Studies have shown that mental sharpness and productivity declines after 8 or 9 hours of work. Most overtime only done to demonstrate company loyalty and to fit into the work culture. But it’s not worth it.
As someone who has worked in a Japanese office, I can assure you the workers are not productive. They'll stare off into space for long periods of time, fall asleep constantly, work very slowly, and generally goof off by using their mobile phones. A human just cannot be alert and productive for 12+ hours per day, 6 days a week. But all this is okay, because if you're the last to leave your office you're seen as a 'hard worker' on the fast track to promotion. You're seen as someone who works so much better than anyone else, even if you get less done. It's sick.
Thanks for your comment, Angus. Is it time that employers move away from focusing on how many hours employees spend at work and instead offer rewards based on productivity? What's your approach to time management? Are you a time boxer or a casual planner? This piece by FT Undercover Economist Tim Harford might interest you. He evaluates the different approaches to work and time management: www.ft.com/content/940b7986-cf23-11e9-b018-ca4456540ea6.
@@biplav32 That doesn't change the impact it has on the human mind and body. A word is just a sound you make with your mouth, dear. It IS slavery when we force people to work and threaten their livelihood otherwise. We literally work to live, and that's disgusting. Come to think of it, Japan has only been drinking coffee like Americans since the 70's. Now, kids get energy drinks and coffee before and after school. No one sees the problem with that? No one is worried as to why they have some of the highest suicide rates in the world? It has nothing to do with their hard work ethic, but more to do with the push for commercialism and indoctrination into western culture. We have basically enslaved them after the world war, and it's up to us to help re-enlighten them. Not like western culture is much better, we have basically turned their women angry, and their men into pussies. This isn't enlightenment, this is the force of insanity from a crazy social justice standpoint that they hardly needed.
Anyone who’s spent time in a Japanese corporate environment will know the really stupid thing.. they’re mostly not even working, just trying to look busy. Efficiency is considered to be laziness.
1. Japanese document is take very long time to read... this due to their language design to segregation people between educated and non-educated. 2. it take so long that people had to wait... kind not good idea to had people siting around and do nothing so they had to be actor.... 3. Real hard work eat up people so much... people left their job for more easier one... 4.This is the same with any country... so that why they are losing to another country like Korea which is shift to English for faster communication and work speed.
So disrespectful for those people that lost their lives. So you're telling me Japanese are killing themselves every year because they are not working hard?
@@HB-mr7xz could be. i have worked in a multinational company, now for a state company. it's a money laundry scheme that puts first the physical presence of people in the work place, for hours and extrahours. Efficiency is perceived as "Union" activism and punished as such. The planet is one big sphere of cretins inhabiting it.
@@HB-mr7xz Yes, exactly. Keeping up the act for your boss and coworkers is exhausting with the added depression that comes with knowing you are wasting your life and living a lie. Disrespectful? Thanks for your concern.
"If you work to make a living.... Why do you kill yourself working?" Tuco's wise question in Sérgio Leone's..The Good,The Bad & The Ugly...a helova movie
@Winter V "wasting their life" implies life has inherent value. Life only has the value one determines for oneself. For some, that value is how much relaxation, happiness, and exploration one can have in the crafted worlds games create. Foolish are those who think that their determinant for value is universal.
+G13RS Since I left a Japanese travel company at the age of 31, I seldom work more than 8 hours a day, and 40 hours a week. Working environments of the travel company I worked for was exactly the same as this video describes.
*_"They hesitate to be the only ones going home while their colleagues are still at work"_* For me it usually goes.... Have I completed all my tasks?...If so, do I have on going projects to work on?...If not, can I be of assistance to my colleagues/boss?...If not needed, then *_"It's Miller Time"_* and I'm out the door without the slightest hint of guilt. 👍
What if your boss and colleague will always require assistance from you until they go home themselves? Same thing. Should be similar to the way Danes work. If it's time to go home, it's time to go home no matter what.
The Japanese are an interesting people. Out of respect to their elders, they emulate their behaviour, even the obsolete ones. For example, if you work for a Japanese corporation in Japan, you are expected to go and see people face to face, even if the message can be sent in an email. These face to face meetings add countless hours to your workweek. Some things are meant to be left in the past.
Thank you for your comment. The correspondent in that video, Leo Lewis, also wrote about this topic, citing that Japanese workers sleep the least amount among advanced economies' populations with about 7.4 hours of sleep a day. See if you find this story interesting: www.ft.com/content/a2289d48-d944-11e9-9c26-419d783e10e8.
They don't even get paid over working, that's just sad. EDIT: excuses everyone, I've just looked it up about Japanese labour laws. They do get paid for overtime. Sorry for the misunderstanding/misinformation.
Not being paid for OT is true in many cases actually. Although they are required to pay employees overtime, a lot of companies these days reduce your base salary to be extremely low and include certain amount of overtime (ex.70 hours) into your monthly salary and the total is your real base salary. You will be paid after the 71st hour though but before that you don’t get anyting as it was supposedly included in your salary. Some say it to help make employees stop doing overtime since if it is paid by hours, a lot of them would just hang out after work just for the extra pay and do nothing during the day. Still with the culture as is, ppl still have to do overtime eventhough they r not paid.
In paper, they did get paid. However, in reality, working overtime without asking for pay is considered “loyal”, “hardworking”, “willing to stick to the company to the end”,... and other stupid ideas, they thought those are “good” qualities of a employee, similar to a samurai loyalty to his lord, despite how stupid or crazy his lord is. That why there is no overtime pay, because even you try to pay them, they give it back.
@@JOSEPH-vs2gc People who quote high suicide rate in Japan are pretty ignorant. It's a stereotype without much basis. You can call the WHO crooked if you want, but they are no more or less infallible than any institution. You can't just claim suicide numbers are being altered by the WHO because it fits with your own mistaken narrative. They are getting their data from governments. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate#List_by_other_sources_and_years_(1985%E2%80%932018) This has both WHO and non WHO sources of data. Japan is still fairly comparable with the US. US average (men and women) 14.5 suicides per 100,000 in 2017. Japan is 16.5 in 2018. So two extra people per 100,000. Hardly a dramatic difference.
Death by work is big issue composed by several small issues.... -Overworking -Too much sitting -Too much staring to computer in long period of time -Negativity from coworkers -Too many nomikai-s -Crowded morning train and many more... If one can eliminate half from stuff mentioned above, I believe one already reduce the probability of death by work up to 90%
Most jobs are too much standing. Its easy to shake off the effects of sitting too long. Just get up when ur butt and legs feel numb. Its not so easy to recover from long periods of time on your feet
The video did state this, but there's a paternalistic climate surrounding the Japanese labour force. Social values on family, honour, rank etc. are a crucial part of their identity. It's clear that by dominating in the workforce and young workers supplying their ageing population it heeds those values I spoke of. Perhaps there's a comparison between this generation and the last, the resilient attitude to work and constant demand to drive growth and become supreme is a core characteristic I believe.
