article: Now the government and business groups are trying to get workers to take a small step to reclaim their lives by leaving work early one day a month. The scheme, dubbed "Premium Friday", suggests companies make staff go home at 15:00 on the last Friday of the month, starting in February. It has been given renewed impetus by the suicide of a woman who was working more than 100 hours overtime a month at Japan's biggest ad agency, Dentsu. Her death was ruled to be a case of "karoshi" and has led to an investigation, an announcement the firm's chief executive will resign and deep concern in Japan at the country's work culture. But with around 2,000 deaths a year linked to overwork, few believe the voluntary scheme represents anything more than a small step towards changing attitudes and it is unclear how many companies will take it up. It is not the first time overwork has been seen as a problem nor the first time anyone has tried to do something about it. Among other initiatives, the government has in the past tried to make employees take more of the leave they are entitled to - Japan's labour ministry says they only take about half - without much success. The number of public holidays in Japan this year increased to 16 in part aimed at forcing people to take breaks. The government has also tried to encourage more flexible hours, allowing government workers to start and leave work early in the summer and even switching off the lights in some offices late in the evening, something Dentsu is also now trying. Workers are increasingly taking the initiative to go home on time some days too, even announcing it on social media to encourage others to do the same. But while this has helped change the idea that working excessive overtime is necessarily a good thing, none has had a made much of a dent in the hours themselves. Around 22% of the population work more than 49 hours a week according to 2014 figures from the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training, behind South Korea at 35% but ahead of the US, where 16% of workers put in those kind of hours. For the government and business groups, there is an element of self-interest too. Japan's economy has stagnated for more than two decades. The situation has been made worse by low consumption spending and a very low birth rate, both of which are aggravated by workers spending most of their waking hours at a desk. Productivity and efficiency also suffer from firms having staff perpetually on hand, as companies don't invest in labour-saving technologies. Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, told the BBC that private consumption could rise by as much as 124 billion yen ($1bn; £860m) every Premium Friday if "100%" of those eligible headed home at 3pm on those days. But he stresses no one knows how many people will take up the idea and that total participation is unlikely, which could mean
summary: Death from overwork in Japan is such a longstanding problem it even has its own word, "karoshi".