Covid-19 pandemic has led to Japan's quiet work-from-home revolution

Kazuki and his wife Shizuka playing piano and violin in their house in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture. The couple left their cramped Tokyo apartment for a custom-built house near the sea. - AFP

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

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