Efficiency

That's part of the stereotype about Japan. For big, global companies like Toyota, it is no doubt true. But the local businesses one deals with day-to-day are not necessarily so efficient.

For the last 3 weeks our 2 story, 4 unit apartment building has been being painted. Well, the trim has. The building is concrete and steel with fake brick siding. I figure that my brothers an I could do it in about 4 days if we were a bit lazy. But these guys are pros at drawing things out. (I saw the same thing when I worked for a small Japanese company in Toyama City years ago. 2 hours of work in 8.)

When we lived in Kajigaya Kawasaki a few years ago, our building was cleaned and painted. Took over a month. We has a walkway on our floor about 15 meters long and about 2 meters wide. It took the punk kid 5 days to complete it. Most of the time I saw him, he was simply loafing.