Japan’s public broadcaster has vowed to reform its working practices as it revealed that a young reporter died after logging 159 hours of overtime in a month.
Tokyo: Japan’s public broadcaster has vowed to reform its working practices as it revealed that a young reporter died of heart failure after logging 159 hours of overtime in a month.
NHK reporter Miwa Sado, 31, who had been covering political news in Tokyo, was found dead in her bed in July 2013, reportedly clutching her mobile phone.
A year later, Japanese authorities said her death was linked to excessive overtime. She had two days off in the month before she died.
NHK eventually made the case public four years afterwards, bowing to pressure from Sado’s parents to take action to prevent a recurrence.
The case again highlights the Japanese problem of karoshi, or death from overwork, amid the country’s notoriously long work hours. It is also an embarrassing revelation for NHK, which has campaigned against the nation’s long working culture.
