Japan tells its workers to take more vacation...

Japan wants its workers to take more holidays and work fewer hours to cut down the number of people pushing themselves into an early grave.

Decades after "karoshi," death from overwork, entered the Japanese lexicon, the government is still battling to get control of the problem. Leave entitlements and national holidays have increased, but the Japanese still shun vacations and the number of work-related suicides is little changed over the past decade.

Showing dedication to your company through sacrifice and never leaving the workplace before your boss does is deeply ingrained in Japanese employees.

With more than 2,000 suicides a year linked to work and overwork, and most full-time employees taking less than half their leave entitlement, lawmakers were pushed into action last year when half a million people signed a petition calling on the government to improve the situation.

Draft measures announced this week encourage companies to shorten working hours and let employees make more use of annual vacation. Revised legislation submitted to parliament in April also obliges companies to have workers take at least five days' paid leave. Full story...

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