Imagine your skilled with a riffle because.. you like to shoot stuff out on the farm. Sign up for the army and you will be shipped to bootcamp where they teach you how to shoot "correctly", polish your shoes and make your bed and most importantly chain of command.
Note: commanding office says jump, you say how high.
You have your platoon where everyone entered at the same time, your all buddies, get shat on by the peps one year ahead of you and everyone progress at the same pace.
Note: skill as a good shot has no relevance to your rank and pay.
After you have put in time you can advanced in rank and thus pay. Get married / kids theres additional benefits.
Note: your rank and pay are directly related to years of service.
Unlike the army, you will not get any medals, heroics of jumping on a grenade to save the team are frowned upon. Its better to hold a meeting with the team, to clarify what the grenade is, check all possible outcomes, investigate every tiny detail by which time everyone is dead. Key point is everyone, the dead part is largely irrelevant.
After some time, your buddies seem to like you and your leading the platoon. Congratulations you have now advanced your career to the fast track lane. Moving slightly faster than your peers as they are "workers" and not management.
Note: fast track has nothing to do with your shooting skill.
.. and so on and so on.
source: lived and worked Tokyo for 10+ years.