Salary
 

How much would a doorman/porter at a Tokyo hotel such as Mandarin Oriental or Park Hyatt earn per month/ per year? I know tipping isn't big in Japan

Don't know the answer to your question, but allow me to emphasize one key point: Tipping is not only "not big" in Japan, it is non-existent, with very minor exceptions that no tourist is likely to encounter. Please, please don't offer these people anything regardless of their salary level.

+1

The short answer is "not a lot." I did a bit of googling in Japanese, and the net take-home pay for most hotel jobs seems to be around 220,000 yen a month, or about $2,200 US. It isn't as bad as it might sound. Most of these folks are either working on a short-term basis (young guns fresh out of school with few liabilities) or have lifetime employment with full benefits, and many are getting a serious break on rent, either by living with family or by getting free/subsidized housing from their employer. So most of this income ends up being disposable.

Wouldn't want to try and survive in any of Japans big cities on such a wage.....does your calculation include "bonus" etc.?

I know that people say not to tip in Japan, but I was brought up right. I insist on tipping.
If they won't take cash, try tipping the staff with food. Buy a nigiri or a ham sandwich from Seven Eleven. and hand it to the doorman as you're coming back to the hotel. If he seems reluctant to accept, just put it into his pocket with a smile. It may be a good idea to mix things up a little - bring him a mini-tub of Haagen Dazs or a porn mag every so often. Very easy to find in any neighborhood convenience store.
It ain't right not to tip. It ain't right, I tell you.

I agree QSHOEGuy,

As for disposable income, some of these porters and doormen are not so young, we talked to them and some were in their mid30s although they looked much, much younger. What amazed us was that 3 of he ones we talked to didn't live in Tokyo, they lived out near Narita.

Isn't part of being "brought up right" actually respecting the cultural sensitivities of your environs?? :confused:

Throwing money at someone because YOU think it is right doesn't actually make it so. :rolleyes:

If I think it is right to throw money at someone, then it is right, "cultural sensitivities" whatever. I don't know how you would reach any other conclusion.

I thought the porn mag mention was a cuter and cleverer device than a :rolleyes: icon.

Please try harder next time, jibsan!

Pretty common. Rents get very cheap out in the suburbs. An apartment that would cost $2,000 a month in Roppongi might be $1,000 if twenty minutes outside the Yamanote and $500 if an hour outside. For many families, the only way to get affordable space is to get a house or apartment out in the sticks.

The other thing is that Japanese employers almost always pay for a commuter pass on top of the employee's salary, no matter how far away home happens to be. While people might not want a long commute at their own expense, it isn't a big deal when it is effectively "free" to the employee. It certainly helps to fuel the publishing and mobile phone industries here.

whoopsie...:o

Yer forgiven. You have been initiated in the Japan FT forum, yokoso!

Thank you sir! May I have another? :p ;) :D

And sometimes they can live pretty far away. I had one colleague who commuted from Okinawa to Tokyo on a regular basis (not everyday, but several times a week, depending on how "compactly" he could arrange his work schedule). Though he was (correctly) not fully reimbursed for his travel expenses (after all it was his voluntary choice to live there), he nevertheless did receive some monies.

Wow..that's crazy. but im sure people do that frequently here in the US as well..commuting between east and west coast on a regular basis.

Apparently there are a limited number of monthly shinkansen commuting passes for sale! Some people do come from truly far away.

I tried the porn magazine approach to tipping, but the person at the door at the PH objected. Maybe I should have gotten her the Haagen-Dasz instead.

Commuter passes can also be a way to enhance one's salary. When I lived in Osaka, for instance, it cost much more to take JR from Kyoto or Kobe than the cheaper Hankyu line. The company doesn't buy the pass, but rather gives the employee the money to buy the pass, so many people would tell their company that they were using JR and then secretly use Hankyu instead, pocketing an extra $3 or so each day.

Never mind.

Diet members too. They get a free ride on the Shinkansen to get to work.

Geishas too, one came on the train in Hiroshima all decked out and got off in Kobe.

If so, the company likely doesn't mind. This "commutation allowance" is not taxed, so it's a way to pass a bit of money to employees tax-free. Last time I checked, which was some years ago, the commutation allowance was limited by law to a maximum of about Y33,000 a month so it isn't a huge additional amount.

It's a lot more than that if my initial google hit is right. Train and/or bus riders can get up to Y100,000 a month tax-free (to the extent this is needed to cover their commuter pass). Drivers may claim up to Y20,000 a month depending on how far from work they live. Source (nihongo, natch): http://www.matsui-sr.com/kyuyo/1-2tukin.htm

I get a commuter allowance from my employer, but pocket the money and commute on my Suica-enabled JAL card. The cost of a pass generally works out to nine one-ways per week, and I deviate from the direct route often enough that a commuter pass isn't worth it for me.

I wonder what the five parking attendants make that ensure that the occassional car exiting the Omotesando Hills parking lot don't hit pedestrians?

edited

Good job jib, you caught another one! Soon enough you'll have enough in your sack to have your own field of white water buffalo!

I'm also amazed.

Please look carefully at post number 12.

Please look REALLY carefully at it.

I didn't get that far - and yes I missed the non-existent :rolleyes:

Problem is, there are too many people with attitudes like that, making the post all too believable.

Again, a warm welcome to the forum!
Alas, you're right.

And this particular theme, for anyone who's hung out in this or the other forums that tackle Eastern cultures for long enough, is one that surfaces time and time again.

One can try to address an insensitive or mistaken attitude seriously (and then risk seeing the thread deteriorate - see this or this)

Or make the same point succinctly with humour.

joejones perfectly summed up the salary situation in Tokyo as I understand it (and I'm well aware there are a great deal of hardworking men and women in the capital who earn even less)

For those in Britain who can see BBC's iplayer, the following documentary is a rare glimpse into this part of Japan.

The film maker starts off (very awkwardly) confessing how badly his other projects in Japan have turned out. Once you see a little more of him it's no wonder, the guy has the grace, charisma and tact of a bulldozer that's just burst its way out of a coalmine.
One of his victims, I mean, subjects stuck with him (not totally surprising considering the size and ferocity of his self-destructive streak) but I have no idea if what resulted is because of, or despite, the Director's bludgeoning, charmless style. Once you're able to blank out Sean McAllister and concentrate only on the people he films, the documentary is a candid, and to my mind, very genuine and touching account of how a significant portion of modern Japanese people are living their lives.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jkry6

It may not be a great film, but compared to Marcel Theroux's recently aired effort where he guilelessly travels Japan with the sole intent of confirming his firmly pre-conceived (and off the mark) ideas of "what is wabi sabi", McAllister's offering is a masterpiece.

Haven't read such nonsense in quite a while !

He's gonna need a bigger sack...

Way to go, jib71! :D

A-a-a-nd another one completely misses the joke. :rolleyes:

I can't help but remember a Spanish joke where some of society's outsiders are huddled around a well. Transfixed, they are gazing inside and slowly chanting "twenty seven, twenty seven, twenty seven, twenty seven..."
A passing stranger is struck by the sight, becomes curious and makes his way over. He steps up to the well's edge so he too can look down.
A tapering cry is released followed by the faint sound of a splash. The chant changes:
"twenty eight, twenty eight, twenty eight, twenty eight..."