Although his sales position at Hitachi is based in Tokyo, the 44-year-old father has worked every day from his home in Nagoya, 340 km west of the capital, since the appearance of Covid-19 in 2020. .

"The children are very happy. I have more time to help them with their homework or their lessons. The youngest told me that she wants it to continue like this," he told AFP. .

The contrast is total with his pre-pandemic situation, when he came to settle alone in the Tokyo region due to his internal transfer at Hitachi, only reuniting with his family every other weekend: "I I felt really alone."

Mr. Kojima believes his productivity has increased by avoiding commute times.

Working from home also made him realize that he didn't have to sacrifice everything for his career.

"Not giving up on the family, that's the balance," he says.

The Japanese Kazuki and Shizuka Kimura on the beach in the Fujisawa region, June 30, 2022 Philip FONG AFP

"A positive shock"

Due to strong cultural obstacles, Japan and telecommuting have long gone hand in hand.

Barely 9% of Japanese workers had already worked remotely before the pandemic, compared to 32% in the United States and 22% in Germany, according to data from the Nomura Research Institute.

Traditionally in Japan, "work must be done face-to-face, on paper" and important documents must be stamped by hand, reminds AFP Hiroshi Ono, sociologist specializing in human resources at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo.

"Before the Covid, it was more important for employees to show that they were working hard, rather than producing real results", adds this researcher.

The Japanese Kazuki and Shizuka Kimura in their house in the Fujisawa region, June 30, 2022 Philip FONG AFP

"Covid has been a positive shock for the Japanese way of working", revealing its many sources of inefficiency and shaking up the "gender division of labor", believes Mr. Ono, according to whom "this country needs a little more flexibility".

The telework usage rate in Japan peaked at 31.5% in the spring of 2020. While it then declined, it remains at levels well above those of the pre-pandemic period (20% in April 2022 ), according to quarterly surveys by the Japan Productivity Center.

A growing number of Japanese are enjoying working from home and feeling more efficient with it, according to various studies.

Exodus of Tokyoites

Seeking to remain attractive, more and more large companies in the country are showing more flexibility towards their employees, for example by allowing them to work only four days a week, by renouncing regular geographical transfers or by adopting the digital signature.

Some 350 firms moved their headquarters out of Greater Tokyo in 2021, a record, according to research firm Teikoku Databank.

The population of the capital also fell last year, a first for 26 years.

Kazuki and Shizuka Kimura, a young couple working in communication and marketing, said goodbye this spring to their cramped Tokyo apartment to settle in the pretty house they had built in Fujisawa, southwest of the capital. , near the ocean.

“It was really the Covid that decided us,” Mr. Kimura, 33, told AFP, delighted to have started learning to surf in his free time.

In Tokyo, he juggled for his online meetings between his parents' home, cafes, teleworking cabins set up in stations and even in karaoke rooms: "Sometimes we heard singing next door, so it was difficult to work".

"I think more and more people think about their happiness rather than their work," said Ms. Kimura, 29.

"But in fact, nothing can change in the blink of an eye (...), there will be debates in companies".

The Japanese Kazuki and Shizuka Kimura in front of their house in the Fujisawa region, June 30, 2022 Philip FONG AFP

Inequalities are likely to widen in Japan, in particular because small and medium-sized enterprises (excluding start-ups) are slower to adapt to new ways of working, warns Hiromi Murata, expert at the Recruit Works Institute.

Telework is also "a bit problematic" for the training and integration of new recruits, because in Japan "we learn the job on the job" in the company, she notes.

"It was so important before meeting in the office (...). Each company must find its new balance, in its own way and at its own pace".

© 2022 AFP