Episode #101: Japan Is A Marathon Not A Sprint

Why is it so hard to sustain high performance in Japan all year round?

Leaders in Japan often push for constant innovation, but overlook a simple reality: people are exhausted. Seasonal patterns, national holidays, commuting habits, and long-hours culture all chip away at energy, focus, and creativity.

In Japan, employees face:

• Spring allergy season that destroys concentration

• Post–holiday fatigue after major breaks

• Extreme summer heat and humidity that drain energy

• Heavy travel and family obligations around national holidays

• Dark, cold winters that dampen motivation

When people are chronically tired, it is unrealistic to expect breakthrough ideas, high productivity, and consistently positive engagement. Innovation rarely comes from a burned-out team.

Mini-summary: The Japanese work year has built-in energy drains. If leaders ignore them, they will keep demanding high performance from people who simply do not have the physical or mental capacity to deliver it.

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How do Japan’s seasons and holidays quietly undermine creativity and focus?

Across the year in Japan, employees are constantly fighting physical and mental fatigue:

• Spring: Pollen allergies make it hard to focus for weeks at a time. Eyes itch, heads ache, and energy drops — just when new projects and a new financial year are starting.

• Early Financial Year: April brings new assignments, new bosses, new teams, and new expectations. Many people are still trying to understand their new environment, roles, and responsibilities.

• After the early May holidays: The long holiday period brings crowded travel, family obligations, and disrupted routines. People return to work physically tired and mentally flat.

• Summer: Intense heat and heavy humidity create summer fatigue. Sleep quality drops, bodies feel heavy, and decision-making slows.

• Rainy Season: Weeks of rain and humidity can cause joint pain, sluggishness, and a low mood that makes concentration even harder.

• Obon Period: Many employees travel back to their hometowns to visit family graves. High traffic, fully booked trains, and emotionally loaded family visits add pressure rather than rest.

• Autumn and Winter: As the year goes on, new forms of tiredness appear. Shorter days and colder temperatures lower overall mood and motivation. The cold seeps into daily life and people feel worn down.

Through all of this, companies still expect continuous drive, creativity, and strong performance, with little adjustment for these predictable cycles of human energy.

Mini-summary: Japan’s calendar is full of predictable energy drains. Without adjustments from leadership, these seasonal and holiday patterns directly reduce creativity, focus, and productivity.

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How do daily habits and commuting patterns in Japan exhaust employees before they even start work?

The workday itself is often designed to create fatigue:

• Late nights with screens and entertainment: Many people stay up late watching television or scrolling on their phones. Sleep time shrinks; recovery never really happens.

• Rushed mornings: Employees drag themselves out of bed, rush through minimal preparation, and race to catch the last possible train that still gets them to work on time.

• Overcrowded trains: Most people start work after 8:00 a.m., which pushes them into peak-hour trains that are packed and stressful. The commute itself is physically and mentally draining.

• Rigid lunch rules: Many companies insist on lunch between noon and 1:00 p.m. Everyone moves at the same time, lines grow long, and lunch becomes another stress point instead of a break.

• Sleepy afternoons: After a quick, often rushed lunch, the afternoon becomes a mental struggle. People fight drowsiness rather than focus.

Before any talk of “innovation” or “high performance,” employees have already fought through poor sleep, a stressful commute, and rigid schedules that do not allow for real rest.

Mini-summary: The daily structure of work in Japan — late nights, packed trains, fixed lunch times — drains energy and attention even before the real work begins.

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How do long hours and overtime culture block innovation and engagement?

In many organizations in Japan, long working hours are not a sign of productivity, but a symbol of loyalty:

• Staying late for appearance, not output: Employees often wait for their boss to leave before going home, regardless of whether there is real work to do.

• Social drinking as obligation: After-hours drinking with colleagues can be treated as part of the job. People get home late, sleep less, and repeat the same cycle with a hangover.

• Chronic overtime: In some companies, overtime is simply assumed. It is used to increase monthly income, not necessarily to get better results.

• Insufficient rest: Many employees work more than 60 hours a week, and a significant portion never take a proper day off.

• Holiday resistance: Taking two or three weeks of continuous leave is often seen as unusual, risky, or disloyal, even when people clearly need rest.

It is very difficult to produce fresh thinking, creative solutions, and confident decision-making when people are permanently tired and overworked.

Mini-summary: Overtime culture in Japan rewards presence over productivity. It produces tired workers, not innovative teams.

