I can see that. Albeit I'd argue the same of US-based big tech. I had some coworkers go work for Google and Facebook in particular and hated it. Everything was all happy and great on the surface but they put game rooms and sleeping things at their offices because they basically expect you to live there. I sort of quit the corporate ladder climb myself when I realized once you get to a certain point you are selling your life to them. Climb high enough and there's no option other than to work yourself to death for any of them.

I used to buy equipment from a Japanese based manufacturing company. A lot of their employees would talk about the differences. In a lot of ways it seemed to very much hinge on how the employee approached it. Definitely not a job for everyone and totally incompatible with what management seminars will tell you about Millenial workers, which is probably part of it. I know their factory was super strict, you were not to be late ever, lunch and breaks were scheduled to the minute. I'm not sure I'd have minded it myself but I adapt to structured environment pretty well if the ground rules are clear. Being a customer to them was exceptional. Albeit, they lost a lot of future business because they were too honest. Big corporate executives want to be sold the world with lies, and while at my level you know they are full of shit, the company that tells the truth and delivers on it loses out.

Granted, all of this is based on my own experience in what I'd essentially call the old school US tech industry. I also don't do sales and marketing, I know those people are kinda crazy at least looking from the outside.