The place I have seen with the strongest custom about work hours is Japan. I spent a few days in Tokyo, and everyone always talks about the famous "Tokyo Rush H

The place I have seen with the strongest custom about work hours is Japan. I spent a few days in Tokyo, and everyone always talks about the famous "Tokyo Rush Hour", so we got up early and went for a walk through the city. My wife and I went and looked at the fish market at about 7:30, and had breakfast around 8 and the streets were empty. At about 8:20 there were a few people out, but not many. Then around 8:30 it started to get crowded. By 8:40 the streets were packed, people were cramming cheek to cheek on the subway, and we had to find an out of the way place to watch so that we didn't get trampled. Then, at 9am, everything went silent. The intersections that were filled with people a few minutes earlier were vacant, and you could see just one or two other people on the street, like a women carrying her shoes and sprinting down the sidewalk, for example. Japan has a very strict society, and it appears that part of that is 90% of the people have to show up at work at exactly 9am, and not a minute earlier or later. I would much rather show up a half hour early and enjoy one of the easiest commutes of any major city.