@@nihilistcentraluk442 i meant it's not about overvaluing work. it's about leeching everything possible from their work force. kinda like Kpop/Kdrama attitude on entire Japan work force.
In a much scaled down version....Americans rarely use their vacation days. Though in America, perhaps more a fear of losing job than any organizational loyalty.
America seems to be the opposite to Japan, homer simpsons and ineptitude abound. Unions keep people lazy from doing their Job. Problems in both cultures.
When you have a name for "Death from work" That is the sign you went ot far. The Irony is that overworking don't go along with productivity. A person constantly tired and overworked can do less than person working normal hours. So basically they are overworking for nothing.
I thought of that too and read somewhere, at some point, that basically no one wants to be the first to leave. It could be a sign of, say, laziness or something negative. I guess kinda like finishing the test first, but not wanting to bring it up to the teacher lest everyone looks at you all weird.
Working overtime is perfectly acceptable if you dont exceed your limits. It's satisfying to being more productive and profitable than spending more time doing pointless things.
As an Asian myself I can tell you that I’m glad to be living in a western world were there are laws in place to protect workers rights and safety, where jobs also includes benefits and not just wages alone, were workers can demand for better treatment from their job and have courts bring lights into mistreatments from our jobs. And watching this video or the suicide rates of students in South Korea I’m honestly not shocked at all we have people working to death because our cultures have taught us to be hard working, we aren’t taught to express our problems (it’s not that we’re not allowed to, it’s just that we just don’t and so we keep everything inside), and also to respect our elders and our superiors and don’t speak up against them and when all these things are put together we get a society were jobs and educations are more important than a person’s well being. Problems like this has been ongoing for years if not decades and barely anything has been done to help these workers and students.
Was working two jobs totaling seventy hours a week, only lasted a month. I can't even imagine how they do it. They give the Russian sleep experiment a run for their money.
They napping anywhere and anytime they can. It’s not uncommon to see people slump in some corner at train station, sidewalks, or even stair. But most often they sleep when commute by train. Even in the office, “overtime work” is just present there to show how “dedicated” you are, not actual working.
Interesting countries. Explains why they are so rich and gave us such nice companies. Imagine if North Korea was a country just like South Korea... Amazing how far ahead we would be as a civilization. Just a thought.
@@andrewpremacio4936 I think Korea and Japan really has similarities. They are like brothers. I love Korea even tho they hate us. Japan also helped South Korea with technology, the owner of Samsung studied in Japan to learn how to make these appliances, jpop was th blueprint of kpop and so on..
I see this a slavery, this is not what life is about. Im glad i only work my 8 hours 1 hour lunch included so lets say 7 hours, and i dont have to care about my job after those 8 hours of work, 2 days off during weekends!
@Free Like Water Well, i dont want to end up on the streets, i consider myself to have more humane rights than the japanese, i think thats just too much!
I’m working in a Japanese Company, and this is literally what I’m experiencing... more than 12hrs of work a day, on call during the weekends. I’ll be quitting soon the salary is not at all worth it. My soul is dying.
I'm willing to bet Pakistan and India are as tough if not tougher. In a supermarket I once worked at the Indians and Pakistani there did 36 hours sometimes.
When I was a little kid, my dad told me that adults (well, parents) worked in order to take care of their families. He worked hard, but we could tell that his day truly began at 5:50pm, when he walked through the door.
For a time, I worked full time and went to school, I ended up at the hospital several times for what seemed like symptoms resembling meningitis. Didn’t have it. Instead, my sleep deprivation was so bad it mimicked meningitis. It almost killed me.
William sleep deficit* meaning they are 100 hours under the amount of sleep they should get in a month. To be fair, I had to listen to it a couple times because the wording was confusing.
William assuming sleeping for 7 hours a night is recommended, over a 28 day month, that would be 196 hours. With a sleep deficit over 100 they would get less than 96 hours of sleep a month. Which means on average 3.4 hours of sleep each night.
As a Japanese salesperson it is partly true that we feel guilty if we leave the office while other staff especially your boss still working, however I feel like the mindset of people has been changing. I no longer feel guilty if I leave the office.
Culture change starts with the youth. Even if older folks share the same sentiment, it's been ingrained in their lifestyle for so long, it's harder for them to step out of those bounds.
I have been working in japan as a white collar for about a year now..Difference I noticed form the US(I worked in US for 4 years). 1. Too many unnecessary meetings you have to attend: I was asked to report on progress every morning for 1 hour to my supervisor and the same thing to my manager in the afternoon....So sometimes I had to present even if there were nothing to present(I work in technology research area so having no progress in one day is common). They need to have a meeting only when it is needed(what I did in US)- this should cut down work hour by 1 hour. 2. GET RID OF 1 HOUR LUNCH. By labor union, you are required to have 1 hour lunch. Quit it. Some people want to eat only 30 minutes and some, 1 hour. If I want to eat for 30 minutes and then go home 30 minutes faster, let me do it - you do not need to control how long i eat. I can control that myself. 3. Population shortage. In the US, a part testing or research is done faster because I had technicians supporting me with testing and part exchange, etc....Here, there is me and one more dude.....I have to do everything or at least be part of some manual work. so naturally I end up spending about 30 minutes more per day to achieve the same output. With these combined, Japanese could be getting 1.5 hours more sleep at least from my experience with the same output.
Overwork, in most job in healthcare overwork is very common. The nurses at the emergency have mostly 150hours overwork in year of working a 40h week. I myself, also working in healthcare, have 80h overwork / year. on a 40h work week. And thats in Western Europe.
But you guy actually worked, honest works. The problem here in Japan they just be there, stay awake and called it “overtime work”. Most of them are just paper pusher shaming themselves in a herd mentality.
I love Japan but this is one thing I hate about it, the overwork and dedication to your job/career till you retire, all while at risk of working to death.
I think Japan (their government) is finally waking up a bit and making some effort to change this problem but it isn't because people are dying from overwork it's because the never leave the office mentality has lead to an unproductive, tired nation that aren't having enough babies and a stagnant economy that will only get worse as the Japanese population shrinks further. Bottom line it's all about 💰 not the loss of human life.
I mean I wouldn't mine living in Japan, but this coupled with the bad reputation of immigration is what puts me off entirely even though I really like Japan.
