Karoshi crisis: why are Japanese working themselves to death?
Suicide of 24-year-old working 105 hours of overtime each month highlights the crisis facing the government regarding death by overwork
In the space of eight months after landing a much coveted position at advertising giant Dentsu in April 2015, Matsuri Takahashi transformed from being a personable, diligent and well-liked young woman to a physical and mental wreck who was getting just 10 hours of sleep a week and was being bullied by her superiors.
Her social media messages reveal the despair that 24-year-old Takahashi had been feeling as the pressure built. The 105 hours of overtime she was working each month – on top of her regular eight-hour, five-day-a-week routine – left her exhausted and depressed, while the criticism of her immediate boss made her feel worthless, she wrote.
Something, inevitably, had to give.
On December 25, 2015, Takahashi jumped from the top of the company dormitory where she lived.
A little over eight months later, the Mita Labour Standards Inspection Office ruled that her death had been caused by overwork, a phenomenon known here as “karoshi”. Most worryingly, in a society where workers are expected to put their company and work colleagues above everything else, it is far from a rarity.