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Why do many international leaders fail when they bring “high expectations” to Japan?

Many foreign managers arrive in Japan with strong expectations around speed, innovation, and continuous high performance. However, they often:

• Assume that what worked in their home country will work the same way in Japan

• Ignore the local realities of commuting, seasonal fatigue, and social expectations

• Push for “hustle” and “urgency” without understanding that the workforce is already overloaded

• Use global benchmarks and 24/7 expectations without adapting to local rhythms

The result is frustration on both sides. Leaders feel that their teams are slow or resistant. Employees feel misunderstood, exhausted, and unappreciated. Instead of raising performance, this clash of expectations creates disengagement.

The pattern has repeated for more than a century: trying to force the same rhythm on every market rarely works — especially in Japan.

Mini-summary: Many foreign leaders fail in Japan because they apply global expectations without adjusting to the local work rhythms and cultural realities.

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What simple policy changes can leaders make to improve energy and performance in Japan?

Leaders do not need to completely redesign their organizations. A few focused changes can transform the energy level of the team:

1. Tighten controls on overtime

   • Require pre-approval for overtime.

   • Ask why extra hours are needed and what outcome they will produce.

   • Make it clear that unnecessary overtime is not a badge of honor.

2. Introduce flexible work hours

   • Allow earlier or later start times to avoid the worst of the commuting rush.

   • Let employees choose lunch times across a broader window so they can avoid crowds and actually rest.

3. Promote real vacations

   • Actively encourage employees to take their full annual leave.

   • Normalize taking two or three weeks off in a row for real recovery.

   • Publicly support senior leaders who take proper vacations to set the tone.

4. Shift from hours to outcomes

   • Communicate clearly that productivity matters more than time spent at the desk.

   • Recognize and reward results, not just visible busyness.

Mini-summary: By controlling overtime, offering flexible hours, and valuing output over presence, leaders can immediately improve energy, focus, and morale.

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How can leaders build a culture where rest is seen as a competitive advantage?

High-performing organizations understand that rest is not a luxury — it is a strategy:

• Educate teams about sleep and recovery: Explain the impact of sleep on decision-making, emotional control, and creativity.

• Encourage breaks before exhaustion: Promote short, regular breaks to reset focus rather than waiting until people are already overwhelmed.

• Model healthy behavior at the top: When senior leaders leave the office on time, take real vacations, and respect boundaries, the entire culture shifts.

• Connect rest to performance: Make it explicit that a fresh, well-rested team will always outperform a tired team in the long run.

When people feel allowed — and encouraged — to rest, they make fewer mistakes, collaborate better, and solve problems more creatively. Rested teams win.

Mini-summary: Treat rest as a strategic asset, not a weakness. A fresh team will always beat a tired team on quality, innovation, and long-term results.

Changing work rhythms and culture is not just about new rules; it is about new mindsets and behaviors. This is where Dale Carnegie Tokyo can help.

• Global experience with local insight: Dale Carnegie Training has been developing leaders, sales professionals, and high-performance teams worldwide since 1912. Our Tokyo office has been serving Japanese and multinational companies since 1963.

• Proven programs for Japanese and multinational organizations: We support both Japanese companies and global firms operating in Tokyo with leadership training, sales training, presentation training, executive coaching, and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

• Focus on behavior change, not just theory: Our programs help managers and teams communicate better, build trust, handle stress, and adopt new ways of working that fit both global standards and the Japanese reality.

• Executive-level support: From frontline managers to senior executives, we help leaders design cultures where productivity and well-being reinforce each other.

Mini-summary: Dale Carnegie Tokyo combines more than a century of global expertise with six decades of local experience to help organizations in Japan build healthier, more productive work cultures.

• Seasonal, daily, and cultural rhythms in Japan quietly drain energy and limit innovation if leaders ignore them.

• Long hours, rigid schedules, and overtime culture produce tired employees, not high-performing teams.

• Simple changes — flexible hours, stricter overtime rules, real vacations, and outcome-focused leadership — can dramatically improve performance.

• Partnering with an expert like Dale Carnegie Tokyo helps organizations redesign work culture in a way that respects local realities and delivers global-level results.

Founded in the United States in 1912, Dale Carnegie Training has supported individuals and organizations worldwide for more than a century in leadership, sales, presentation, executive coaching, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our Tokyo office, established in 1963, has been empowering both Japanese and multinational corporate clients ever since, helping them build resilient, high-performing, and people-centered cultures.