User:Mizu12345/sandbox

I will like to talk about "Working Hours" in "Japan", paying special attention to "Corporate Governance" and "Karoshi(over work death)" through the case of Matsuri Takahashi.

The Wikipedia page, "Japanese working environment" explains overall idea of the theme but I believe the recent issues and movement in the politics haven't been reflected. The lack of information for the original Wikipedia page could be seen from the amount of sentences under "Karoshi" and "Future". Even after jumping to wikipedia "Karoshi" page, I feel the information is not updated. There were one sentence explaining Matsuri Takahashi's case in wikipedia "Dentsu" page, but I believe how this case expressed and impacted the Japanese society cannot be explained by one sentence. For these reasons, I decided to update and deepen "Japanese working environment" page, especially working hours.

Working Hours / Matsuri Takahashi's case (2016)

In 2016, the suicide of over worked young woman, questioned Japanese working condition once again. Matsuri Takahashi, then 24, committed subside in Christmas Day of 2015 after excessive overwork in Japanese major advertising agency, Dentsu Inc. It was only 8 month after she got her first full time job at Dentsu, right out of college. Her SNS posts suggested that the she was getting less than 2 hours of sleep per day before she committed suicide. Her death was acknowledged as death related to work, known as "karoshi" in Japanese, by Mita Labor Standard Inspection Office in Tokyo. According to the early reports by labor standard inspection office, Matsuri Takahashi had more than 105 hours of monthly overtime. According to the Japanese Labor Law, only 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week is allowed. If Japanese companies want to extend their emplyee's working hours, they need to conclude special treaties to get acceptance from the government to exceed working hours by Labor Standards Act No.36. Within the limitation made by the treaty, working hours could be decided among employees, employers and labor unions. However, unions in Japan usually agrees with the decisions made by the corporate.

This case was especially focused by the public and over work death was again in public attention. After hearing public reaction on this matter, labor standard inspection office had compulsory inspection to Dentsu, and revealed there was a cooperate norm to make sure its employees are recording less working time when they enter or exit the office. This case was shocking because Matsuri Takahashi was not the first young employer commited suicide in Dentsu. In 1991, young Dentsu employer killed himself in a similar circumstance. After this incident, there was order from the Supreme Court in 2000 toward Dentsu to improve working conditions. Matsuri Takahashi's case proved that Dentsu's coporate environment haven't changed since the death of its employeer in 1991. Dentsu blamed Matsuri Takahashi's case partly on a serious lack of manpower in the growing divisions, such as internet advisement. The CEO of Dentsu made an announcement to the public saying, "We should have come to grips with the situation by increasing the number of staff in those divisions". In Japan, life time employment still remains in numbers of companies and therefore, it is difficult to hire and fire people depending on the company's needs. This CEO's quote indicates Japanese social structure which is stable but have low mobility which may cause stress toward employees.

After her case, Abe Ministration pitched a conference to improve working condition in Japan. The first meeting was held in September, 2016. In addition to that, the Japanese government announced their first report about over-worked death. According to this official announcement, 23% of the major companies in Japan have possibility of having illegal over-work. The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, Yasuhisa Shiozaki, who is responsible for labor standard inspection office, emphasized the importance of strengthening these sectors. Labor standard inspection office is now suffering from lack of manpower compared to the numbers of companies they need to investigate. After facing criticism from the public, Labor Standards Act No.36 now faces the possibility of amendment, for it has proven its incompetence. Although many of the labor law are claimed to be amended, the social norm of Japan, including strong corporatism, are preventing these laws to be no more than self-imposed control and effort obligation.