What's The Cost Of Being The Hardest Workers In The World? | Deciphering Japan

[The Lawspeaker]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ajH2Id5FY4


Japan's work ethic famously propelled it into a first world nation and the Japanese are known to work some of the longest hours in the world. Ironically, it is among the least productive economies today and one that has remained stagnant for over two decades. Washington-based journalist Yumi Araki heads back to her native home to find out why the Japanese work so hard. As the nation grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic and with ever greater economic pressures, Yumi also explores if that unbending dedication to work is changing. She meets people across a spectrum of the nation’s workforce: from overworked salarymen at their wits end and the therapists trying to keep them sane, to farmers obsessed with growing the perfect fruit and university students preparing for Japan's notorious job hunting season.

Playlist: (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkMf14VQEvTZdpNn-JG5pu9Iu6c6o3fTL)https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkMf14VQEvTZdpNn-JG5pu9Iu6c6o3fTL) For more, SUBSCRIBE to CNA INSIDER! https://www.youtube.com/cnainsider ==================== About the series: Japan famously has one of the highest life expectancies in the world but its birth rate is also at an all time low, leaving the future of the country uncertain. Washington-based journalist Yumi Araki returns to the country of her birth to explore how Japan is planning to cope with the consequences of its fast-greying population. She discovers the unexpected impacts of an ageing nation: from dying towns to the popularity of coffin experiences. And meets the people working to find solutions: from an engineer working to give us superhuman strength to a granny who is using hiphop to keep loneliness at bay.


(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkMf14VQEvTZdpNn-JG5pu9Iu6c6o3fTL)

[Linebacker]

Well for Japan specifically - the cost is a depressive, introverted society with a very pale element of human interaction and communication.

I was there in the autumn of 2018 due to work, not on vacation, but I managed to walk around Tokyo a bit. Seemed to me like I always offended everybody by just sitting there.

Japan is definitely no place for extroverted Balkanites.

[Zhulta]

I am kinda introverted myself, but the way japanese people behave is just shocking and almost alien IMO.
showing basic human emotions and romantic social interactions such as kissing, cuddling in public etc. are viewed as mostly taboo in japan, the interaction between them seems almost robotic, i dunno if that is just stereotypical (never been in Japan, these are just general assumptions i had when watching japanese movies/documentaries etc) but not sure if this is because of their long working hours, but more because of their culture always being very strict and socially restricted? Their excessive working pressure culture results in lots of psychic problems such as depression, burnout or suicide however.
i cannot for some reason imagine japanese people just having fun and fooling around in a public setting, and if they do, they would mostly be seen as weird and immature in public. Their culture being very uptight.

But maybe my views are somewhat extreme and fueled by stereotypes, since i never been in Japan myself.

[NSXD60]

Their loss, my gain, my old rice burner refuses to commit hari kiri, unlike them.