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The right that nobody exercised
Japan's paid-leave take-up sat around 50% for two decades while the entitlement went unchanged, and the reason was never the rules. Being away is read as transferring work to colleagues, so taking leave while they do not is a small social cost paid in advance, and the equilibrium is everyone declining. The 2019 働き方改革 attacked this sideways: instead of strengthening the employee's right, it made five days a year an obligation on the employer, with penalties. Companies now assign leave if you do not take it. Take-up has risen past 60% and keeps climbing, which is a reminder that the obstacle was 慣習 and not law — and that the fix was to change whose problem it was.