Ep. 20: Career Lessons that Inspired the Humorous Manga, “The Salaryman” with Michael Howard

Michael (Mike) Howard was a journalist-turned-businessman in Los Angeles before he joined the Tokyo salaryman brotherhood in 2008 where he now works full-time as a product manager at an American technology company. In this episode, we explore the stories and experiences behind Mike's book and now manga, The Salaryman, which is a humorous memoir from a Tokyo American who tried and failed to fit into Japanese office culture for almost a decade. The Salaryman is an immigrant's story from a land where there are few immigrants, with even fewer being crazy enough to do what the Mike did: become a real train-cramming, brow-wiping, late-night overtime-working, passed-out-drunk-on-the-train-ride-home salaryman. 

Mike's book serves as a partner to anyone striving to do meaningful work in foreign environment. A particularly interesting moment in this episode for me, was the story of reverse culture shock when Mike was sent to America as an expat from Japan.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did and don’t forget to share your feedback with me on your favorite social platform. 

Let's begin!

Below are some timestamps of our conversation so you can quickly navigate the topics most relevant for you.

Key Takeaways:
💡03:15  |  Salaryman Book and transforming a blog to a book
💡09:10  |  Navigating the complex ecosystem of traditional Japanese companies as a foreigner.
💡15:30  |  When to move on; being able to identify and then execute on what's important to you.
💡20:15  |  Navigating contracts in a "contract-fluid" environment and negotiating non-financial benefits.
💡32:18  |  How to identify and connect with mentors who see value in your work.
💡37:30  |  Connecting with manga artist and a surprising partnership.
💡43:30  |  The lessons of reverse culture shock and what we can learn when we"go home" to a city that may be not "home" anymore.
💡51:45  |  Future of a Salaryman in Japan.

Find Mike's book here; https://www.thesalarymanbook.com.