japanese firms are increasingly adopting performancebased human resources management strategies jilpt a in over a quarter of japanese workers worked hours or more a week compared with less than onesixth in the united states and between and in many european countries lee by the situation had improved only slightly as of all workers still worked or more hours furthermore underutilisation of eligible annual leave is characteristic of japanese employment practices according to a survey carried out in japanese workers in private companies with or more regular employees took on average days of annual leave jilpt b reasons for not taking annual leave are anxiety about a negative personnel assessment the perceived high workload and strong workorientation as a cultural feature mainly among men in their forties ogura the introduction of performancebased wage systems seems to further promote long working hours ogura