Link to section💼 Employment Status
Company directors had the highest median pay at ¥16 million, while temporary workers had the lowest at ¥6 million.
Directors were also the most likely to be native or bilingual English speakers, at 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 shrink, though, from a peak of 93% more in 2022 to 73% more in 2023 to 47% more in 2024. This trend has been driven by respondents at subsidiaries reporting lower median compensation, while the compensation for respondents at Japanese-headquartered companies has remained 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 40% 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 18% overall were.
Link to section🗄️ Work Location
45% of respondents who could choose whether to work fully remotely or not still chose to go regularly into the office. Those who did go in were also less likely to be looking for a new job, at a rate of 12%, compared to 17% of those who worked regularly from a dedicated home office
Link to section🔍 Job Search Status
42% of respondents who could not work remotely were looking for a job — at least twice the number of those with hybrid or fully remote workplaces. While job seekers had a median of 6 years of experience compared to 8 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 32% of women reported they had been discriminated against on the basis of gender or gender identity, only 2% of men did.
The median total compensation of those who were discriminated against 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 role.
Link to section🏭 Employer Industry
The gaming and consulting & services industries offered the lowest salaries, with respondents making a median of ¥7.5 million. They were also the industries in which respondents were most likely to use Japanese exclusively.
Link to section⏳ Meeting Hours
More hours spent in meetings correlated with more professional experience. Respondents who said they never had meetings had a median of 3.6 years of experience, whereas those who reported 15 hours or more had a median of 13 years experience.
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%, continuing last year's upward trend.
Respondents at organizations that permit remote work were happier with their job. On a scale of 1-5, those who could work fully remotely had an average happiness score of 3.8, compared to 2.9 for respondents who could never work remotely. Those in hybrid work environments scored an average of 3.4.
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 had 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.