By The Other View, flickr.com Streets of Akihabara, Japan

Long overtime hours has been the accepted norm in Japan for many years. In 1987 the Japanese Health Ministry officially recognized "karoshi", or death from overworking, as an actual phenomenon. In this case, the man who died had been averaging more than 80 hours of overtime per month. The victim's wife's lawer said that the man had been under heavy pressure as the lead engineer in developing a hybrid version of Toyota's Camry line. Japan has recently been making decisions against working such long hours. The ruling in this case will allow the victim's family to collect benefits from his work insurance. What is not discussed, however, is whether or not overtime in Japan is paid at a premium wage.