Japanese salarymen dream of Google

Despite being second in the Japanese market to a dominant Yahoo!, Google topped the charts this month as the company most Japanese salarymen would prefer to work for. It was the only non-Japanese company in the top ten, and those polled cited the company's "innovation" and "potential" as its attractive characteristics, according to outplacement firm Intelligence.

Yahoo Japan, which holds 56.5 percent of the market compared to Google's 33.7 percent, could only muster 53rd place in a survey of 5,000 25-34 year-olds to find out their dream company to commute to every morning. Google's reputation for providing the ideal working environment put them significantly ahead of stalwart Sony who came in second, followed by world-renowned Japanese brands Toyota, Nintendo and Panasonic.

Despite major shake-ups in the airline industry that saw the Japanese government bail-out national carrier JAL, who slip in at 50, competitor All Nippon Airways (ANA) came in seventh thanks to a reputation of treating their staff well. The remainder of the top ten was made up by a variety of fields, make-up giant Shiseido came in sixth, leisure company and amusement park operator Oriental Land -- which runs Disneyland in Japan -- came eighth, with Fuji TV (9) and car maker Honda (10) rounding out the list. Apple just missed out, placing 11th. 

1. Google
2. Sony
3. Toyota
4. Nintendo
5. Panasonic
6. Shiseido
7. All Nippon Airways
8. Oriental Land
9. Fuji Television
10. Honda