It does not pay of to be a CEO in Japan.
In Japan the best in whatever field does not earn much more than the average.

The opposite is true for the US. Where a CEO earns 600 times more than the average worker in the company.
The best gets much more than the average, in every field you may choose.

This incentive of money, and recognition of all your peers is what drives the American to achieve more than he/she ought to believe he/she was capable of.
It fuels the economy, the innovation.

In African societies, working harder then the rest may be rewarded with an extra cow, but whoever has earned his extra cow, has to share every last bit of it with family, friends and everyone they know.
In this culture there is no incentive to work harder, because you don’t get more.

So how can it be that Japan missing this seemingly essential ingredient for wealth ended up being so wealthy?

My theory is, that Japanese work so hard, because they are guilty.

Japanese are raised feeling guilty of being too loud, having the wrong cloths, playing the wrong games… Their biggest fear is that others in their group may think bad of them.
Japanese owe it to everyone in the country to work as hard as they can. As their parents worked hard for them to enjoy a decent life, they owe it to them to work as hard. They owe it to their children, they owe it to everyone who is, was, may ever be alive.