The Japanese were once famed for their work ethic. Now, shigoto-chudoku (workaholism) has been franchised out to the rest of the world and become a fact of globalized life.

The more we hear about fellow work addicts scattered around the globe, the more we're spurred on to work harder ourselves, if only to prove that we're the original hataraki-bachi (worker bees), that dedicated army of suited soldiers marching among office buildings, staring at laptop screens and mumbling "Kocchi ga sakidakara (We were here first)!"

For many Japanese, it's less about money than about faith, belief and shukan (habit). Shigoto (work) is a drug as well as a religion, the first and final destination for our wandering souls.