The Japanese - an efficient, healthful group of people. People rooted in culture. People who cherish their elders. People who keel over from being overworked.
Say what?
Yes, it’s true. While America is sometimes looked at as slovenly and over-privileged, our Japanese pals are working so hard, they’re launching themselves into the grave. This has become such an epidemic, in fact, that it even has a name: karoshi.
For example, there was a poor fellow, a 45-year-old chief engineer for Toyota, who worked an additional 114 hours of overtime per month (overtime!). That’s equivalent to about 2.85 weeks a month. Can you even imagine?
Not surprisingly, the man died of heart failure, and now the Japanese government will need to uphold a law that gives money to the widow and children of this man, since we worked himself into an early karoshi for the good of his company. Amazing.
The Japanese government also has a national karoshi hotline, and a karoshi self-help book.
So, the lesson to be learned here? While a strong work ethic is admirable indeed, working yourself into an early karoshi is not. As with everything in life, let there be balance.
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