RE: The Dark Side of Japanese Work Culture

I think that was more a thing of the war generation, not the Boomers. There used to be a joke that the first and only thing a man would tell his wife among getting home was "Meshi, furo, neru!"  —  meaning "food, bath, sleep". Marriages of that time were all by matchmakers and rarely involved love, just two sides that knew their roles: working almost 24/7 for the men and keeping the home, raising the kids, and making sure the men worked 24/7 for the women.