Interview with Saurabh Bains of A Japanese Fintech Major About his Experience of Working in Japan

4th interview in the series of “interviews with foreign engineers in Japan,” EJable.com’s Ryoko Nagai talks to Saurabh Bains of PayPay about his experiences working in Japan. Established in 2018, PayPay Corporation is a leading Japanese Fintech company.

Video Interview

Transcript of The Video

Ryoko: Hi, Saurabh. Thank you for joining us here at EJable today. I’m really happy to have you and have this opportunity to talk to you to know your story about how you came to work in Japan. And I’m sure everyone else is happy to hear about your experience. So yeah, to begin, is it OK if I ask you to give us a little bit of introduction and a bit of your background, please?

Saurabh: Sure, and thanks a lot for having me, and I’m happy to share my experiences. I am from India and came to Japan this year, in June 2022. Before that, I had worked in India for about 6-7 years. I’ve primarily worked in the tech space as a product manager in various cities in India.

Well, about coming to Japan, I was looking for opportunities to work abroad. I also wanted to look for opportunities where I could learn a lot more, and this opportunity where I work right now came up. It was an added bonus that it was for Japan because I’ve always been fascinated by the country. Uh, so that’s how I came here.

Ryoko: I see. Can I know what, where, or when your first interaction with Japan was? Like I know some people find out about Japan through Japanese food, or like you know, because of anime, etc. But yeah, I’m just wondering what made you interested in Japan.

Saurabh: Yeah, for sure. So, I think I’m one of those who did not come to Japan because of anime. Because many people who come here from abroad like anime a lot 😊.

The first instance I remember of Japan was because my mother traveled to Japan almost 20 years back. She lived here for a long time. When she returned, she got lots of games, Nintendo, and so many things, and that’s when I learned about Japan first.

I started playing those games and started reading about Japan. That was my first encounter with Japan.

However, I had never traveled to Japan before coming to work here, but whenever I met somebody from Japan, I had the best time because everybody I met from Japan was so nice.

Also, as I love photography and traveling, I have always dreamed of coming here, traveling, and taking pictures.

Ryoko: Oh, I see. So, you’ve been here for around six months?

Saurabh: Yeah, I think I’ve been here for a little more than six months. I started working at the company I’m working at in March. So, I worked from home in India for about three months, then shifted here while the visa process was done.

Ryoko: I see. Was moving from India to Japan difficult?

Saurabh: I think it was not difficult for me. Because as I said, I came here when I knew I had a job. I knew what I was going to do. Fortunately, my company helped me a lot, completely taking over the visa process, giving me a sense of what to expect and where I could live, and helping me navigate.

Everything was taken care of right from when I was in India to coming here. So, I don’t think I had an issue. I would say I have had some minor issues while going to the ward office, for example, being unable to speak Japanese. However, even then, I had people helping me, so I faced no issues.

Ryoko: OK, nice, so before you came to Japan, you had no Japanese language skills?

Saurabh: Yes, I had no Japanese skills. So, as I mentioned, I came to Japan because I was looking for opportunities, and it happened to be in Japan. It was not like I learned Japanese and then thought, let’s look for companies in Japan. So, I had zero Japanese skills. And also, my company didn’t require me to know Japanese. I think it would have been harder to come to Japan if my company required Japanese language skills.

Ryoko: Yeah. Well, I’m wondering if you have picked up any Japanese over the past six months.

Saurabh: Yeah, I think I have. But I think it’s been slightly slow in terms of picking up. Also, my company provides me with free Japanese classes at work. Every week, like, during work hours, we take Japanese lessons. And also, I’ve picked up a lot of, uh, I would say restaurant and izakaya Japanese, to order food and ask what it is and things like that. But other than that, it’s been slow. Yeah, that’s my current Japanese level.

Ryoko: OK, do you think that not knowing Japanese gives you a significant barrier to being in Japan?

Saurabh: I would say, yes, it does. When I came here first, I didn’t know the extent of English here. I didn’t know the number of people who would know English.

After arriving here, I realized that very few people could speak and understand English. So, yes, it does have an impact on my social life. For example, it’s not as easy for me to sort of, you know, talk to people.

Yeah, but having said that, I think you can make this issue less challenging by picking up a few words for something you want to do and using Google Translate.

Also, if you speak slowly, even in English, people can pick up the words and understand what you’re trying to say.

