Then you probably haven’t been living there for long. There are tons of things to change, one of my biggest pet peeve being the lack of house insulation and inefficient warming options (reverse air-con, petrol burner instead of central heating). Another is having to sort recyclable material into different categories which are collected at different days (and just once a week) instead of having a dedicated common bin for them. Speaking of that, lack of trash bin in public space is very annoying too.
> How did Germany get the efficiency stereotype and Japan didn’t?
Because it’s a deeply inefficient society. Good results is achieved by throwing more humans, usually doing almost jack-shit, to problems. 10 workers cleaning the same square meter, 16 people on a task for few hours, 4 secretaries at a very small clinic, salaryman staying at work bot producing anything just to keep a good image, etc. I witnessed dozens of such examples. European countries are way more efficient in general in part because they know when to stop, and can’t afford to pay too much people being idle.
Conversely, German culture is known for it's irrational clinging to cash opposed to electronic payment, obviously Corona is making it reconsider a bit.
In Germany, there is a large line where products are manually scanned, paid for in cash, return calculated, and handed back, and before this cash had to be acquired from the a.t.m.; only slightly to the west in the Netherlands, products are chipped and all automatically scanned when passing through a gate, and paying is quickly done with a no contact card.
In comparison here in Europe many smaller shops still refuse to take cards or you used to be charged extra when paying with card.
So I'd say that's easier than your setup.
[1] Maybe don't throw out glass or metal on the weekend or during the night
Here in Czech Republic we have separate recycling nests each having one container for paper, plastic and glass. Some nests also collect old textile and electronics. And it actually takes quite a lot of space, not to mention not being the most tidy spot arround. And you still need to place your regular communal garbage bins elsewhere, taking up more space.
Japanese engineering is pretty amazing if you ask me.
If you want an example of a culture where work is broken into absurd bits, there are better examples than Japan.
As an American living in Japan, part of the reason I moved here is that I think I'd die waiting for any sizable fraction of Americans to demand more rail capacity! I'll happily choose a train full of sweaty salarymen over, say, rush hour traffic in Atlanta any day!
Rip out the trees! Rip out the bike lanes and side walks! Rip out a row of houses! MORE LANES! This really is generational, I only get it from baby boomer relatives and friends. X don't give a crap. And the younger generations say we should walk or bike everywhere. Will it last? Or will they be subsumed into this seemingly never ending Americana story line?
And then they also say, more trains. Because you can combine walking and cycling quite good with a train.
In the west, humans are becoming less employable as they're displaced by automation--https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU is a good video if you haven't seen it, and it's from before AI/ML took off! Japan seems to have mitigated it by making automation an addition, instead of a replacement, in many cases. It's certainly not the efficient, capitalist thing to do, but maybe it's the better thing to do.
So normally they might seem unnecessary yet their role might be crucial for directing the people flows during the rush hour.
Everything in Japan still mostly relies on widespread use of fax machines due to their stubborn continued usage of personal wooden seals ("Hanko stamps"). Everyone at every level of management and burocracy has his/her own personal seal which has to be stamped on paper documents, which are then either scanned or sent via fax.
This and a general stubborness on giving up certain deeply rooted but antiquated habits is one of the main reasons Japan is not famous for efficiency.
Also, it's not just Japan. Fax machines are still integral to the American medical system [1], for instance.
[1] https://www.vox.com/health-care/2017/10/30/16228054/american...
Excel.
It's used for everything.