I lived one year or so in Japan and could not stand it, after living in Korea for some time and China for 5 years or so. I am European. When talking with Europ

I lived one year or so in Japan and could not stand it, after living in Korea for some time and China for 5 years or so. I am European. When talking with European friends about Japan, they joke about the religion of Japan not being Shinto, but Shigoto(work). Being alien in the country, with knowledge they did not have, gave me freedom that locals could not dream but I suffered a lot for them. Working to a certain point and your productivity becomes negative in an objective way. But you can't change it because you have to fight against society. The worst thing is that in lots of ways the US is increasingly going down the same path. It used to be that this was common in Soviet Russia, the output of your work did not matter as much as your input. A tank was "two times better" if it required double quantity of materials, or double assembly hours. So "acting like they were doing a good job" was more important that doing a good job. It looks like the natural consequence of central planning.