
Karōshi, death by overwork - jacquesm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kar%C5%8Dshi
======
patio11
I like the comments from the Japanese wikipedia on this:

日本語の過労死がそのまま使われるのはこれが日本特異の現象であるとの認識を示す。またKAROSHIは英語の辞書や他言語の辞書にも掲載されている。先進国であるはずの日本の封建的な労働状況を象徴する言葉として認知されるようになる。

My rough translation: The use of the Japanese word "karoshi" [in English]
suggests that this is a peculiarly Japanese afflication. It has appeared in
English and other foreign language dictionaries. "Karoshi" is an expression
representing the belief that Japan, despite being a developed country, has
feudalistic working conditions.

Incidentally, I'm inclined to believe that karoshi is overreported in Japan
and underreported elsewhere, and to the extent it is overreported here, it is
too bloody useful to criticize as yellow journalism.

~~~
jacquesm
I only found out about the term today after a reference in a dutch
publication, it is really interesting that in Japan they have actually
identified this as a direct cause to the point that they came up with a work
for it.

Makes you wonder not just how much it is over-reported in Japan but definitely
how much it is under-reported in the rest of the world (which would seem to be
the bigger problem). I'm pretty sure employers would rather not know about
this.

In the current economic climate there is a lot of pressure on the employees
remaining at companies after lay-offs to pull just that little bit harder to
make up for the workers that have left the company, it might push a few of
them past the breaking point.

~~~
jacquesm
too late to edit, bloody typos, work=word.

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fdb
I like this Dilbert quote:

“Pointy Haired Boss: In Japan employees occasionally work themselves to death.
It's called Karoshi. I don't want that to happen to anybody in my department.
The trick is to take a break as soon as you see a bright light and hear dead
relatives beckon.” -- <http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dilbert>

~~~
patio11
That would be substantially funnier if I had not been issued a pamphlet
entitled "Working Hard And Living Well, Enjoyably" last year, during a period
of several months of doing a whole lot of one and quite a bit less of the
other.

I heard "work/life balance" once on the news. It was, naturally, rendered in
English. We don't have a word for that yet, and will probably continue using
the English coinage for that, like we do most foreign concepts.

~~~
ramchip
I've heard things like 仕事と生活のバランス. But it's true that the concept sounds
rather alien. Most of my co-workers at the lab eat, socialize, sleep (I see
people sleeping at their desk regularly), etc. at the workplace, and they go
out as a group often. It's their "life". It's tough, but I'd say it's quite
different from the western image of someone _actually working_ very long
hours.

Your experience at a company may be different, of course. I haven't had the
chance to experience it, and I'm not sure I really want to ;)

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josefresco
Outside of Japan if someone dies of a stroke, they call it a _death by
stroke_. Just because the Japanese have coined a term to summarize the causes
leading to the stroke does not make it a _new_ epidemic.

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garply
"The concept of death from overwork has also been turned into a computer game,
named after the phenomenon. The player must kill themselves rather than
survive a level."

~~~
Avshalom
<http://venbrux.com/work/tag/karoshi> it's a puzzle game series that likes to
poke the fourth wall occasionally

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miguelpais
Also check out this video about the situation in Japan:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C_roXUPYbs>

But the thing is certainly happening in other countries too, like the recent
situation in France where in a couple of months there were 24 high skilled
workers from the same telephone company committing suicide.

~~~
jacquesm
found a link:

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/oct/05/telecoms-
fran...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/oct/05/telecoms-france)

wow!

That's really bad.

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rit
Correct me if i'm wrong but I see no reference to drugs (which includes
caffeine, red bull, etc) in any of this. I can't help but think these cases
scream of things like Benzedrine overdose.

