World Religions Can Learn From Japan – Taro Aso
Source: Yahoo! News
“Our values in Japan regard hard work as important,” Aso said during a discussion on the global economic crisis. “To work is good. It’s completely different thinking from the Old Testament. We should share our philosophy with many other nations.” – Prime Minister Taro Aso, Japan
Aso, known for his controversial remarks made this statement that Japan’s belief in hard work is opposite of what is stated in Judeo-Christian tradition. As many of us know, the salarymen and women in Japan work long hours often resulting in fatigue, stress and even death.
In Japan, such deaths are termed “karoshi” (過労死) and such sudden deaths stirred various reactions among the community if companies should be responsible for compensations for their men driven into deaths or serious illness due to work. How many hours do you work a day and do you think that you are underpaid ?
“In the Old Testament, God gave Adam punishment: labor. The Old Testament, Christianity, Islam—if you add them up, what percent of the world is that? About 70% of religions hold a philosophy that work is a punishment.”
The point of this article is not about karoshi though but rather on the way Japan’s Prime Minister made this comment. It raises some “rage” and criticism. Indeed, while the people are working hard, look at the other aspect of such effect – Health matters like stress and mental problems arise due to over work. Social issues like the lack of bonding between working parents and kids (how true is that? you tell me) and turning to alcohol after a day’s work with collegues often lead to trouble.
However, to a extent, we have to admit such hard work was what that brought Japan to what it is today from post-war till now but using the Testament as a means of comparison ? Please.
Work is not about the number of hours you make but rather the productivity you make.
What do you guys think about Prime Minister Aso’s comment ?
I guess I would say to him, “Work hard, play hard” which is a phrase I hear a lot among my friends. I agree that work should be about productivity, not number of hours. Sitting around doing busywork is a waste of time.
Religion and Politics should never be mixed together. Period.
Funny, I thought Taro Aso was, in fact, Roman Catholic. Or at least his Wiki entry says so.
Also the curse on Adam in the Book of Genesis is not that he would have to work–God told him to cultivate the Garden beforehand anyway. It’s that his work would have an element of fruitlessness and toil with little result. Useless work, in other words.
I don’t know, working too hard is not a good thing..
Playing too hard IS a good thing, but it’s just that we can’t do so..
…*cough*Am I hearing this correctly? They say that their work ethic is to be admired at?
[rant]
I’m gonna put a very, very politically-incorrect tone here:
JAPAN IS F***ING HYPOCRITICAL. ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY HAVE NOT APOLOGIZE TO THE ENTIRE AREAS THEY CONQUERED IN WWII FOR THEIR WAR CRIMES! FULLY! THE RAPE OF NANKING, THE TORTURE OF INNOCENT CIVILIANS, AND ALL THAT WE ARE OUGHT TO PUT ASIDE FOR THE SAKE OF MIMICKING JAPAN’S MUCH-TALKED WORK ETHIC? THEY HAVE NOT EVEN SOLVED THEIR ECONOMIC, DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS FULLY AND THEY HAVE THE BALLS TO SAY THAT WE SHOULD ACCEPT THEIR CULTURE. F***ING BULL****. STUPID STUPID NEANDERTHALS OF A ISLAND-NATION BESIEGED BY “SIEGE MENTALITY.”
[/rant]
My beef comes from leaders from any sides (be it from our tiny island-nation, or from any other “less-than-favourable” nations) that extols their great cultures, when considering that other nations offer better or more humble solutions and they don’t really advertise their greatness because they know their ethics work.
Anyways, Taro Aso is suffering greatly in national polls. Such is a sad state of Japan: their arts scene far surpassed their politics.
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