Japan’s Govt Instructs 42 Companies to Draw Up Plans to Prevent Work-Related Deaths, Serious Problems

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:54 JST, January 28, 2026

The government instructed 42 companies to implement measures to prevent deaths from overwork or other serious problems from overwork in fiscal 2024, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

In the fiscal year, 159 cases were recognized as suicides or attempted suicides related to overwork, or other deaths from overwork, exceeding 150 for the first time in five years. The situation has prompted calls for the disclosure of the names of companies that are repeatedly involved in work-related deaths or serious problems.

Targeting companies where deaths from overwork or other serious problems related to overwork have occurred at least twice during the past three years, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry in April 2024 began instructing them to map out plans to prevent such cases.

Companies given such instructions are obliged to submit the plan to their prefectural labor bureau and need to have the status of improvements checked for a one-year period. According to the ministry, such guidance was given to 42 businesses in fiscal 2024, the year the initiative was introduced.

Death from overwork, or karoshi, long recognized as a social problem, attracted fresh attention after Matsuri Takahashi, then a 24-year-old new employee at advertising giant Dentsu Inc., committed suicide due to overwork in December 2015.

However, such cases have continued.

The number of work-related accidents or medical problems involving workers suffering from mental health issues has grown. The figure reached 1,055 in fiscal 2024, more than triple the number in fiscal 2010 at 308.

One contributing factor to the increases appears to be the failure to restrict long working hours.

According to a survey by the ministry, 11,230 businesses nationwide illegally forced employees to work long hours in fiscal 2024. Nearly half of these, 5,464, were found to have forced employees to work overtime or on holidays for more than 80 hours per month, which is considered a danger line for death from overwork.

The ministry has not revealed the names of the companies or details of the incidents because the instructions are given as administrative guidance to prevent the recurrence of such problems. This differs from cases that prompt investigations, which lead to company names being disclosed.

However, Kazunari Tamaki, a lawyer and an executive of the National Defense Counsel for Victims of Karoshi, said the public has taken a more strict view of companies where karoshi occurs.

“Measures with deterrent effects against serious work-related incidents should be considered, with the announcement of the names of companies that are involved in serious cases despite having received the guidance,” Tamaki said.