[softcactus]

I am not sure. I think that while there are concepts like Kaizen that stress improving efficiency, Japanese businesses don't necessarily optimize for profit as ruthlessly as US companies. They can probably do this due to less disruptive entrepreneurship in Japan + massive conglomerates with no competition.

For example there is a video series of workers in Japan-- the titles are usually like "Daily Life of an X in Japan" and workers are often doing things in their downtime like cleaning the office, detailing the delivery trucks, power washing the sidewalks in front of the business, etc. In the US these practices would be seen as wasteful and would either be ignored, contracted out, or have a dedicated employee to do the work.

Unfortunately the Japanese model has its own shortcomings, but maybe there is a hybrid option that could benefit everyone.