Yes I was stunned to see how much low level and seemingly unnecessary labour there when visited Tokyo. There are people literally inviting you to escalators in

Yes I was stunned to see how much low level and seemingly unnecessary labour there when visited Tokyo. There are people literally inviting you to escalators in the airport. An empty train station would have half a dozen attendants. Road repair, in the middle of the night, 6 people directing foot traffic, with only two (us) pedestrians in sight. This was surprising against the stereotype of machine-based Japanese efficiency. I assume it's some half employment, half social support programme going on.