NOW LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT ISN'T NECESSARILY FOR LIFE
Salaryman Shigeo Shimoda is doubly [?] . He works for a big company where lifetime employment is considered a [?] obligation, and his job is not in danger. Many other [?] wish they could say the same. Seventy per cent of Japan's male employees work for [?] companies where the lifetime employment [?] does not apply , and the [?] of Japan's [?] is forcing big companies to confront a new truth: that they have far more [?] workers than they need.
[?] but inevitably, some big companies are now [?] jobs. Japan's largest company, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone says it will [?] its giant work force by 30,000 people over the next three years. Last week two big [?] makers, Sumitomo Metal Industries and NKK Corp., announced plans to cut their work force by 15%.
At the same time, no big company [?] actually firing anyone. The taboo against doing that in Japan is still extraordinary. Whom you work for [?] more for social status than what you do in Japan. As big companies rarely [?] from other big companies, being fired from a [?] Japanese group means not only the [?] of a job but a tremendous [?] in social esteem.
How does Japan Inc. say " you're fired", which after all is [?] un-Japanese in its [?] subtlety? [?] companies hope that a combination of attrition, hints, threats and [?] will get unneeded employees to quit. One tactic is to reassign a worker to a job at which he is [?], for example sending an [?] to work on an R and D team.
The pressure to quit mounts daily, as the worker is clearly [?] on the performance of his new group, something no Japanese wants to be.

From Newsweek, March 22, 1993