SUGIO FURUYA
Karoshi is a Japanese word meaning death from overwork. It was first identified in Japan, and the word is adopted internationally. The term has been used since the 1970s by progressive medical experts, occupational safety and health (OSH) activists, trade unionists, and lawyers.
Since the 1980s, the media has covered this issue intensely.Karoshi reflects the contradictions of Japan’s industrial growth, partly achieved through sacrificing Japanese workers.Since the latter half of the 1980s, karojisatsu (suicide from overwork) has also become a big social issue in Japan.Under the rationalisation and restructuring following
the bursting of the bubble economy, the suicide rate among the working-age population has increased dramatically.

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