Are we all in the same boat?: The ‘black company problem’ in Japan

Abstract

This study examines the rise of ‘black companies (exploitative enterprise)’ in a country with a legal system, labour regulations for employment conditions and employee rights, and a constitution guaranteeing freedom of work choices. The study concludes that Japan’s black company problem is different from the sweatshop problem, which is a typical example of labour exploitation in developing countries. We consider the cause of this problem to be the existence of what can be termed family, called ‘ie’ in Japanese, a historical and cultural mindset of Japanese people towards their companies. It is exploited to use strategically by the black company.