I’m the man in my mid-50s who works in the HR department of a major electronics manufacturer and posted a question in this anonymous Q&A box yesterday.

These days, both bosses and employees are tightly controlled, so life feels pretty stifling, doesn’t it? Back when I was a salaried employee, I sometimes slept at the office and even worked overtime while drinking. If you couldn’t do the job, your options were to hang yourself, run away, or throw in the towel. So, on the surface, things were completely different from today’s work environment, but looking back, I feel that those experiences are part of what brought us to where we are now. That said, just as bullying hasn’t disappeared, I don’t think the fundamentals have changed all that much. While you’re still a salaried employee, try not to overthink things and simply go with the flow of the big river. Once you become independent, everything changes. You find yourself caught between survival and growth, removed from the constraints of your former working environment—and it’s a fascinating world in its own way. Even when you’re abroad, don’t push yourself too hard; just do your best up to the point you can manage. Dating is basically fun, so take good care of your health. Finding someone locally is also an option, I’d say.

Everyone answering here is already fulfilled financially, emotionally, or both, so they don’t need compensation for answering something as simple as this Q&A box. My papas include owner-presidents, people who worked their way up from the bottom, people who left corporate life to become freelancers, and people who sold their companies and now live comfortably. But somehow, they’re all much more cheerful and easygoing (?!) Maybe you should take things a little less seriously. About everything. Though I suppose someone that rigid probably works in HR or something. Also, even some people who live overseas come back about once a month to see their mistress. There’s no need to “graduate” from being a papa, either. Marika

In your mid-50s and working in HR, saying that you “are sometimes instructed to underreport overtime” sounds remarkably detached. From a younger employee’s perspective, you’re also on the side giving those instructions. You call the Q&A box a good system, yet post something that isn’t even a question and goes against its purpose. You both sound as if you’re saying the right things, but aren’t your actual actions the complete opposite?

You say you understand the situation involving the woman at the advertising agency???? Stop pretending to be a hypocrite. You’re already in your 50s, aren’t you? You’re part of the group that caused the harm. The Showa era you spent your youth in was different from today. Back when there were no smartphones or computers—just calculators and rotary phones—even if you said you were busy, there was only so much work you could actually have been doing. Salespeople could leave the office and take a break at Renoir without anyone finding out. If you sent something over to a client, it took several days to come back—that was the pace of business, wasn’t it? Now everything moves faster, there’s far more information, and work follows you everywhere through LINE. The way people work has fundamentally changed, and so has the way they take breaks—or slack off. Isn’t what happened a result of imposing Showa-era methods without understanding any of that? The computer on the Apollo spacecraft had roughly the processing power of two early Famicom consoles. And in terms of processing power, the iPhone 4 had already surpassed the Cray supercomputers that were state-of-the-art at the time. That’s the era we live in now: everyone carries devices like that and exchanges and consumes information at an incredible speed. Stop writing sentimental essays about how “that’s just the way the world is” and modernize the workplace. Tear down the old customs. What people in their 50s can and must do is precisely that. If you can’t, then reject seniority-based thinking completely, step away from the front lines, and hand full authority to the younger generation. Even if it looks risky, it’ll be fine. The fact that people grow in proportion to how much cold sweat they’ve worked up is just as true in the Reiwa era as it was in the Showa era. As for you personally, I don’t think you’re capable of doing even that, so keep engaging in papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan) and, at the very least, provide financial support to young women. I don’t know which country you’re in, but places like that definitely exist, so take an active part. I once saw a study claiming that an industry like that in China provided several trillion yen in funding to rural areas and helped close the gap with urban areas (what kind of study was that, lol), so I think you could contribute to society by making an effort. Taro

This is Shirousa. Your company sounds pretty impressive, sending you overseas on assignment in your mid-fifties. Thank you for your kind words. I certainly understand what you’re saying as well, so I’ll continue answering while being mindful of everyone reading this. Since this isn’t a question, it may be hidden, but I wish you all the best going forward. And when you return, I hope you’ll enjoy your golden years at Universal Studios Japan.