I had a chat with a Japanese coworker some time ago.<p>Some of the Japanese addiction for work was to distract themselves from the destructive effects of WW2.<p>By working, they thought they would gradually turn their homeland into a better place and become a better society.<p>Now we can see some of the side effects of the excess work, like a reduced birth rate, increased suicide rate, growing debt, death from overwork (karoshi), people doing secret nap meetings or sleeping in their desks (inemuri), etc.
> The Japanese economy is roughly 1/3rd the public sector, 1/3rd low-productivity firms like restaurants or traditional craftsmen, and 1/3rd high-productivity household-name megacorps.<p>Why are restaurants and traditional craftsmen considered “low-productivity?” That really strikes me as odd, I have the opposite connotation. I.e. the former being only sustainable as long as they serve a direct demand, while the latter spends most of the time for leviathan’s sake, and is more focused on generating demand (advertising budgets) than solving problems (leviathan can’t be sustained when there are no problems left).
> ruthlessly capitalist racists<p>actually, these people are not racists. the racists are the ones not hiring outside their race, even if it's cheaper. the ruthlessly capitalist is an equal opportunity discriminator.
This description of how business is done on Japan makes me sad. It can't be all true, I really hope I didn't get the jokes and the author is exaggeration facts more than he described.
This text makes me curious about some points on Japan's economy:<p>- How do be innovative without taking risks? Is Japan innovative? (May the answer is: they developed techniques to innovate without taking risks)<p>- How Japan is wealthy if "risk and returns" are co-related? (May the reason is because they are the country with most robots per inhabitant what makes them very very productive and wealthy)
I work for one of Japan's largest tech companies and somewhat fit the salaryman description he provides (although I put in no where close to the hours he mentions). The bit about what happens to those who move companies stopped me cold. Is this really accurate for what might happen if somebody jumped from one of these companies to a startup?
as a 32, english bachelor holder, current CS student with mainly experience in linux and scripting, this was some of the most terrifying prose i've read.<p>this will give me many a sleepless nights.<p>thank you.
<i>90+ hour weeks barely even occasion comment</i><p>I don't believe it. 90+ is absolutely insane. If you are working this much, you seriously have to reevaluate your life choices - living under a bridge is probably healthier for you.