There is a lot of media attention given to the issue of overwork in Japan, but how bad is the problem in other countries, to the best of your knowledge?

Am sure its bad in other countries too, especially sweat shop style factories and labourer's in poor countries due to a lack of education and knowledge of the law and personal rights. Japan does servitude differently though, and there is that special cultural tendency to accept abuse , power harassment and  unscrupulous bosses like its their lot in life.

overwhat?

Go to Otemachi at 8 or 9 p.m. during the week and look up at the office buildings. You'll see the lights all one, with peons still sitting at their desks, having been there since 7 or 8 in the morning. The trains in central Tokyo are most crowded with be-suited individuals from 7 to 8 a.m., and then at around 8 p.m. I've never seen anything like this in the West.

Never experienced or witnessed anything close to it in Australia.

People know that work is important, but life outside of work is equally or more important. Family, friends and interests matter.

Even when living and working in London a few years back, for a seriously major powerhouse of a city, I can't recall institutionalized "work-a-thons" being the norm.

It probably happens somewhere, but I doubt as an ingrained social phenomena encompassing a whole country.

Never experienced or witnessed anything close to it in Australia

Seriously? And there was me, convinced that the Aussies were all career-fiends, desperate to put in the extra hours, while eschewing the amber liquid, the barbie and the footie.

I'm shocked and disenchanted.

Nope, never com across anything like it in the UK. Agree with browny1, in all the places I have worked from small firms to huge institutions, work was limited to the workplace and broadly to contracted hours. Where more was necessary then either extra payment or time off in lieu was given and expected to be taken. Have worked very long hours when rarely it was necessary but on the whole I always found it was more effective and productive to "work smart" than to "work hard".

Are you kidding? When I worked in the US the managers were kicking us out if we worked past quitting time. Why? They wanted to cut down on overtime pay.

Because in the US overtime and overtime pay are regulated and carefully watched by the government. The Moron in charge will probably change this “to be more like Japan.”

On the other hand, private entreprenuers and/or people like doctors and lawyers who have their own practice and jobs tend to work longer; 80 hours a week. Spread out over seven days, not crammed into five.

In the UK there will be pockets that might be comparable - certain areas of investment banking (corporate finance) and some high flying law areas, but mainly when there is a big deal on. Not as part of the everyday. There are very few workers who would spend more than 10 hours a day in the office and the majority far less. But I understand that in other Asian countries, long hours and face time are pretty common, from Singapore to South Korea.

If you are born to what is basically a 9 to 5 work culture, thank your lucky stars.

There is no doubt that overwork is a problem in most of the world, but where else is death from overwork a national problem?