I come from a country with the opposite work culture, Norway. We got short days. So does much of northern Europe including Germany. What I don't like about this work hour obsession is the idea that it indicates how hard people work. You can't tell that by hours worked each day. The Greeks work the longest hours in Europe but anybody who has been to Germany and Greece would probably tell you that the Germans probably work harder.

I have a family member who worked in Thailand, which like much of asia has long work hours. But he was far less stressed there than in Norway with his short work hours. In Norway there was no time for anything but work while at work. In Thailand he had lots of time at work to take care of non-work related tasks.

Especially if you got kids in Norway, you end up getting quite stressed even if you work short hours because you don't have the opportunity to dump the whole responsibility of children onto the wife like in Japan. You have to hurry back from work to pick up kids from pre-school/school, help with school work, make dinner, get them ready for bed etc.

Comparing to American work culture which I know best having worked with a lot of Americans I think in Norway we tend to mainly work while at work and socialize after work. While in the US there is a lot more of non-work related activity at work because people spend a lot more time at work. Nothing right or wrong with that. Earlier I worked a lot American style. Spending long hours at work but also socializing more with colleagues.

My point is that I don't think people necessarily should be worshiped for how many hours they spend at work. It is what you do that matters.