New Chapter

We’re back from a great trip to Egypt, and there was a lot to write about. Below you can find the journal entries for our trip – which may or may not interest you. They’re really for my own memory, so it may make for less-than-interesting reading for other folks.

One other piece of news is that upon returning to work in 2018, I began working as a permanent employee of Kawasaki Heavy Industries. This is a big change for a lot of reasons.

When I first started working at KHI as a dispatch employee my place here was very tenuous. Working at the whim of not one company but two, I could lose my job at any minute, and it made making long term plans pretty difficult. Later I was able to cut out the dispatch company and start working for KHI directly, and I worked like this for about seven years. As a contract employee my job security was year by year, and I always had to be ready to jump somewhere else as my contract wrapped up. This was more job security, but still a little stressful at the end of each contract.

So this new status is “permanent employee”, which is exactly like it sounds. I’ll be working here at KHI until I retire, or until I would like to leave for another job. Permanent employees are very rarely fired (it would take murder convictions, terrorist acts, things like that) and the employees are expected to put the company first and be loyal workers. I’m not sure I’ll put the company in first place (but it’ll be in my top ten!)

In return for this loyalty I’ll be able to get the same benefits as before (plenty of vacation days, freedom to leave on time, a fair salary) with a few more that come with permanent employment (much bigger quarterly(!) bonuses, eligibility for promotions and career advancement, a retirement fund, union membership, almost infinite job security).

Maybe the biggest benefit for me day to day is that instead of being an outsider working at a company and trying to stay in their good graces, I will be an equal employee with everyone else. This helps a lot with that feeling of camaraderie and teamwork – one that I haven’t really felt since I was working in the USA. Foreigners in Japan tend to be treated as disposable resources by companies (especially foreign teachers, with more young people looking for adventure and coming off the boat every year), so this job situation is kind of like the Holy Grail for me.

Still, with a new status may come new responsibilities and it is still early – who knows what strange things I may be called upon to do? As long as the work is challenging, the students are motivated, and the overtime is at a rational level, I’m in.