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Episode details

World Service,29 May 2017,17 mins

Worked to Death in Japan

Business Daily

Available for over a year

Edwin Lane reports from Japan, which has some of the longest working hours in the world, and a worrying trend of young people working themselves to death. He meets Michiyo Nishigaki, the mother of one victim of karoshi - the Japanese term used to describe death from overwork - and asks why the government isn't doing more to curb the overtime culture in many Japanese companies. Makoto Iwahashi from the campaign group Posse explains the pressures facing young workers. Local government official Hitoshi Ueno discusses how managers can encourage people to go home on time, and Koji Morioka, a karoshi researcher, tells us why the government isn't doing enough. (Photo: Michiyo Nishigaki, mother of a karoshi victim, Credit: BBC)

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