1969: a 29 year old man in the shipping department of a major Japanese nrewspaper dies of a stroke. This is the first case of karoshi or death by overwork, though it won't be called that until a 1982 book by the same name.
2002: 819 people apply for compensation after family members died from karoshi. Estimates range from 1,000 to 10,000 deaths per year are related to working too hard--stroke, heart attack, cerebral hemorrhaging, even suicides are attributed to too much slogging.
If you are working more than 80 hours in overtime every month, you're at a high risk for karoshi. So watch out for those 60 hour work weeks, friends, they are a killer.
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