Japanese journalist works herself to death

A Japanese journalist worked herself to death by doing 159 hours of overtime in a month and taking just two days off.

Miwa Sado, a political journalist for the country’s national broadcaster, suffered a heart failure in July 2013, but her employer only made the tragic case public this week.

Sado, who was 31 at the time, was a reporter in charge of covering the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

The broadcaster NHK said it kept track of her working hours but accepted there were areas that needed to be improved, according to the Japan Times. 

Masahiko Yamauchi, an official at NHK’s news department, said the incident was a ‘problem for our organization as a whole, including the labor system and how elections are covered.’ 

‘Even today, four years after, we cannot accept our daughter’s death as a reality,’ Sado’s parents said in a comment released by NHK. 

‘We hope that the sorrow of the bereaved family will never be wasted.’ 

The broadcaster NHK (pictured) said it kept track of her working hours but accepted there were areas that needed to be improved

The broadcaster said they only revealed the death now because of the wishes of the family.  

Japan has the highest suicide rate among the Group of Seven (G7) industrialised nations, with more than 20,000 people taking their own lives annually.

While the overall suicide rate has been falling since it peaked in 2003, that is not the case among young adults starting their first jobs or schoolchildren. 

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