Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has long cited Margaret Thatcher as one of her political role models.

The former, long-serving British PM was a dyed-in-the-wool conservative with strongly held opinions on economic policy, national security, immigration and countless other right-of-center positions that Takaichi shares.

Famously, the late British prime minister's reputation was in part built in her remarkable capacity for work and her insistence that she only needed four hours of sleep a night.

Takaichi has the same disdain for putting her feet up and has indicated that she expects the same level of commitment from her ministers and the Japanese working population — and that is ringing alarm bells in some quarters.

After being named prime minister last month, Takaichi announced that she intended to "discard the term 'work-life balance' for myself. I will work, work, work and work."

Late-night meetings raise concern

True to her word, Takaichi summoned key aides to her office for a 3 a.m. gathering earlier this month ahead of a budget committee meeting that was to start at 9 a.m.

She followed that up by admitting that she sleeps "about two hours now, four hours at the longest" each night. She quipped that, "It's probably bad for my skin."

Takaichi also asked her labor minister to look into relaxing restrictions on overtime work — which are set at a maximum of 720 hours a year — in order to encourage economic growth.

Tomoko Yoshino, the first female head of Rengo, Japan's largest labor union group, pointed out that the figure was already close to the threshold that elevates the risk of "karoshi," the Japanese term that means death from overwork.

Lawyers fight against excessive working hours

"We cannot allow the upper limit to be eased," Yoshino told reporters in Tokyo. "We are still only halfway in terms of bringing down 'karoshi' to zero and pushing for work-style reforms."

That position was echoed by a group of lawyers who represent the families of people who have died of "karoshi," with the group issuing a statement saying the prime minister's comments were "not helpful" in a country that has long been infamous for a culture of excessive working hours. 

The statement by the National Defense Counsel for Victims of Karoshi called on Takaichi to halt efforts to reverse recent progress on creating a more healthy work-life balance and to retract the "egregious" comments.

According to Japanese government statistics, a record 1,304 cases of overwork-related deaths and health disorders were reported in the 2024 financial year in Japan — up 196 year on year.

Of the total, 1,057 were work-related mental health disorders — including "abuse of power from superiors or others" and "customer harassment."

Concerns over toxic work culture

Even some of Takaichi's ministers have expressed concern, with Health Minister Takamaro Fukuoka stating that the ministry "believes that losing one's life or health due to overwork must not happen."

The issue is also a human rights matter, suggested Teppei Kasai, an officer with Human Rights Watch in Tokyo.

"I don't think this is a particularly Japanese phenomenon, as there are toxic workplace cultures and norms in many other countries," he said.

"That being said, Japan's corporate culture does tend to overemphasize presenteeism rather than productivity, which can lead to workers feeling obligated to show up at work even if they're ill or know they won't be productive because of some other reason," he told DW.

And while there have been some positive developments in workplace culture in Japan since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, there are concerns that pressures on workers could increase once more, leading to a new spike in "karoshi" cases, depression or suicides linked to workplace pressures. 

UN standards on work hours 

Kasai says Japan should follow the guidelines published by the United Nations in 2016 on work conditions, which state in part that states should "set minimum standards that must be respected and cannot be denied or reduced on the basis of economic or productivity arguments."

"It's important to keep in mind that everyone is entitled to rest every week as part of just and favorable conditions of work, which means no worker should be able to 'choose' to work 90-hour working weeks," Kasai pointed out.

"It's also key to understand that deregulating working hours can increase the risk of labor exploitation for people in certain sectors."

Prime Minister Takaichi has put Japan's long working hours in the spotlight once again, but that debate has been amplified by a number of salarymen and women sharing 18-hour workdays on social media platforms.

Hiro is the author of the Japanese Typical Salaryman channel on YouTube and Instagram, with posts titled "Broke before payday," "A week in corporate despair" and "65-hour weeks in Japan."

In the YouTube episode "Every Day is Hell," Hiro describes being lonely and exhausted from working in the Japanese city of Osaka and finding solace in eating. The responses from viewers around the world are telling.

"I hope that one day you can find better employment and will remain in good health for a long while," reads one, while another viewer declared, "You are [an] amazing man. Have been watching your videos since yesterday. I wish [you] all the best. Please keep doing your content and quit [being a] salaryman."

Debate over extreme overtime

At 27, Issei said he anticipated being able to find a stable job quickly after graduation but has instead bounced between a series of companies that expected many hours of overtime and where the culture was "challenging" for anyone who expected a reasonable work-life balance.

"We call them 'black companies' and it was really hard," said Issei, who worked in sales and does not want to provide his surname as he is presently unemployed and applying for new positions.

"I had some debts after university and it was hard to get by even when I was working full-time," he said. "There were days when I was definitely down, but I read about people dying of 'karoshi' because they work so hard or of committing suicide.

"It was never that bad for me because I would prefer to quit, but I can understand how some people do not feel they can do that and just continue until it is too late."

Others, however, are cautiously in favor of permitting anyone who wants to work additional hours to do so without falling foul of the law, particularly at a time of economic challenges.

"The issue is complicated," admits Makoto Watanabe, a professor of communication and media at Hokkaido Bunkyo University in Eniwa, Hokkaido.

"Some people want to work long hours because they can earn a good income and there is legislation in place to protect those that do not want to do unlimited overtime.

"There has been a problem with suicide, illness and 'karoshi' linked to overwork but I do think things have improved in recent years," he said.

"I believe that if the laws are not weakened to the point that employers could abuse them, then people should be able to work as much as they want to."

If you are suffering from serious emotional strain or suicidal thoughts, do not hesitate to seek professional help. You can find information on where to find such help, no matter where you live in the world, at this website: https://befrienders.org 

Edited by: Keith Walker