Thirty years ago when Keio University sociologist Junko Kitanaka first started to study Japan’s culture of working oneself to death, it was considered a novelty overseas.
In the 1990s, stories of mostly middle-aged businessmen working so many hours that they would drop dead from a bodily failure, or opt to end their lives rather than return to the office, were received outside Japan as a peculiar cultural phenomenon.
When Kitanaka presented to academic audiences in Europe and North America, she says they did not understand the mentality of people who wouldn’t go see a psychiatrist and who were driven to die for work.
A few decades later, the idea isn’t so alien. The pandemic has triggered widespread concerns about the physical and psychological toll of prolonged stress, sleep deprivation and social isolation. A landmark study by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Labour Organisation published earlier this month found that 745,000 people died in 2016 from stroke and ischemic heart disease as a direct result of having worked at least 55 hours a week.
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/karoshi-japan-overwork-culture
Japanilaiset ovat niin kovia työntekijöitä, että kuolevat siihen. Onko Karoshi järkevää vai ei? Sinällään jos kyettäisiin organisoimaan työskentely tasaisemmin niin kenenkään ei välttämättä tarvitsisi työskennnellä niin paljon. Tälläinen koordinaatio lienee kuitenkin vaikeaa ellei mahdotonta.
