If you hear the term “black company”, what kind of company do you imagine? As we all know, black is the darkest color, so if you pictured an evil company with a dark side then you would be on the right track. A black company (aka “black corporation” or “black business”) is buraku kigyō ブラック 企業 in Japanese. In general, it is a term used to refer to an unacceptably exploitative employment system.

Now, maybe you’re thinking this is a word to describe a factory somewhere in China, but you’d be wrong. The term is actually usually associated with white-collar industries rather than blue-collar ones. It was coined by young IT workers in the early 2000’s and, being the IT workers that they were, spread this nickname around the internet as an internet meme. Now, thanks to its fame, it is a term that can be used for other industries that are not IT.

Context for anyone unfamiliar with the term