The commitment of Japanese companies to lifetime employment has never been universal across the workforce, and it is weakening, but for salarymen (what most HN readers employed for salary at a megacorp would be), it is not unreasonable to expect the company to durably honor The Offer regardless of the company's financial performance, changes in management, etc.

The Offer -- which underpins a whole lot of social life here -- goes something like this: if you swear yourself to us body and soul (see my numerous posts about work/life balance here), we guarantee you against most forms of risk. You will receive steady paychecks, predictable raises/promotions, a suite of benefits, and the unwavering loyalty (and social support) of the company until the day you die.

The salaryman culture isn't dead in Japan; and that culture came as a bargain - loyalty was a two-way street, as the saying goes. So he would consider working without contractual guarantees because those corporations still have a track record of delivering without contractual guarantees.

Whereas American corporations haven't had that spirit for a long time (replacing it with a letter-of-the-law attitude) and a number apparently actively seek to exploit their employees' delusions that some might still have that spirit, as this MySpace example perhaps illustrates.

I'm not sure to the degree it's still true but it was once true that in Japan a job was essentially for life. Not only did the employee have loyalty to the company but that loyalty was reciprocated.

Like I said, it's probably not quite as much as once was but there is no doubt remnants of that still there.

Chris Dixon eloquently articulated the types of work relationships that exist more commonly in the developed world. Broadly, there is the transactional view (as per Jack Welch) or the collective view (eg a startup where you have some equity stake in the company).

See http://cdixon.org/2009/10/23/twelve-months-notice/

The culture is still there, although it depends a lot of the companies - corporate culture takes a whole new dimension in Japan, and someone working in Sony or Panasonic could as well work in different countries.

To give an example of what companies expect from people (told first hand from people I know personally, or even witnessed myself): you may be asked to work overseas (which most Japanese hate) in a matter of days. That is, the company will tell you: could you please work overseas for one year starting next week ? You can say no, once, if you don't mind having no career in the company. Worse, I have seen the situation where people were given that deal, to be said the day of the depart that no, they won't be needed overseas overall. Note that those people often have wife, children, etc...

単身赴任 (tanshin funin): To send a corporate employee on a long-term stay at another location unaccompanied by his wife or children. If your language doesn't have a word for this, be glad.

I did not know the Japanese expression, thanks.