Comments on: Karoshi Strikes Again in Japan http://www.8asians.com/2008/07/09/karoshi-strikes-again-in-japan/ Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:53:47 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: mt23 http://www.8asians.com/2008/07/09/karoshi-strikes-again-in-japan/comment-page-1/#comment-124808 mt23 Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:45:34 +0000 http://www.8asians.com/?p=1471#comment-124808 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.<br><br>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!<br><br>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. 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.

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