I've worked in a company owned by a Japanese before as an ojt( but paid). We start work at 7:30 or 8am (after the meeting to what our team will do) and sometimes we work until 10:30pm. What I mean of sometimes is that (Mon, Wed, Fri)
To my perspective, seeing people sleeping on the street or anywhere in Japan, Korea, China is very normal because we know we're not the only one who's overworking but then again it's very very bad. You can say that some are too busy working instead of living life😔that's why some goes to bar to drink their stress away then start that life all over again, again, again (sigh) to where they're gonna think about suicide is the best choice for them😵 I live in Japan and Korea as a child, teen, youth adult now (sigh) And working here is VERY STRESSFUL. Like you study hard to get into high school then you gotta study hard to get into college. Afterwards you work hard to get an interview and when you do get the job ha you gotta work hard just to impress your boss. You work to live, not live to work. It's a sad life💔 the system NEEDS TO CHANGE.
A really intresting aspect : Japan people actually do not work, they just wait for other people to finish or just pretend to be working because of the way Japanese people "think about what society says about them". The politeness and respect in japan is transmitted into them overworking and doing useless stuff, and not questioning what useless stuff they are doing as they are polite and think of this societal impact. One does useless work and another Japanese person is polite and has to work and show respect thus he proceeds to doing useless work also. This vicious cycle continues and people become depressed because of it, but they do not speak out as Japanese people are respectful and so kind. -- Now my question is are they really doing useless tasks, and faking to work? This aspect is really interesting and I hope Japanese people who worked in corporations can comment on this. (Speak up Japanese people, is this true?)
@@frankdinh1259 So do they actually overwork themseleves because of not actually working and wasting time because of their inherent politeness and saving face? 2. are you japanese?
The worst part is the older generation sees this as a good thing, it's honorable that you gave your life to your job, some even sees it as granted, and in reality dying from overworked is so common it's actually a normal thing in Japanese society. The older generation lived through a bubble economy period, that's why they are so unreasonably strict and even heartless to the young people, they went through hell thus expect everyone should be able to survive one, that's why nobody are taking actions, and nobody ever stop and think maybe they are the cause of Japanese hermits and otakus, they just see complains as weak.
Look how great a company Dentsu is. They switch off the lights at 10pm. TEN PM!!!!!!. I bet the next good deed will be: "We don't turn on the elevators before 4 am, this way we prevent our slav... (cough, cough) employees to arrive too early".
I know a Japanese man that recently came to my city (Mérida, México) looking to escape the long hours of overwork that had made him dangerously thin (he barely ate at all when in work). The poor man had a quite rough start as he had forgotten that Mexicans speak Spanish, not English, I met him when he was looking job at a shopping Mall clothes store, my mom took a bit of pity on him and we invited him to eat something to ease his nerves, I'm bilingual and I could translate his somewhat broken English for some communication. Now he's working at the very same clothing store he was desperately trying to enter that same day and is still very grateful to my family (even though we only eased his nerves and encouraged him).
@@sebastianescalante5618 You're doing God's work right there. You and your family as well I mean. I'm sure he's grateful for you guys saving him from the overworking slavery culture of Japan.
My company is in the manufacturing industry, and the working hours are from 8:00 to 17:00, and there is an unnecessary break time of about 2 hours and 30 minutes regardless of corona every day. Since the company has about 3 hours and in some cases takes 3 hours or more, I can take a lot of breaks every day.
In this case, the changing of this particular set of rules would in fact cause a shift in the culture... it's rough. You're damned if you do anything and you're damned if you do nothing.
Try Germany: we have laws which make it illegal for companies to make their employees work more than a certain number of hours per day - but those laws are not enforced. I had a supervisor who made me work 15 hours per day, in his opinion that is normal. Try taking the matter to court, it will backfire - the companies simply have more money than the single employee.
4:39 What's the point of giving employees cash bonus for getting enough sleep? Better to just say "work however/whenever you wish. Bonus for results." Getting paid for results is better than getting an hourly pay.
The emphasis is on comparing everyone's data. It's a form of motivating employees to sleep by peer pressure. It's peer pressure from older managers that keeps younger people working long hours. They generally don't want to, but don't want to be seen as leaving early (in most companies). Some offer flex time etc but that isn't the norm. Generally employees won't use all their annual holiday either.
One of my friends suddenly died at 36 in Canada. The doctors could not find the reason. Finally they declared that his cause of his death was unknown. We all suspected that he died of overwork. He was driving truck full time and taking night classes and sleeping for 3-4 hours a day.
A labor shortage, like Japan currently has, is the ideal time for workers to start reacting against this. If your company is short-staffed and workers start going home after 8 or 9 hours instead of staying until some ridiculous time, what's the company going to do, fire them and be even more shorthanded?
The working environment in Japan in the video is from 30 years ago. That's a fixed idea. Japanese people now work fewer hours than Americans. Japan has more holidays than other major countries, and not working has become a social problem. Annual working hours in OECD countries (all workers) Ranking country unit: time (h)/year 1 Colombia 2,405 (hours) 2 Mexico 2,226 3 Costa Rica 2,149 4 Chile 1,963 5 South Korea 1,901 6 Israel 1,892 7 Greece 1,886 8 Malta 1,882 9 Russia 1,874 10 Cyprus 1,837 11 Poland 1,815 12 United States 1,811 13 Croatia 1,810 14 Romania 1,808 15 Estonia 1,770 16 Czech Republic 1,754 17 New Zealand 1,748 18 Turkiye 1,732 19 Australia 1,707 20 Hungary 1,700 21 Italy 1,694 22 Canada 1,686 23 Ireland 1,657 24 Spain 1,644 25 Portugal 1,635 26 Lithuania 1,624 27 Slovakia 1,622 28 Slovenia 1,619 29 Bulgaria 1,619 30 Japan 1,607 31 Latvia 1,553 32 UK 1,532 33 Switzerland 1,529 34 Belgium 1,526 35 France 1,511
The overworked employees are usually interns working for free to low wage from countries like Viet Nam, Lao, Cambodia, Phillippines, Papua, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Malaysia
Its wild. In the states, People dread a 40 hour work week. These folks push for 100. Its ridiculous. In my former career in the tech sector, I was pulling 60-80 hour work weeks, and they took a toll on my entire existence, not just sleep. I left tech and pursued my actual goals in music and creative sectors. I work as little or as much as I want. I definitely value my health and mental state vs what others think of me. That is the biggest difference I see between the USA and Japan/Rest of the world. So much pressure on what people think of you. Do what makes you happy and keep it moving. Some may see that as a nonchalant existence but it matters in the end to have some happiness and balance in life.
