The Blue-eyed Salaryman: From World Traveller to Lifer at Mitsubishi

by NiallMurtagh (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2006

  $4.70

  Why on earth would anyone give up a life on the open road for the regimen of a vast Japanese conglomerate? And is it really so different in Japan from everywhere else? Niall Murtagh spent years as a world traveller - hitchhiking to Istanbul, bussing to Kathmandu and crossing the Atlantic in a home-built yacht. In 1986, he closed the door on his adventurous life and settled down in Japan, eventually joining Mitsubishi as a Salaryman - a man in a shiny suit with a shiny attache case in a conglomerate with 100,000 employees. And what happens when you give up the Salaryman life? The book follows life after the corporation, giving fresh perspectives on the nature of Japanese business culture and the problems faced by outsiders in Japan.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2005

  $4.18

  After graduating from university in Dublin, Niall Murtagh spent years bumming across Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America. He had hitchhiked to Istanbul, bussed to Kathmandu, crossed the Atlantic in a home-built yacht and trekked through Patagonia. In 1986 he closed the door on his adventurous life and made an extraordinary flip, settling down in Japan. After studying there, he jumped in at the deep end and joined Mitsubishi as a Salaryman - a man in a shiny suit with a shiny attache case in a conglomerate with 300,000 employees. Niall Murtagh describes the life of a salaryman in detail and with humour. He takes the reader behind the scenes of this enormous organisation, showing the peculiar nature of Japanese capitalism and management culture. From his office chair he also reflects on where his life might have gone. What led to this extraordinary change in direction and why, despite the disillusionment, is it so hard to leave? Entertaining and honest, this book is enlightening on a world entirely closed to those of us living ordinary western lives.