Japan’s toxic culture of working long hours
The most attractive startups today are those that offer the possibility of arriving late at work and working from home at least one day a week.
Yet in 2019, there were 29,169 suicides out of which 1,949 or 9.7 percent were cases of karoshi. The precise causes are to be found in the inability to give up a commitment even if all psycho-physiological sensors tell the body it cannot take this anymore.
This is what happened to Yui (not her real name), a 23-year-old who recently graduated from university. She found a job in Japan’s notorious broadcasting network, NHK. Her aspiration was to make documentaries on social issues.
“It was last year, April 2021. I just graduated from University and was super excited to go work for them. But it was unusual from the beginning,” she recalled.
Yui's first assignment was to cover the pregnancies of Brazilian women in Hamamatsu in the Shizuoka Prefecture, which was a couple of hours by train from Tokyo. It was a very intense job that required weeks of preparation.
“After days of hard work, I suddenly realized my body was feeling strange. I felt incredibly tired. And the tiredness wouldn’t go away. That’s when I realized I had been working for 22 days straight. I mean, not a single day off. Twelve hours a day, for 22 days, just work,” Yui said.
In 2019, a new labor law was passed in Japan setting a maximum limit on overtime work.

Japan Today - May 31
Police in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, have arrested a 36-year-old self-employed man on suspicion of abusing his girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter.

NHK - May 31
A district court in central Japan has ruled that the government's failure to recognize same-sex marriage violates the country's constitution.

NOJ - May 29
About 200 people, including "cosplayers" dressed up as characters from manga and anime, cleaned up the Dotonbori area on Saturday, Kyodo reports.

Japan Today - May 28
A man in his 50s was fatally shot in a coffee shop in Machida, Tokyo, on Friday night, in what police believe was a gang-related shooting. The shooter fled with an accomplice but later turned himself in at a police station.

Japan Today - May 28
A four-year-old boy fell to his death from the 12th floor of an apartment building in Hofu, Yamaguchi Prefecture, on Friday afternoon.

opindia.com - May 27
A video has been going viral on social media wherein a man in yellow attire can be seen vandalising a worship place.

arabnews.com - May 26
Police arrested a 31-year-old man Friday over a knife and gun attack in the city of Nakano, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, that left four people dead including two policemen.

Japanese Comedian Meshida - May 24
The Japanese pretend to be humble but they are a people who love to be praised. When a Japanese person says, "No, it is not true," it means more praise please.

NHK - May 20
Tokyo police say the parents of popular kabuki actor Ichikawa Ennosuke may have died of psychotropic poisoning.

NHK - May 18
Japanese police officials say two Nepalese men killed in a traffic accident in northeastern Japan on Tuesday may have been trying to help their bus driver fix the vehicle's engine.

soranews24.com - May 18
On 11 May Hyogo Prefectural Police in Kobe City arrested a 22-year-old man for sending 15 threatening letters and one case containing roughly 1,500 origami cranes to his former driving school.

abc.net.au - May 17
From Japanese gangster to Ukrainian freedom fighter, Harusan is on a redemption arc. The 50-year-old moved to the eastern European country a year ago to fight against the Russian invaders.

South China Morning Post - May 17
A botched robbery of a Rolex watch store in Tokyo's glitzy Ginza district reportedly has all the hallmarks of what are known as yami baito or “dark part-time jobs” in Japan.

Japan Today - May 16
Police are searching for an angler who went missing at a lake in Hokkaido, suspecting he may have been attacked by a bear after a human head was found in the area Monday, they said.

Japan Today - May 15
Police in Tokyo have arrested a 32-year-old man on suspicion of killing a woman in her 30s at a brothel where she worked.

TAKASHii from Japan - May 15
Interviewing sexual minority people at Tokyo Rainbow Parade 2023.