Honestly? Both are right in their own aspects, when you live in a society where jobs do actually matter and you either work and eat, or beg and die, you really can't complain, it's the same when people making decent money actually feel better when doing physical labour and earning less. In his case tho, corporate jobs in japan are absolute trash, it's not only the shite pay and overwork but also a ton of hierarchy bureaucracies that they have to deal with, from having to use a whole specific vocabulary, not having any of your work accomplishments credited to you, no leaves, not even being able to sometimes shedule your vacation in advance because others have to do it first. A lot of people from other countries that work with japanese salarymen actually report them as slower than the average worker because most of them never ask for help, communicate or take a rest. So no, you absolutely do not matter in japanese corporate, you either are a higher up or you're a workhorse expected to always do 110% then some more.