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Associated Press
Japanese office workers cross a street on their way to
work recently in Tokyo. Workers are resisting government
efforts to try to get them to take more time off from work.

Japan urges
its workers:
Take a break

They rarely use all of
their vacation time

---

From staff and wire reports

TOKYO -- On paper, the Japanese worker looking for some time off doesn't have it so bad. Japan has more national holidays than the United States or Germany, and the average employee can count nearly 18 days of paid vacation.

Actually taking those days, however, is another matter altogether.

Despite a high-profile effort by the government to get people to take more time off, the still shaky economy and deeply entrenched social pressures are keeping Japan's workaholic workforce glued to the office.

"I can't take any New Year's holidays," said office worker Masuko Tanaka. Though she won't be at her office on the first three days of the New Year, which are national holidays, her husband is a shopkeeper and she has to help out. And when she takes her real vacation, a week in February, she'll have to go without him. He'll be working.

"I wish I could take more than a week," she said. "But the environment at work doesn't really let you do that."

According to the latest statistics released by the government, it is a lucky worker getting five straight days off around New Year's -- Japan's most important holiday season. And of the average 17.8 days of paid vacation, most people actually take only about nine.

One of the main reasons is peer pressure.

Instead of seeing vacation time as an entitlement, many Japanese feel embarrassed to claim vacation days that will have them off while their coworkers aren't. Workers are thus much more comfortable taking national holidays, when everyone else gets a rest.

"There's a mental barrier -- it's easier when holidays are institutionalized," said Akiyoshi Takumori, chief economist at Sakura Securities Co.

Hawaii, still one of the most popular overseas destinations for vacationing Japanese, has seen a decline in the number of Japanese taking their national holidays in the islands. However, that seems to be mostly because of a reluctance to travel at peak seasons, when jammed flights and packed hotels lead to higher prices.

Tourist industry sources say Japanese travelers now try to take their Hawaii trips in off-peak periods, even delaying honeymoons until they can get bargains.

Overall Japanese travel to Hawaii has declined slightly this year. In the first 9 months, 1.4 million Japanese visited Hawaii, a decline of about 1 percent from the first 9 months of 1999.

However, Japanese visitors have cut their spending in Hawaii. In 1999, the latest year for which detailed spending figures are available, they spent an average of about $227 a day, down around 13 percent from $258 a day in 1998, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

For most Japanese workers, putting in long hours is something they have done all their lives.

Japanese schools just recently began giving children every other Saturday off, and are hoping to make it every Saturday by 2002. Most kids spend much of their weekends, holidays and evenings at school anyway -- participating in clubs or study groups, or attending cram schools.

But along with the social attitudes, the economy, still weak after its worst slowdown since World War II, is becoming an increasingly important factor.

Widespread restructuring in response to the tougher economic climate has left Japan's economy leaner and potentially stronger, but has also sent unemployment up to record levels.

This has created a double-edged problem for workers. Some feel afraid they will lose their jobs if they are too pushy about claiming their vacation due. Others, in smaller companies, have such an increased workload because of staff cuts that they feel they simply can't afford to go.

"There just isn't enough staff. Corporate restructuring is underway and the amount of work each employee has to deal with is rising," said Soichi Otsuka, general manager in the appraisement division at medium-size Oji Shinkin Bank.

The government figures, compiled by the Labor Ministry, show workers at small companies with fewer than 100 employees on average took just 43.7 percent of their paid holidays, compared with 56.5 percent at companies with more than 1,000 employees.

By industry, employees at private electric power and gas companies took the most of their holiday time, at 80 percent, while retailers took just 37 percent of their paid holidays.

The government's effort to encourage people to take more time off in part is due to its concern about Japan's widespread image as a workaholic nation. But more importantly, perhaps, it also aims at bolstering consumption, one of the economy's weakest points now, as people spend more when on vacation.

Over the past decade, the government created a few more public holidays, shortened mandatory weekly work hours and, this year, introduced a "happy Monday" system to make a couple of three-day holidays.

The government's measures "are making a contribution," said Labor Ministry official Takahiro Ohara. "Working hours are shorter now," he said.

In an increasing number of workplaces it is also now mandatory for workers to take a full week of paid holidays and then there's the 15 national holidays.