In 2019 and 2020, not only have we heard lots of tragic news among celebrities and athletes, but also especially in 2020, the most devastating issue everyone encounters is the Covid-19 pandemic which has totally disrupted our daily lives and now we all start practicing the new normality which consists of 3 elements, 1-metre distance, put on face masks and wash hand frequently after back home from outdoor. However, if we broaden out horizon in terms of global news, we probably realize that some nations are suffering not only just purely pandemic thing, but also some ongoing protests against the government. For instance, In Hong Kong the protest still persists although has it been quelled temporarily due to the fear among Hong Kongers over the upcoming Chinese Security Law which is mandated typically for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region since Hong Kongers are concerned about the high possible of the restriction of freedom of speech towards them. Likewise, in the US, lots protests are going on over the issue of police brutality, especially the incident of George Floyd who was dead due to suffocation while his neck was being knelt on by one of the police officers although the public attempted to stop this tragic but it proved futile. This tragic has sparked anger among the Black community and soon, a series of protests took place across the nation. In this topic, we will look into how digital activism works in reflecting upon the rampant issue.
Digital Activism towards long hour working culture among Japanese workers
This drama entitled “ Watashi, Teiji de Kaerimasu “, which means I Will Not Work Overtime, Period! in English. It was released in 2019 and soon had drawn international attention for its criticisms of Japanese corporate life. The story plot revolves around the lead female role as an office worker, whom she decides that she will never work overtime, and regularly leaves work at the official end of the day. Since then, she has conflict with other employees, who usually stay at work until much later. Besides that, long-hour working culture has traumatized her ever since she was young when her father whose corporate life meant that he did not spend time with his family. Her bosses at the company, who see her refusal to work overtime as a lack of commitment to the company and its clients. Her situation is complicated by the arrival of an ex-boyfriend who joins the company. She gradually convinces her fellow workers to go home on time in order to save their health and relationships, but ends up breaking her original commitment, which results in her hospitalization and the demise of her own relationship with her fiancé. In overall, this drama has highlighted how long-hour working culture affects the health and family relationship of workers as they tend to have little time to spend with their family which end up suffering an inharmonious household. In some cases, we have heard news about Japanese office workers died due to fatigue and the increased divorce case in Japan is getting more common as husband never spends time with family after busying with tons of workloads.
According to Brasor (2019), The most common complaint from white-collar employees at Japanese companies is about the meaning of “quitting time.” The feeling is that even if a worker has finished their tasks for the day, it is considered bad form to leave the office before their colleagues or supervisors do. There are, of course, no established rules that dictate such conduct, and it can be perceived as a custom but even after three decades of debate over the question of unnecessary overtime and lost productivity in the Japanese workplace, there is still great hesitancy on the part of employees to go home “on time.”
Furthermore, a survey conducted by Japanese government showed that around one quarter of Japanese companies require employees to work more than 80 hours of overtime a month. Sarcastically, those extra hours are often unpaid. Japanese workers on average didn’t use 10 of their paid vacation days, and 63 percent of Japanese respondents felt guilty for taking paid leave.
As mentioned earlier, long-hour working culture has caused workers died due to fatigue. Taking a real-life case as an example, an employee of Japan’s largest advertising firm, Dentsu, jumped to her death in 2015. The cause was said to have been depression caused by overwork. The case generated widespread attention and renewed calls to change the long working hours and illegal unpaid overtime highly common in Japan. The aftermath of this issue has pressurized Dentsu’s CEO to resign over the controversy and the company was fined for violating labor standards as she had been reportedly forced to work 100 hours of overtime a month. After the death, Dentsu made changes within the company, including turning off lights in the office at 10 p.m. in an effort to force employees to leave (Saiidi 2018).
In conclusion, this drama portrays the long-hour working culture in Japanese society that has been rooted ever since. As we all know that, drama is the mirror of a society. Often we agree up to a point that dramas actually are delivering a message to the viewer about current society. As soon as the drama has been released, it has drawn the attention of Japanese government about the well-being of workplace and since then, lots of debate have been carried out in the parliament with an aim of enacting a law which can protect the employee’s well-being and revise the structure of traditional companies workforce as majority of traditional companies have a mindset is that employees should be always available at work and employees should be ashamed of applying holidays. Although work-life balance in Japan has yet to be achieved, but who knows in the future?
Brasor, P 2019, TBS drama misses an opportunity to shine a light on genuine workplace issues, The Japan Times, viewed 13 October 2020,
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/05/18/national/media-national/tbs-drama-misses-opportunity-shine-light-genuine-workplace-issues/
Saiidi, U 2018, Japan has some of the longest working hours in the world. It’s trying to change, CNBC, viewed 13 October 2020,
<https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/01/japan-has-some-of-the-longest-working-hours-in-the-world-its-trying-to-change.html#:~:text=CNBC%20Explains-,Japan%20has%20some%20of%20the%20longest%20working%20hours%20in%20the,extra%20hours%20are%20often%20unpaid.>.