A Golden Cage

I have just finished moving into the company’s housing – a strictly girl-only hall of residence scrupulously guarded by its supervisor-in-chief. It feels a little like a miniature Orwellian state.

Here are the strangest (and frankly privacy-breaking) rules that all residents must follow:

1. You must not bring boys in, and that includes your own father. The residence’s supervisor told me that “You [girls] should be grateful; this is how much your safety and wellbeing means to the Company.”

2. You are kicked out of the residency if you are still single at the age of 35.
3. You must mark your absences from work on a big white board with a day of notice.
4. You must write down where you are going if you are sleeping outside the residence (this includes holidays).
5. You have to signal that you are in your flat by turning on a designated green light in the foyer. This is done so as to ensure that you will not be oversleeping when you should be at work. Should your light still be on at 7.20 am (when you should be out and about on your way to work), the supervisor will ring your phone. Should you not pick up, he will go knock at your door. And should that fail too, he will force his way into your flat and wake you up.

None of this is enforced in men-only company housings. Japan still lives in a very paternalistic state with companies taking over your parents’ job. But I’m not 5 years old.

However, the bottom line is that, when you are short on money and the company subsidises 90% of the rent, all you can do is kow-tow.