In February, I haven’t done much to study Japanese apart from watching the TBS drama: わたし、定時で帰ります.
I keep saying to myself that I should watch films, drama and anime in Japanese to improve my listening, but I rarely find or have access to something I really want to watch. I often start drama and give up halfway through the first episode because I cannot get into it.
However, I loved 『わたし、定時で帰ります』, partly because I love drama about workplace or work culture, and partly because I had already read the book written by Kaeruko Akeno (朱野帰子) and felt an immediate sympathy for the characters.
人は何のために働くのか (Yui)
I highly recommend this drama because it is fun to watch, it delivers a positive message and tackles several problems related to the working life in Japan. Even if you don’t work in Japan, it is easy to identify with the characters and relate to the situations described: the fear of losing one’s place after a maternity leave, the frustrations that new employees face, the courage it takes to leave before the others. You really don’t need to work in Japan to have experienced the fears and anxiety of the characters.
With all these topics, the drama could have been depressing, but it is definitely not. It is a comedy, with emotional passages, a lot of positive energy and an optimistic view of each situation. I am impressed by the capacity of the drama to address serious topics in a good-humoured way without sacrificing the core of its message.
What I loved the most is how the drama shows everyone’s motives and fears. The characters that seem detestable in the beginning all have their reasons for acting like they do. While our protagonist Yui has decided to always leave work at 6, the drama does not condemn those who don’t or those who work extra long hours. Rather than saying who is right and who is wrong, the drama shows that all the characters have a reason for acting like they do, and that is often because they feel insecure.
「やりたいことって別に大きな夢とか目標じゃなくても、自分が楽しめることだったら何だっていいじゃないかな」 (Yui)
I watched the drama without subtitles (I did not have access to it). I was surprised to see that I could follow what the characters said even without subtitles. I have watched the first 6 episodes (out of 10) twice to make sure that I understood as much as I could. The first time, I would watch to enjoy the story, without thinking too much about the Japanese. Then I would re-watch the episode and try to understand as much as I could, sometimes listening to a passage several times.
Halfway through the drama, however, I got tired of this exercise and just wanted to move on in the story. So I ended up watching the last 4 episodes only once, and I did have difficulties understanding all the work-related discussions and meetings of these last episodes…
Conclusion
I didn’t realise how exhausting a whole year of JLPT preparation could be. Since 2020 started, I have never felt like opening a textbook or actively studying something. For now, I am satisfied with reading books and watching drama!
If you know other workplace drama in Japanese, please let me know!
Other work-related resources for Japanese learners:
The anime Aggretsuko (アグレッシブ烈子) on Netflix is funny, cute and extremely relatable. The Japanese is easy to understand and the anime is perfect for Japanese learners.
The light novel 『ちょっと今から仕事やめてくる』by Emi Kitagawa 北川 恵海 is easy to read and perfect for intermediate learners. If, of all the characters who apppear in わたし、定時で帰ります, the one you felt the closest to is Shu Taneda, then this novel is for you!
About
I’m learning Japanese, Korean and Chinese to read detective novels in these languages. I post about my reading progress and language study here. Best way to get in touch is on Mastodon 🙂
I recommend zenra kantoku. It’s the only Japanese Netflix thing I saw and I checked it out since it was the most viewed show for Netflix Japan. There’s a lot of moaning in the show though lol
Another reason I checked it out is because I plan to read the book. it’s kinda expensive on amazon.jp for the kindle version. It’s 20- something dollars for a 800 page book. I’m going to wait until it’s cheaper (somewhere closer to 10 dollars. I hope they have a sale when season 2 comes out!) and i prefer to watch the drama/movie version before reading book provided the adaptation isn’t mediocre. I like yoshitaka yuriko too from talk/variety shows but I don’t think i’ve ever seen a drama/movie with her that was good.
Ah yes, I saw it on Netflix but did not really pay attention to it. I’ll try it, thanks for the recommendation! The book seems to have good reviews, but I’ll never have the courage to read a 800 pages book in Japanese…
Where did you watch the drama you blogged about ??
I saw it through my TV subscription. I said that I did not have subtitles, but in fact there were Korean subtitles, I just ignored them because it does not help me. It was annoying because I had to pay an extra fee to watch the drama and had only a limited time to watch it, and it only came with Korean subtitles. I could not find another way to watch this drama though…