u/shiretokolovesong

Emphasis mine:

>Rep. Tom Tiffany won with 95% of the vote, which killed any suspense, but he could reasonably be declared just as radical as Hong (as The Capital Times editorial board argued under “What Wisconsin writers are saying”). Tiffany has been rated the most conservative of all six Republican House members from Wisconsin by the American Conservative Union. Most notably, Tiffany is a 2020 election denier — not just a skeptic or someone trying to mince his words to appease President Trump, but a person who believes Joe Biden stole the election. He tried to overturn President Biden’s win in 2020 by signing onto a Texas lawsuit that would have invalidated the results, and he also voted in Congress to reject the results from Pennsylvania — after the January 6th riots. Tiffany’s still fighting the 2020 results, having just announced his support for an FBI investigation into Wisconsin’s results this May and repeatedly saying he would have overturned Wisconsin’s results if given the opportunity.

>Are those views less radical than abolishing ICE or hating Thanksgiving? Reasonable people could disagree about that, but it’s inexcusable that Tiffany’s current positions didn’t get similar levels of attention as Hong’s past comments. Where Hong calls for taxing the rich, Tiffany promises to freeze all property taxes. And while Hong’s past social media posts became a source of controversy, Tiffany quietly deleted pages from his website that outlined his extreme positions on abortion, gun rights, immigration, and crime just days before his September 2025 announcement that he was running for governor.

I'm sorry but can "reasonable people" really agree that hating a holiday or (to steel-man the piece's argument) reforming an agency that didn't exist 25 years ago is as radical as ending democracy in the United States?

Given the remainder of the paragraph, I don't think this is just a rhetorical flourish but rather an absurd false equivalency. And even if rhetorical, this kind of sanewashing is exactly how extremists on the right have been enabled to sail past an ounce of the scrutiny that their ideological opponents receive.

I know better than to be vulnerable on Reddit but alas, I am asking for friendly and supportive advice. I'm open to a reality check but not abuse, so if you would prefer to denigrate then I will just delete the post. Sorry it's long, but tl;dr at the end of the post.

I went to grad school at a Japanese national university and joined my company three years ago via new graduate hiring. It is one of the old-guard Japanese maker/IT services MNCs, and I work as a system engineer and technical consultant related to a very popular SaaS solution. I know people assume the worst when they hear "old Japanese company," but my company is considered "white," with (in theory) very flexible work arrangements (no core time or in-office requirements), union protections, strict HR compliance, and various employee benefit schemes.

I have also had ample access to opportunities to (in theory) skill up, have earned over a dozen certifications, and am currently enrolled in a 12-week high-level cert course that's only been accessible to a few dozen people in my company so far (and maybe only a few hundred people in Japan have the certification, since it requires coursework fully in English). I am fully aware that certs don't trump real-world experience, but I mention all of this because I don't want to give the impression I work at a completely evil black company.

That said, I feel quite disappointed in my pay package and frankly unsure whether it's time to start looking for a better opportunity (is it reasonable to expect one?) elsewhere. My total is around ¥5.5-5.7M annually depending on overtime. My base wage around ¥300,000 per month pre-tax (excluding overtime pay), about 9% more than when I joined the company. My bonus this month will be about ¥930,000, and I'll be expecting a similar amount in December.

I've spent the last several months significantly burnt out and overworked (being told simultaneously not to overwork myself, but also that there's nobody else in the project or department who can do the work I do with respect to collaborating in both English and Japanese and which has to be complete by 納期), working 60 hours of overtime some months under the expectation that it would pay off with a promotion during evaluations this month. Even during my evaluation, my boss said I was essentially irreplaceable and a vital asset to the project, managing three overseas team members in addition to my own tasks, all while being the lowest-paid member of the project.

In the end, my raise was only about ¥5,000 per month, which corresponds to what the union negotiated during 春闘 this year. Another Japanese coworker who has been asked to perform duties well above their level for the past year had a similar outcome, so I don't want to suggest this is somehow targeted at me.

It feels as if nothing I can do (no matter how grueling, essential, or valuable according our KPIs) will be reflected in my compensation, and I have lost all motivation to work. Throughout these past several months, I've been discussing my situation with a friend who is knowledgeable about the Japanese job market and earns more than double what I do in a non-technical position at another company. They are utterly convinced that I'm being underpaid and should focus on 転職.

I want to believe them, but I'm also worried that my expectations are out of whack. Information online in Japanese makes it sound as though I'm already well paid, but I know the average Japanese worker doesn't have the same background or skills as me either. Alternatively, if I could somehow manage to work significantly less (there are other people in my company who don't seem nearly as overworked as I am), maybe I'm undervaluing the non-monetary benefits of my job. I just feel...bad, like I've lost sight of myself and the reason I'm living in this country in the first place, and I'm not sure whether it's a matter of perspective or not.

TL;DR: I've spent three years at a well-regarded Japanese company, earned numerous certifications, taken on responsibilities beyond my pay grade, managed overseas team members, and worked significant overtime while being told I'm a critical asset. Despite this, my compensation growth has been minimal, and a recent evaluation resulted in only a small raise. A friend familiar with the Japanese job market is convinced I'm underpaid and should change jobs, but I'm unsure whether my expectations are unreasonable or whether I'm overlooking the non-monetary benefits of my current employer. Am I being underpaid, or do I have a distorted view of the market?