ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses at the "subjective well-being at work" of Japanese academics through the examination of three major surveys of job satisfaction, undertaken in 1992 and 2007. The three surveys in relation to Japanese academia namely: 2007 The Changing Academic Profession (CAP) survey suggests that general levels of job satisfaction in Japan are relatively high, while the International Survey of Academic Profession (AP) data, which for several reasons might be considered to be more comparable to the 1992 Carnegie Survey, but offers less comparability with other countries, draws a less positive picture. The chapter examines some of the major changes that had taken place in the higher education system over the period of 1992 and 2007. It also focuses on job satisfaction as a proxy for well-being at the workplace and adapts Mathews and Izquierdo's four dimensions to the specific context of the Japanese academic workplace.
