Is it normal for site offices to be that organized, or is that just a Japan thing?

Worked alongside a Japanese firm for about eight months on a commercial fit-out, and it's genuinely both. There are actual rules over there. Morning cleanup time is built into the schedule, not squeezed in when someone gets around to it. Every crew does a sweep of their zone before they start cutting loose for the day, and the GC walks the site with a checklist. The site office has legal requirements around documentation too, so the filing isn't just for show. They also use a system similar to what people call 5S here, where every tool has a marked home and you're expected to return it before moving to the next task. So the tidiness you saw is enforced, not optional. But here's the part your super is missing. The enforcement works because nobody on those crews treats it as an insult. A apprentice over there gets corrected for leaving a screwdriver out the same way he'd get corrected for a bad measurement. It's just part of doing the job right. Over here the same correction turns into a whole conversation about respect and micromanagement, so foremen stop bothering.

The van thing, though, I'd push back on a little. I spent one summer with a lead whose van was a disaster and his work was sloppy too. Then I worked with another guy whose van was tight, everythign in labeled bins, and he was still the fastest hand on the crew because he never spent five minutes hunting for anything. The messy van means fast worker line is mostly cope. What actually matters is whether you can find what you need in under ten seconds. If you want to test it without a culture war on your crew, start small. One tool return station, one end-of-day ten minute reset, lead by doing it yourself. That's about all that sticks without buy-in from the top. Good luck getting it from a super who's already laughing about it, honestly.

I'm still skeptical about the idea that a tidy van automatically means you're the fastest worker. I think you're confusing better storage with better workflow. A guy can have every single fastener and tool in labeled bins, but if he doesn't have a system for how he approaches the actual build, he's still going to waste time. The van setup is just part of the puzzle. I've seen guys with perfect trucks who are slow because they don't even know the best way to line up the cuts on the framing.

I totally agree with the skepticism about tidy van equals fast worker. Workflow is definitly more critical than just having organized storage. I once worked with a lead who kept his van perfectly clean and everything labeled, but he was slow because he never pre-staged materials. No matter how neat the van was, his entire process for moving supplies to the actual job site was backwards and inefficient.

Update: took the point about storage vs workflow to heart and tried a mini version of that morning sweep on our site. Ten minutes before start, everyone hits their own zone. Day three and the guys aren't even complaining much. Also dumped the old caulk tubes out of the van. Not saying we're turning into that Japanese firm, but my lead's excuse is looking weaker by the day.