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Current Japanese People Work Less, Spend Less?
- Truth is often hidden.
2010/11/27
Bad economy has been changing Japanese people's way of life. Here is the rough summary
of the article which introduces it:
Working Hours Decreased to the Standard of 30 Years ago
- People Use Internet More, Sleep and Read Less
Because of bad economy, overtime work hours were shortened, but people do not go for a drink
and just play internet at home according to a survey done by CITIZEN HOLDINGS (Tokyo).
This company has carried out time spent in daily life for Japanese business men in Japan since 1980
every 10 year. 400 people from 20's to 50's joined this survey.
Sleeping hours per day were 6 hours and 2 minutes, which was shortened by around 1 hour compared
with that of 1980 (7 hours 1 minute). Eating hours were 1 hour and 9 minutes, which was also shorter
compared with that of past 3 surveys (1 hour and 20 minutes something). As for working hours, around
1 hour was shorter than the previous survey (2000) which marked 8 hours and 39 minutes going back
to the standard of 1980 (8 hours and 36 minutes).
As for the time spent in personal time excluding the time necessary for life such as working and
sleeping, the time that the participants spent most was the time for internet and email which was 7
hours and 59 minutes in total for a week. The time for TV was 7 hours and 52 minutes and dropped from
a top ranking for the first time since this survey started. Total hours to be spent on watching TV
decreased largely from 13 hours and 2 minutes of 30 years ago.
The time spent for reading books and newspapers was 2 hours and 36 minutes which decreased largely
from 8 hours and 42 minutes of 1980. The percentage of those who read "ebooks" was 14.5%, but 2 hours
and 9 minutes were spent.
In addition, the time that people spent for cafe or bar was 2 hours and 25 minutes which hugely
decreased from 7 hours and 52 minutes of 1990. On the contrary, more than half of the participants
said that they have dinner at home every day. This percentage was also marked first time.
As for working hours, Japanese people are actually forced to work much longer than the result
of this survey, surely. As most supported comment to the original article mentioned, Japanese workers
in Japan companies just are not allowed to receive salary for overtime working hours. Many companies
are hiding the secret real working hours and just don't pay. Laws for working conditions are dead in
Japan. Workers are almost forced to be almost like slaves.
That's why Japan is the worst country with the record of suicide. Young people are getting hopeless
and hopeless. Depression is spreading, too.
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