Does Japan fear a philosophy of "enjoying life"?

An article titled "The Pursuit of Real Leisure" in the Japan Times today by SCOTT NORTH Professor of Sociology, Osaka University leads to the question above.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20120717hs.html#.UATEtnD6J7c

(From the article" "Today Japanese, like many other denizens of industrial societies, live to work. Nearly everything is a job to be done and our jobs define us. Japanese universities are filled with "intellectual workers." We value only that which requires struggle and hard work.

In this functional perspective, leisure is useful only insofar as it enables workers to work more. Moreover, much of what Japan calls rest is overpriced imitation of Western leisure, such as overseas travel, or sports, such as skiing and golf. The rest is mere entertainment, in which the machinery of amusement and media of mass distraction train the populace to be inattentive consumers.

Real leisure, on the other hand, is free, conscious activity that takes our lives as its object. In Pieper's vision, leisure enables appreciation and contemplation of the divine; it is stillness and quiet in which we can see truths and apprehend the mysteries of existence."

Why are Japanese unable to feel that they are "working to enjoy life", rather than resting to work? Why do people seem to feel they are "living to work" rather than "working to live"?

The article is one part of a series of opinions regarding the issue of overwork in Japan. I think most Japanese will agree that Japanese companies tend to believe that taking long vacations or leave or leaving on time at 5pm in order to enjoy life would violate the company culture and make it difficult for employees who try to pursue "leisure" to stay in the company.

Why is that? Despite changes in the labor law, apparently the situation has not changed very much. As the graph below shows, workers in the EU have a much better situation in this regard.

Personally, I think the core cause of the lack of time off in Japan may be a fear that a prioritization of leisure over work would lead to a loss of profitability or prosperity. Those who enjoy life too much will be doomed to poverty or a loss of competitiveness. It would be interesting to see a survey about such fears, with data broken down into different generations.

And so...is such a fear justified? Obviously, there must be a balance between a stress-filled culture of overwork and an excessive pursuit of leisure, and Japan has yet to find it. I would say that efforts still need to be made, especially by the top management, to give workers more time off to enjoy life--perhaps the company leaders need to start a shift in their mentality with some coaching about leisure for themselves. Perhaps the bureaucrats in Japan's ministry of labor need the same.

As a teacher, I also hope to see improvement in the work life balance for Japan's public school teachers. I have heard the time burden for work is excessive in many schools. Is it difficult to impart a love of life and a philosophy of "work to live" to our students when we are not practicing it ourselves, right?

It will be interesting to see what the fellows in my professional training session have to say about this.