Begin Japanology

The world sees the Japanese as workaholics. Believe it or not, Japan has the most public holidays in the industrialized world. But it is also true that Japanese workers take fewer than half their allotted paid days off. Before the late 19th century, Japan had no weekly day of rest and virtually no extended holidays. Modern Japanese people have tended to prefer quick holidays, but recently, slower, longer holidays are becoming more common. For example, stay on a farm and help with the chores in exchange for room and board. If all Japanese people took all their days off, it would greatly boost the economy - at least that's one idea behind efforts encouraging people to take more time off. On this edition of BEGIN Japanology, our theme is holidays. By looking at attitudes toward holidays, we'll examine various aspects of the Japanese way of life.