After reading Atsushi Takada’s new book, “The 45-Year-Old Wall, the 55-Year-Old Valley” (Be Yourself and “Win”! Six Scenarios for Salaried Workers – Speedy Books), I knew I was a “senior independent type. I started my current company, Speedy, when I was 52 years old.

Japan has 63.11 million workers, of which 87% are salarymen! (including non-regular employees)

Only 8% are self-employed

Japanese workers have a mandatory retirement age. Although the age of life is said to be 100 years old, after the age of 55, the retirement age is set and the salary decreases. 60 years old workers can either quit with a retirement allowance or work as a contract worker for a few years with a lower salary. In any case, they will have to live nearly 20 years until they reach a little over 80 years of age.

So, what do we do now?

To begin with, the retirement allowance system is a uniquely Japanese system that started in the postwar period when poor Japanese companies could not pay sufficient salaries, so they started paying a lump sum upon retirement. In recent years, even at Sony, mid-career employees could choose whether to take a larger monthly amount or put it toward retirement benefits. Most people choose monthly. So, in effect, there is no need to work until age 60 for retirement benefits.

If the number of such retirement benefit-seeking workers decreases, human resources will become more fluid, as in the U.S., and this will lead to “job satisfaction = higher remuneration. However, the world is not that simple. There are many “non-working uncles” and “elves” who would like to hang on to their companies until the end if they can enjoy their monthly paychecks.

Japan has many worker-friendly laws, and even the president cannot easily fire employees. Employees also find it difficult to quit. This stalemate has continued for a long time.

That is why, in order to cross the “55-year old valley,” one must fully understand the “45-year old wall” and reevaluate one’s life as a worker from the age of 35 or so. If we do not correct the course of our life, which will continue for at least 80 years, we will become the living dead.

The author, Mr. Takada, has been meticulously planning his life since his days at Toyota. Although he set his sights on becoming an executive early on, he did not achieve it, but he still succeeded in following his career path according to the plan outlined in this book. To the 87% of salarymen who have vague fears about their future careers! Please take a look at Mr. Takada’s meticulous plan.

↓ Please pick up your copy at bookstores across the country or on Kindle!

The Wall of 45 and the Valley of 55″ (Winning!　(Six scenarios for businessmen)

Author： Atsushi Takada

Price: 1,980 yen (1,800 yen + tax) Kindle 1,584 yen + tax

ISBN code: 978-4-7711-1068-7

Publisher: Koryosha Shoten Co.

◆ Notes

Branding in the age of design management Quit the company in your fifties and win! Career Strategies in Reverse – WASEDA NEO Talk Session

Atsushi Takada, President, A.T. Marketing Solution x

Jun Fukuda, Brand Consultant