Malia Pinal English 116
Professor Chad Kelly
December 16, 2012
A worldwide Lesson: Karoshi “Death from Overwork”: The Consequences of Putting Wealth before Health
Abstract: The main objective of this essay is to define and analyze the negative aspects of the Japanese’s Economical drive. Most specifically, it will describe a phenomenon that is occurring in Japan called “Karoshi” or “death from over-work”, where thousands of Japanese citizens are dying due to stress from the harsh working conditions they endure. This essay will prove that the prioritizing of economic prosperity over individual well-being is damaging to society. In order to achieve this, I will disclose detailed information on the connection between excessive
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This pressure amounts to large volumes of stress and fatigue. The karoshi hotlines have received more and more female callers as time goes by. Also, the first lawsuit filed to seek compensation in the name of a female who died due to harsh working conditions was filed in July of 1992. However, since then, no official ruling was made in favor of a woman (Women International Network News). Proving that the government’s harsh laws regarding labor is a setback in Japanese society. Although the Japanese Government has made some efforts to support the victims of karoshi, they are insufficient. Few people have been acknowledged to have suffered karoshi, and even fewer people have received compensation for their loss. According to a group of lawyers that handle the cases of affected families, it is estimated that some 10,000 Japanese per year die from it. However, the Labor Ministry has only recognized 110 deaths over the past three years. To legally be considered a karoshi victim by the Labor Ministry, the victim must have died after a 24 hour work period or have worked 16 hour shifts for seven continuous days preceding their death (Drinkwater). Clearly, the priority of the Japanese Government is to further expand and nourish their economy at any cost, not considering the consequence this has on the individual. The responsibility of finding a solution, however, corresponds equally to the Government as it does to the
Japan is home to a lot of ancient cultural artifacts and yet serves as an example of the developed world samurais, high-speed trains, home to some of the world’s largest tech companies, and may evision Tokyo as a bustling fast paced city. Japan’s population is declining, this isn’t unusual in a time where developed countries are relying on less children.What is overlooked when describing the now 3rd largest economy on Earth is how it went from surrendering during WWII to becoming an industrial superpower. There have been many changes but one have remained constant, which is the collective drive to work and excel. It has heavily influenced the Japan we know today.
With the women, they were one of the most “affected” by the impact of imperialism because they had the most changed about what they really did “Women become active participants in public life as workers, consumers, writers, and intellectuals. Interactions with Europeans and Americans inspired many of these changes. Some Japanese thought such moves were necessary for Japan to become part of the modern world. Others were concerned they would lose their own traditions” (Segal). Many of the most productive, yet overlooked, industrial workers were
The working poor which made up the majority of the Japanese citizens were not allowed to become involved in any non-agricultural economic pursuits. Therefore, maintaining constant and traditional Japanese values, yet the Dutch whom were the only foreign power allowed to trade with the Japanese at the port of Nagasaki warned the shogunate that they would have to “accede to foreign demands.” Many young scholars and the samurai class agreed with the Dutch logic in that it is not smart for the Japanese to become stagnant while the rest of the world is booming a merchant dominated economic system. Many scholars such as Fukuzawa Yukichi were worried about the state of the government and stated “I was mortified when I thought over the possible outcome of national exclusiveness.” This hindrance by the government in order to preserve the traditions of Japan irked the citizens in that the “stability” of the shogunate was regression as a culture rather than progress which is what most felt that the government should be striving
The government should have a strong role in solving a national crisis especially when it comes to the economy. They
Two women in Japan state the conditions they had during their childhoods of working in the textile factories (Doc. 3). They said that the worked in the dark and they had no strength to do any of the work. They said that in their first year of working, neither got paid and in the following years, their parents received the little money they got. They said how many people fell ill because of their conditions and having no heat in the winter. The women had first hand experiences and they were there during all of this and they witnessed everything that they described in the factories they worked in.
