Thread: Japan's Dentsu advertising agency charged over employee suicide

One of Japan's leading advertising agencies has been charged over the death of an employee from overwork.

Dentsu is accused of violating labour standards after Matsuri Takahashi, 24, killed herself in 2015.

Her friends said Ms Takahashi - who had been at the firm for less than a year - claimed to be so busy she slept just 10 hours a week.

Death from overwork is relatively common in Japan, where it has its own word: karoshi.

Ms Takahashi is reported to have worked 100 hours of overtime a month for some time before her death.

She died on Christmas day 2015. According to reports, a note left behind for her mother included the line: "Why do things have to be so hard?"

The Asahi Shimbun newspaper said the company was being charged over illegal overtime, and that prosecutors were seeking a fine.

That would effectively end the investigation, Kyodo news agency reported.

The case against Dentsu targets the corporate entity, but not any individuals.

But Kyodo news agency quoted Ms Takahashi's mother as saying she was "unconvinced" about the lack of charges for her daughter's superiors.

The high-profile case has led to renewed calls for changes to Japan's notoriously long working hours and illegal unpaid overtime.

Officially, there are several hundred cases of karoshi each year, although campaigners say the real number is even higher.

Dentsu has made a number of reforms in the aftermath of Ms Takahashi's case, reported to include turning off the lights at 22:00 every night in a bid to force employees to leave.

The agency's chief executive, Tadashi Ishii, offered his resignation last December over the controversy.

Japan's Dentsu advertising agency charged over employee suicide - BBC News

When the 24-year-old woman jumped to her death in December last year, she left a note for her mother.

"Why do things have to be so hard?" she asked. She had been working about 100 extra hours a month.

Her company - advertising group Dentsu - is under pressure to reduce the amount of overtime its employees do.

In November, it was raided by labour regulators. The government ruled the woman's death was due to overwork.

About 2,000 Japanese people a year take their own lives for the same reason.

Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, is pushing to reform Japan's employment laws, which could include tighter overtime regulation for companies.

But will the culture change, and what happens in other countries?

Presenter: Sohail Rahman

Guests:

Seijiro Takeshita - professor in the School of Management and Information at the University of Shizuoka

Anne-Elisabeth Moutet - columnist for The Telegraph newspaper in the UK

Daniel Bernmar - city councillor for Gothenburg, Sweden