Japanese Culture- Work Hours- February 26th

Before I start off I just want to clarify that I have no grounds to really complain about this piece of Japanese culture because I have not experienced the grunt of it and have only had a taste. With that said, one really odd thing about work life in Japan is that the amount of work hours trumps the amount of work being done in any work environment. This is really strange, so I had to ask a few Japanese people about it. The few that I have talked to have expressed lack in vacation time, overtime work with no pay, and wasting time at the work place just simply because they had to be there. I have to say that I don't really agree with this culture because I think the American way of praising fantastic results rather than the time spent encourages people to work more effectively and efficeintly. I'm not saying that Japanese people don't because we all know that they do, but if I were in their shoes I think I would be more prone to laziness because despite finishing loads of work I would still have to come in to work even if I'm just going go be sitting there twiddling my thumbs lol.