Everyone should know about Our master Masanobu Fukuoka. His famous quote "I do not particularly like the word 'work.' Human beings are the only animals who have to work, and I think that is the most ridiculous thing in the world. Other animals make their livings by living, but people work like crazy, thinking that they have to in order to stay alive. The bigger the job, the greater the challenge, the more wonderful they think it is. It would be good to give up that way of thinking and live an easy, comfortable life with plenty of free time. I think that the way animals live in the tropics, stepping outside in the morning and evening to see if there is something to eat, and taking a long nap in the afternoon, must be a wonderful life. For human beings, a life of such simplicity would be possible if one worked to produce directly his daily necessities. In such a life, work is not work as people generally think of it, but simply doing what needs to be done".
i feel really bad for people working in japan. my teacher told me about how she met a transfer student and she found her with her head on the table sleeping at 12 in the morning (around that time). these people are so polite and genuinely nice people and its really sad to see them like this. im lucky that over in australia we have more freedom but damn... this is sad as hell.
It's a tricky issue to deal with. The thing is, Japanese workers are probably themselves the most acutely aware of the overworking disease present in Japanese society. However, compliance towards the greater good (of your superiors/company) trumps all, as it taps back into the feudal ideal of honour above all else. Speaking up for yourself and deviating from the norm is frowned upon as you're seen as directly being a negative influence on your company and your coworkers and are labelled as selfish. The only way (in traditionally structured companies) to go up in the ranks is to abide by the wishes of others and not make a scene. There has been some progress towards healthier workplaces, however whilst the older generations are still in charge of these companies, they'll continue with the mindset of "if I had to go through what you're going through now, you don't deserve to be able to complain".
I am A doctor and I work more then 40 hours in 1 night shift .. and I have 2-3 shifts every weeak, not to mention other 5 days of 8 hours work.. so making total of 120 hours A WEEK!! I am from Pakistan.. We Doctors are a different set of species I guess..
Studies have shown that mental sharpness and productivity declines after 8 or 9 hours of work. Most overtime only done to demonstrate company loyalty and to fit into the work culture. But it’s not worth it.
i did a 70 week in five days and at the end i was effing up everything i touched
As someone who has worked in a Japanese office, I can assure you the workers are not productive. They'll stare off into space for long periods of time, fall asleep constantly, work very slowly, and generally goof off by using their mobile phones. A human just cannot be alert and productive for 12+ hours per day, 6 days a week.
But all this is okay, because if you're the last to leave your office you're seen as a 'hard worker' on the fast track to promotion. You're seen as someone who works so much better than anyone else, even if you get less done. It's sick.
In my next job ill only work for 4 hours in a 8 hour paid job hehe
Thanks for your comment, Angus. Is it time that employers move away from focusing on how many hours employees spend at work and instead offer rewards based on productivity? What's your approach to time management? Are you a time boxer or a casual planner? This piece by FT Undercover Economist Tim Harford might interest you. He evaluates the different approaches to work and time management: www.ft.com/content/940b7986-cf23-11e9-b018-ca4456540ea6.
Steve jobs said chose any 80 hours a week
The fact that there are sleep cafes is just sad. And the coffee at the end is basically saying okay you got your hour, now back to slavery.
That first world problem....
People use words like slavery ,racism, Nazi so often for anything that the words are being diluted.
@@biplav32 That doesn't change the impact it has on the human mind and body. A word is just a sound you make with your mouth, dear. It IS slavery when we force people to work and threaten their livelihood otherwise. We literally work to live, and that's disgusting. Come to think of it, Japan has only been drinking coffee like Americans since the 70's. Now, kids get energy drinks and coffee before and after school. No one sees the problem with that?
No one is worried as to why they have some of the highest suicide rates in the world? It has nothing to do with their hard work ethic, but more to do with the push for commercialism and indoctrination into western culture. We have basically enslaved them after the world war, and it's up to us to help re-enlighten them. Not like western culture is much better, we have basically turned their women angry, and their men into pussies. This isn't enlightenment, this is the force of insanity from a crazy social justice standpoint that they hardly needed.
@@biplav32 Agreed. It isn't slavery, but it is a huge societal problem.
@@MissAllanPoe1988 Stop being condescending. People don't respond well to it.
Anyone who’s spent time in a Japanese corporate environment will know the really stupid thing.. they’re mostly not even working, just trying to look busy. Efficiency is considered to be laziness.
1. Japanese document is take very long time to read... this due to their language design to segregation people between educated and non-educated.
2. it take so long that people had to wait... kind not good idea to had people siting around and do nothing so they had to be actor....
3. Real hard work eat up people so much... people left their job for more easier one...
4.This is the same with any country... so that why they are losing to another country like Korea which is shift to English for faster communication and work speed.
So disrespectful for those people that lost their lives. So you're telling me Japanese are killing themselves every year because they are not working hard?
@@HB-mr7xz could be. i have worked in a multinational company, now for a state company. it's a money laundry scheme that puts first the physical presence of people in the work place, for hours and extrahours. Efficiency is perceived as "Union" activism and punished as such. The planet is one big sphere of cretins inhabiting it.
@@HB-mr7xz Yes, exactly. Keeping up the act for your boss and coworkers is exhausting with the added depression that comes with knowing you are wasting your life and living a lie. Disrespectful? Thanks for your concern.
@@HB-mr7xz -never worked in an office environment.
"If you work to make a living.... Why do you kill yourself working?"
Tuco's wise question in Sérgio Leone's..The Good,The Bad & The Ugly...a helova movie
Your comment is too logical to be at the bottom, have an upvote
If you have no purpose, work will give it to you
Ironic that the country famous for making video games, doesn't have time to play them.
video game in japan is for teen and adolescent. you can hardly find the hero or leading role for the japanese game and anime is older than teenage.
@Winter V basically. Anyone who isn't working like a Japanese, isn't wasting their life. Ironic that you'd be wasting your life on youtube.
Seems like just about everyone is playing games on their スマホ
@Winter V "wasting their life" implies life has inherent value. Life only has the value one determines for oneself. For some, that value is how much relaxation, happiness, and exploration one can have in the crafted worlds games create.
Foolish are those who think that their determinant for value is universal.
@Winter V I pity you
Europe: We work 8 hours per day !
Japan: Hold my Hours
@steve gale probably you know different set of people. Because most people I know do work 40 hours a week. Could also differ from country to country.
In Aus we don’t work at all
I wish I did 8 hours a day, I average 10....
+G13RS Since I left a Japanese travel company at the age of 31, I seldom work more than 8 hours a day, and 40 hours a week. Working environments of the travel company I worked for was exactly the same as this video describes.
The Philippines:Sure are you that?
Economic prosperity comes with heavy price. Working longer is stupid working smarter is the way to go
Japan is in stagnation since mid '90.
Learn to use a comma...
Why cant you do both...
how much work is smart work? and how much work is overwork?
