It's unlikely someone in the know will post answers here, but this is Japan - and it has totally different work culture. The idea of an employee leaving before

It's unlikely someone in the know will post answers here, but this is Japan - and it has totally different work culture. The idea of an employee leaving before their boss is still unthinkable in many cases. Many people are employed in what are bureaucratic "paper pushing" jobs, even if their title suggests otherwise. You can see a little bit of this if you visit because you'll experience endless paperwork for everything, but this is only one layer of a very complex onion. I wouldn't say this is all bad, but it has problems.