Japan, one of the world's hardest-working nations, launched a campaign dubbed ''Premium Friday," in which the government is urging companies to let employees leave at 3:00 pm on the last Friday of every month. Photo: Miho Inada/The Wall Street JournalTOKYO—Friday was a strange day for the head of Japan’s most important business group. Sadayuki Sakakibara, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, left the office at two in the afternoon, donned a plum-colored sport jacket and headed out to a department store with his wife, Emiko, in what husband and wife said was the first time in their married life they went shopping together on a weekday. By 4:30 p.m., the couple were sipping...

Source: Wall Street Journal February 24, 2017 11:11 UTC