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Originally Posted by Kyousuke
but most deaths are from being overworked which is where the word "Karoshi" comes from. the article i read from said that family members had to pick up their parents or siblings from work so they dont hurt themselves. thats probably why the population in japan is small because people work more that they make kids.
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Karoshi is not that common - there have only been a handful of documented cases. Although I`m sure that working long hours isn`t good for someone`s health.
I have yet to hear of people picking family members up from work so that they wouldn`t hurt themselves. If things were at that level, the company would make them take time off.
Overtime is a problem, yes, but it`s really not as bad as the western media likes to make it out to be. I know more people who work longer hours in the US than I do in Japan. But for some reason it`s "different" in the media`s eyes.
There are mandatory annual health checks, and a mandatory health check if you go over a certain number of hours of work in a month (including counseling, etc).
From what I`ve seen in my 10 years of living here, suicides are linked much more strongly to debt than any work related stress. Having a suicide or work related death linked to a company is a HUGE stigma, so there is a lot of effort to avoid it happening.