Things about Japan: Enkai and Staff Trips

AKA: Let's Bonding!*

I spent my last post talking about collective vs. individualistic cultures. This is somewhat of a part 2 of that conversation, delving into various bonding activities done here. As a sidenote, I'll be sticking to what I know, that being, bonding in the workplace.

The group is important, as is thinking of the group - maintaining group harmony, strengthening group ties, and so forth. While "team-building" is an almost dirty term back in the States, in Japan it is a very strong, present, and accepted reality. The bonding activity that was hardest for me to swallow at first was the enkai, or drinking party. The basic thought process, as I've heard and experienced it, goes like this:

1. We should bond as a group.

2. In order to bond, we should have fun.

3. As superiors are around, it is hard to have fun.

4. Therefore, we drink alcohol - that way, everyone can relax, have fun, and bond properly.
[5. What happens at the enkai stays at the enkai. Yep, this is a rule, though the less drinking there is, the less important this rule becomes.]

In short, enkai are parties where everyone drinks, gets drunk, and "bonds." These parties are held in almost any workplace, from big businesses to factories to, yes, schools.

Now, this is the basic idea - reality has its own elaborations. My enkai tend to not be the drunken affairs I hear business-men enkai are. A large part of this is due to the lack of public transportation in my prefecture. There is zero tolerance for drinking and driving in Japan, so how one gets home becomes an important part of the planning for the night; most choose the easy way out in not drinking and just driving themselves. In addition, the women in my school tend to avoid drinking alcohol, opting instead for oolong tea or orange juice. When only half of the staff is imbibing, it's easy to prevent a frat-party enkai.

Enkai happen on various levels, depending on the definition of a group. At my school, for example, there are several formal enkai every year to which every teacher is invited; these tend to commemorate the end of a trimester or the start of a new school year. In addition to this, the teachers with whom I sit in the staff room also have enkai every month or two - these are informal and are just sort of an excuse to get together outside of school.

A clarification in terms: informal enkai are like going out to dinner with people who just-so-happen to be coworkers. Formal enkai, on the other hand, require business attire and have a set of behavioral rules. For example, one is not allowed to pour one's own drink. It sounds strange, but the logic is that, if you're pouring your own drinks, it's because no one else is around you to do it for you - in short, you're not socializing. The rule forces you to seek out others, not only for your own drinking needs but for theirs, too.
Also, it's common for formal enkai to be followed by one, two, or even three informal enkai, with fewer attendees with each successive party and none of the rules of the formal affairs.

Another way of encouraging workplace bonding is with trips. These generally involve sub-groups rather than the whole office; for example, at middle schools, there generally are three or four sub-groups, as dictated by the seating arrangements in the staff room. The desks are divided into four islands, generally speaking - 1st year (7th grade) teachers, 2nd year (8th grade) teachers, 3rd year (9th grade) teachers, and non-teaching staff. When I mentioned before that I have enkai with the teachers with whom I sit in the staff room, I meant that I am part of the 2nd year teachers sub-group, and as such I have informal enkai with them. Trips are the same - one goes with one's subgroup.
Back to the trips themselves. Money is collected in advance, usually in monthly installments, and one person is put in charge of planning the trip and handling the money. Guess who gets this fun role: the least-senior member of the group, as usual. In any case, this collected money covers all of the trip expenses, from transportation to hotels to meals to souvenirs for the rest of the staff. It seems that the hotel is also generally a ryokan, or traditional Japanese-style hotel with onsen, tatami floors in the rooms, and futon (which are not, by the way, the things you find in your average dorm room at college). These trips are a chance for everyone to relax, have fun, and go sightseeing with each other.

While attendance isn't required at these bonding activities, it is expected, especially for the formal enkai. One who always avoids these events is thought to be snooty or not a group player and is subject to comments in reference to this. For example, one of my coworkers rarely, if ever, attends enkai, and I have more than once heard other teachers say the Japanese equivalent of "we aren't good enough for him" in response to his absence.

In the end, how fun these parties and trips are depends greatly on the pre-existing relationship one has with the others attending and on one's own status. The lower the status, the more likely you are to be assigned some odious task. In addition, if you don't like your coworkers, spending two or three hours at a party with them can be painful, much less the two or three days of a trip. Still, as personal matters are worth less than group ones here, it seems a common fate that one will sacrifice one's own enjoyment, keeping up a good face**, in order to be a participating member of the group.

I'm fortunate in that I rarely have to wonder whether it's better to be a group player or to get out of a boring affair; my teachers are fun and I enjoy spending time with them. I'm also in the unique position of being foreign, and thus exempt from a lot of the things expected of the Japanese. It's as though being foreign is akin to being mentally handicapped or a young child: "She can't help it. She doesn't know any better. She couldn't possibly understand." Though annoying at times, I have to say that I find it a useful excuse when I don't want to spend $50 on dinner and a night of discussing work affairs in Japanese...

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*The use of "let's" in Japanese is much more common than it is in English, and is thus overused when the Japanese speak in English. Also, there seems to be a misconception as to what the apostrophe is contracting, mistaking it for "is" instead of "us" (a fair mistake, in my mind). As such, the verb is usually conjugated in the gerund, as though to put the phrase in present progressive form, rather than the first person plural, present tense: "let is dancing" instead of "let us dance."

I've experienced everything from seeing "let's eating" written on menus to hearing "let's dancing" used as an opener to a dance party. It's both funny and cringe-worthy.

** Yet another aspect of Japan's group-oriented culture is the importance of having a face for the public and a face for in private; in other words, not letting your real emotions show unless you're with close friends. There are even words for these faces in Japanese: tatemae (your public face) and honne (your inner face). The Japanese are, to make a sweeping assumption, very well practiced at keeping their real thoughts to themselves.