What Quality Of Life?

Abstract

If the Japanese are doing poorly with regard to monetary rewards, once adjusted to the purchasing power of the yen, they are doing even worse for quality of life. It is widely known, and statistically verifiable, that the Japanese live in pretty cramped housing, with rather mediocre amenities, and have precious little leisure. They are not quite “workaholics living in rabbit hutches,” as it was once put, but they are also not enjoying a quality of life comparable to that of other advanced, and many less developed, societies.