Survey shows most Japanese employees don't like Western-style work socials soranews24.com

With December less than two weeks away, Japanese companies are beginning to make preparations for their annual bounenkai (end-of-year) and shinnenkai (New Year) parties.
But according to a recent survey, these Western-style work socials are overwhelmingly unpopular in Japan.
Out of 200 respondents, 84.5 percent said they preferred traditional sit-down type parties, while only 15.5 percent said they preferred the Western-style stand-and-mingle type.
In contrast, sit-down style festivities usually have arranged seating to keep anyone from becoming the odd one out—you may not be thrilled with the seating arrangement, but you’ll always have people to talk to.
Most sit-down parties portion out helpings of food for each section of the table, so everyone has equal dibs when it comes to serving themselves.