I applaud your conviction to work your 40 at 100% and then go home, and in many places this is absolutely achievable and I absolutely recommend it. Japan is (l

I applaud your conviction to work your 40 at 100% and then go home, and in many places this is absolutely achievable and I absolutely recommend it. Japan is (largely) not yet one of these places. There is a culture there related to work and life that is very very different. The short version is that you can get lifetime guaranteed employment without risk of termination, but at the cost of the company owning your time. For the longer version, you can search Patrick's posts for "salaryman." It's very interesting to learn about how these conditions came about. It's also interesting to see how things may change there as software continues to eat the world, crossing many previously-untouchable boundaries.