Whisper it softly, there's a new Japan rising

Its corporate landscape is changing while investors, immigrants and MNCs find the country more appealing than ever.

- Ravi Velloor

This week, as I sat down for a conversation with Noboru Saito, the 58-year-old chief executive of iconic cassette maker turned smartphone battery producer TDK – and a company veteran of 36 years, I casually asked his aide about his own employment history.

Turns out the younger man had just made a mid-career move to join TDK, having earlier worked with Japanese tyre giant Bridgestone in Indonesia.

The confident, well-spoken aide in question is one of thousands contributing to a key shift in Japan's corporate landscape.

In 2024, for the first time, Japanese companies hired more people mid-career than through the graduate intake that had brought in staff such as Mr Saito himself. Those switching jobs are gaining from something unfamiliar in Japan's corporate life – significant and sudden pay jumps.

In a society where change tended to be glacial, the nascent shift in hiring patterns and rewards is a veritable earthquake challenging norms once taken for granted, such as lifetime loyalty to firms and seniority-based progress up the ranks.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, one of Japan's three mega banks, is reportedly in the middle of a major overhaul of its human resources planning that could abolish the seniority-based system.

Indeed, it could be emblematic of wider changes sweeping Japan that, taken at the flood, could presage a national resurgence – although you probably wouldn't be able to tell if you went just by the surface news.

SLOWING GROWTH, AGEING CITIZENS

Gross domestic product stagnated in the first quarter, and may not do much better when results for the second quarter are announced soon. Industrial production is expected to fall back in July, after having struggled to grow in the previous two months.

Japan's acclaimed car industry is gasping against competition from Chinese electric vehicle makers.