The Blue-Eyed Salaryman: From World Traveller to Lifer at Mitsubishi [Paperback]

"A fascinating and engaging book ... a rare inside look at corporate life in Japan, one that's worth more than a dozen business-school studies." - Bloomberg

"Full of wonderful vignettes and details. "- Spectator

"Murtagh gives a fascinating account of a system that is misunderstood, even satirised, in the West."- Culture Vulture Books

Why on earth would anyone give up a life on the open road for the regimen of a vast Japanese conglomerate? And is it really so different in Japan from everywhere else? Niall Murtagh spent years as a world traveller - hitchhiking to Istanbul, bussing to Kathmandu and crossing the Atlantic in a home-built yacht. In 1986 he closed the door on his adventurous life and settled down in Japan, eventually joining Mitsubishi as a Salaryman - a man in a shiny suit with a shiny attache case in a conglomerate with 100,000 employees. And what happens when you give up the Salaryman life? The book follows life after the corporation, giving fresh perspectives on the nature of Japanese business culture and the problems faced by outsiders in Japan.

Niall Murtagh has lived in Japan since 1986, initially as a Japanese government-sponsored student, later as an ordinary employee of Mitsubishi. He has written for various publications on travel, technology and corporate culture. He has diplomas in Japanese and French and a doctorate in artificial intelligence.