Can the West’s perplexing employment miracle continue?
Credibility of the author is out the door when they are using strawman comparisons with Japan (Tokyo) indicative of someone who spent a week there as a tourist and had to shoehorn this experience in. It&#x27;s like a foreigner traveling to America, and by that I mean LA or NYC, and talk about how fashionable people in SoHo were or how vibrant Time Square is, meanwhile 99% of Americans aren&#x27;t in this way of life. I&#x27;m almost certain &quot;in one of Tokyo’s best bars, a team of four people was involved in the preparation of your correspondent’s gin martini&quot; refers to The SG Club, an overpriced tourist trap for tourists who want to feel refined, sophisticated, edgy.<p>As economists say, there are four types of economies: developed, undeveloped, Argentina, and Japan. Not having a permanent place to be during the 9-5PM, whether that is school or work, is a badge of shame in Japanese society. If you read crime reports in Japan, they will almost always mention the persons state of employment. Even the tragedy of the commons &#x2F; prisoner&#x27;s dilemma is thwarted in Japan, atleast in a public context. On microeconomics, people are not making decisions that would be deemed economically optimal or even rational from an American lens.<p>The example with the airport and malls being overstaffed. The first part is that both the government and people would rather that people work, rather than rely on government&#x2F;society, even if it means the enterprise is not operating optimally. This is one reason why, quantitatively atleast, Japan has one of the lowest productivity rates of developed countries. Everyone has to appear working diligently, regardless if they&#x27;ve past the point of productivity or not. For the second part, the mall, in this time and age you can order stuff online. The value proposition of retail is that people want and value human services. Especially if it for higher end products and luxury products, where the retail and customer experience is part of the purchase, which is likely the case for a mall in Japan. Even Uniqlo is a splurge for people to be honest. Furthermore, Japanese people trust humans not computers, and there is an expectation that service be 1:1 and available. Just wait into the author sees the staff ratio in the electronics store, especially in the appliance section. They are dozens of tables where they go through a step by step process with customers, explaining the appliance, delivery process, etc.  Part of this is also a desire for human interaction which is relatively limited compared to America where you have no shortage of small talk with randos.