Workplace reviews and discussion: 豪栄株式会社

Kawaguchiko is a small town where you can see Mount Fuji, and the geographical environment is nice.

The Japanese coworkers are all very kind—nothing to complain about.

There is absolutely no system or order; the boss has the final say on everything.

They use you like a slave until you are worn out, making you work more than 12 hours a day. Because they are understaffed, your days off will also be sacrificed.

The boss says this is called “helping out” and “gaining experience.” Since he does not pay you, you are treated even worse than an illegal worker.

Besides physical labor, if you have any other skills, he will make you use them as well. He calls making you work for free “training.”

In fact, so far, no one has been able to obtain the kind of work visa you would expect through him. His so-called work visa is actually an investor-type Business Manager visa, not a regular work visa as people generally understand it. In other words, as long as you have money, you can stay in Japan by investing directly; there is no need to do unpaid work. Yet he uses this method to get you to work for free first, then tells you that if you do not have money, you can first sell the company’s accommodation vouchers. Once you have sold ¥1.3 million worth, you supposedly qualify to become a company distributor. However, this is not stated on the website. In fact, every position ultimately requires you to become a distributor. You then develop a downline like in multilevel marketing; this is called “sharing.” After helping five other people meet their targets, you will supposedly have enough investment capital, and the company will establish a company for you to manage. Do you see the point? The company cannot lose either way, because your salary is earned by selling products yourself and is paid in cash. The company will not pay you, because you do not yet have legal status, so doing so would be illegal. Thus, the company contributes not a single cent; it only provides a room at its lodging facility. If his guesthouse were well managed, that might be one thing, but there are many problems inside his KOEHOUSE. For example, guests are constantly bitten by insects, and this issue cannot be resolved. The company prioritizes making money, and the service quality is nonexistent; guests are often left waiting at check-in. The so-called training is also a pretext. For example, he personally teaches Japanese or English classes, but his Japanese and English are not particularly professional—he can only manage basic communication. At most, you have an environment in which to study on your own.

There are many other things, but I cannot be bothered to describe them one by one. After I realized something was wrong and asked him about it, he finally explained, but his version kept changing. It was different from what was stated on 104, different from what he said during the interview, and the version he sent me on LINE was yet another story. When I told him that I had enough money to invest directly, he immediately looked happy. I asked him, “Then why would I need to come here and work for free?” He replied, “How was I supposed to know you had money?” Is this really a job recruitment process? He brings people in to work for free, and when they later discover the truth and leave, he says they were unqualified. This is the first company I have encountered that is so calculating and manipulative. It has certainly been an eye-opening experience.

P.S. This company is not looking for employees; it is looking for investors and distributors. If you have the money, invest directly yourself—you do not need to let him take a commission from you.