@TestY part of the control game so that people who are washed up are willing to do slave works.
*_"They hesitate to be the only ones going home while their colleagues are still at work"_*
For me it usually goes....
Have I completed all my tasks?...If so, do I have on going projects to work on?...If not, can I be of assistance to my colleagues/boss?...If not needed, then *_"It's Miller Time"_* and I'm out the door without the slightest hint of guilt. 👍
What if your boss and colleague will always require assistance from you until they go home themselves? Same thing. Should be similar to the way Danes work. If it's time to go home, it's time to go home no matter what.
The Japanese are an interesting people. Out of respect to their elders, they emulate their behaviour, even the obsolete ones. For example, if you work for a Japanese corporation in Japan, you are expected to go and see people face to face, even if the message can be sent in an email. These face to face meetings add countless hours to your workweek. Some things are meant to be left in the past.
All that work, and an economy that's been stagnating since the 1990s. Long hours, low productivity
Thank you for your comment. The correspondent in that video, Leo Lewis, also wrote about this topic, citing that Japanese workers sleep the least amount among advanced economies' populations with about 7.4 hours of sleep a day. See if you find this story interesting: www.ft.com/content/a2289d48-d944-11e9-9c26-419d783e10e8.
Due to the ‘Plaza Accord’ that’s the reason why Japan economy been stagnant all these year…they have the US to thank.
Sleep is important. I can get more done in 8 hours at work after sleeping the right amount than 14 hours with little rest.
They don't even get paid over working, that's just sad.
EDIT: excuses everyone, I've just looked it up about Japanese labour laws. They do get paid for overtime. Sorry for the misunderstanding/misinformation.
No overtime pay!!!!
Seriously? I would just go at the normal end of the day time in that case. Care about the rest.
If they don’t get paid, it means that the company is a ‘black company/enterprise ‘
Not being paid for OT is true in many cases actually. Although they are required to pay employees overtime, a lot of companies these days reduce your base salary to be extremely low and include certain amount of overtime (ex.70 hours) into your monthly salary and the total is your real base salary. You will be paid after the 71st hour though but before that you don’t get anyting as it was supposedly included in your salary. Some say it to help make employees stop doing overtime since if it is paid by hours, a lot of them would just hang out after work just for the extra pay and do nothing during the day. Still with the culture as is, ppl still have to do overtime eventhough they r not paid.
In paper, they did get paid. However, in reality, working overtime without asking for pay is considered “loyal”, “hardworking”, “willing to stick to the company to the end”,... and other stupid ideas, they thought those are “good” qualities of a employee, similar to a samurai loyalty to his lord, despite how stupid or crazy his lord is. That why there is no overtime pay, because even you try to pay them, they give it back.
Death by overwork, high suicide rate, low population increase. Could a nation colapse with modern lifestyle?
The suicide rate has actually been gradually decreasing. If you look at WHO stats for Japan, their suicide rate is fairly similar to USA, France etc.
@@Ruylopez778 which is still high
@@Ruylopez778 Still, not like that's going to do the country any good
@@Ruylopez778 Well, the WHO has proven to be a bit crooked amid the coronovirus debacle... who knows what the numbers are.
@@JOSEPH-vs2gc People who quote high suicide rate in Japan are pretty ignorant. It's a stereotype without much basis.
You can call the WHO crooked if you want, but they are no more or less infallible than any institution.
You can't just claim suicide numbers are being altered by the WHO because it fits with your own mistaken narrative. They are getting their data from governments.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate#List_by_other_sources_and_years_(1985%E2%80%932018)
This has both WHO and non WHO sources of data.
Japan is still fairly comparable with the US.
US average (men and women) 14.5 suicides per 100,000 in 2017.
Japan is 16.5 in 2018.
So two extra people per 100,000.
Hardly a dramatic difference.
Lights switch off at 10pm? That is not early, that is late
Death by work is big issue composed by several small issues....
-Overworking
-Too much sitting
-Too much staring to computer in long period of time
-Negativity from coworkers
-Too many nomikai-s
-Crowded morning train
and many more...
If one can eliminate half from stuff mentioned above, I believe one already reduce the probability of death by work up to 90%
Most jobs are too much standing. Its easy to shake off the effects of sitting too long. Just get up when ur butt and legs feel numb. Its not so easy to recover from long periods of time on your feet
Still. You're forcing your body to go hours without sleep at a time, sitting or not you'll eventually get too tired to do to do anything.
The video did state this, but there's a paternalistic climate surrounding the Japanese labour force. Social values on family, honour, rank etc. are a crucial part of their identity. It's clear that by dominating in the workforce and young workers supplying their ageing population it heeds those values I spoke of. Perhaps there's a comparison between this generation and the last, the resilient attitude to work and constant demand to drive growth and become supreme is a core characteristic I believe.
Japanese people don't want to dishonor themselves by not overworking.
Starlord they don’t want to look bad in front of their bosses in fear for their jobs... that’s all it is, I assure you
@@LeechUFC it is about overvaluing work and undervaluing individuals. It is more than fear .People don't have enough to live for.
@@nihilistcentraluk442 lmao. it's about money and fear of being fired!
@@Steven-xf8mzthat is what I mean.People cannot see any point beyond their job.This is wider than Japan.
@@nihilistcentraluk442 i meant it's not about overvaluing work. it's about leeching everything possible from their work force. kinda like Kpop/Kdrama attitude on entire Japan work force.
In a much scaled down version....Americans rarely use their vacation days. Though in America, perhaps more a fear of losing job than any organizational loyalty.
America seems to be the opposite to Japan, homer simpsons and ineptitude abound. Unions keep people lazy from doing their Job. Problems in both cultures.
I could never work that hard I’m too much of a lazy unmotivated bum
It depends on your environment and responsibilities handed over to you. As human we can do anything if there is urgency.
Just be a girl and you get money for existing lol
@@sampletext9426 I get a feeling you spend all your time on TH-cam collecting welfare my dude
@@TheArtkaw
Why my dude
They should think about the saying quality over quantity
Koiden they are a few hundred years from exhausting there male genes . in all honosty in japan there are more people related to each other then normal
This is frightening. That this culture once devoted to Idleness would destroy itself in such a way
Idleness?? Really?
let the fool going down in flame....
When you have a name for "Death from work" That is the sign you went ot far.
The Irony is that overworking don't go along with productivity. A person constantly tired and overworked can do less than person working normal hours. So basically they are overworking for nothing.
as said troughout the video and know generally, it is not the productivity that counts...that`s the problem.
If you worry about others, you should go home earlier and make others not awkward to go back home earlier lol
I thought of that too and read somewhere, at some point, that basically no one wants to be the first to leave. It could be a sign of, say, laziness or something negative. I guess kinda like finishing the test first, but not wanting to bring it up to the teacher lest everyone looks at you all weird.
