“It’s fair to say that the Japanese are incredibly busy. Working 10 hours a day and often arriving on days off, they rarely take vacations of more than three or four days. A straight week is a hedonistic luxury. The Japanese are undoubtedly incredibly busy, working constantly and rarely taking time off, I'm sure. My only objection to working so hard is not having time for yourself. The purpose of work is to have money and enjoy the benefits of your previous hard work. Working all the time and only having time to eat and sleep seems pointless. Every day you hear about how lazy Americans are and how poor our work ethic is. I do not agree with this statement nor with Lynnika Butler, in her essay “Living on Tokyo Time”. The work ethic is a belief in the moral benefit and importance of work and its inherent ability to build character (dictionary.com). Character is what characterizes us; it's what we do when we're not working. Our work does not define us, our personality and beliefs do. That's why I think Japanese people shouldn't work as hard as they do. The Japanese have a prosperous culture and many other advantages which were discussed in “Living on Tokyo Time”. These goals were achieved by their ancestors who, indeed, worked hard. However, they had the wisdom to understand that it cannot be all about work. This is why the Japanese have no social life. Although I disagree with Butler, she provides some good arguments. For example, in the second paragraph, she explains: "Watching people like this, with almost no time for themselves, makes an American like me wonder why more of them don't throw themselves under the oars of metro. » Butler, in fact, is not the only one with an opinion on this subject...... middle of paper ......arder, and therefore gain more profits. After thinking about this line carefully, it is obvious that even though the Japanese work more, they have less time to “reap what they sow.” Works Cited “Work Ethics”. Dictionary.com full version. Random House, Inc. December 1, 2011. .Penfield, Elizabeth. Short takes. White Plains, New York: Longman, 2009. Print. Gerena, Casey. "Japanese Work Ethics - International Business - a Wikia Wiki." International Affairs Wiki. Internet. December 11, 2011. .Brull, Steven. "A Tale of Two Work Ethics By Many Standards, U.S. Dominates Japan - NYTimes.com." The New York Times - Breaking news, world news and multimedia. February 7, 1992. Web. December 12. 2011. .