Japan: Highest Number of Overwork Cases Ever

Japanese regulatory agencies and media are abuzz this week after the country's Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry on Tuesday issued a report reflecting that a record 160 karoshi cases of death from overwork were recognized under the state-administered workers compensation insurance system for fiscal 2002. This is 2.8 times more than in the previous fiscal year and the highest number recorded since statistics were first collected in 1987. 43 cases of suicide and attempted suicide, caused by overwork, were recognized by the work comp system, 1.4 times more than in the previous year.There was a c...