@@prateekbohra7610 weird flex but okay?
We are talking about japanese work's environment and social pressure on them
Sleep cafes and suicide nets.
Welcome to Hell on Earth
111111 Bear 🤣
Yeah I’m gonna need you to come in on Sunday
I work 34 hours a week her in Denmark
Working overtime is perfectly acceptable if you dont exceed your limits. It's satisfying to being more productive and profitable than spending more time doing pointless things.
@@Dragonfury3000 you tool
Lars B I work 16 hours a day here in Kyoto
Well if it's for a goal and short period sure I would work 10 hours a day too but in the long run I really wouldn't
I work 84, not really bad and I don’t feel like I over working my work become my life and I’m actually enjoying it
As an Asian myself I can tell you that I’m glad to be living in a western world were there are laws in place to protect workers rights and safety, where jobs also includes benefits and not just wages alone, were workers can demand for better treatment from their job and have courts bring lights into mistreatments from our jobs. And watching this video or the suicide rates of students in South Korea I’m honestly not shocked at all we have people working to death because our cultures have taught us to be hard working, we aren’t taught to express our problems (it’s not that we’re not allowed to, it’s just that we just don’t and so we keep everything inside), and also to respect our elders and our superiors and don’t speak up against them and when all these things are put together we get a society were jobs and educations are more important than a person’s well being. Problems like this has been ongoing for years if not decades and barely anything has been done to help these workers and students.
Please stop working so hard, Japan :(
You did it, they stopped
@@AtotheR lol
@@AtotheR yikes
Was working two jobs totaling seventy hours a week, only lasted a month. I can't even imagine how they do it. They give the Russian sleep experiment a run for their money.
They napping anywhere and anytime they can. It’s not uncommon to see people slump in some corner at train station, sidewalks, or even stair. But most often they sleep when commute by train. Even in the office, “overtime work” is just present there to show how “dedicated” you are, not actual working.
They Japanese government passed a work reform bill in April, 2019 to limit the max number of hours (overtime) to 100. WTF?
If you think Japanese people are overworked, come to Korea. The fact that Japanese companies love Korean recruits should say it all.
Interesting countries. Explains why they are so rich and gave us such nice companies. Imagine if North Korea was a country just like South Korea... Amazing how far ahead we would be as a civilization. Just a thought.
Been to Korea 2 years..yes Korean work culture has become like Japan now
@@andrewpremacio4936 I think Korea and Japan really has similarities. They are like brothers. I love Korea even tho they hate us.
Japan also helped South Korea with technology, the owner of Samsung studied in Japan to learn how to make these appliances, jpop was th blueprint of kpop and so on..
I see this a slavery, this is not what life is about. Im glad i only work my 8 hours 1 hour lunch included so lets say 7 hours, and i dont have to care about my job after those 8 hours of work, 2 days off during weekends!
My company count 1 hour of lunch as extra so we have to stay 9hr at the office. Lucky you 😂
Where do you work?
@@ordinaryguy815 its considered an ordinary schedule the world wide
But they do it by their own choice. Nobody forced them to work that hard. So its far from slavery. It's a cultural issues.
@Free Like Water Well, i dont want to end up on the streets, i consider myself to have more humane rights than the japanese, i think thats just too much!
I’m working in a Japanese Company, and this is literally what I’m experiencing... more than 12hrs of work a day, on call during the weekends. I’ll be quitting soon the salary is not at all worth it. My soul is dying.
Did you quit?
Chartered Accountants in India (or for all the other countries) work overtime too under immense pressure.
Yes, I agree. If ain't work hard how we will creat the wealth since no one has left it for us.
Pay in india is absolute peanuts compared to japan uk ect. Much better of moving country where skills and hard work is valued
I'm willing to bet Pakistan and India are as tough if not tougher. In a supermarket I once worked at the Indians and Pakistani there did 36 hours sometimes.
@@n11ono59 yep, they work more days of week but not much hours
Work until mid day. Afternoon, time for exercising, health, socializing, recreation.
Night, time with family, spirituality and rest.
Repeat.
When I was a little kid, my dad told me that adults (well, parents) worked in order to take care of their families. He worked hard, but we could tell that his day truly began at 5:50pm, when he walked through the door.
I wholeheartedly agree with Dr. Kohyama
If people can't have their own time, and can't go out, have fun, and buy things, then who exactly are you selling to? The workers are the consumers.
For a time, I worked full time and went to school, I ended up at the hospital several times for what seemed like symptoms resembling meningitis. Didn’t have it. Instead, my sleep deprivation was so bad it mimicked meningitis. It almost killed me.
My sister also has classes sometimes for 12 hours and she suffers from pain in Spinal cord and weak bones
Umar Ansari omg yes, I felt it in my bones too.
That's me in the US 😢😢😢
“Potentially deadly 100 hours a month” imma head out
William they work more than hundred hours and they do more than a hundred extra hours of overtime atleast understand it before you speak
Badro Jr15 it is you the one that does not understand. They’re actually talking about 100 hours of sleep a month.
William sleep deficit* meaning they are 100 hours under the amount of sleep they should get in a month. To be fair, I had to listen to it a couple times because the wording was confusing.
William assuming sleeping for 7 hours a night is recommended, over a 28 day month, that would be 196 hours. With a sleep deficit over 100 they would get less than 96 hours of sleep a month. Which means on average 3.4 hours of sleep each night.
@@Fawstah actually its 8 hours a night
4 day work weeks would be a nice implementation. With two divided shifts of (Monday - Thursday) (Friday - Wednesday)
As a Japanese salesperson it is partly true that we feel guilty if we leave the office while other staff especially your boss still working, however I feel like the mindset of people has been changing. I no longer feel guilty if I leave the office.
Where I live, we usually go home earlier and make some jokes when we realize the job is still wageslaving at the office.
Culture change starts with the youth. Even if older folks share the same sentiment, it's been ingrained in their lifestyle for so long, it's harder for them to step out of those bounds.
Sounds like slavery with extra steps... lol
More like anxiety, but en masse.
We're ALL slaves to the system, some just have shorter hours.
@@terriesmith8219 What would you do if money wasn't an object?
I work 60hrs a week here in America.
Outside Japan, people value the individual.
In japan, people worry about what others think of them.
True.
3:30 this is so depressing :(
I'm sorry about your living...
They rushed to build all those things for Olympics 2020 and now it's postponed/canceled.
Japan's work culture is affecting other aspects in our lives. WE CRY FOR CHANGE!
I have been working in japan as a white collar for about a year now..Difference I noticed form the US(I worked in US for 4 years).