In terms of work, I don’t think it’s been an issue at all because I work in a multinational, multicultural team at my company.

There are more foreigners from 20-30 countries than Japanese people. So, everybody has a very different point of view and different languages they speak. So, it’s not been an issue. And whenever I speak to people who do not know English, interpreters are available for Zoom calls, so it’s not an issue work-wise.

Ryoko: OK, so your work is basically in English?

Saurabh: Yes, mostly. I mean, I wouldn’t say it’s entirely in English. There are some teams with more Japanese. For example, sales teams, etc., that have to go and talk to people, yeah, but my team is not. They don’t need to know Japanese at all.

Ryoko: OK, I’m guessing your team or working environment is very international.

Saurabh: Yes, it’s very international. I don’t know the exact numbers today, but from what I’ve been told, people from about 25 to 30 countries work in my company.

And yeah, I think it’s a very multicultural sort of place and people. And also, I don’t feel alone in terms of not knowing Japanese. Everybody’s going through the same thing, so there’s always a community.

But having said that, many people I know are learning Japanese, so it’s not like people are assuming that since we are not required to know Japanese for work, there is no need to learn. People are learning Japanese. Some had already started learning Japanese before they came in. Some already knew it, and some are starting, so it’s a different range of people, yeah!

Ryoko: I see. Then can I know if coming from India to, well, to a company in Japan, was there something that you must adapt to in your working style to fit the company you currently work for?

Saurabh: Uh, yes, I think that’s a good question because when I had come in when in fact, I started working at my company. Uh, uh. Back in March, when I started from India, I realized that there were many differences in the working culture of Japan, I think. Maybe this is quite well-known as well. There are a lot of positives that I saw, right? There’s a lot of attention to detail. People care about the quality of their work. It has to be up to a certain standard, which is great because it pushes me to deliver higher quality. So, I love that a lot.

Another thing that I mentioned previously is the language. Some people don’t know your language, so I had to speak slowly, communicate more, make sure people understood, go out of my way to add clarity and listen to people more. So those things had to change.

Another thing is that there are a lot of rules and structures in Japan. I think at work as well, so those are a couple of things that I had to adjust to. But they’re not as strict; I would say at work because, as I said, I work in a very multicultural team. So yeah, the culture is not as Japanese as it would be in a typical Japanese company, yeah? So yeah, I think that’s sort of the difference I saw.

Ryoko: I see. OK, can I know what you like about your current job as a senior product manager at PayPay?

Saurabh: Yeah, as I said, like, one of the reasons I came here is because of this job. So, I like this job, and generally, because I like my role and what I do, I love being a product manager.

It allows me to speak to and be around a lot of different types of people. It’s like you work with the business team, the sales team, the marketing team, the engineers, designers. So that’s a very interesting thing, and I also get to be creative and also look into data.

I really like all of these things. And whatever you think about and whatever you think about building can actually be built and used by end consumers and in different countries, right? You also get to know how people use it in Japan. So, in terms of my role, I like it for sure, and that hasn’t changed. Yeah!

Ryoko: Then, I guess moving on to a bit outside of your work here in Japan, do you have a relationship with your colleagues that you also have a social life with that you would go out for drinks or dinners or something like that?

Saurabh: Yeah, so as I said, like, there are a lot of people who are from outside Japan. So, there’s an automatic thing. You feel like you’re in the same boat. So, I have a few friends from my office. I have gone out with them many times outside of work.

So, there have been situations where, you know, you have no idea what’s happening; you don’t know the language. So yeah, when you don’t know what to do, you call them up, and they help you. Sometimes you don’t know Japanese, but they know Japanese, so they help you out as well. So, there have been situations when, you know, people were sick or had COVID, and we help each other out. So, it’s been quite nice, for sure.

Ryoko: Yeah, that sounds like a very supportive community. Then what do you do in your free time?

Saurabh: Yeah, so I mostly like to travel a lot here within Tokyo and also outside. I have had opportunities to travel to many places outside Tokyo in Japan. And that was also a goal of mine when I came in. I’ve been really interested in and gotten serious about running as an activity.

I found a few groups in Tokyo, and I run with them, and we do hiking and running. And that’s been very, very good. In fact, I’m going to be traveling across to run a few races. So that will be a way for me to travel and do both of these. And generally, just finding new restaurants and, you know, it has been something I’m interested in. So yeah, that’s it.

Ryoko: The group of people that you run with, are they a Japanese group?

