Pros: It highly depends on the dept., but my previous department, which is in charge of data science, was great. Lots of excellent colleagues.

Cons: Sometimes very top-down decision-making

Pros: Free food for lunch and dinner.

Cons: Asakai is probably the worst.

Pros: It's a big company with lots of opportunities. The main office is located in a nice town with many amenities. My coworkers are fun people. Lunch and dinner are provided, and I think it's healthy. The Ichiba team (their flagship product) has too much priority over everyone else. If you're not in Ichiba, you're a second-class citizen. But it's still a decent place to be. People are generally chill and there are plenty of holidays. Rakuten is a big company, and being an employee gives you instant access to a wide array of services that would otherwise be a pain to apply for.

Cons: Pay is "competitive", which is code for low. The execs are slightly unhinged, and some HR policies are bizarre. There is some office politics, but it's mostly between upper management. This causes some company decision-making to feel schizophrenic. The CEO has a big ego and talks a lot of hot air. Ultimately, I left the company because my team was aggressively being moved to India. Within half a year, three quarters of my team was located in India. My friends and colleagues left, so I did too. It didn't have to be this way, sadly. I don't have any good advice for the prospective employee. It was just the luck of the draw, I guess.