Introduction

In this respect, a number of features which characterize Japan in the past few decades seem especially relevant. The post-war period has been one marked by the growth of leisure and leisure activities in all of the advanced industrial societies (Kumar, 1978:284ff.). Despite the widespread stereotype of Japan as a work-a-holic nation, these trends are evident in the country as well. Indeed, although the Japanese on the average still work more than Americans or Europeans, since the mid-1960s Japan has shown the steepest decline in hours worked (Economic Planning Agency, 1972:82-3; Cole, 1979:230). While there is as yet no full two-day weekend, the general pattern has been towards the establishment of regular and fixed periods for time off (Yamazaki, 1984:12). The trend towards this regimen is most clearly typified by the six-day work week of the salaried employee and the emergence of Sunday as the day of rest. Indeed, so pervasive is this pattern that one commentator has been led to quip of Japan as the land of the rising Sun-day (Plath, 1969:107).