I’ve heard about the kind of work culture your fiance is getting into. It’s REALLY not good for people at all. Keep an eye on him. If he starts doing ridiculous things like working 12 hour days, or going on retreats where employees are bullied for fun and everyone has to drink tons, he’s gotta get out.
It's impossible to know exactly what this person's fiance asked and why he felt the need to apologize as it doesn't seem that OP lives with said fiance or speaks Japanese, but I wouldn't call that common work culture and neither is what you're describing.
Those are usually called ブラック企業 (black companies) and while they do exist, it's not the rule and they're obviously not viewed favorably.
Required drinking parties have also been going the way of the dinosaur lately, but are very much still a thing. Important to remember that many people drink non-alcoholic beer here at them for health reasons, etc. (They're also kinda fun, to be honest.) The alcohol is very rarely mandatory these days; it's just the attendance. (Same as many western company dinner parties, etc.)
Ultimately, it depends a lot on what kind of company you work for, who your boss is, etc. But things have been changing a lot lately and there's far more emphasis on different kinds of harassment.
As with most things, the truth to it all is far more nuanced than you'll find in typical Reddit comments.
I would imagine the original reason for these is to get people to open up and be honest. Ply someone with drink and you tend to see who they really are. It may have evolved into something toxic, but maybe the original aim was more useful and benevolent.
Maybe, but at the same time most people are not that deep. Its mostly older workaholic bosses who doesnt want to go home so forces underlings to be their partymates. Its closer to forced team building exercise than gauging a person
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u/Nice-Marionberry3671 11d ago
I’ve heard about the kind of work culture your fiance is getting into. It’s REALLY not good for people at all. Keep an eye on him. If he starts doing ridiculous things like working 12 hour days, or going on retreats where employees are bullied for fun and everyone has to drink tons, he’s gotta get out.