Karoshi

Demonstrating commitment to work is highly valued in Japan – but at what cost?

In Japan the overtime culture can be so extreme that there’s a special word for working yourself to death: ‘karoshi’. It’s the product of an entrenched view that employees should demonstrate commitment through long hours at their desks and at after-hours work socialising.

There have been several high-profile cases, like the 31-year-old reporter at public broadcaster NHK, who died of heart failure, her mobile phone in hand, after a month of 159 overtime hours and just two days off. Legislation limiting overtime came into force in April, but critics say loopholes mean some workers remain open to exploitation, and work culture may not change.

More Japanese are voting with their feet, however: in a nation where leaving corporate jobs in particular has been comparatively rare, the number of job-hoppers hit a seven-year high in 2017. There’s also a national conversation taking place about the rock-bottom birth rate and how gruelling hours for both men and women factor into it. Neighbouring South Korea is trying to tackle similar issues too, while in China there’s growing controversy about the ‘996’ culture – working from nine in the morning to nine in the evening, six days a week – common in the tech sector. Expect the overtime debate to keep slogging alongside its beleaguered workers.

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Image credit: Piero Zagami and Michela Nicchiotti.