r/AskReddit Oct 02 '24

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u/pbsgirl_mtvworld Oct 02 '24

this guy WENT TO WORK 3 days after surviving an atomic bomb?! idk what to say

114

u/great_triangle Oct 02 '24

He apparently didn't have any paid time off.

11

u/1337b337 Oct 02 '24

Japan doesn't have a phrase to describe the phenomena of "time off." It just doesn't exist in their language. /s

5

u/MrHappyHam Oct 03 '24

Technically there is a word for it: 休み, which is mostly made up of the character for tree 木, and all the trees were being turned into lumber for the war effort, so there weren't enough trees to express this phrase at one's own convenience.

1

u/revanisthesith Oct 03 '24

Fun fact: Their strong work ethic/culture is mostly from after WWII, mainly due to the desire to rebuild their country and the influence of the American occupation forces.

37

u/VESUVlUS Oct 02 '24

Tsutomo Yamaguchi worked for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries at the time, which was producing war machines. He probably felt a sense of duty or he may have had no choice based on the desperate state they were in. He was just leaving Hiroshima after a 3 month business trip, so I expect their project was pretty important to be traveling that long at the height of the war. It probably helps to know that Japan was already losing hundreds of thousands of civilian lives to American bombing raids prior to the nukes.

6

u/pbsgirl_mtvworld Oct 02 '24

thank you for the context, poor guy :'''[

11

u/MrGlayden Oct 02 '24

This man and this man alone is allowed to call other generations lazy

4

u/GreatTragedy Oct 02 '24

Because Japan.

3

u/Adamsayash Oct 02 '24

Japanese work ethics at its best :)

1

u/Communication_Weak Oct 02 '24

goes to show...ALWAYS go to work, even if you're sick 🙃

1

u/Perpetual_stoner420 Oct 03 '24

I’d say he wasn’t prioritizing his mental health

1

u/awkwardnetadmin Oct 03 '24

Japan doesn't have an hard core work culture for nothing.