Work ' til you drop

the day her husband left for the last Time in the house, has asked Emiko Teranishi him again: don't you Want to take a look? She had asked him in the months before, often, almost every day, she says, because his Job as a branch Manager of a restaurant chain in Kyoto seemed to him more and more to charge. This time he seemed particularly tired.

Emiko Teranishi remember how you nachblickte him and his hunched gait saw. He worked all day. Then there was a conversation with his boss. He then looked for a house. Akira Teranishi was only 49 years old.

The widow Emiko Teranishi, now 70 years old, speaks with a quiet, firm voice. To tell his story, is what can you do to warn of a phenomenon that has not only cost Akira Teranishi life. Revision is something of a scourge in Japan, because they can turn a urjapanische virtue, the self-forgetting assiduity, in a deadly fate.

Karoshi, death due to too much work , seems to threaten, especially Japan, because people feel their employer is particularly obliged. The issue arrived on the Agenda of the government of the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe . She cares for a couple of years, more about, among other things, by appointing the November for awareness month.

In all 47 prefectures, there are these days therefore, actions and symposia with lawyers, Victims, and researchers to make the seriousness of the issue. Emiko Teranishi is, of course, as a Concerned and Chairman of the "National family Association for Karoshi-care". She tells, warns, criticizes and fights against a threat that actually involves the whole modern industrial world.

The disease has a name

In Japan, the phenomenon has a name: Karoshi. The term designates first: death by brain and heart diseases as a result of the Revision. Secondly: suicide due to mental diseases as a result of the Revision. Thirdly, the brain, heart and mental diseases as a result of the Revision.

Emiko Teranishi told that her husband had first worked in the development Department of an electronics group, and then retrained. "He wanted to do something meaningful." He trained as a chef to train and soon found a job at a restaurant chain in Kyoto. There he cooked for 17 years. Cooking is a hard profession, but Akira Teranishi did what he wanted to do, so he seemed to cope with the workload well.

The psychiatrist was a Depression-proof

That changed when he was promoted to branch Manager. Get out of the kitchen, back to the drier commercial work. "He has always tried to live up to the expectations, but he was almost criticized every day by the owner of the chain," says Emiko Teranishi. "At that time, he has worked an average of 350 hours per month. Hardly any free days." He wanted to go back as a cook to the stove, but the owner of the not to let. Instead, he put him on the Manager position at a smaller branch. "He said at the time that he could not eat, that he was very tired," recalls Emiko Teranishi.

The widow Emiko Teranishi, now 70 years old, is an advocate for education about Karoshi. Photo: PD

it was Only when Emiko Teranishi noted that his underwear was full of blood, she insisted that he go to the doctor. The urologist at the hospital, he told of his fatigue. Soon he was sitting with the psychiatrist. The psychiatrist noted Depression. That was two weeks before Akira Teranishis death and three years after he had to relinquish his dream job as a chef.

When you hear this story, to popping a lot of questions. Why didn't Akira Teranishi fought back? Why didn't he quit? Why is he not just gone to another company to work there as a chef? There are European questions.

culture rather than a market economy

"Why the Japanese work so long?", the title of the article, the Hiroshi Ono in 2016, has written, brings to him but still a lot of invitations in Japan and abroad is. He does have that, indirectly, the questions to Akira Teranishis tragedy. And he is not satisfied with the reference to the hardening of the market economy. He refers to the essence of the Japanese work culture.

Japan has always relied on the diligence of its people. The island country is poor in raw materials, and again and again, severe Storms, and exposed to earthquakes. But the willingness of the Japanese, is obedient to insert in a larger machinery, which makes the economy run, a Good that could harvest, the company is always profit. Safe working conditions and a harmony, of the company's trade unions not to disturb with loud demands, support, traditionally, the Japanese labour market, and were long regarded as the ingredients of a successful concept.

Input-oriented society

Ono describes a lot of work as a by-product of the Japanese employment system, which works according to the idea that more use also brings more success. The insight that you can not increase use of any, because not a day has more than 24 hours, and human forces are finally penetrating him very slowly into the collective consciousness.

Ono called Japan that is why an Input-oriented society, in contrast to Output-oriented company, which deals with the question of what methods to use to make success, and therefore, the quality of work before quantity. Japan's Input-company rewards dedication and loyalty of more than success, this has been shown by researchers on the basis of company data. Salaries increase with years in the business, who works more hours, is more likely to be promoted than someone who remains in normal working hours.

"In the Japanese society, the men who work long, in line with expectations."Hiroshi Ono, economic sociologist

hierarchy of thinking and a sense of duty beyond their own interests, will also increase the health risk. You don't go in front of the boss to go home, it follows the work of the group forced and visited pubs in which you don't want to actually does. Leisure is not considered as a value in itself, and old role models will increase the pressure. "In Japanese society the men who work long, in line with expectations," writes Ono.

If you are driving in Tokyo in the morning with the train, you can experience the flow of commuters. In Black and White, you are climbing on the platforms and in the trains that are so crowded that the people look like a wedged mass, from the individual arms and legs out. After midnight, the last trains are still relatively full, still many men are in Black and White on the road. Some are chipped, some are so tired that they sleep the straps hanging.

A Revolution is needed

Japan's society is changing. It ages, it shrinks. Women are needed in the world of work. Family-friendly solutions, we need times with flexible working. And the Karoshi Problem has debunked the proven Macho economies as harmful. "The Japanese employment practice, must be revolutionized in order to allow a better Work-Life Balance and a better lifestyle for families with double earners."

The law stipulates a limit for Overtime in a 40-hour work week: 45 per month, 360 per year.

"Actually has changed nothing," says Emiko Teranishi. Ten years and nine months she has spent in total, before the courts after the death of her husband, for recognition as a work accident and compensation from the company, you don't got. After that, she joined in the fight for more considerate work environments, collected signatures, tried to make the Problem clear, wrote recommendations to the Ministry, worked with politicians and was not without success.

The law for Karoshi prevention of 2014 was held to not be binding. The recent Reform of June 2018 are called, after all, a "movement". The law stipulates a limit for Overtime in a 40-hour work week: 45 per month, 360 hours per year. Companies expect their employees more, risking penalties. But is it enough for a real turnaround? It is still too early to know, but Emiko Teranishi has the feeling that real insight is still far away. "We are sometimes criticized even by workers, because we are against the Overtime," she says. Before the Pride of the Japanese Workaholics, you sometimes feel quite faint.

Created: 26.11.2019, 12:10 PM