I agree here. Never found Japan miserable at all. People are usually pretty friendly. They can be aloof w strangers in the cites, but thats all cities.
Being a salary man is probably miserable a lot of the time and I can see people feeling miserable there but thats not our world.
I found it amazing and fun to live there.
I think everyone’s experience is different nowdays. Lots of “new” companies and with it comes different standards and workforce, and more non Japanese companies coming in (like the OP’s job interview). All this results more international workforce, and a change in thinking. Less people are into lifetime jobs and less “loyal” to the company but still work hard 8 hours a day (not 12). In Fukuoka where I am a lot, rush hour tends to be 5-7pm. In our Taipei and Kaoshiung office buildings sometimes I go back in after dinner to make calls to the EU, still 25% (estimate) people working from the cars in the carpark. All this just my observation and feeling, but this shows some data (but doubtful Japan is THAT low https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=ANHRS
I know Shinagawa area in Tokyo quite well , that sure is salary man central and actually I think Microsoft is there aswell. Peak hour skews fairly late in general is my feeling (probably more like 6-8pm and still plenty later too especially after socialising ) and the black and white suited salaryman and woman is still very much a thing. And the pachinko parlours give me the heebie jeebies. And the smoking in the salary man bars…,
I honestly prefer Taipei nightlife overall actually , mainly because of the smoking in Tokyo I guess.
Also true that some Taipei office workers still work late but I feel it’s really a lot less than years gone by.
Oh yeah this guys videos are great ! He did one on the commute in Manila aswell…Watch it.
Back in the day in Yokohama once a couple friends and I naively walked into a small bar bar to have a beer. We sat down and ordered a beer and immediately 3 gorgeous women sat down next to us. What a magical place! They smiled and laughed at all our jokes and were so well read, smart, fun and smoking hot.
Feeling proud of our prowess, after an hour we got the tab for 3 beers…300 bucks!!! Wed heard Japan was expensive but …300 bucks for 3 drinks?
Fortunately the woman that ran the establishment could see we were green and made an honest mistake so she let us off the hook for a lot less because it was the first time wed seen a talking bar.
Im not a big fan of xiao jie ktvs but small talking bars like that in JP can be a lot of fun sometimes w the right people
Yeah I know a lot of people who have a great time in Japan, I just didn’t get on with it. Mostly the rules and high expectations. The people were lovely but I felt foreign there.
As a lazy, unprofessional guy with zero enthusiasm for physical appearance, a dislike of trivial rules, hates eating out and drinking, and a pretty severe problem with hierarchy and order, it just didn’t click with me 
Yeah I think it’s safe to say JP isn’t for you then lol
I work with Japanese people and spoke to Japanese people both in Japan and Taiwan and all I very much enjoyed the company of. I don’t want to come off like the problem is Japanese culture, it’s me really. but I am an outlier and it just didn’t feel right me being there heh. I’m also very content with who i am, so there we go 
Hence my point, being YMMV
Quite interesting link, thanks .
This video is nice. Makes me miss Pizza (American version), and the kids so at ease there. (Even going to cram school)
Not ESL, but 7-11, pay is quite a bit higher and job seems easier in Japan (more self service like coffee, , ect)