[ceeplusplus]

Because pretty much every Asian country was a rural wasteland in the 50s and 60s, and hard work and education is what got a lot of people out of that poverty. If you're white/only speak English, Chinese 40-60 year olds probably won't talk about this in front of you, but it's a widespread belief in China that Americans don't know what true poverty is like and are thus lazy.

[sofixa]

That kind of makes sense, but not for Japan, which industrialised in the 19th century, so wasn't poor "a rural wasteland". It was war devastated post-WW2, but my understanding was that the working culture was there since industrialisation - which to be fair, was also the case in Europe until labour movements brought regulations at the cost of their blood. Maybe Japan just missed that train due to a combination of factors?

[kube-system]

They’re not wrong. Poverty is relative. It can look quite different in different places.