Parents seek to have teacher's suicide recognized as workplace casualty

"The parents of an overworked female elementary school teacher who committed suicide have decided to file an application to have her death recognized as a public service workplace casualty, it has been learned.

The parents of the teacher, who worked at an elementary school in Nishitokyo, plan to file the application by January. They say that their daughter became depressed due to excessively heavy public service and stress";

Full story;

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20071226p2a00m0na025000c.html



Although the school obviously never wished the teacher to commit suicide, if the school was aware of the teachers depression i do think they should have done far more to help the teacher out by at least reducing her work load to help prevent such a tragic situation occuring.

I don't know if its just me, but in Japan there seems to be a lot of suicides connected to people not coping at work, and its like there doesn't seem to be much sympathy directed towards such people's suffering.

I don't agree with giving sympathy to people who can't cope. For thousands of years people have been doing harder jobs than going in to work and sitting around feeling sorry for themselves staring at a pile of paper that lies on the 'IN' tray.
If people can't cope, they need to realize this when they are of school age and get a job that they can cope with.

Anyways, I agree that there do seem to be a lot of suicides caused by inability to cope.

The problem is that in Japan there isn't a balance yet between the amount of time spent working and free time. My husband is a case in point. When we are in Japan he works from 7am to 8pm on a good day. That is outrageous. I think it's shows great strength and commitment to your company, but people need there down time. They can't work like that all the time. I hear it's getting better....

I recall one news story from late 2006 about Inumaru Rin,the manga artist who created the popular NHK anime character Ojaru Maru,committed suicide in Tokyo.She was 48.She jumped from the roof of her 14-story apartment building in Tokyo's Musashino suburb. Residents of the 5-story apartment building next door heard a loud noise and called police, who found her body on the roof. She left a suicide note to her mother, saying "I can't work". Ojaru Maru, popular with young children since 1998, continues to be broadcast on the NHK Education channel. It's the network's second longest-running anime series.

Life is too much pressure in Japan ....

Very different from Portugal. We don't give that much importance to jobs.

This is one of the main reasons that make me refuse to move to japan. Ever.