By RYO SHIMURA/ Staff Writer
June 11, 2020 at 17:57 JST
The widow of a sushi chain store manager who died from overwork speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on June 10. (Ryo Shimura)
A labor standards inspection office has recognized the death from overwork of a man who spent most of his waking hours managing a restaurant of the Ganso Zushi chain in Tokyo, his family said.
The family had found the man not breathing on the morning after he returned home from work on May 7, 2019, the family said at a news conference on June 10. The cause of death was cardiac arrest.
He was 41.
The Mitaka Labor Standards Inspection Office in Tokyo’s Musashino city analyzed the man’s case and found that he had been working more than 300 hours a month at the sushi restaurants, including break times. The office ruled that he died from overwork.
The recognition will entitle the bereaved family to receive compensation for a work-related death.
The widow, however, says she also wants the sushi restaurant operator to take measures to prevent such tragedies.
“My husband said he wanted to work until retirement age so that he could send our kids to whichever schools they wanted to attend,” said the widow in her 30s. “I hope the working conditions will be improved so that people will never experience a sudden farewell with their loved ones like I have.”
Her husband joined Sakai Sogyo Co., operator of the Ganso Zushi chain in the Tokyo area, in 2014.
He became the store manager of a restaurant near JR Nakano Station in July 2016, and he was later put in charge of another outlet near JR Kichijoji Station.
He worked six days a week, managing the staff and serving customers from early morning to midnight.
The Mitaka Labor Standards Inspection Office on May 25 confirmed that he had put in more than 80 hours in overtime a month for at least six months before he died.
That total surpassed the threshold of the criteria used to recognize “karoshi,” or death from overwork.
Sakai Sogyo declined to comment on the man’s death, saying the person in charge of human resources was unavailable.
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