USING some of my hard-earned EPF (Employees Provident Fund) savings, I left the rat race in Kuala Lumpur and travelled to Japan for a holiday recently.
The rat race in Tokyo, I witnessed during my 10-day stay, was even more frenzied, as the folk in the world’s biggest capital of 13 million people practically ran faster.
Though I’m a fast walker myself at KL’s LRT stations when going to work, Japan’s men and women, in their ubiquitous black suits, were effortlessly darting past me, to and fro.
Like a huge colony of ants, they swarmed about, ever busy, ever purposeful, ever frenetic in a remarkably-structured society.
So, there I was, a Malaysian ant who has slogged all his life, but yet, overwhelmed by the world famous Japanese work culture.
And, I have no doubt that Tokyo will do a great job of organising the Greatest Show on Earth — the 2020 Olympics after Rio de Janeiro struggled to host the games last year.
With Japan acclaimed to have the world’s best integrated public transport system with its Shinkansen trains and other rail lines in the cities, it makes you ask why you would need a car in the land of Toyota, Honda, Nissan, etc.
As the Japanese hurried about at their train stations, I wondered what was on their minds. Probably the same as Malaysians — work issues, paying bills, credit card debts and so on.
But, least on their minds is street crime, which is almost unheard of in Japan. Together with my wife and two daughters, we walked through quiet dark back lanes after 11pm to the convenience stores without any fear over our safety.
No worries about snatch thieves grabbing our handbags, no worries about our smart phones being snatched when using Google Maps to find our way. No worries about samurai sword-wielding Yakuza demanding our money.
What a country — its people so polite, its environment so clean, its cities so safe.
Well, the Japanese not only work hard but play hard too as they go crazy over Pokemon, Doraemon, Digimon, anime, manga and gadgets.
Weary after days of walking around Tokyo, I lumbered over to Shinjuku to visit the “Godzilla Hotel”, which houses Japan’s favourite monster. Notably, the hotel features an imposing 12m replica of the Godzilla head, based on the original 1954 film.
But, my happy holiday trip to Japan was not without sadness. On Christmas Day, I watched a heartbreaking news report on the television in my hotel room. Exactly a year earlier, Matsuri Takahashi, 24, an employee of Dentsu, jumped to her death from a building.
Matsuri, a graduate of the prestigious University of Tokyo, was listed as yet another victim of Japan’s infamous karoshi which means death resulting from work-related stress, or fatigue.
And 10 days ago, the president of Dentsu, Japan’s biggest advertising agency, resigned over the suicide of Matsuri.
With a deep bow of regret in front of the media, Tadashi Ishii said he was taking responsibility for failing to stop the company’s brutal overtime work culture.
Even Japanese living in KL have lamented that the work culture in Japan is crazy and they prefer Malaysia. In fact, more than 800 Japanese are staying in Malaysia under the My Second Home Programme.
One major reason is that it is cheaper for Japanese to reside in Malaysia as the high cost of living in their homeland will quickly exhaust their savings.
As I got back to work and back into the KL rat race, my New Year’s resolution on behalf of Malaysians is to be as antsy as the Japanese, workhard for the sake of our country, ourselves and our companies, which will all add up to a strong GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
I am not asking you to die for your company, karoshi-style, but to go for a right mix of the pressures and pleasures of life with good work ethics.
This has been proven by the world’s most productive and happy nations like Luxembourg, Norway, Australia and Switzerland.
NST deputy sports editor Chan Wai Kong sees life differently after waking up from a coma following a car accident in Vancouver.