[GoNative]

There has been a working culture in Japan that equates hard work with the amount of hours from your life you sacrifice to the company. It does continue today but from what I can tell is not as bad as it once was.
This doesn't actually mean that the Japanese are good or efficient at their jobs. In fact I'd argue that in many cases those working the longest hours are often the most ineficient at what they do.
I don't think that Tokyo or Osaka are really right up there as the most expensive cities to live in anymore. And frankly I think most of those sorts of comparisons use indicators from an American sort of lifestyle. If you want to live a lifestyle exactly like you would in the west then it can be pretty expensive but live a lifestyle like the Japanese and Japan is really not that expensive at all. Up here is Hokkaido it is incredibly cheap to live. Far, far cheaper than living in my home country Australia.