Awkward working culture in Japan

I often hear Westerners saying that they don't understand why Japanese businessmen often brag about their long working hours. They say that in the West, such workers are perceived to be inefficient. Because of this, if Westerners are forced to work long hours, they will likely complain and will never brag about it. What is most surprising to Westerners seems to be that immediately before a client presentation, some Japanese businessmen tend to mention that they had only a few hours of sleep the previous night. Their intention is to impress their clients by the great efforts they had put in right up to the last minute. However, contrary to their expectations, this will make Westerners wonder if they will be able to deliver presentations properly since Westerners assume that a lack of sleep would impair their judgement and ability to concentrate.

I think that mentioning a lack of sleep or things like this to clients is ridiculous even to Japanese people these days, although it didn't give negative impressions to clients in the past. Several years ago, I heard a story. An older manager and a few workers from a company went to Tokyo from Osaka to deliver a presentation to their client. Before the presentation, in order to break the ice, the manager told the client that the workers had been re-checking the presentation even on the way to Tokyo by bullet train (it takes two and half hours between the two cities). The client's reaction astonished and disappointed the manager. The client criticized him, saying that he was so incompetent at managing his workers that they were forced to check the presentation even on a bullet train. I totally agree with the client.

Culturally, people who are willing to work late still tend to be appreciated in Japanese companies. In the past, some workers would stay until very late at work even when they didn't need to and overtime wasn't paid. As the times have changed, working efficiently has become of greater value. However, I've found that even efficient workers are often required to work long hours. In Japan, at work, you are often required to work cooperatively with your colleagues. Actually, teamwork is considered a Japanese advantage. However, the idea requires you to cover what your colleagues haven't yet done in your team. If you can work much more efficiently than your team members, you will end up being forced to help them and might find this unreasonable. I think that this is largely because you often feel that you aren't evaluated properly and don't get a salary worthy of your performance.