Though I announced my plans to move on here a couple of Fridays ago, I hesitated to submit my official two weeks notice until just last Friday. The response was not unlike what I thought: a bit of a surprise, a bit troubling, and a bit of bewilderment. I tried to keep the clear message that I can no longer work here due to personal reasons, mainly finding a place where both my wife and I can work. Hence, New York!
This was not without an interesting Japanese cultural lesson, either. I made my point very clear that I would like to continue to support the company on a side-business, contract basis, helping out with web-related and graphic design related tasks. I figured, well I already know the company and what they're looking to do; surely this shouldn't be a problem. My Japanese manager replied,
"Maybe we will have to get permission from your new boss?"
"No, this would be directly through me, my own side business."
"But your boss must know about it, right? We need his permission maybe."
"Uh, no. You can go send the bill directly to me, to my address."
"Hmmm...."
In Japan, it's considered unacceptable to hold any kind of side business when employed full-time by a large corporation. For example, if my manager was contracted on the side to program robots for a customer on the weekend, it would be completely rude to the company that he had gone behind their back to contract business. Unacceptable to the point of demotion (remember, Japanese companies hardly ever fire anyone). I get the point here, but have a very hard time relating that to my situation. And what a fine example of just one of the many differences between Japanese and American business ethics!
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