The diagrams illustrate two distinct office layouts of a typical office in Japan and America.
Overall, Japanese offices design their office with an open-plan layout and quite simple, with no private rooms. In contrast, American office design looks more traditional, emphasizing individual privacy and hierarchy.
Let’s look closer to the typical Japanese office first. The department manager’s desk is in the head of the office, where they can overlook all their employees. The Japanese model groups desks into two larger areas, each overseen by a section manager and they will work together in an expansive table with chairs lined up on each side. Interestingly, Japanese offices are equipped with a single large window and two doors, all situated behind the department manager’s workspace.
On the other hand, American-style offices demonstrate individualized workspaces and various amenities. It is designed to have ten different L – shaped desks for employees and each employee owns a desk which is located in the middle part of the office. Managers are arranged in adjoining rooms on the right side of the office and the size of the manager’s own office will depend on their poison. The American office houses a printer, copier, and storage space on the left side, with conference rooms also available for use and they also designed their offices to leverage natural light with windows on two sides.