Regular ‘Salarymen’ in Japan Become TikTok Stars

Regular ‘Salarymen’ in Japan Become TikTok Stars

In Japan, "salarymen" means ordinary office workers. These white-collar workers are seen as hard-working, but rather, well, ordinary.

However, two so-called¹ "salarymen" are now among Japan's biggest TikTok stars.

The leader and a general manager at the small Japanese company Daikyo Security² have been recognized as trend-setters by the online video-sharing site TikTok.

The creator of the account is chief executive³ Daisuke Sakurai.

On the company's TikTok page you can watch Sakurai and general manager Tomohiko Kojima do funny dances or eat noodles. In another video, workers cook up a tasty egg dish.

The videos all show the happy but simple life of ordinary working men and women. And these people do not seem to take themselves too seriously.

The content might make people laugh. But Sakurai is serious about strengthening the company's image and getting new people to work at the company. He believes those goals must be met for the company's survival⁴.

Before TikTok, the number of people seeking jobs at Daikyo Security was zero. After TikTok, the company gets many requests for employment⁵, including people who want to work on the videos.

Sakurai has his eyes on global workers. He wants to draw workers from places like Vietnam and Indonesia. And he is permitting them to use English instead of Japanese.

Founded in 1967, the company has 85 employees. Most of them do what is called "three K" work in Japan, Sakurai says. That stands for "kitsui, kitanai, kiken," meaning, "hard, dirty, and dangerous."

Such work includes security at building sites. The guards direct traffic and make sure trucks and equipment move safely without accident or injury. The job does not require very special skills. But the positions are hard to fill. Many people do not want to stand outdoors for hours and hours. And, there are many security companies competing for employees.

Japan's population is aging quickly. As a result, every industry is suffering a labor⁶ shortage⁷.

So, why not turn to social media, the place where young people hang out? Sakurai started posting on Twitter and Instagram. But it was when he went on TikTok that things went viral.

In one popular video, Kojima slaps⁹ pieces of thin colorful plastic, called gel sheets, onto his boss's face over his eyes. Each sheet has the eyes of a comic book character. The subtitles¹⁰ in English ask: "What is the character?".

The videos have a clear message: These company workers do not take themselves too seriously. This may go against the image of a serious work environment where lower-level employees and more powerful ones do not joke around together. Well, at Daikyo Security, a worker gets to slap⁸ gel sheets on the company chief.

The videos are also helping¹¹ the company connect with a much larger audience.

A recent video features gel sheets with several nations' flags on them to the sounds of World's Smallest Violin, a pop song by American group AJR. That video led to thousands of comments and millions of views.

When they showed a flag from Mongolia, viewers from Mongolia showed their appreciation¹² in the comments. Others requested their favorite flags, such as Lithuania or Lebanon.

It is a sign TikTok has helped Daikyo Security overcome language and cultural barriers by making people laugh.

"What makes my job worthwhile is that it's about people," Kojima said, "...not things."

Words in This Story

white-collar – adj. of, relating to, or constituting¹³ the class of salaried employees whose duties do not call for the wearing of work clothes or protective¹⁴ clothing

manager – n. a person whose work or profession is management

trend-setter – n. one that sets a trend : someone or something that starts or helps to popularize a new fashion, style, movement, etc.

noodle – n. a thin often flat strip¹⁵ of fresh or dried dough¹⁶ (as of flour and egg) that is usually boiled

slap – v. to strike sharply¹⁷ with or as if with the open hand

character – n. a person in a story or play

appreciation – n. awareness or understanding of worth or value

1 so-called   

adj.所谓的，号称的

参考例句：

• These were the so-called mainframe machines.它们被称为主机。
• Let's see what this so-called button does.让我们来看看为什么这个按钮叫这个名字。

2 security   

n.安全，安全感；防护措施；保证(金)，抵押(品)；债券，证券

参考例句：

• A security guard brought him down with a flying tackle.一名保安人员飞身把他抱倒。
• There was tight security at the airport when the President's plane landed.总统的专机降落时，机场的保安措施很严密。

3 executive   

adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理

参考例句：

• A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
• He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。

4 survival   

n.留住生命，生存，残存，幸存者

参考例句：

• The doctor told my wife I had a fifty-fifty chance of survival.医生告诉我的妻子，说我活下去的可能性只有50%。
• The old man was a survival of a past age.这位老人是上一代的遗老。

5 employment   

n.雇用；使用；工作，职业

参考例句：

• A large office requires the employment of many people.一个大办事处需要雇用好多人员。
• The state of employment in this city is improving.这个城市就业状况正在改善。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 shortage   

n.缺少，缺乏，不足

参考例句：

• The city is suffering a desperate shortage of water.这个城市严重缺水。
• The heart of the problem is a shortage of funds.问题的关键是缺乏经费。

8 slap   

n.掴，侮辱，拍击声；vt.拍击，侮辱，惩罚，申斥；adv.正面地，直接地，突然地

参考例句：

• He sent the horse forward with a slap on its rump.他拍了一下马尾，马便向前跑去。
• He gave her a slap on the cheek.他打了她一耳光。

9 slaps   

n.拍打声，类似拍打的声音( slap的名词复数 )v.掌击，拍打( slap的第三人称单数 )；制止；镇压；（尤指生气地）啪的一声放下

参考例句：

• I received two slaps on the face myself. 我自己脸上挨了两次刮。 来自辞典例句
• KRAMER: [slaps George on the arm] You keep me posted! 克雷默：那你得经常告诉我消息！ 来自互联网

10 subtitles   

n.说明字幕，印在外国影片上的对白翻译字幕，译文对白字幕；小标题，副标题( subtitle的名词复数 )；（电影的）字幕

参考例句：

• subtitles for the deaf and the hard of hearing 为耳聋和听力不佳者打出的字幕
• a Polish film with English subtitles 附有英语字幕的波兰影片

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

13 constituting   

建立( constitute的现在分词 )； 指定； （合法或正式地）成立； 构成

参考例句：

• Chapter IX Procedures for Constituting a Limitation Fund for Maritime Claims Liability. 第九章设立海事赔偿责任限制基金程序。
• Having other acts of evading customs supervision and constituting smuggling act. 有逃避海关监管，构成走私的其他行为的。

14 protective   

adj.防护的，保护的

参考例句：

• A mother naturally feels protective towards her children.做母亲的天生要保护自己的孩子。
• We feel safe with a protective device in the house.我们因为家里有了防护装置而感到安全。

15 strip   

n.长条，条状；连环漫画；n.脱衣舞；vt.脱衣，剥夺；挤干(牛奶)；vt.拆卸；去除(烟叶的茎)；vi.脱衣，表演脱衣舞；剥落

参考例句：

• I need one more strip of cloth to finish this decoration.我还要一根布条来完成这个装饰品。
• We had to strip the old paint from the doors.我们只好把门上的旧漆刮掉。

16 dough   

n.生面团；钱，现款

参考例句：

• She formed the dough into squares.她把生面团捏成四方块。
• The baker is kneading dough.那位面包师在揉面。

17 sharply   

adj.锐利地，急速；adv.严厉地，鲜明地

参考例句：

• The plane dived sharply and rose again.飞机猛然俯冲而后又拉了起来。
• Demand for personal computers has risen sharply.对个人电脑的需求急剧增长。