As a foreigner to Japan you'll pick up on lots of things, habits, and systems that work really well and could serve as examples for other countries. But study t

As a foreigner to Japan you'll pick up on lots of things, habits, and systems that work really well and could serve as examples for other countries. But study the country more in-depth or live there for a longer period of time, and you'll see the parts that make you wish Japan would adopt some things many of us take for granted. In Europe having five weeks of paid vacation is pretty much standard. Employers are well aware that holidays benefit both employer and employee, because a well-rested and refreshed employee soon has those missing hours made up for in inspiration, efficiency, and a much lower sick-rate. In Japan this is unachievable not because the government doesn't desire it (on the contrary) but because of inertia in the workplace. As a Japanese friend recently explained to me: you can't take off many more days beyond the public holidays like in the golden week, because your senior colleagues didn't get to do that when they were younger either. With the strict hierarchy of seniority in Japanese companies and institutions, that basically means the end of that discussion until the desire for change becomes so great that it happens on a national scale. On the other hand, they have warm 缶コーヒー from vendingmachines, so they are living in the future. At least a bit.