Saurabh: That’s not a Japanese group, but that’s just predominantly multicultural. There’s a high majority of expats but also many Japanese people.

Ryoko: Oh, I see. How did you manage to find that?

Saurabh: I had somebody who runs who helped me train in India, and she knew somebody in Japan. So, then she connected me with him. So, it’s like one person knew another, and that person knew someone else. So, that’s how we got to know each other.

Ryoko: OK, is it easy to run around in Tokyo because I feel, like, it’s very busy and like the roads are, you know, very small.

Saurabh: Yeah, that’s interesting, right? Because I came from India, I would say it’s even worse in India in terms of running, right? Because Japan and Tokyo are a lot more pedestrian-friendly than India, at least.

And also, I think there are a lot of places in Tokyo where you can run. There are so many parks. One of the places we all meet, like from around Tokyo, is Yoyogi Park, Ota field. So maybe you’ll run there. So, if you go there, you will find many people running. But every place within Tokyo has many big parks, and you can go there as well, yeah.

Ryoko: I see, uh, nice. This is my first time returning to Japan after 10 years. So, I want to know which was your favorite place that you visited in Japan outside of Tokyo.

Saurabh: Ah, OK, interesting. Which was our favorite place that I visited outside of Tokyo? I would say, I think, it was Kyoto.

Ryoko: OK.

Saurabh: Yeah, so. It was fun. Kyoto is really nice. Everything is just so beautiful. I think it was perfect weather.

I went during autumn. My family was visiting, so it was like a big family trip after 6-7 months. We took them around, which was amazing because it was perfect weather.

The people are incredibly nice. Like, I don’t know, I feel like people in Kyoto were way nicer than people in Tokyo. They approached me a lot more. They asked me if I needed help. They were a lot friendlier. So, I liked it a lot.

On the same trip, I also went to Nara, which was nice. So, I think that was a very nice trip. I’ve also climbed Mount Fuji, which was also really good, but it was painful, so I wouldn’t count it as my top thing, but that was also a good experience.

Ryoko: Oh, OK, wow. Mount Fuji. Yeah, I’m planning to go to Kyoto, so I’m excited to go there.

Saurabh: Yeah, yeah, sure.

Ryoko: Can I know what you like or don’t like about Japanese culture?

Saurabh: OK, so I think, as I mentioned before, I really feel like people in Japan. They are very, very respectful of everybody around them.

I think it’s a very community-minded community. People care a lot about cleanliness; they care that nobody is inconvenienced in any way.

Even in a city like Tokyo, one of the world’s biggest cities, it’s way quieter than it should be as a big city. It’s a way cleaner. People are a lot more structured, they follow the rules, and they’re generally very respectful. So, I find that very nice.

I love the food here and just the sheer quality of the food. I feel I rarely have had bad food at any place here because I think it’s generally in the culture of Japan, right? You just put a lot of effort into whatever you do. You want to ensure that the quality standards are very high in anything you do, which also comes through in the food.

And the travel is really good, and people go out of their way to help each other, right?

For example, I’ve also read about this and seen it in videos—if you forget something somewhere, people make sure those things get back to you. It’s happened to me two or three times, like once when I was going on a subway train.

I was new here and wanted to go to a certain place, but I didn’t know which platform to go to. And I asked a person in broken Japanese and English, “Where do I go” and you know, he helped me by telling me that it was platform #2. But when I reached platform #2, I realized it was the wrong platform. And then I saw this person running behind me saying, “I’m sorry I made a mistake; it’s platform number 1,” He went with me to the platform to ensure I reached the right one. So yeah, these small things are very nice 😊.

Uh, what I feel I do not like about Japan is that I think it’s similar to what I mentioned here earlier, that Japan generally is a much more conformist society. I would say that people like to follow the rules a lot more.

Ryoko: Yeah, yeah.

Saurabh: Uh, even at the cost of individual freedom in terms of what they want to say and how they feel something, they would not, sort of, say it because they will feel like they are being disrespectful or they’re not following the rules. So, I feel it generally impacts people’s lives, and I think professionally also. Sometimes, you feel people would rather follow the rules than be more creative and entrepreneurial. However, I do see that changing now.

Ryoko: OK.

Saurabh: Uh, and also, I feel like these rules are not as applicable to foreigners as they are for Japanese people, so I do feel I’m slightly luckier. That’s one thing I wish was changed, or at least become less so. The other thing is that I wish people would speak more openly about what they feel.

