Pros
- A lot of holidays. - How they decide your salary is clear - based on your age and how long you've been with the company. - People are generally nice. - You might get to participate in large construction & infrastructure projects both within and outside Japan.
Cons
- Very conservative, sometimes to the horrifying level. E.g. If you're in a company dorm you are not allowed to bring a person of opposite sex in, you have to push a button when you come home = you get into a trouble if you stay out all night without prior notice, etc. But if you want to live on your own it's very expensive to do so in Tokyo as there's no compensation, and also difficult for non-Japanese citizens (no company support for paperworks etc.). - They have no idea what to do with "internationals". They hire non-Japanese and overseas-educated Japanese but those recruits keep leaving within a couple of years because they are often put into positions where their skills (languages, previous work experiences) are completely wasted. - The pay is low until you get older - 40, maybe. - Very inefficient work-flow. You need a lot of stamps to get your work done. Other divisions within the group often use their own IT systems that do not necessarily work with others' systems, which makes it very difficult to get things done more efficiently. The company makes us do small "kaizen" activities every year but fails to notice a bigger picture.