Decades ago, the mid-1980s to be exact, I complained to my mom that my dad worked too much. Like legions of middle-aged Japanese salarymen, my father was never home before 9 p.m. and spent his weekends on 海外出張 (kaigai shucchō, overseas business trips). He was also big on 休日出勤 (kyūjitsu shukkin, working on holidays) as he claimed the nearly empty office helped him to concentrate. Needless to say, he never took a vacation.
When I pointed these things out, my mom would just roll her eyes and mumble something about how 日本経済はみんなが休まないから回っている (Nihon keizai wa minna ga yasumanai kara mawatte-iru, The Japanese economy runs on the fact that no one rests).
Some 30 years later and the 日本経済 (nihon keizai, Japanese economy) has shifted gears from a monstrous machine that feeds off workaholics like my father, to a more humane and ethical model — or so the government would have us believe.