My experience is that PHP folks leave the commit messages blank. It's a lovely practice really as it makes source control essentially worthless.

This is the opposite of what I encountered after moving to Japan. Japanese people work way longer, and have less paid vacation. This is slightly counter balanced by more public holidays but my experience is that people take vacation less. In the states' employees where I worked had at least 3 weeks vacation per year and many had as much as 6. People regularly took 1,2 and sometimes 3 week vacations; something that is practically unheard of in Japan. My parents' vacation rolls over so they have practically unlimited vacation and take it whenever it pleases them. Another thing that pretty much doesn't exist in Japan.