Abstract
This chapter examines how foreign white-collar employees manage their identities in Japanese corporations. Focusing in particular on the trade-off that foreign workers often face between introducing new ideas and practices and adapting to their Japanese organization on the other, the chapter draws on interviews to propose four ideal-type identities adopted by foreign employees: the knowledge worker, the global talent, the inter-cultural bridge, and the hidden foreigner. These identities are associated with different levels of change initiatives and also vary depending on the corporation’s emphasis on globalization, as well as the extent to which it treats foreign employees as insiders or exceptions. The chapter ends with a discussion of the implications for foreign employees’ influences on Japanese organizations, as well as corporate strategies when hiring foreign workers. © 2026 selection and editorial matter, Robin Sakamoto; individual chapters, the contributors.