A woman in Yokohama was impressed by the bravery shown by Yukimi Takahashi after the suicide of her daughter, Matsuri, was widely reported in October 2016.

Matsuri was a young employee at advertising giant Dentsu Inc., and her social media posts often showed her exhausted from long shifts.

Her suicide was recognized as an “industrial accident,” and it heightened calls for Japan to more seriously address the issue of “karoshi” (death from overwork).

Takahashi has been a key player in efforts to prevent karoshi.

The Yokohama woman and her eldest son watched Takahashi on a televised news conference in 2016 saying, “I hope death by overwork will never happen again.”

The son told his mother about Matsuri: “I knew her. She was one year my senior in the lacrosse club (at university).”

Eight years later, the mother has joined Takahashi in the drive to end karoshi. The son killed himself in 2021 in what was later called a “work-related accident.”

Despite government and corporate promises to create more healthy work environments, the number of overwork-related suicides has not decreased significantly since Matsuri’s death.

However, there have been shifts in the demographics of the overworked victims and their ailments. An increasing number of young people, including women, are now killing themselves over work-related issues.

“It just doesn’t seem right that young people can be so serious about their work and then commit suicide,” the woman said.

Her son and Matsuri had many things in common.

They both attended the prestigious University of Tokyo, where Matsuri was a trainer for the men’s lacrosse club. The son was a member of that club.

And they both landed jobs at huge companies after graduation.

In her first year with Dentsu, Matsuri worked up to 105 hours of overtime per month, and she committed suicide in the company dormitory in 2015. She was 24 years old.

The Yokohama woman’s son was hired by general contractor Shimizu Corp. He took his life in the company dormitory in 2021, when he was 29 years old.

The reason for his suicide at that time was a mystery.

“Could my son’s suicide have been caused by his work, as was Matsuri’s?” the mother thought.

Through Takahashi, the woman contacted a lawyer who was familiar with karoshi cases.

The lawyer found that the son had under-reported overtime work exceeding 100 hours per month.

The company apologized, and his death was certified as a work-related accident in 2023.

The woman said that when her son told her about his connection with Matsuri, she never imagined that she would end up in the same position as Takahashi.

GOVERNMENT OBLIGATIONS

A law for measures to prevent karoshi was enacted 10 years ago on June 20, 2014, before Matsuri’s suicide.

The law used the term karoshi for the first time, and it clearly stated that the central government is obliged to take measures to prevent deaths from overwork.

Under the law, the labor ministry established a council to promote measures to prevent such deaths. The council gives its opinion whenever the government compiles a general outline of preventive measures.

The council includes not only representatives from labor and management but also family members of karoshi victims.

Takahashi, 61, has served on the council since December 2018.

“The number of karoshi deaths is still far from zero, and the number of cases of young people suffering physical and mental damage is increasing,” Takahashi said at a council meeting held at the ministry on June 4.

She has given many lectures at schools and other places across the country. She often tells audiences, “A company can replace you, but there is no substitute for your life.”

Takahashi said enhancing and strengthening education for young people is particularly important because of changes in the characteristics of overwork and other problems.

CHANGES IN KAROSHI

Karoshi came under the spotlight in the late 1980s, at the height of the asset-inflated “bubble” economy. Workers then were expected to toil for the good of their companies and the country.

But many middle-aged and older man suffered from brain and heart diseases because of the long hours they put in.

Nowadays, relatively healthy young people and women are increasingly suffering mental disorders caused by overwork.

Brain and heart diseases have been on a downward trend among cases of workers’ compensation.

In fiscal 2022, 194 people suffered from work-related brain and heart diseases, and 54 of them died.

Ninety percent of these workers were over 40 years old, and more than 90 percent were male.

On the other hand, the number of workers’ compensation cases involving mental disorders has been steadily increasing.

These cases now outnumber those in the category for brain and heart diseases.

In fiscal 2022, there were 710 cases of work-related mental disorders, including 67 that led to suicides or attempted suicides.

Half of these cases involved people in their 20s and 30s, and 45 percent were female.

Takashi Amagasa, a psychiatrist who has conducted evaluations in karoshi cases, said long working hours continue to be a problem.

But more recently, the manifestation of various types of workplace abuse, including power harassment, sexual harassment and most recently customer harassment, has been a contributing factor.

“Workplaces are filled with problems that increase harassment, such as labor shortages and management difficulties,” Amagasa said.

PAINFUL POSTS

Takahashi has kept Matsuri’s Twitter (now X) account open to the public, including the posts she tweeted just before her death.

Matsuri posted a message at 4:01 a.m., saying, “I’m at work 20 hours a day or so, and I no longer know what I’m living for, and it makes me laugh.”

At 5:39 a.m., Matsuri posted, “I’m going home now.” The message included a painful crying face emoji.

Takahashi said she hopes that many people will realize that karoshi “is not someone else’s problem” and that they will spread the message: “Let’s not let this happen.”

(This article was written by Takashi Narazaki, Keiichi Kitagawa and senior staff writer Takehiko Sawaji.)