A look inside a Japanese corporate worker’s 18.5-hour day has shocked people around the world who described it as “hell” and a stark contrast to how tourists perceive the East Asian nation.
In a YouTube video viewed close to 1.1 million times, titled ‘A Day in the Life: Salaryman at a Black Company’, user Salaryman Tokyo details everything from his 7 a.m. wake-up to 11:50 p.m. dinner.
A ‘black’ company, corporation or business in Japan is defined as one that treats employees badly and has an “exploitative” environment, while a ‘salaryman’ is a white-collar worker or executive.
The man, who was out the door by 7:16 a.m. and said he didn’t “feel like working today”, adding “here we go again”, endured a 90-minute commute to the office, arriving at 8:53 a.m. where he said, “Let the games begin”.
He then worked from 9 a.m. to approximately 1 p.m. – with a coffee break at 11:35 a.m. during which he “need(ed) to hurry”, claiming that “many black companies focus on hiring fresh graduates because they are inexperienced and less likely to resist harsh working conditions”.
After a 45-minute lunch break, the man returned to the office at 2 p.m. and worked for another six hours.
“Did you know: Some black companies shame employees who want to quit, using tactics like group pressure or calling them traitors,” the man said.
He “finally” left work at 8:15 p.m., writing that he felt “so exhausted.”
“Working long hours is not productive,” the man continued.
“(I) heard Japan is implementing (a) four-day work week. Guess that was just rumours. My work schedule didn’t change at all this year.”
After a brief visit to the shops and another hour-and-a-half long commute, the man arrived home at 10:45 p.m., cooked dinner at 11:30 p.m., and was in bed by 1:15 a.m.
Reaction to the video was overwhelmingly one of disbelief, with one viewer in the comments declaring: “Humans were never supposed to live like this.”
“Tourist: Japan is amazing,” another said. “Japanese citizen: Life is hell.”
While a third commented: “Jesus christ, you’re cooking yourself dinner at 11 p.m. after waking at 7 a.m. I’m kind of speechless. I mean I complain about not having enough time to go to the gym after work, but this is next level.”
Another described the man as being in a “soul sucking repetitive cycle”.
“And people wonder why less people in Japan are having kids? Imagine attempting to properly raise one child, let alone several, with this work/life balance.”
Japan’s persistent culture of overwork is nothing new. According to the nation’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, employees across various sectors – including corporate and healthcare – report punishing hours, high pressure from supervisors and deference to the company.
“While Western society is individualistic and non-hierarchical, Japanese society is collectivist and hierarchical,” Hitotsubashi University professor of human resources management, Hiroshi Ono, told the BBC.
“Thus, many people refrain from taking holiday because their bosses do not take holiday, or they are afraid that it will disrupt the group harmony.”
The phenomenon is so pervasive that there’s literally a word for it – karoshi – or “death by overwork”, typically caused by stroke, heart attack or suicide that’s brought on by occupational stress and its subsequent mental health toll.
Though not limited to Japan – a 2021 World Health Organisation and International Labour Organisation study found 750,000 people who worked more than 55 hours per week had died from karoshi syndrome globally – a number of cases there have made headlines in recent years.
In 2022, Takashima Shingo, a 26-year-old doctor in Kobe City, died by suicide after working more than 100 days straight and 207 hours of overtime in the month before his death.
The young man’s family later pleaded for reform of Japan’s working culture, with his mother, Junko Takashima, recalling that her son would say “it was too hard” and that “no one would help him”.
“No one is looking out for me, he kept telling me. I think the environment put him over the edge,” Ms Takashima told reporters in 2023.
“My son will not become a kind doctor, nor will he able to save patients and contribute to society. However, I sincerely hope that the working environment for doctors will be improved so that the same thing will not happen again in the future.”