Ryoko: Yeah, yeah.

Saurabh: Right, so people don’t. Even if they agree with you, even at work, right? If they don’t agree with your point of view, then rather than saying that they do not agree or do not like it, they will go for a second or third round of meetings to discuss the same. Yeah, so I prefer people to speak their minds a lot more. I know it’s not very easy. But I would say these are some things I don’t like.

Ryoko: I see. Yeah, I understand as well. By the way, how do you like living in Tokyo? It’s very busy, you know, on the trains in the morning and evening. I am not a big fan, so I’m wondering how you feel about how busy it is.

Saurabh: I work from home mostly. I have a hybrid model with my company. Yeah, I go to the office on certain days every few weeks, so I don’t have to deal with this crowd issue regularly. I do think it’s very busy, for sure.

Certain train lines are insanely busy in the mornings and the evenings. Uh, but, It’s slightly inconvenient. It does not impact my life a lot because I work from home. Otherwise, I think I like living in Tokyo a lot. I think it’s huge; there are so many things to do.

The food is amazing, and the food variety is amazing. Even though it’s crowded at certain times, I feel that public transport is really good. I feel it’s one of the best in the world. Like, you are never too far from anywhere in Tokyo.

Even if you live on the outskirts of Tokyo, it is sometimes better than staying in the center because it’s the same time to get to work, right? And I think it’s very clean. People, as I said, are very respectful. So, I like living in Tokyo. Of course, I chose to stay in Tokyo, as I had the option of staying in any other city in Japan because my company allows that.

Ryoko: OK.

Saurabh: But I chose to stay here because I felt like this is where I would have the easiest time transitioning into Japan, and there would be many more people in Tokyo from outside the country. I would get to go to the office a lot more. So, that’s why I chose to stay here. But I also have colleagues who have chosen to stay in places like Sapporo, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Osaka, etc.

Ryoko: OK.

Saurabh: They’ve been staying around. So, I don’t know if I’ll stay in Tokyo for the long term, but I’m enjoying it so far.

Ryoko: OK yeah, then one of my few last questions. Do you have specific plans for your career in Japan or in general?

Saurabh: So, when you say prospects, you mean, like, what? What am I thinking of doing in Japan after this?

Ryoko: Yeah.

Saurabh: As I said, when I came to Japan, I wanted to work as a product manager and learn from a very different environment. I’m getting to work on products and interesting projects that I haven’t had before, and I also get to work with a very multicultural team, which I think I’m learning from.

So, my goal for coming to Japan was to learn; to be honest, I just want to learn and get better at my job. So, that’s still my goal. As to the future, I mean, I don’t know. I have no deadline or timeline, and till when or how long I want to stay here, I think I’m just very open to some learning, so that’s the phase I’m in.

And I feel like, I don’t know if you also feel this way, but Japan is also encouraging a lot more foreigners to come to Japan. So, I feel like the prospects will only grow in the future, and I’m hoping that happens.

Ryoko: That’s nice, OK. Then for my last question for you, do you have any tips or advice for people who are looking for work in Japan or who wish to work in Japan?

Saurabh: Yeah, so I don’t think it’s advice, but I would say that, as I said, there are a lot of opportunities in Japan for foreigners. So, if you’re interested in going to Japan, just research. Also, talk to expats about life here.

I think that way, and it’s much easier to get a very good sense of what your life will be like. I did this before I came to Japan; I spoke to people in the company and people I knew in Japan about their lives. So, you have a good sense of what to expect, so you don’t get any shocks—I mean, culture shock. That’s one piece of advice.

The second point is that even when you don’t think you need to learn Japanese, I would still be open to learning at least some Japanese. Just a few phrases, just starting a little bit. You will take a long time to be very good at Japanese. But I would say that you should learn Japanese if you can. That’s another piece of advice. But yeah, I think just other than that, I would say that it’s a great place to live, so I don’t think you need to worry about much, but these are the tips.

Ryoko: Thank you. That sounds right. I think those two are excellent advice. Yeah, I agree, too. Thank you for sharing your experience with us today. I’m really happy to get to know you, and I hope everyone else also thinks it’s helpful to hear these stories. And yeah, thank you so much.

Saurabh: Thank you so much for this. I’m happy to help, and I understand what people are thinking about going through when they’re coming to Japan. Thanks for organizing this as well.

Ryoko: You too. Thank you so much.

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