In my experience here, the lack of intelligent and sensible planning/scheduling is what, in many cases, causes the workload that drives the long hour problem al

In my experience here, the lack of intelligent and sensible planning/scheduling is what, in many cases, causes the workload that drives the long hour problem all year round. If there's really nothing to do, broadly speaking, Japanese people are no more driven to stay at work than Americans. If there's work to do, then they feel obligated to put in the APPEARANCE of working hard, regardless of how much actual work is being done.