I've finally figured out why Japanese people don't take more vacations -- they don't want to. Work is comfortable and safe for them. Vacations offer too much adventure. Japanese people try to avoid using the "f" word: Fun.
I noticed a serious lack of the Fun Factor in Japanese people since I moved to Shiraishi Island. In the summertime, our island becomes a tourist haven as people come out to enjoy the sea and beach. I often invite my Japanese friends to come out, but they never come. Kana won't come because her husband doesn't like it when she gets sun-tanned (white skin is prized in Japan). Ai won't come if she's having her menstrual cycle. Yumiko won't come because she gets sea sick. Etsuko won't come because she can't swim. It worries me that so many Japanese people are at such odds with nature.
No wonder they prefer to work: No sun, no waves, no drowning.