LIFE IN JAPAN vol.15 – from Malaysia

The “LIFE IN JAPAN” series showcases the lifestyles of PayPay employees who have moved to Japan from over 50 different countries and regions. In this issue, we interviewed Aishah Azman from Malaysia about how she came to join PayPay and tips on staying true to herself in a culturally different country!

What sparked your interest in Japan?

One of the main reasons was because I wanted to take on a new challenge overseas.
In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I started off as a growth marketer, later becoming a product manager. After five years of experience, I started looking for opportunities to further develop myself abroad and that was when I came across PayPay.

I had some understanding of the Southeast Asian market and user needs from my previous job, so I wanted to test myself in a different market. I had also traveled to Japan twice and had a good impression despite the language barrier. I decided to join PayPay because the main language in the product team is English and members with diverse backgrounds were gathered there.

How is life in Japan?

Since I came to Japan in December 2023, I have been enjoying my new life more than I expected! It already feels like my second home.
I came to Japan alone, away from my family and friends, but I rarely feel lonely or isolated because I enjoy spending time by myself, meeting new friends, and exploring new things. When I was in Malaysia, I was comfortable hanging out with my close friends, but now I’m trying to be more open-minded, going out to meet new people without being shy. The people at PayPay are very friendly too, so I’ve been able to settle in quite quickly. For example, a Malaysian colleague added me to the Malaysian Slack group in the company, and another colleague who saw on my introduction slide that I like board games messaged me on Slack and invited me to join their board game group. PayPay has many hobby groups like hiking, rock climbing, and running, which makes it easy to find like-minded friends.

Also, I frequently travel across the country. When I came to Japan on vacation, I visited major tourist destinations such as Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Mt. Fuji, and skied in Niseko in Hokkaido, but after moving here, I sometimes take day trips to places I wouldn’t go to as a tourist, such as the suburbs of Tokyo. I also went to Yamanashi with my friends and visited the Ashikaga Flower Park in spring to enjoy beautiful flowers. Recently, I also enjoyed hiking up Mt. Tsukuba.

Any challenges with cultural differences?

I do feel that there are more rules and societal norms to follow in Japan than in Malaysia, despite which, I like this Japanese culture. Especially, the custom of queuing neatly at the station and everyone being mindful of one another. Everything has both good and bad sides — I try to enjoy the cultural differences between Japan and Malaysia.
There are also differences in terms of work. In Malaysia, you often become close friends with the people you work with even in your private lives, but in Japan, many people seem to have a healthy separation between their work and private lives. PayPay’s culture strikes a good balance, as I do go out with my colleagues on weekends, but I rarely talk about work. I like this balance very much!

As a product manager, I have also noticed a few things. For Japanese consumers, “quality” is incredibly important, and they have high quality expectations for everything. For instance, it’s unique to Japan to see souvenir packaging so beautifully arranged. Outstanding hospitality and customer services in restaurants and hospitals are also common. When designing the UI/UX for the Japanese market, I’ve learned that it’s important to understand the cultural aspects unique to Japan and keep in mind that Japanese consumers are very sensitive about negative experiences. In Southeast Asia, I’ve observed that even if users have a disappointing experience, they don’t demand much, so I’ve had to update my perspective.

Have you had any difficulties with the language?

When I first came to Japan, PayPay helped me with the paperwork at city hall and at the bank, which was a huge relief. In everyday life, like eating out and shopping, there are no major problems even if I don’t understand Japanese. Especially in central Tokyo, people working in the service industries speak English well enough. Even so, there are still some language challenges. For example, my washing machine’s dryer function has broken down, and since I’m not used to making phone calls in Japanese, I’ve been putting off getting it fixed.

At work, communication in PayPay’s product team is mainly in English. My manager is Japanese, and to be honest, when I first joined, we sometimes struggled to understand each other correctly. But we’ve both been making efforts to study each other’s language, and now we communicate just fine.

In the PayPay Card product team I’m currently working with, most of the Japanese members don’t speak English. However, we have interpreters for meetings, and sometimes the meeting materials are prepared in English in advance. In some cases, such as emergencies, interpreters are not available on time and the meeting is conducted entirely in Japanese, so I don’t understand what’s being discussed. But English-speaking members explain the key points for me. We help each other and use translation tools to get the job done.

What’s it like to work at PayPay?

PayPay is one of the largest payment and financial service app in Japan with over 65 million users (*as of August 2024). The PayPay Card project I am currently involved in is challenging as it requires consideration from various perspectives, including UI/UX, legal, data security, and customer service. However, it is rewarding because it brings joy to many users. Even for small updates to the app, seeing many users talking about it on social media makes me very happy.

I work on a hybrid schedule. I go to the office once a week to get some valuable face-time and intentionally connect with my colleagues. There are members I have not met in person, but we become close as we work together on projects. I think chatting a bit now and then is the key to getting work done smoothly.

A message for those interested in working at PayPay in Japan!

Deciding to move to Japan might require courage. However, once you actually live here, you’ll find that Japan is a wonderful country—safe, convenient, with excellent services, and offering an environment where you can enjoy many things and gain insights from the cultural differences. Just as I’ve learned that Japanese culture really values quality, the cultural differences and unique values you discover in your daily life can be applied to your work at PayPay!

If you have already decided to move to Japan and want to work for an influential fintech company, let’s work together at PayPay!

Next time…
We will talk with a member from Canada. Stay tuned!

*Job openings and employee affiliations are current as of the time of the interview.