Top 11 Worst Companies in Japan to Work for

A deep-dive into the worst places to work in Japan, featuring direct comments from employees and insights into exactly why these workplaces are so bad

the Youtube SHUNChan has made an excellent video on why working in Japan can be so bad

Today, I'm thrilled (and, frankly, dismayed) to discuss a list that's as revealing as it is necessary: The worst companies in Japan to work for.

I’ve worked tirelessly to give you a comprehensive rundown of the toughest places to work in Japan, enriched with firsthand accounts from employees and in-depth explanations of the problematic conditions they face.

The names might surprise you, including heavy hitters like Yodobashi Camera, AEON Retail, and Nissan Motors scoring top (or should we say bottom?) honors.

Now, you've probably come across the term "karoshi (過労死)," or death from overwork, and other jaw-dropping aspects of Japanese work practices that can seem almost medieval to the uninitiated. It's high time these issues were not just whispered about in the corridors of power but blasted into the spotlight where they belong. And that's exactly what this list aims to do.

The data for the list

The brains behind this operation are the people at Diamond News (Japan’s Wall Street Journal), who, alongside a venture specializing in corporate credit management, Alarm Box (based out of Shinjuku, Tokyo), have meticulously gathered a year's worth of employee feedback from January to December 2023. They sifted through the noise to spotlight the companies that have, let's say, room for improvement when it comes to treating their workforce right.

The methodology is sound – leveraging vast amounts of data from Alarm Box ( company that specializes in monitoring and analyzing online complaints and feedback, identifying trends and issues across various industries to enhance workplace and customer satisfaction), which scoured over 16,633 companies and found 3,009 of them had employee complaints, adding up to a whopping 9,230 pieces of feedback. The average complaints per company? About three. But the ones making the top of this notorious list have far exceeded this average, indicating a significant level of discontent among their ranks.

The Ranking