well said and i completely agree. That said, the story of the hamburger maker is instructive. While it is true that many people in Japan practically lose their minds with the stress of contemplating perfection or failing to achieve perfection, this is the negative aspect of the mindset. The positive version, the version that drove that hamburger guy to success, is that anything you put your mind to doing, you should do with the intention of aiming for perfection. that may require years of practice and iterative improvement, but ANY task you decide to do is not worth doing half assed. I have seen people working in fast food serving water the best way it possibly could be done. They were not being paid extra for it, there is no tipping. It just reflects an inner pride of excellence.

That said, I think many people or even most of society misses that angle, and get cought up in the stressful negative side of perfection, leading to various horrible outcomes.