OL Nippon

I saw a couple of episodes of this 2008 Japanese drama series online. It's called OL Nippon, and it's about how the individual Japanese executives in the General Affairs Department deal with their department's function getting slowly outsourced to China.

There are 3 Mandarin-speakers in the cast, acting as PRCs working in Japan.

In just a couple of episodes, the culture clashes and unintended consequences of outsourcing and/or introducing foreign talent into an air-tight system are drawn out... in the polite Japanese manner.

In one scene, the PRC girls (one sweet and hardworking, the other brash, self-righteous and hardworking) asked their Japanese female counterparts why they wore so much make-up to work, and plainly pointed out that in China, OLs do not wear makeup, only hostesses do. O_o

In another scene, the outsourcing agent (who is Japanese) told a Japanese worker in his 50s very plainly and in front of everyone else that the latter had been hidding behind the wall of the Japanese language for too long. The elder Japanese worker had earlier commented that the PRC girls would not be able to take over his job because they did not know the Japanese language.

Of course, one must not forget that this is a drama series.
However, this is not the first time the outsourcing to China vs joblessness issue has been played up in Japanese popular culture. Earlier, I watched Tokyo Sonata.

If you know where I can buy the entire series, do leave a comment. English or Chinese subs are fine.