Link to section💼 Employment Status
Company directors had the highest median pay at ¥16 million, while temporary workers had the lowest at ¥5.5 million.
Directors were also most likely to be native or bilingual English speakers, with 82% compared to 36% of temporary workers.
Link to section🧑💼️ Job Title
Those with an Engineering Manager or Manager job title made a median of ¥12.5 million. Those with a Senior Engineer title made ¥10.5 million, while Software Engineers made ¥8.5 million. System Engineers had the lowest compensation, making a median of ¥3.5 million.
Link to section🏢 Employer Type
Those working for a Japanese subsidiary of an international company made 35% more than those working for a Japanese headquartered company. The difference in pay continues to trend down, from a peak of 93% more in 2023, 73% more in 2023, and 47% more in 2024. This trend has been driven by respondents at subsidiaries having a lower median compensation while that of respondents at Japanese headquartered companies remains stable.
Link to section💬 English Usage
Respondents who always used English had the highest compensation, with a median of ¥10.5 million. They were also the least likely to work for a Japanese headquartered company.
Link to section💬 Japanese Usage
83% of respondents who always used Japanese worked for a company headquartered in Japan, whereas only 41% of respondents who never used it worked for one.
Link to section🕐 Hours per week
32% of respondents who worked 50+ hours were looking for a new job, whereas only 16% overall were.
Link to section🗄️ Work Location
45% of respondents who could choose whether to work fully remotely or not still chose to regularly go into the office.
Link to section🔍 Job Search Status
37% of respondents who could not work remotely were looking for a job — at least twice the rate of those with hybrid or fully remote policies. While job seekers had a median of six years of experience compared to eight for others, experience did not appear to be a major factor. Even among respondents with the same level of experience, those unable to work remotely were still much more likely to be job hunting.
Link to section😡 Discrimination
While 31% of women reported they had been discriminated on the basis of gender or gender identity, only 2% of men did.
The median total compensation of those who were discriminated on the basis of political beliefs or affiliations was ¥18.5 million, double the overall median.
Link to section😁 Job Happiness
Only 16% of respondents felt negatively about their current job.
Less than 1% of respondents who were very happy with their job were looking for a new one. This percentage increased the less happy respondents were, with 61% of respondents who were very unhappy actively searching for a new one.
Link to section🏭 Employer Industry
The manufacturing and consulting & services industries had the lowest compensation, with respondents making a median of ¥7.5 million. They were also the industries where respondents were most likely to use Japanese exclusively.
Link to section⏳ Meeting Hours
Longer meeting hours were correlated with more professional experience. Respondents who said they never had meetings had a median of 3.6 years of experience, whereas those who had 15 hours or more of them had a median of 13 years.
Link to section🏝️ Remote Work Policy
Companies are continuing to move away from letting employees choose whether to work remotely. Last year, 38% of respondents could decide for themselves; this year, that fell to 32%. Most of the shift appears to be toward hybrid work, which rose from 37% to 43%. This follows the same trend as the previous year.
Respondents who were not allowed to work remotely had the lowest professional satisfaction.
Link to section👥 Employer Size
While only 18% of respondents worked at a company with more than 10,000 employees, 44% of respondents making ¥20 million or more worked at such a company.
Link to section💴 Total Compensation
The median total compensation of respondents was ¥9.5 million, up from ¥8.5 million last year. 10% of respondents made ¥20 million or more.
Link to section💹 Income Evolution
Only 6% of respondents reported that their income decreased over the last year. Those who reported a decrease tended to be more experienced, with a median of 10 years of professional experience compared to 7 years for others.