When the clock strikes 5, Japan's workforce goes back to work

Nov 22, 2019 | News On Japan

Nov 22, 2019 (Nikkei) - The push to reduce overtime in Japan is starting to have wide-ranging effects on Japanese society, from shifting traffic patterns to boosting part-time work six months after a law was passed to improve the country's notoriously lacking work-life balance.

Total overtime by Japan's workers fell year-on-year for the 14th straight month in August, according to the Labor Ministry. A close look at mobile tracker data, provided by NTT Docomo unit Docomo InsightMarketing, sheds light on where they are spending their time outside the office.

Otemachi, a Tokyo district where many major corporations have headquarters, sees a daily exodus of nine-to-fivers. On a typical weekday this April, its daytime population minus residents fell to 55.4 by about 5 p.m. from a baseline of 100 at 11 a.m.

Nishi-Shinjuku, where the Tokyo Metropolitan Government offices are located, saw a drop to 46.1 by about 5 p.m. Both figures are lower than they were two years prior, at 56.8 and 48.6, respectively.

Encouraged to leave the office on time, workers now appear to be hitting restaurants and bars earlier than they used to. The population index at about 5 p.m. in Kabukicho, one of Tokyo's biggest entertainment districts, rose to 184.2 this April from 181.5 in April 2017.

Full of bars and restaurants, Kabukicho is a popular after-hours destination for Tokyo office workers.

This also means people are headed home earlier. Mapping app Ekispert, operated by Val Laboratory, has seen an uptick in searches for routes originating from big Tokyo stations at 5 p.m., but users have gone down after 9 p.m.

However, the push to reduce overtime has not always translated to less work. Some are now headed to hybrid bar-cafes after leaving the office, not to unwind but for some coffee while they wrap up unfinished business. One chain saw a 1% increase on the year in customers after 6 p.m. in the July-September.

Average monthly overtime fell from 46 hours in 2012 to 28 hours last year, according to OpenWork, a Tokyo-based job review platform. If overtime pay is assumed at 1,500 yen ($13.80) an hour, that would equate to a decrease of about 27,000 yen in monthly overtime pay.

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