Rakuten

You need to make a concerted, focused, purposeful effort to get fired. Basically, once you are in, you're in.

Currently in a transition period from legacy systems to new-and-shiny. Lots of projects going on with lots of new opportunities to work on different things at a large scale.

Free breakfast and lunch for all employees. The cafeteria design is very nice and stylish.

Generally nice people; you will enjoy going out after work with some of them. The managers are very patient when onboarding you into the team.

Working at Rakuten definitely will open many doors for you in Japan. Everyone knows the company (and a large percentage use it regularly). With Rakuten being so big in Japan, it's definitely helpful when trying to do things like applying for credit, a mortgage, or getting a salary bump when you eventually leave the company. Additionally, company PR is on point – it will seem international to the outside world.

Perfect environment for type A personalities. Also, if you grew up in a culture that is more “rigid” or hierarchical (e.g., Japan, India), you will find that Rakuten will be a positive, balanced experience then you are used to.

They speak English at all major internal meetings.

The corporate birthday party for all staff that falls within a date range is very nice and enjoyable (but mandatory).

As a pre-note, the following applies to Japan (Tokyo and branch offices), but I'm sure the subsidiaries are feeling the pain. I waited for 3(ish) months before posting this, as I wanted a clear/balanced perspective.

I know open layout is the de facto default plan at many companies in Japan. However, this place feels like the Ministry of Truth from 1984.

There are also far too many people for the space provided. Extra points to see how many people you infect when you come to work sick. We are crammed in so close as to feel the body heat of the adjacent people. I've never felt so claustrophobic before. Join Rakuten with the expectation of no personal space or privacy.

Expect to drink the Rakuten kool-aid or be ostracized by management. The cult of personality is very strong here. Expect most people to treat the CEO as if he is the second coming of the savior, and the “Rakuten Shugi” is the bible. Expect to be required to install Rakuten apps on your personal devices (also strictly enforced). Constructive criticism is not welcomed; it is seen as complaining and thus ignored. They even went so far as to get rid of Yammer a while back to silence employees.

Everything is a KPI, everything requires a document, approval, attendance record, or a long list of convoluted rules. Micro-management and shaming tactics (for the smallest of clerical mistakes) are taken to an Olympic level here. I frequently thought, “Resistance is futile,” when dealing with most things.

Your desk must be clean – no personal effects in or around it. Desk and chair cleaning (even the chair wheels) every Monday by staff – strictly enforced. The company culture is extremely impersonal. If the building was hit by a comet, at most I would have lost a box of tissues in my desk. It gives off the feeling of you being part (cog) of the larger machine that is indifferent to your humanity (which they are).

The company PR department is good, which is bad for you. The website has many foreign nationals posing for pictures, telling you how good it is. Those people are either:

a) Executive Level b) Management Level c) Gone.

It gives the illusion of a flexible, progressive workplace, for which it is the exact opposite.

If you want to get promoted, you need to speak, act, and preferably be Japanese. While you might see many non-Japanese during your time here, the majority of those individuals are not in management. As a non-Japanese, there are a (very) few ways to get promoted upward. Basically, the requirements are politicking (brown-nosing) with executives or being heavily connected in Silicon Valley or with Harvard/HBS. If you fall outside that sphere, the best of luck to you.

Additionally, I must give an honorable mention to the completely incomprehensible elearning that everyone is required to take for promotion – no exceptions. The entire thing (100s of pages of presentation and several tests) is machine-translated from Japanese. It wouldn't be so bad, but they outright refuse to fix nor acknowledge it as being a problem.

Semi-ok food, but they have absurd limits on lunch (like only two baby tomatoes, one spoon of lettuce, 3 meatballs, etc.). Word has it Rakuten low-balled the caterer on the contract, which in turn shows in the quality of the food.

Do not expect to have training, joining parties or events, or some travel expenses paid for you. The company is cheap, and everything comes out of your pocket. While they will reimburse you for required travel, understanding the reimbursement process is like filing multi-year tax-complicated forms to the National Tax Agency without a CPA. Best of luck with that.

Did I mention the stupid menial tasks? If so, it requires its own section. Expect to have irrelevant documentation, attendance, useless KPIs, and PowerPoints to take up 25% of your day. Bikeshedding and other useless minutia in meetings will take up another 30%+ of your time and 90% of your sanity.

As another poster said, “Caveat emptor,” for which I wholeheartedly agree. If you still decide to join or not is your personal decision. However, if you do, I suggest getting a DETAILED breakdown of your compensation package. Rakuten likes to play “semantics” with people's money. One glaring example: the “bonus” (deferred salary) is actually a large percent of stock options that only vest after a half a decade; however, it is still listed as cash in the joining email they send you. Just do your due diligence to avoid any “regretful misunderstandings” later.

No point, as you know what the problems are. You just only care for the status quo.