Suicide at Japan's top ad agency puts
overtime on the reform agenda
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[November 04, 2016]
By Stanley White and Teppei Kasai
TOKYO (Reuters) - In April last year,
Matsuri Takahashi, a promising graduate of Japan's top university,
landed a job at Dentsu, one of the country’s most prestigious
advertising agencies, renowned for its hard-driving work culture. Nine
months later, she jumped to her death, leaving behind a trail of public
grievances on social media about her relentless working hours and boss's
verbal abuse.
Japan's labor ministry last month ruled the 24-year-old's death
"karoshi", literally "death by overwork" and raided her employer, Dentsu
Inc, to see if overwork abuses were pervasive in the company.
For many Japanese, Takahashi's death is the tragic consequence of
Article 36 of Japan's labor code, which leaves overtime pay and limits
to the discretion of employers and typically benign unions.
That loophole could be challenged as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe embarks
on a wide-reaching campaign to reform Japan's employment laws, which
could include stiffer overtime regulation for companies.
"The law does not prevent companies from working employees beyond
reasonable limits," said Emiko Teranishi, head of the Families Dealing
with Karoshi, a support group. "The unions are also responsible because
they accept these conditions."
Such groups say companies often intimidate employees, especially new
hires, into working excessive hours to prove their worth.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Nov/04/images/ads/current/cca_laptop-sda021709.png)
Japan's first white paper on karoshi released last month showed 22.7
percent of 1,743 companies surveyed had employees who in the past year
worked more than 80 hours of overtime in a month, the government's
threshold for karoshi.
Takahashi clocked 105 hours of overtime in October 2015 and fell into
depression the following month, a summary provided by her family's
lawyer citing the government report showed.
Japan officially recognizes two types of karoshi: death from
cardiovascular illness linked to overwork, and suicide following
work-related mental stress.
In the fiscal year ended March 2015, there were 93 suicides and
attempted suicides from overwork, down from 99 the previous fiscal year.
The number of deaths from cardiovascular illness linked to overwork fell
to 96 from 121.
Labour Minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki last week told reporters that he wants
to strengthen monitoring of companies' overtime practices and that his
ministry would decide a punishment for Dentsu based on the results of
its investigation.
According to one person with knowledge of the agenda for Abe's panel, a
new law placing legal limits on overtime hours could be considered.
This would mean revising Article 36 to cap overtime to anywhere from 45
to 80 hours a month, said the person, who declined to be named because
the plans are not final.
Article 36 and other issues will be examined by Abe's panel on labor
reform, which is expected to issue a plan next March.
A HARD SLOG
Labour groups and business lobby representatives involved in Abe's panel
are likely to discuss whether the law will exempt certain industries
from those limits.
In Japan's strongly pro-employer economy, changes to overtime
regulation, if they come, are unlikely to sail through unchallenged.
Hard work and sacrifice have long been synonymous with Japan, one of
Asia's earliest tiger economies, and strong social expectations make it
difficult for employees and unions to aggressively push for reforms.
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![](../images/110416pics/news_t39.jpg)
A female job seeker takes part in a job hunting counseling session
with advisers during a job fair held for fresh graduates in Tokyo,
Japan, March 20, 2016. REUTERS/Yuya Shino/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Nov/04/images/ads/current/mks_lda_SAVEDATE_2016.png)
Workers often feel a debt of gratitude for being hired, and are
reluctant to quit even if conditions are bad. Others feel they have
to work longer hours than their colleagues to get promoted.
In recent years, the government has revised labor laws to encourage
shorter working hours, but critics say these steps relied too much
on self-regulation.
"Many companies expect young employees to work long hours to learn
new skills," said Yasuko Oshima, a senior economist at Mizuho
Research Institute who specializes in labor policy.
"Companies have been cutting labor costs since the 1990s, which
increases each individual's work burden."
REASONS FOR LIVING
Takahashi's case is not the first time Dentsu has been called to
account for its overtime practices.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that the agency was responsible for
the suicide of an employee in 1991 because excessive work hours
pushed him into depression.
In an e-mail to employees on Oct. 17, Dentsu's CEO Tadashi Ishii
said the company could face criminal prosecution as a result of
Takahashi's death. He also said the company would lower monthly
overtime limits to 65 hours from 70 hours a month, according to a
copy of the email obtained by Reuters.
Dentsu told Reuters it is cooperating with authorities and declined
to comment further.
The lawyer for Takahashi's family declined to comment on whether
they will sue Dentsu. The family refused interview requests.
For now, Takahashi's death has pushed the thorny issues of karoshi
and workplace harassment into the spotlight as policymakers look to
address other challenges around labor.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Nov/04/images/ads/current/christian_village_sda_031616.png)
Several months into her new job, Takahashi, a graduate of Tokyo
University whose first name Matsuri means "festival", started
complaining on Twitter about her male boss insulting her appearance,
sleeping only two or three hours a day and regularly working
weekends.
"When you spend 20 hours a day at the office you no longer
understand what you're living for and can't help but laugh," she
tweeted on Dec. 18.
On Christmas Day, she jumped off a company dormitory.
"My daughter is never coming back," Takahashi's mother said last
month, domestic media reported. "No job is more important than your
life. I strongly hope that karoshi doesn't happen again."
(Additional reporting by Izumi Nakagawa; Editing by Malcolm Foster
and Sam Holmes)
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