Posted far from home for his job at Japanese conglomerate Hitachi Ltd, father of two Tsutomu Kojima was “really lonely” until he began working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic for the first time.
COVID-19 has upended office routines worldwide, but in Japan where punishing hours and reliance on paper files, ink stamps and fax machines has long been the norm some say the shake-up was sorely needed.
Before the pandemic, just 9 percent of the Japanese workforce had ever teleworked, compared with 32 percent in the US and 22 percent in Germany, Tokyo-based consultancy firm Nomura Research Institute Ltd said.
However,