Suffer your Sickness

Something that I have found to be both true in Korea and Japan so far is that they will go to work even when they are dying. Or I can"t possibly think of another name to call it by from what I have seen of their symptoms.
So even though they are hacking and coughing every few minutes and sniffing (because blowing your nose makes you unpopular) every time they breathe, they deem themselves as work ready and suitable to interact with the exterior world. Do they hate man kind that much so as they want to infect every last one of them with what is clearly the plague? Possibly. Do they love their work that much that they find themselves drawn to it even from their deathbeds? Not really. But they find themselves in a position where they do not want to be weak when it is known that certain things are expected of them. They feel like they are the gears in the clockwork that keep the hands turning and you must not allow time to stop. Also they are afraid of being a disappointment.
So where does that lead us?
To several factors actually. For instance, doctors offices. No they don't really go to them. It seems that doctors offices are for the elderly an children and for struggling gaijins like myself. But then again you would never know. Because of the mentality of the typical Japanese white collar worker, doctors offices don't really receive much patronage during what we would consider normal hours of operation. So instead they have  adjusted their hours to accommodate night patrons who are too busy at work to go to the doctor during a sensible hour. Doctors office are normally open in the morning and will close around midday, let's say from noon to four, and will then again re-open from five to eight. So even a doctor visit is not even a good enough excuse to miss work for most Japanese workers.
So what do they do?
They suffer. And try to infect as many people as they possibly can. They continue to go to work and don on a little face mask to designate them among the ranks of the infested and continue to cough and hack and sniff much to the paranoia of their coworkers who could also risk infection. It seems it does not matter how bad the illness, they are always prepared to go to work. I even know some teachers who went to work when they had the flu. I stayed far away from them that day. As a result of their suffering they kind of expect you to suffer as well and think of you are near deaths door if you request a day off or a part day off or well anything. So get your facemask ready kids, to work you go!