Cultural “Self” Awareness Post

 In last week’s class we discussed the work culture in Japan and the world. Previously we’ve seen that the rigor of Japanese society can already be found in a school system that occupies a large part of students’ daily lives. When said student becomes an employee, this trend doesn’t seem to change too much.

The video we watched at the end of the class showed us the busy day of a salaryman. While creating a parallel with the after-class club activities or additional classes, the man was expected to do volunteering or “home overtime”. If that could still be an unquestionable normality for many Japanese people, in my culture it would be considered a huge work-life balance issue. 

In the unfortunate need to generalize I would say that Italians are very hard-working, but even more laid-back people. The contrast emerges from a clear divide between work and personal life. For instance many stores will close at lunch-time for the owners to enjoy a calm meal with the family and it would be very difficult to find someone doing extra unpaid work. 

Since Italy is a mountainous country and it was divided in kingdoms for centuries until 1861, communities developed localized lifestyles rather than fast-paced, centralized ones. Moreover we also share this “dolce far niente” ("sweet doing nothing") patterns with our mediterranean neighbours such as Spain and Greece, where the hot climate extended summers and shortened daily rhythms. 

These historical, cultural and geographical examples were only some of the reasons why the contrast between Japanese and Italian work culture can appear so vivid.

Commenti

  1. Jan's Blog6 ottobre 2025 alle ore 23:17

    Love the comparisons to your own culture! The saying dolce for niente is gonna become my new motto!😎

    RispondiElimina
  2. Nora6 ottobre 2025 alle ore 23:23

    I have heard about the laid-back work culture in Italy, and I find it quite fascinating. this was a nice perspective to read.

    RispondiElimina

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