studies Archives - understand-culture

Until the Boss Leaves

In February 2010, the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training surveyed employees about their working hours. Among those who worked overtime almost every day or three to four days a week, 9.8 percent of non-managers and 6.2 percent of managers gave this reason: Shūi ga zangyō shite iru node, saki ni kaerizurai kara. Others are working overtime, so it is hard to go home first. Each person could give up to three reasons.

The report, published in 2011, also looked at the statement Jōshi ga taisha suru made kitaku shinai, I do not go home until my boss leaves. For both non-managers and managers, agreeing with it went with ten or more extra hours of work a month.

Two Thirds of Paid Leave

In the General Survey on Working Conditions published in December 2025, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reported that workers took on average 66.9 percent of the annual paid leave they were granted. It was the highest rate since 1984.

The government’s target is a rate of 70 percent or more by 2028.

Guilt Toward Colleagues

In a survey by the travel company Expedia, workers in Japan said they had been granted an average of 19 days of paid leave in 2023 and had taken 12. At 63 percent, the rate was the lowest of the 11 regions in the survey.

Of the workers in Japan, 53 percent said that when they take paid leave, they feel guilty toward the colleagues who cover their work.

Thirty-Seven Point Eight

In November 2025, the drug company Taisho Pharmaceutical surveyed 1,200 working people in their twenties to sixties who had caught a cold in the past year. On average, they said they wanted to stay home from work at a temperature of 37.70 degrees Celsius. On average, they actually stayed home at 37.84 degrees.

Private Ties at Work

In April 2012, Rengo, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, surveyed 1,000 working people about their ties with others. Of them, 57.5 percent said, fully or partly, that they had someone at work they could consult about private matters. A further question found that 50.8 percent also spent private time with people from work.

Asked whether time with people from work sometimes left them no time of their own, 28.5 percent said this applied to them fully or partly. Among men, the figure was 36.6 percent.

Year-End and New Year Parties

In October 2026, Tokyo Shoko Research asked companies whether they would hold bōnenkai and shinnenkai, year-end and New Year parties, this season. Of the 5,052 companies that answered, 56.5 percent said they would.

Before the pandemic, according to the same report, about 80 percent of companies held them.

Fathers on Leave

In fiscal 2024, 40.5 percent of eligible Japanese men took childcare leave, up from 30.1 percent the year before. The figures come from the Basic Survey of Equal Employment of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

An older survey commissioned by the ministry, reported in 2014, asked men who had wanted to take leave but did not why. Of them, 29.1 percent said the workplace had an atmosphere in which it was hard to take childcare leave. Another 25.1 percent said it was a workplace where time off was hard to take at any time.

Nobody Leaves at Five-Thirty

In 2018, Business Insider Japan surveyed 488 young employees about overtime. One respondent wrote: Teiji wa 5-ji han da ga, teiji ni kaeru mono nado inai tame hayaku kaerizurai. The working day ends at 5:30, but nobody goes home at 5:30, so it is hard to leave early.

Another wrote that the idea has spread that one should stay at work while others are too busy to go home, even when there is nothing to help with.

Who Decides a Purchase

In May 2026, the sales site SalesZine reported a survey of 100 people who had taken part in a company purchase. Only 13 percent had decided alone. 87 percent had decided with others, and in 64 percent of cases, four or more people were involved.