After centuries of living in seclusion to the outside world, the government knew that they needed the technological advancements that the West offered. The Industrial Revolution and growing urbanisation in Japan had intended to and succeeded in mimicking Western growth. Moreover, the Japanese were well-known for their diligence, discipline, perseverance, and hard work – this resulted in substantial economic development including increased shipping of commodities and a significant expansion of trade and handicraft industries. However, the political elite pocketed most of the profits through influence and corruption. Workers and farmers found it unfair that their patriotic and back-breaking labour only received a little wage in comparison, but with a state-controlled media and education system, they couldn’t make their voices heard. So overall, this collective and nationalistic open-mindedness for communal prosperity was beneficial for Japan as a whole, but the common people were disadvantaged with no access to basic human rights and a fair
The late nineteenth century culminated centuries of progress for the prominent Asian societies of Qing China and Tokugawa Japan, defining their economic strength and influence in foreign affairs. Each society encountered taxing struggles from internal rebellions to external pressures from outside nations. The Qing dynasty in China survived the crises of the 1850s-1860s, while the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan did not (i.e., collapsed) because of a number of important historical differences. Distinct political, social, and foreign policy differences caused seemingly parallel societies to spiral off in opposite directions. With the aid of a highly centralized government, a stable social and political order, and an amicable nature towards foreign policy, the strength of the Chinese government prevailed against both internal and external challenges. Tokugawa Japan ran a course completely opposite of Qing China and ultimately collapsed in the 1860s. Three significant factors leading to this failure resided in its decentralized government, static and hereditary social order, and hostile nature towards foreign affairs. Reviewed first are the factors
The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan adopted in 1947. It is an unitary state, containing forty-seven administrative divisions, with the Emperor as its head of state. His role is ceremonial and he has no powers related to Government. Instead, it is the Cabinet, composing of the Ministers of State and the Prime Minister, that directs and controls the Government. The Cabinet is the source of power of the Executive branch, and is formed by the Prime Minister, who is the head of government. It is an unitary state, containing forty- seven administrative divisions, with the Emperor as its head of state. Japan was ruled by successive military shoguns. During this period, effective power of the government resided in the Shogun, who officially ruled the country in the name of the Emperor. The Shoguns were the hereditary military Governors.
Showa: The Japan of Hirohito, edited by Carol Gluck and Stephen R. Graubard, seeks to find the answers to many questions that are commonly asked about Japan and its history. As stated in the title, this book focuses on the Hirohito era in Japanese history from 1926 to 1989. In the Introduction, Gluck states that there were two main issues for Japan in the twentieth century, “how Japan came to aggressive war and then to macroeconomic might” (xi). The unstable relationship between Japan and the United States is also an underlying theme of the book. The three chapters to be examined in this paper are, “The Useful War,” “The People Who Invented the Mechanical Nightingale,” and “Japan Meets the United States for the Second Time.”
As many people know, the Second World War changed the role of Japanese women. Before the war they used to be stay home mothers, and they had duties such as, keeping the house clean, and taking care of their husband and children. During the world war II, women changed their roles. Because a significant amount of man went to war, many women had to take their jobs in order to keep production in the country. Women started taking jobs like arms factories and coalmines. (1) In addition, new opportunities arise at that time for women because they could even join the army. After the World War II, women keep their freedom when it comes to having the right to choose whether they were going to work or be an stay home mother. Moreover, they also gain more
Yet, it is the government’s responsibility to
The Japanese economy had changed immensely as it became a place of free trade and importations from being a place where there was little to no foreign interactions a century ago. The japanese had implemented this closed door policy due to the unruliness of the Europeans in the 17th century and felt complacent in their situation. Although the Japanese government implemented a closed-door policy from 1639 to 1854, their rapid economic development after this period was due to their similar geographical conditions to England. Their location allowed them to reap the benefits of being imperialized because they were able to westernize and set up the foundation of a good economy. They had been able to live peacefully while absorbing technology and culture from the Eurasian countries, this help them develop their ‘foreign acceptance’ as they were used to taking technology from other countries.
Japan is an unique oriental country in many aspects, especially in politics and economy, both western practices and traditional nationalism are coexisted in this country. The period 1890-1940 was just followed the Meiji restoration, and was typical in the history of Japan, at that time, Japan was on the way from a feudal country to a capitalistic country, called modernization. Many western practices were being more and more adopted, however, at the same time, traditional rules still had strong influences in Japan. Under this background, this report will discuss the Japanese cultural factors during 1890-1940 that influenced the disclosure
Assumptions about the Japanese workforce have turned out to be more myth than reality and some of the former strengths have become weaknesses in the new economy
First, what all is the government responsible for? We can begin to address this question by looking at the United States Constitution.