Americans love to telecommute. 34 percent of Americans work at least 4 days a week from home. Only 4 percent of Japanese work from home at least one day per week. The Japanese government wants this to change. Why? Two big reasons: To increase productivity and to prepare for the influx of visitors for the 2020 summer Olympics.
The reasons behind the government’s push for telecommuting are also gaining urgency. Japan has long had a productivity problem–its workers spend among the most hours in the office in the world but are not particularly productive(paywall). Its workforce is also shrinking. But the recent death of an employee at Japan’s largest advertising company allegedly due to overwork, and a grave childcare crisis, are putting more pressure on Abe’s government to address corporate Japan’s problems.
To keep reading, click here: In Japan, Working From Home Is a Government Supported Activity
From what I can gather from the NYT article linked to from the article you linked to, 34% of Americans *who telecomute* work from home at least 4 days a week, not 34% of *all* (working) Americans. (FWIW, I’m not willing to give my info to get access to the actual Gallup study to confirm their question wording and sample.)