After many people switched to working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, Japan is seeing a change in office routines.

Posted far from home for his job at Japanese conglomerate Hitachi, Tsutomu Kojima was "really lonely" until the father of two began working remotely for the first time during the pandemic.

COVID-19 has upended office routines worldwide but in Japan, where punishing hours and reliance on paper files, ink stamps and fax machines have long been the norm, some say the shake-up was sorely needed.

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Pre-pandemic, just 9 percent of the Japanese workforce had ever teleworked, compared with 32 percent in the United States and 22 percent in Germany, according to Tokyo-based consultancy firm Nomura Research Institute.

But a quiet revolution in the country's rigid business culture is underway, with firms working to digitize operations and offer more flexibility to staff who were once expected to stay late, go drinking with the boss and accept far-flung transfers.

Kojima used to live alone in accommodation provided by Hitachi near Tokyo, an hour and a half by bullet train from his family in Nagoya, returning home only twice a month.

Now, the 44-year-old works exclusively from home and says he is more productive and closer to his teenage daughters.

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