I guess you got this already from the post, but if anything the situation in Japan is worse. Programmer salaries are roughly comparable to (continental) Western

I guess you got this already from the post, but if anything the situation in Japan is worse. Programmer salaries are roughly comparable to (continental) Western European salaries (after discounting for living cost differences), so much lower than in SV/Seattle/NYC. But in Europe at least you tend to get more free time and longer vacations.