One of the most popular news stories being shared today on Yahoo! News is about a 45 year-old Japanese man who literally keeled over from too much work and stress.
The unidentified man worked for Toyota, and “in the two months up to his death, the man averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month…”
Why have I heard this story before? Maybe because karoshi, its Japanese term, has been grouped together with all the other Japanese stereotypes, from the overworked salaryman who puts his career before his family, all of which leads to his untimely demise.
But to hear it actually happen, especially with the idea that someone can work over 80 hours of overtime? Insane.
This story is prompting me to do two things: First, I’m going to forward this to my mother to leave me alone so she won’t think I’m wasting my life at my desk job and secondly, I’m going to bury this article far away from my bosses so they don’t get any useful ideas about having me stay late in the office.
What next?
Other posts you may be interested in:
Recent Comments
- ABC’s Modern Family: “I’m from Denver.”
- Jae Young: I love how when I told my coworkers that it enrages me when people ask “Where are you from?”...
- Rachel Lee: Asian Teens Behaving Badly
- Asians Behaving Badly: Japanese American Woman Sues Because Crunch Berries Aren’t Real Berries
- Jake: Nips? Flipz? How about someone take one for the team and sue those racist confectioners for products that...
- Newsflash: Some Asian Men Cheat on their Partners
- Hip Hip Hooray for MVP Hideki Matsui
- Simon Tsui: Hip hip hurry for Hideki Matsui! A lot of people question whether someone else deserved being MVP,...
1 Comment to “Karoshi Strikes Again in Japan”
mt23 wrote:
i was an engineer for four years in tokyo, and soon after i joined the company one of the japanese engineers died from 'karoshi' …some kind of heart failure. he seemed to die peacefully, though, as he slept on the commuter train home. i didn't know him well, but he was married, had little kids… and worked nights/weekends without vacation probably since he joined the company.
being a foreigner and all, i was utterly shocked that someone really could literally work himself to death. but despite not wanting to become a workaholic salaryman, i found myself averaging 85 hours a week. sometimes longer. only 40 hours of OT a month? he must have been a manager; i feel for the engineers under him!
globalization of business operations has made things even tougher, i think, since it's business hours somewhere: london, new york, tokyo… it's very, very hard to get actual work done during regular business hours with all the “urgent” interruptions, so you need out-of-business hours to get caught-up. now even that off-clock time is getting squeezed.
Posted on 10-Jul-08 at 1:45 pm | Permalink
Post a Comment