Pros: - Meet a few intelligent engineers and scientists. - Gain respect from Japanese people you meet outside the company. - Depending on your department, you may have a budget and leeway. - If you're a foreigner and want to work in a Japanese company, this is probably the best. But that isn't really saying much. Just move to America or Europe?

Cons: - Employees are treated like children and/or servants. Leave your cabinet unlocked? You have to stand up in front of the whole company (11,000 employees) and bow and say you're sorry. Want to enter from the front entrance? No, you have to enter through the back/service entrance during the day. Want to take the elevator? Disabled on certain floors. Want to buy a drink? No, you have to use a Rakuten credit card. - "Rakuten Police" security guards and long, windowless corridors make the place feel like 1984. - No chance of promotion; all promotions are based on: * Favor with CEO * Age, just like in most Japanese companies * Being Japanese - Salary is on the bottom end of any scale. Bare minimum. - Wrecking all foreign subsidiaries it keeps buying (they all leave: Linkshare, FreeCause, Buy.com, etc.). - Non-Japanese staff are often very rude and have a sense of entitlement since they are treated like "Mr. Charisma-man" celebrities in Japan. - Japanese staff often drop homophobic or sexist comments, as these aren't really frowned upon in Japan that much. - "Optional" but not-optional meetings. At 7:30 AM on a Tuesday. It hurts. - ID badges that have to be worn at all times. If you forget it, you have to go home and get it. - Very short vacation time (10 to 14 days). Have to apologize and grovel to bosses before taking vacations as if you are letting them down. - Despite "Englishnization," 90% of employees cannot speak English. Meetings are meant to be in English, but no one cares. - CEO went to Harvard and loves people who went to Harvard just because of the name. So there are some ridiculous hires for his own vanity, as in managing directors who are new grads just because they went there. - Engineering floors are crammed with desks and hundreds of Indian and Japanese programmers slaving away for hours. - Embarrassingly bad web design, translations, and site functionality when explaining the site to other foreigners. This means that Rakuten is going to have a tough time in the USA/Europe. - Company often invests in malware and spams users with hundreds of mails per week.

Pros: Pros and cons highly depend on the department and team you end up in, so I will write about my personal experience. Keep in mind that there are a lot of people who have the exact opposite situation. Rakuten is almost the only Japanese company that won't require Japanese language, and you can apply without any knowledge of Japanese. In my team, we always use English in all meetings, even though about 80% of members are Japanese. Work/life balance, overtime, etc., also depends on your team. I never did overtime at Rakuten, but I know people who stay until 10-11 PM almost every day. My managers always treated me very well and with respect. I joined as a new grad, but my team treated me like a high-skilled mid-career employee. My teammates and other newcomers were given tasks that require a very high level of responsibility. However, for other departments, it may be the exact opposite. Rakuten is a huge company with different cultures. Everything depends on your department, your managers, and teammates. But don't forget that it is still a Japanese company. If you apply from overseas and have never lived in Japan, you will have a lot of challenges. But hey, it's Japan. Don't expect western-style management, culture, and traditions. I see a lot of people complain about their work at Rakuten, but compared to other Japanese companies, in my opinion, it is not so bad.

Cons: The worst case is your team doesn't use English at all, you are not given any tasks, managers treat you like a little kid or without any respect, you do a lot of overtime, etc. Very bad OJT training that required you to do meaningless meetings, presentations, and tasks. For new grads: very bad HR training that requires you to do even more meaningless things (for example, engineers have to sell Rakuten cards). For new grads: you don't know the department that you end up in (it's almost random). Low salary. Too many meaningless meetings, Japanese business style. No innovations, too much copying from competitors.

Pros: Nice food, diverse work culture.

Cons: Salary low compared to market.