A job to die for: Japan court rejects naming firms linked to employee overwork deaths

Japan’s Supreme Court has thrown out an appeal by a group of activists demanding that the government name companies whose employees have died from being overworked.

In March 2009, the civic group requested that the Osaka Labor Bureau name companies within its jurisdiction that paid compensation within the past seven years for employees who died from strokes, heart attacks, and other health problems determined to be related to work, The Japan Times reported.

Work until you drop, thats what they say I guess..

n Japan, karoshi – meaning “death from overwork” – claims around 200 lives annually, according to the Ministry of Labor. The first documented case of karoshi dates back to 1969, when a 29-year-old married man working in the shipping department of Japan’s largest newspaper company suddenly suffered a stroke and died.

This problem takes the lives of 200 human beings every year

And the people this doesn't kill cause extreme stresses and depression, over all mental problems.

More then half of the cases filed are between 20-29 y/o

number 1 cause a death 20-34 y/o suicides related to overwork

30,000 cases of suicide 10,000 related to overwork




18hr a day sleeping just 4. pressure from his company led to his collapse. his colleges then carried him to a meeting room, and left him there for 3 hours before taking him to the hospital.

Another man, whose death was also deemed work-related, was a 37-year-old bus driver who worked more than 3,000 hours a year and did not have a single day off in the 15 days leading up to his fatal stroke.


Since the late 1980s, karojisatsu - or “suicide caused by overwork” - has also become a serious social issue in Japan.

This is something human rights organizations need to step up on

rt.com...

They have no sympathy for the peons and neither will our elites when it comes to that here. It's a shame that more folks can't get a positive change over there, but we are watching it slowly start to occur here. We will be them before long. Every government wants people to work their fingers to the literal bone just to eat, breed, and keep the system going. Pay goes down while costs go up.... daily.

Nobody should be made to slave that way. I don't care what part of society you are from or how low your last name/lineage falls on the totem poll. Modern day slavery is what it is and for some reason it is allowed to continue.

reply to post by hknudzkknexnt


Unfortunately "work till you drop" is not limited to Japan. It is alive and well in the US as well.

Two of my friends died from the stress and extreme overwork. After working me 24/7 12-18 hours per day for months I collapsed and woke up in a complete fugue state. Obviously I did not die but had enough focus to know I would have had I'd stayed.

It cost me almost everything to leave that company but I did.

It may be rare but not all companies are into "work till you drop."

We are currently working on a large project at a major pharmaceutical co. We are going to shut down the air handlers to their production floor and have 29 days to get the new equipment tied in and running. Was planning on two 12 hour shifts 7 days a week. The Company thought we would get exhausted and wanted 3 shifts of 8 hour days 7 days a week.

We complained and said we wouldnt do it and compromised on 3 10 hour shifts 7 days a week.

Also during the summer months working up to the shut down when it got above 90 degrees inside they would come over the loud speakers and require all of us to go to the cafeteria for popsicle breaks.

Nothing like seeing 30 or so construction workers eating popsicles lol

Crazy people... No work is worth dieing for and companies should be strongly regulated on the matter, so no one would demand people working overtime and very long days.

Round here the country does a lot to stop such absurdity by companies. Maximum 4 times overwork a day with minimum of 11 hours of rest inbetween (more if longer shifts than 8, 12 hour official shift requires at least 1 day free inbetween) , with maximum of 48 hours worked a week, every extra hour is 1.5 x salary (also night-time and holidays require such salary)

Personally I have 6-hour workdays with week of paid vacation every month, so nothing to worry about. I tend to make overtime too much (8-9 hour days) although need to get rid of the habit of working late.

The decision by Japanese is seriously wrong considering that such companies should be required to come in front. At the end it is just people dieing to make profits happen, which is extremely wrong and should not be tolerated. Very inhumane decision to not let people know which companies exploit there people...

Overwork for sure can kill you. I had a co-worker who decided to work a 37 hour shift and promptly had a heart attack. He survived, as he was only in his 40s, but still.