1. Too many unnecessary meetings you have to attend: I was asked to report on progress every morning for 1 hour to my supervisor and the same thing to my manager in the afternoon....So sometimes I had to present even if there were nothing to present(I work in technology research area so having no progress in one day is common). They need to have a meeting only when it is needed(what I did in US)- this should cut down work hour by 1 hour.
2. GET RID OF 1 HOUR LUNCH. By labor union, you are required to have 1 hour lunch. Quit it. Some people want to eat only 30 minutes and some, 1 hour. If I want to eat for 30 minutes and then go home 30 minutes faster, let me do it - you do not need to control how long i eat. I can control that myself.
3. Population shortage. In the US, a part testing or research is done faster because I had technicians supporting me with testing and part exchange, etc....Here, there is me and one more dude.....I have to do everything or at least be part of some manual work. so naturally I end up spending about 30 minutes more per day to achieve the same output.
With these combined, Japanese could be getting 1.5 hours more sleep at least from my experience with the same output.
Glad I'm only working 4 days a week. Thing is I love what I do but burnout and over working is real no matter what you do.
Salary man: Time to nap at the sleep cafe.
Japan: I'm about to end this man's whole career
Overwork, in most job in healthcare overwork is very common.
The nurses at the emergency have mostly 150hours overwork in year of working a 40h week.
I myself, also working in healthcare, have 80h overwork / year. on a 40h work week.
And thats in Western Europe.
That s is 1,5 hours overwork per week on average, 41,5 hours weeks are long but not inhuman... in Japan we ar talking of 60 to 70 hours a week ...
But you guy actually worked, honest works. The problem here in Japan they just be there, stay awake and called it “overtime work”. Most of them are just paper pusher shaming themselves in a herd mentality.
I love Japan but this is one thing I hate about it, the overwork and dedication to your job/career till you retire, all while at risk of working to death.
They are working like they gonna live forever 😭
Somebody should put LSD in their tapwater
Sad
Oh this is so sad 😭😢
*Live Simple Live Easy Family Life Together No need over work*
Same in India too
Why work so hard when you can invent machines that work hard for you
Means harder for people to get jobs now? Lmao. Invent that machine and in a year or two u will have suicides rates increasing
@@Blekkkkkkkkk ok boomer.
@@Blekkkkkkkkk if no one has a job and the machines are doing everything why do you need a job, wagie?
that's why we need to talk about UBI soon.
why even live
I think Japan (their government) is finally waking up a bit and making some effort to change this problem but it isn't because people are dying from overwork it's because the never leave the office mentality has lead to an unproductive, tired nation that aren't having enough babies and a stagnant economy that will only get worse as the Japanese population shrinks further. Bottom line it's all about 💰 not the loss of human life.
I mean I wouldn't mine living in Japan, but this coupled with the bad reputation of immigration is what puts me off entirely even though I really like Japan.
Just warming chairs where's the productivity
I've worked in a company owned by a Japanese before as an ojt( but paid). We start work at 7:30 or 8am (after the meeting to what our team will do) and sometimes we work until 10:30pm. What I mean of sometimes is that (Mon, Wed, Fri)
To my perspective, seeing people sleeping on the street or anywhere in Japan, Korea, China is very normal because we know we're not the only one who's overworking but then again it's very very bad. You can say that some are too busy working instead of living life😔that's why some goes to bar to drink their stress away then start that life all over again, again, again (sigh) to where they're gonna think about suicide is the best choice for them😵 I live in Japan and Korea as a child, teen, youth adult now (sigh) And working here is VERY STRESSFUL. Like you study hard to get into high school then you gotta study hard to get into college. Afterwards you work hard to get an interview and when you do get the job ha you gotta work hard just to impress your boss. You work to live, not live to work. It's a sad life💔 the system NEEDS TO CHANGE.
A really intresting aspect :
Japan people actually do not work, they just wait for other people to finish or just pretend to be working because of the way Japanese people "think about what society says about them". The politeness and respect in japan is transmitted into them overworking and doing useless stuff, and not questioning what useless stuff they are doing as they are polite and think of this societal impact.
One does useless work and another Japanese person is polite and has to work and show respect thus he proceeds to doing useless work also. This vicious cycle continues and people become depressed because of it, but they do not speak out as Japanese people are respectful and so kind.
--
Now my question is are they really doing useless tasks, and faking to work? This aspect is really interesting and I hope Japanese people who worked in corporations can comment on this. (Speak up Japanese people, is this true?)
You’re right. The herd mentality is killing the entire nation. All because of “saving face”.
@@frankdinh1259 So do they actually overwork themseleves because of not actually working and wasting time because of their inherent politeness and saving face?
2. are you japanese?
It's night late, i can't fall asleep, i watched this video and suddently i fell asleep
The worst part is the older generation sees this as a good thing, it's honorable that you gave your life to your job, some even sees it as granted, and in reality dying from overworked is so common it's actually a normal thing in Japanese society.
The older generation lived through a bubble economy period, that's why they are so unreasonably strict and even heartless to the young people, they went through hell thus expect everyone should be able to survive one, that's why nobody are taking actions, and nobody ever stop and think maybe they are the cause of Japanese hermits and otakus, they just see complains as weak.
Look how great a company Dentsu is. They switch off the lights at 10pm. TEN PM!!!!!!. I bet the next good deed will be: "We don't turn on the elevators before 4 am, this way we prevent our slav... (cough, cough) employees to arrive too early".
If i was japanese and i had an opportunity to get out of japan, i would have done that immediately as soon as the opportunity appears!
Same, it's just like North Korea just more liberties
American Man
Well it is, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong on a personal level.
I know a Japanese man that recently came to my city (Mérida, México) looking to escape the long hours of overwork that had made him dangerously thin (he barely ate at all when in work). The poor man had a quite rough start as he had forgotten that Mexicans speak Spanish, not English, I met him when he was looking job at a shopping Mall clothes store, my mom took a bit of pity on him and we invited him to eat something to ease his nerves, I'm bilingual and I could translate his somewhat broken English for some communication. Now he's working at the very same clothing store he was desperately trying to enter that same day and is still very grateful to my family (even though we only eased his nerves and encouraged him).
@@sebastianescalante5618 You're doing God's work right there. You and your family as well I mean. I'm sure he's grateful for you guys saving him from the overworking slavery culture of Japan.
My company is in the manufacturing industry, and the working hours are from 8:00 to 17:00, and there is an unnecessary break time of about 2 hours and 30 minutes regardless of corona every day. Since the company has about 3 hours and in some cases takes 3 hours or more, I can take a lot of breaks every day.
Japan is gonna have to ditch what remains of the old apprenticeship system before anything else.
what do you mean by apprenticeship system in Japan?
