In pursuit of the ideal working life, the Japanese salaryman has tried nearly everything, from life-threatening overtime to unswerving corporate loyalty — and even learning all ten verses of the company song by heart.

But as a thankless, recession-streaked 2009 dawns, Japan's stressed-out workers are preparing to adopt a subversive new approach to the work-life balance: fibbing, skiving and knocking off early.

After decades of conscientious servility, the drones of corporate Japan have discovered the joys of the phoney excuse.

From now on, all may not be as it seems when Mr Tanaka tells his boss: “I'm off to visit a client in Hokkaido,” or explains away a lie-in as “delayed jet-lag”.

Helping to propel white-collar Japanese through the transformation from serfs to scoundrels is a new guide, The Incumbent Salaryman's Bumper Book of Excuses, where veteran skivers discuss the lines that work for them. The two-volume handbook, which touts itself as a “guide for success in work and love”, exhorts readers to keep its 120 handy excuses “always on the tip of your tongue”.

The books enjoyed staggering pre-Christmas sales: a fact that should alert managers and wives across the country to the trickery lurking over the horizon. As the Japanese taboo on excuses slowly lifts, the quality of those that appear to work is surprisingly low. To the eye of the accomplished excuse-maker in the West, the fibs described in the books seem almost childishly transparent.

Few employees in Britain could tell their boss that the strong smell of alcohol was the result of eating too many wine gums, but many of the excuses in the Japanese handbook operate on that level of sophistication. An “identical twin” who can be blamed for embarrassing misdemeanours; freak localised weather conditions; bizarre allergies; and even outré religious observances all crop up as material.

There are equally flimsy lies suggested as solutions to getting out of tight romantic spots: Japan may be one of the few places on Earth where the line “I wasn't kissing her, I was just testing your jealousy” stands any chance of success.

There are excuses to cope with being accused of having an untidy desk (it's good feng shui), of wearing an ill-matched tie (it was a present from the client I'm about to visit) and of yawning near the boss (hay fever medicine).

Rather disturbingly, the book also includes an excuse for when large numbers of police are gathering outside the building: “Ah, that'll be for Road Safety Week” will apparently put nervous colleagues off the scent.

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