I agree with this. Big companies in Japan do tend to be more established, and thus more likely to be "traditionally managed," so it's tempting to generalize to

I agree with this. Big companies in Japan do tend to be more established, and thus more likely to be "traditionally managed," so it's tempting to generalize to all big companies. As one of the anecdata at a company of around 70 people, almost everyone is on flex time, aside from specific departments like customer support. There is no pressure to work overtime, though many end up doing so in order to meet specific deadlines. In addition, everyone freely uses vacation and sick time. In fact, I have previously been told that I should use more of my vacation days. Edit: I should note that there are only a handful of people here who would meet the description of a typical salaryman.