Why I Traded Rural Japan’s Office Culture for London

The pressure to conform began with a peculiar ritual: returning from any time off meant providing snacks for all 40 colleagues. Initially charming, the practice soon became an expensive, wasteful burden. Beyond the social expectations, the structural approach to leave proved equally jarring. While her contract promised 20 days of vacation, her supervisor warned that these were essentially personal buffers; sick leave required a hospital visit, and colleagues routinely left hundreds of accrued days unused, with some teachers not taking a single day off in six years.

This culture of presenteeism extended to the daily grind, where 12-hour days were the standard. Despite having no children to teach during school holidays, staff remained at their desks to avoid the appearance of slacking. Hennessy eventually began working overtime simply to avoid being the first to leave at 5 p.m. After a year, she returned to the UK, realizing that her discomfort stemmed from a fundamental clash between her British expectations of work-life balance and the rigid, coherent logic of the Japanese school system. The experience highlighted how deeply cultural norms dictate what professionals consider sustainable.