For me the better mental model is of ant societies, where some percent of the ants don’t do much while other work around the clock. People staying at their desks “for the show” are the “lazy” part, while other employees will do actual crazy hours partly compensating for the others.

More precisely, a lot of overworked people are doing part of the job of their manager who pressures them into doing it.

Also I don’t think that’s a purely japanese perspective, French people’s stereotype is laziness, yet the amount of burned out people is crazy high. And most countries will have their shares of people living a slow life, while others are overworked.