I got restructured.

リストラ (risutora) is a word I heard a lot growing up in Japan in the 90s, after the economic bubble burst and many people were being laid off. It’s a shortened form of リストラクチャリング (risutorakucharingu) — “restructuring.” Instead of saying someone was simply fired, companies could say they were “restructured,” which sounds more corporate and less brutal.​

Before that, it was called 首切り (kubikiri), which literally means “decapitation” or “cutting off someone’s head.” Or 解雇 (kaiko), the formal, legal term meaning your employment contract has been terminated. All three point to the same thing—losing your job—but each word has a different emotional temperature: from harsh (首切り) to coldly official (解雇) to softened, business-like (リストラ).​

In Japan, there has traditionally been a strong expectation of long-term or even “lifetime” employment, especially in large companies. Because of that, both quitting and being fired can carry social stigma.​

• Being fired can feel like a loss of face, suggesting you didn’t “endure” enough, didn’t fit in, or failed your responsibilities to the company and team.​

• Quitting voluntarily, especially without another job lined up, can be seen as selfish or unreliable, because it disrupts group harmony and burdens colleagues who must absorb your work.​

This is why a word like リストラ is useful: it shifts the blame away from the individual to “the economy” or “company restructuring.” It sounds like you were swept up in a larger corporate tide rather than personally rejected, which softens the social judgment.

It’s never pleasant, being fired, but somehow リストラ sounds cooler and a bit more abstract. Try saying it the next time it happens to you. It might not hurt less, but at least it sounds slightly more stylish!