Miwa Sado, who worked at the broadcaster’s headquarters in Tokyo, logged 159 hours of overtime and took only two days off in the month leading up to her death from heart failure in July 2013.
Clocking off: Japan calls time on long-hours work culture Read more.
Sado’s death is expected to increase pressure on Japanese authorities to address the large number of deaths attributed to the punishingly long hours expected of many employees.
Labour standards officials ruled that her death had been caused by stress brought on by long working hours.
Takahashi had been working more than a 100 hours’ overtime in the months before her death.
Research shows that Japanese employees work significantly longer hours than their counterparts in the US, Britain and other developed countries.
Sado, a political reporter, covered the Tokyo metropolitan assembly elections and national upper house elections in June and July 2013. »