On Jan 4, 12:35 pm, cn72...@gmail.com wrote:
> An awful aspect of being grossly overworked at a Japanese company is
> that I didn't even have time to respond to people's insightful
> comments in my previous thread.

I don't of course know where you work, but there are different types
of "Japanese companies" in Japan, and not all workplaces are as toxic
as you have described. I don't know how long you have been here, or
where, but it may be possible to change the day to day circumstances
of your current work or perhaps change to a different company or work
environment.

> Now that I finally have one week's holiday (after 6 months solid
> work), I can finally catch up on some internet usage.

Stop typing and take a holiday mate!

> Anyway... my own country, Australia, is like a foreign country to me
> (in terms of work), because I never worked full time there.

I've only worked for 1 year in Australia, almost my entire
professional life has been here.

> I have a question for the Australians here. Is it possible to have a
> normal job in Australia? Where you can realistically leave at 5pm
> (without being frowned upon)? Of course I am not too obsessive about
> leaving time... 5:30/6:00/6:30 on occasion would not be the end of the
> world.

In my limited experience, no, but in the more extensive experience of
relatives and friends, yes, unless you live in Sydney, or are working
in IT. hth.

> I hold on to the dream of returning to Australia, it is the only thing
> that gives me hope when I have to work excessive hours (sometimes
> until the last train home, the 12:04am).
>
> But I fear that I might just get out of this hell hole, only find that
> Australians are actually just as workaholic as Japanese. If that is
> the case I might as well just stay at this company.

Cupla questions: Is this the first company you have worked at while in
Japan? Is it large multinational?, medium size domestic?, small
venture business? Japanese owned or foreign owned? Do you have people
inside the company who you can confide in, or do you feel isolated?