I'd say the common view has changed decades ago. Public opinion regarding equal employment is pretty much the same in Japan and the US. > Another arguably prob

I'd say the common view has changed decades ago. Public opinion regarding equal employment is pretty much the same in Japan and the US. > Another arguably problematic thing I think I know about Japan (I hope I'm wrong in this as well) is their work culture strongly discourages switching jobs. It's not uncommon to see people switch jobs. I think public perception on that topic has changed too in the past few decades. But one thing worth noting is that as you mentioned, Japanese workers have stronger legal protections compared to the US. It's more difficult to fire someone in Japan, so people are incentivized to keep their current jobs. > Their salary is a pure function of how long did they work in the same company I believe this fell out of favor, but not in a good way. The move away from seniority-based wage is often used as euphemism for pay cuts. Another case of corporations not being your friends thing. > nobody wants to hire old people because it's almost impossible to fire them This unfortunately is a problem, at least for jobs with decent pay I think? Unless you're rich, of course.