Hi

just get there? Sounds like it

yes, you're experiencing what it means when you hear the words "Its a 
different country" or "its a different culture"

the differences you're experiencing are no worse than what most of the humans 
experience on the planet. However I'd sooner be a Japanese salary man doing 
things their way than be a poor farmer in China (working as long) and doing 
things their way.

The change from the Japan of pre Meiji to now has changed many things, and 
brought many health and luxury benefits, just not the 8 hour working day 
surburbia present in Nth America.

So reflect on it while youre there, and try to comprehend your own origins 
from outside (as you are presently comprehending your local environment from 
outside). I think you'll come away richer in the end.

:-)

In article <1f44614b-172a-4ab6-94bb-d76164552ad6@s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com>, 
cn72554@gmail.com wrote:
>I am working at a Tokyo office, and the attitude towards work here
>sickens me.
>
>WHY do people here think it appropriate to be working past 9 or 10
>PM ? I even got the last train home a few nights ago.
>
>I will quit after doing one year, but there are many Japanese staff at
>my company who have been working 14 hours days for years, and will do
>so until they retire (or maybe die of koroshi). Why do they accept it?
>If that was my permanent lot in life, I would suicide.
>
>Also, my company thinks it appropriate to house me 1.5 hours commute
>from the office. There are salarymen on my train every morning who are
>obviously doing 2+ hour commutes each way - any they accept it? It is
>not acceptable.
>
>Japanese people say they don't mind a long commute because they can
>catch up on some sleep, or reading etc. Well maybe it would be better
>to get an appropriate amount of sleep AT HOME, instead of sprawled out
>on a train with your mouth gaping open. I even see people trying to
>sleep standing up... maybe if they worked appropriate hours, such
>exhaustion would be avoided.
>
>It is beyond my comprehension how people can accept this sleep-commute-
>work-sleep-commute-work lifestyle, their only reprieve being the
>occasional holiday, where they can get on an organized tour bus and go
>to an overcrowded destination at peak holiday time.
>
>Why don't people go insane and rebel against the system??

See Ya
(when bandwidth gets better ;-)

Chris Eastwood
Photographer, Programmer               
Motorcyclist and dingbat

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