Suicide rising: overwork biggest culprit

The NHK news feature above reveals a sad phenomenon in Japan society: the rising number of suicide. Of all the reasons behind the rising number of suicide cases, overwork remains the most serious and important. This explanation was deduced from notes and writings left by those who committed suicide themselves and also from the stories of their family members who knew the victims well although admittedly were not aware of what the victims are really going through in their final days.

As much as I praise the courage and thoughtfulness of the victims’ families who have gathered to relive the painful experience of losing a loved one to let others understand more about this sad phenomenon, I can’t help but notice the silence of business community about this problem. Their absence from this worthy movement seems to define their stand on this matter–that the business community still do not take overwork-related suicides seriously. Well, they should. If employers are serious in raising the overall efficiency of their workers, they should probably take the issue of overwork as their top priority.