Japan is not the US, Japan is a very small country that is basically overpopulated. Not just because it is a small country, but because most of Japan is highly mountainous and building space is just in the valleys.
That makes life extremely artificial there. Engineers are overworked and it is normal for them to live in the city isolated from their wife and children, in an apartment that your employer puts for you and that you just can't get on your own, something similar to health insurance in the US.
The pressure is so high on just one person to sustain the family in a life that is just work and work, and social relationship with work colleagues usually imply drinking a lot, that is extremely easy to burnout.
Burnout means when they try to work harder to sustain their families, they get less productivity, no more. And they risk the total collapse into anxiety crisis, depression or suicide.
It looks what this man is doing is releasing pressure, and productivity increases. Japanese teams are incredible. In Japan they raise you always thinking on the team, not the individual, like in the US, and when it works, it works really well.
The US, or even Europe has nothing to do with Japan environment. The freedom you have in the US is orders of magnitude higher. You don't like an employer, you just change jobs, without social stigma. Engineers could become millionaires. You can work not only in the US, but anywhere in the world speaking English for an American company, the Education system supports you instead of punishing you like in Japan. Taxes are small and population and economy grows instead of population shrinking and getting older and economy stagnating like in Japan.