Is overtime still a Japanese virtue? 残業は未だに日本の美徳なのか

四月は日本では新しい月です。特に大学を卒業したての人たちは、ようやく内定を貰った会社でその月から働き始めます。

April is a new month in Japan. During that month, those who just graduated from college or the university starts working for the company who gave them a job offer.

スキルに関係なく長く働けば働くほど、受け取る給料は上がります。これは長いあいだおおくの日本企業における基本的な仕組みです。その不利な点は前から働いている人が必然的に残りそして地位を独占してしまうということです。これがまさに日本の縦社会を作っています。

The longer you work for a company, the more salary raises you can get regardless of skills. This has been the fundamental system for most Japanese companies for a long time, the disadvantage of which is that people who started working way ahead, the so-called baby boomers aged forty to fifty, inevitably remain and occupy roles and positions.This is the very factor that forms a rigid vertical society

２０１４年の厚生労働省の調査によりますと、31％の新卒者が3年以内に離職したのことです。その離職率は年々増えてきているように思えます。主な理由は残業などの労働条件に満足できなかったからです。

According a 2014 research by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, 31% of the employed fresh graduates leave the company within 3 years. The rate seems to have been increasing every year. The main reason is that they were not satisfied with the working conditions such as overtime.

黄金期とも呼ばれた高度経済成長の時にい、一生懸命そして長時間働いた日本国民のおかげで、日本は見事世界の発展国の仲間入りを果たしました。それゆえ、残業は一種の日本の美徳としてみなせれているのです。これは今あなたがどのくらい会社に貢献したかという基準だということが未だにだに信じられています。そしてその時代を経験した団塊世代は自分たちがやってきたことを若者に押し付けようとしているのです。それは何となく3年以内に辞めてしまう若者の気持ちがわかるような気がします。

Because the Japanese working harder and longer during the "Golden Age" (1955-1972), the country was able to become one of the most developed countries. Hence, overtime has been regarded as a kind of Japanese virtue. This is because, until now it is believed that overtime is a criteria for how much contributions you made for a company. And, the people who went through that era try to push the young ones to work at the same rate as before. It convinces me somehow why young Japanese people end up leaving within three years. 

「私たちはこの苦しみを味わった、だから今度は君たちの番だよ！」

"I already went through that suffering, so now I pass the torch to you, young men!"

残業はもはや美徳ではありません。私たちはそれを非生産的時間と、今の時代とらえなければなりません。

Overtime is no longer a virtue, and so we have to consider it as a non-productive period in this age.

そのような社会で閉塞感を感じた後、若者は日本でのストレスを感じないような職場を探し、海外で働く傾向にあります。ここフィリピンでは新しい人生をはじめる若い日本人の方をよく見かけます。

Having felt suffocated in such society, lately young people tend to work abroad, searching for a workplace where they don't feel as much stress as they did in Japan. I see many of them trying to start a new life here in the Philippines.

おそらく近い将来、少子化に伴い日本には若者が消えてしまうかもしれません。

Probably in the near future, there would be no more young Japanese people in Japan, along with the decrease in the population.