I think in that culture money follows social appreciation, not value. And that is connected to obedience and ritual. It’s as if his work in those decades was service as it should be, then he committed a sacrilege.

And he’s low in hierarchy. Asians love hierarchies.

I don’t know. Maybe that work ethic is wrong, in most manga\anime I’ve seen characters struggle against it, and then maybe deliver through pure genius outside it, only to be appreciated as “barely did it”.

But they have a point too about erosion. I see it everywhere.