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So even if I take my full 30 days (or whatever it is) of vacations. Be in the office only 9-5 and encouraging co-workers to do the same, to get a life, etc... I still won't be fired? :)

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Also a difficult question. Getting fired is possible here, but there are major repercussions for the business. If your hours were 9-5 and you had 30 days of vacation time you could take a year, no one would say anything if you did what are your rights as an employee. But if someone asks you to stay late and you don't have a good excuse, or if you take vacation days during times that are known to be busy periods, the repercussions are much more social rather than financial. The office gets dark, and they might move your desk into an undesirable area (they used to call it the window seat for some very grim reasons). There are worse things than getting fired. But, also because of this system, if you do lose your job, it's extremely difficult to get another one.

Does this "window seat" refer to throwing yourself out?

That's what it was referred to because that's what many people did in the 90s. A lot has changed since then. Although still high, the suicide rate is much lower now than it used to be [1].

[1]https://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/no-of-suic...

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