Labor bureau: Japanese man, 45, died of overwork

TOKYO - A Japanese labor bureau has ruled that one of Toyota's top car engineers died from working too many hours, the latest in a string of such findings in a nation where extraordinarily long hours for some employees has long been the norm.

The man who died was aged 45 and had been under severe pressure as the lead engineer in developing a hybrid version of Toyota's blockbuster Camry line, said Mikio Mizuno, the lawyer representing his wife. The man's identity is being withheld at the request of his family, who continue to live in Toyota City where the company is based.

I'm surprised this kind of news isn't reported more often in Japan. I value hard work, but they take it to a ridiculous extreme. Maybe they should make laws to prevent this kind of work-related "accident" from happening.

Story
 
Your right, I think it is a cultural thing with them.They have done quite well for themselves since the end of the war for all the obstacles they faced such as very few natural resources of their own like oil and such .It's that work ethic that was behind a lot of that I'm sure but they should try to not kill themselves as well.
 
Totally agree with gsb and friday. However, I am very unfamiliar with the concept of dying from overwork. Perhaps the Japanese should do some studies and try and determine what are the signs that something like this is imminent. If there are warning signs, then maybe some lives can be saved with properly implemented rest periods or vacation. I think the companies would go along with this too, since obviously the man is worth little to them now, and they would rather have him back doing his job. But yeah, that work ethic I suppose can be a benefit as well as a curse. Dangerously close to putting the welfare of the company ahead of it's people. Which is also done in the US certainly.
 
first off this man was an engineer.. I doubt he was working the line. dying from overwork, example: working in 99 degrees of hot humid weather landscaping, contracting whatever, without a break for like 2months straight.. thats overwork

sounds like this man killed himself of the pressure to come up with a hybrid car
sorry but you get no sympathy from.. perhaps next time give your boss the middle finger and spark up a spliff, tell your boss to shove the job up his ass :thumbsup:
 
first off this man was an engineer.. I doubt he was working the line. dying from overwork, example: working in 99 degrees of hot humid weather landscaping, contracting whatever, without a break for like 2months straight.. thats overwork

sounds like this man killed himself of the pressure to come up with a hybrid car
sorry but you get no sympathy from.. perhaps next time give your boss the middle finger and spark up a spliff, tell your boss to shove the job up his ass :thumbsup:

What you don't realize is that in Japan you have a job for the rest of your life. It's not like in the US where people decide they don't like their job after 3 months and decide to go look for something else. In Japan, a person's job is their life. They view it as a gift from God that they shouldn't question.

As for overworking, it's been scientifically proven that humans need leisure time in order to be healthy. While working in hot, humid weather does qualify as working hard, overworking means that a person has worked too many hours without balancing with a corresponding number of leisure hours. This doesn't only refer to physical work; it refers to all kinds of work, physical and mental. The effects of not taking sufficient leisure time range from fatigue to heart attack and stroke.

What happened to the guy in the article could have been avoided had he taken some leisure time here and there.
 
^^^^^^ and that is why i give you reps for calling me out :hatsoff: forgot about leisure time. bah he was a grown man.. you know when your being overworked should have given the boss :thefinger
 
Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a Chance?

Edgar Bergen, (Charlie McCarthy) US comedian & ventriloquist (1903 - 1978)
 
I have to say that the Japanese bureaucracy is very corrupted indeed.
In the past decade, they have been using the tax given by their citizens for entertainment.
Obviously they got arrested, but the damn bureau kept doing it.

Just about half a year ago, they made a wierd policy to deduct the monthly health insurance wages from the yearly aid money that the old retired people get from the government.
 

Legzman

what the fuck you lookin at?
80 hours of overtime a month? :eek:

I'm averaging about half that a month now. BUT rather than being an engineer in a climate controlled atmosphere I'm out carrying heavy fuckin furniture up and down stairs for 12-14 + hours 5 days a fuckin week.

R.I.P. me!
 

Torre82

Moderator \ Jannie
Staff member
80 hours of overtime a month? :eek:

I'm averaging about half that a month now. BUT rather than being an engineer in a climate controlled atmosphere I'm out carrying heavy fuckin furniture up and down stairs for 12-14 + hours 5 days a fuckin week.

R.I.P. me!

I am so stealing your stuff when you die. Where do you live, btw? If you have a GF I'll take care of her too. Ahem, I mean.. she'll take care of me. Yeah.
 

Violator79

Take a Hit, Spunker!
I am so stealing your stuff when you die. Where do you live, btw? If you have a GF I'll take care of her too. Ahem, I mean.. she'll take care of me. Yeah.

I think he means he's in the moving business. :dunno:
 
I grieve for the family, it's sad to lose a loved one!
 
that's one more sad story from Asia :( though 90% of Asians and over half of people, who drive much gas using cars should die to get earth in good condition. :S though the japan is "bit" different from the rest of Asia.
 
:eek:

Didn't the article say that this wasn't the first time that something like this has happened?

:eek:
 

Legzman

what the fuck you lookin at?
I think he means he's in the moving business. :dunno:

I'm just the delivery guy, FUCK being a professional mover, I've run across these guys a few times at stops. The shit they tell me makes my job not seem so bad after all!
 
I'm just the delivery guy, FUCK being a professional mover, I've run across these guys a few times at stops. The shit they tell me makes my job not seem so bad after all!

Well you may not be in the "moving business" but you certainly were "moving" me with your tale of working woes! :wave2:
 

Legzman

what the fuck you lookin at?
I doubt that
 
Unless the man has other co-morbidity, I doubt he "actually" died of overwork.

I had worked for many, many years 7 days a week, 365 days and finally gave up my work.

I knew it was a stressful job and I knew the psychological stress comes along with physical stress. But the guy was an engineer, not a general laborer. So it is a fake story to boost the work ethics of *** culture. I don't buy that !
 
Unless the man has other co-morbidity, I doubt he "actually" died of overwork.

I had worked for many, many years 7 days a week, 365 days and finally gave up my work.

I knew it was a stressful job and I knew the psychological stress comes along with physical stress. But the guy was an engineer, not a general laborer. So it is a fake story to boost the work ethics of *** culture. I don't buy that !

See post #5 on this thread.
 
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