@@victoriab.6601 The practice of de facto semi permanent hiring. Typically hiring from fresh graduates.
In the Philippines people work more than 150 hrs a month- some even 200 hrs a month 8 hrs per day, and only Sunday off- imagine the stress- 😢
I wish you added Japanese subtitles
It'll crowd up the screen, plus, they're already speaking Japanese
Huh I thought they would be wiped out by now
In this case, the changing of this particular set of rules would in fact cause a shift in the culture... it's rough. You're damned if you do anything and you're damned if you do nothing.
I was in Tokyo last week and I was surprised how many peoples were sleeping in the metro, it was evident that they were on the edge of exhaustion.
There a old saying in Mexico
"Do you work to live or Do you live to work?"
Try Germany: we have laws which make it illegal for companies to make their employees work more than a certain number of hours per day - but those laws are not enforced. I had a supervisor who made me work 15 hours per day, in his opinion that is normal. Try taking the matter to court, it will backfire - the companies simply have more money than the single employee.
Damn, in Japan over working is so prevelent that even the foreign news reporter has eye bags.
I routinely work 55 to 65 hours a week. It sucks. The Japanese are killing themselves and dragging me with them
4:39 What's the point of giving employees cash bonus for getting enough sleep? Better to just say "work however/whenever you wish. Bonus for results." Getting paid for results is better than getting an hourly pay.
The emphasis is on comparing everyone's data. It's a form of motivating employees to sleep by peer pressure. It's peer pressure from older managers that keeps younger people working long hours. They generally don't want to, but don't want to be seen as leaving early (in most companies). Some offer flex time etc but that isn't the norm. Generally employees won't use all their annual holiday either.
One of my friends suddenly died at 36 in Canada. The doctors could not find the reason. Finally they declared that his cause of his death was unknown. We all suspected that he died of overwork. He was driving truck full time and taking night classes and sleeping for 3-4 hours a day.
A labor shortage, like Japan currently has, is the ideal time for workers to start reacting against this. If your company is short-staffed and workers start going home after 8 or 9 hours instead of staying until some ridiculous time, what's the company going to do, fire them and be even more shorthanded?
Slavery of the mind body and spirit. Its heartbreaking.
Stay strong everyone we in this together
The working environment in Japan in the video is from 30 years ago.
That's a fixed idea. Japanese people now work fewer hours than Americans.
Japan has more holidays than other major countries, and not working has become a social problem.
Annual working hours in OECD countries (all workers)
Ranking country unit: time (h)/year
1 Colombia 2,405 (hours)
2 Mexico 2,226
3 Costa Rica 2,149
4 Chile 1,963
5 South Korea 1,901
6 Israel 1,892
7 Greece 1,886
8 Malta 1,882
9 Russia 1,874
10 Cyprus 1,837
11 Poland 1,815
12 United States 1,811
13 Croatia 1,810
14 Romania 1,808
15 Estonia 1,770
16 Czech Republic 1,754
17 New Zealand 1,748
18 Turkiye 1,732
19 Australia 1,707
20 Hungary 1,700
21 Italy 1,694
22 Canada 1,686
23 Ireland 1,657
24 Spain 1,644
25 Portugal 1,635
26 Lithuania 1,624
27 Slovakia 1,622
28 Slovenia 1,619
29 Bulgaria 1,619
30 Japan 1,607
31 Latvia 1,553
32 UK 1,532
33 Switzerland 1,529
34 Belgium 1,526
35 France 1,511
i dont know what are they doing until working 14 hours per day..
what work do u actually do?
The overworked employees are usually interns working for free to low wage from countries like Viet Nam, Lao, Cambodia, Phillippines, Papua, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Malaysia
Its wild. In the states, People dread a 40 hour work week. These folks push for 100. Its ridiculous. In my former career in the tech sector, I was pulling 60-80 hour work weeks, and they took a toll on my entire existence, not just sleep. I left tech and pursued my actual goals in music and creative sectors. I work as little or as much as I want. I definitely value my health and mental state vs what others think of me. That is the biggest difference I see between the USA and Japan/Rest of the world. So much pressure on what people think of you. Do what makes you happy and keep it moving. Some may see that as a nonchalant existence but it matters in the end to have some happiness and balance in life.
6 hours a day is more than enough for me. More than that just seems outrageous
Everyone should know about Our master Masanobu Fukuoka. His famous quote "I do not particularly like the word 'work.' Human beings are the only animals who have to work, and I think that is the most ridiculous thing in the world. Other animals make their livings by living, but people work like crazy, thinking that they have to in order to stay alive. The bigger the job, the greater the challenge, the more wonderful they think it is. It would be good to give up that way of thinking and live an easy, comfortable life with plenty of free time. I think that the way animals live in the tropics, stepping outside in the morning and evening to see if there is something to eat, and taking a long nap in the afternoon, must be a wonderful life. For human beings, a life of such simplicity would be possible if one worked to produce directly his daily necessities. In such a life, work is not work as people generally think of it, but simply doing what needs to be done".
Here in Mexico people work up to 14 hours a day 6 days a week, and sometimes with only ONE day off per month......
Does Mexico have a minimum wage, OT pay and benefits?
I get 196 sleep a month and I’m exhausted. I can’t imagine 100.
i feel really bad for people working in japan. my teacher told me about how she met a transfer student and she found her with her head on the table sleeping at 12 in the morning (around that time). these people are so polite and genuinely nice people and its really sad to see them like this. im lucky that over in australia we have more freedom but damn... this is sad as hell.
There is a phrase said by many half japanese people that live in the US. "死ぬまで働け" meaning "work until you die."
I read an article that said women arent even allowed to wear contacts at work.
It's a tricky issue to deal with. The thing is, Japanese workers are probably themselves the most acutely aware of the overworking disease present in Japanese society. However, compliance towards the greater good (of your superiors/company) trumps all, as it taps back into the feudal ideal of honour above all else.
Speaking up for yourself and deviating from the norm is frowned upon as you're seen as directly being a negative influence on your company and your coworkers and are labelled as selfish.
The only way (in traditionally structured companies) to go up in the ranks is to abide by the wishes of others and not make a scene.
There has been some progress towards healthier workplaces, however whilst the older generations are still in charge of these companies, they'll continue with the mindset of "if I had to go through what you're going through now, you don't deserve to be able to complain".
I am A doctor and I work more then 40 hours in 1 night shift .. and I have 2-3 shifts every weeak, not to mention other 5 days of 8 hours work.. so making total of 120 hours A WEEK!! I am from Pakistan.. We Doctors are a different set of species I guess..
I wonder if this is a problem all over Japan. Like are there problems with overworking employees in more rural areas of japan?