The 25 yo was overworked!

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/mark...tent=D9LLJPP80

 

Twenty years ago Japanese leaders called US a nation of whinners.

Looks like "dem chickens come home to roost", and now they're getting US style victimization.

IMO that all of Japan is overworked compared to US.

 

^ I don't know if that's a fair statement (first part of your post). In general, they are a harder working society.

There's definitely a different perception on the importance and necessity of holding a job. There's a huge social pressure and, though stereotypical sounding, a sense of honor. It doesn't surprise me that many Japanese people choose suicide over simply leaving a job. Most of the Japanese companies ran on a seniority system (longer time with company = higher position/pay; not performance based) though that has pretty much ended. Even so, you still find the view of staying with a company for a long period of time as being something desirable, so leaving a company is frowned upon.

For the courts to have ruled in the family's favor, I get the feeling it must have been a fairly significant case. I'd definitely like to see more information on the work load/expectations from his job.

 

I agree that there's extreme social pressure to be successful, and they give all they can.

From US perspective we have a much easier road to sucess with many different opportunities, but we are are a nation of whinners. That statement (true) annoyed me then when I was working with all I had, but these last few years, US is acting a lot like that.

I love to visit Japan, and the utopia it looks like, so I complimented a girl at the Hilton about how clean everything was, and she said in a suprising sacastic tone, "You just don't know".

The youth are looking to western values, and losing some of their social customs.

On another note, China is changing so fast that migrating workers are forgeting their parents, and a new law is coming that makes young people visit their parents. Wow!

How does that get enforced?

And I've had workers that would give up and dare me to find just cause to fire them, so I wouldn't have to pay workers unemployment.

If US could get some of that Japanese worker loyalty and productivity, we might see fewer jobs leave for the far east.