"Struggle to the death" Japanese culture


I read an article and it had the word "shinimonogurui". And this is how it was
explained:

> 「死に物狂い」というのは、「生きるか死ぬかというくらいの覚悟を持って全力で物事に当たるさま」を意味している表現なのです
>
>
> 例えば、「死に物狂いで努力し続けた結果、何とか第一志望の会社に入社することができました」といった文章において、「死に物狂い」の表現を正しく使うことができます。

Is this word just "desperation" as we understand it in English or is it a
result of Japanese people being pushed by the culture to work so hard it's
like live or die?




Although that example sentence happens to be about someone's job, the phrase
itself is fundamentally irrelevant to the so-called hardworking culture.
Nothing in the article you're reading indicates such a connection, right?
"Desperate" or "frantic" is usually a safe translation. It can be used in
truly life-threatening urgent situations (like a tsunami), but it is also
broadly used in situations where someone tries something very hard.

