Shūshin Koyō

Shūshin koyō (終身雇用^?) is the term for permanent employment in Japan.

It was extremely common in major Japanese companies beginning with the first economic successes in the 1920s through the Japanese post-war economic miracle up until after the bursting of the Japanese asset price bubble, the Lost Decade and the following economic reforms.

Shūshin koyō starts with an event called Simultaneous Recruiting of New Graduates in which a large cohort of recent university graduates all enter a company at once. It gave Japanese workers the important feeling of job security as part of Japanese management culture, and in turn, elicited a high degree of company loyalty. 

Following Junichiro Koizumi's administration, lifetime employment is now rare.