This article is phrased as if the entire Japanese culture is based on a disproportionate work-life balance to the extreme.
This is quite evident in how we treat the disabled when they are judged unable to work; serious disability in the US with no work history? Try living on the maximum $674 per month SSI payment(1), with no guaranteed section 8 housing (wait list is closed in many states for years at a time), and let's see how good of a life you can live, with no family support, trust funds, or anything like that.
That's not even taking into account the countless perennial homeless people that we let languish on the streets, because we'd never pay to have them accurately diagnosed, or directly allocate any funds so that they aren't living a life of abject poverty, filth, and neglect.
But of course suicide is still illegal for everyone, disability or not, abject poverty or not, likelihood of improved quality of life or not. We pay lip service to being a moral, caring society, saying you shouldn't ever kill yourself because there are other options, but then again we'd never break out our checkbook or trouble ourselves to ensure those options actually exist. Such societal realities would look despicable if they weren't so peachy by comparison to much much worse atrocities humans have committed throughout history.
There are a few standouts in Western Europe and elsewhere, where it seems people actually take issue with poverty, neglect, and misery, but that is far from common worldwide, where indifference and schadenfreude are the norm.
Sorry for the rant.
Edit: forgot the citation
(1) http://www.disabilitybenefitscenter.org/disability_benefits....
That kind of environment can spin out cases like hikikomori. You can see similar trends in the U.S. with respect to startups and overworking, to a smaller scale, usually in the form of "going off the grid."
Our hunting-gathering days are over. We used to chop down wood for the fire; now, we go to work, and push a button on the wall to stay warm.
To work is to live in modern society.
For example, I am a computer programmer, mid 30s, I have a wife and child and I work 20 hours a week, 25 absolute max. I've been working reduced hours for almost three years. I also work remotely so we spend most of our time in places like Thailand and Malaysia (warm, good food, low cost of living) although we will shortly be heading over to spend a few months in Europe.
And we are not the only ones. Most of our social circle is composed of similar people. If you go places like Chiang Mai in Thailand it is crawling with westerners carving out an existence that involves a high quality of life and personal control over how much and when they perform income generating activities.
Unfortunately if you are in the 9-5 routine yourself you will never meet any of us.
Another significant things about east-asian work ethics especially Japanese, is that the rank system is still in place when it comes to corporate structures. For the typical Japanese, that means in order to be a "good" employee, you need to show up to work before your boss arrives and leave after he leaves, even if you have nothing to work on. Furthermore, after-work drinking parties with the boss are considered slightly below mandatory, you can decline the invitation but your boss will get the impression that if you do, you aren't a "good employee".
Finally death from overwork here is real. The general strategy here is if you're failing, you aren't working long enough hours. That's different from the west because if you combine that with the notion that you are more of a servant than a creator or contributor, then you suddenly end up with zombies instead of employees doing meaningful, creative work. More work general works if feedback and criticism is accepted on all levels, here that isn't the case.
The nail in the coffin is this is pretty much accepted by everyone thus if you don't accept it, you are seen as the "weird" one. Individuality is often not a good thing here. That means your Japanese wife tending to the children at home will become incredibly disappointed with you if you don't "succeed" in this system. There is an expectation that you'll more or less be the cash cow for the family otherwise you're useless.
Well, billions of people still chop down wood for the fire. Including tons of people in the west -- in villages in eastern europe for example.
Um...