| Japanese Working Themselves into Early Graves -- 日本“过劳死”再敲警钟 |
| Wednesday,May 23,2007 Posted: 10:11 BJT(0211 GMT) 中国日报 |
A record number of Japanese people worked themselves to death last year despite a government campaign to ease the country's notorious office hours. 日本人工作时间过长可谓“世界闻名”，尽管政府发起了相关的“减负运动”，日本去年过劳死的人数还是创下了历史记录。 Some 355 workers fell severely ill or died from overwork in the year to March, the highest figure on record and 7.6 percent up from the previous year, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour said. 据日本厚生劳动省介绍，从去年至今年三月，日本就有355人因工作劳累过度而身患重病或死亡。 这一数字比去年增长了7.6%，创历史最高纪录。 Of the total, 147 people died, many from strokes or heart attacks. 其中，因工作劳累过度而死亡的人数达到147人，大多数人死于中风和突发性心脏病。 Death from overwork grew so common during Japan's post-World War II economic miracle that a word was coined for it, "karoshi." 因工作劳累过度而造成的死亡现象在日本“战后”经济腾飞期间日益普遍， "过劳死"一词便由此而生。 The government has tried to address the problem by promoting telecommuting and encouraging workers to take leave when they start families or need to care for elderly parents. 为解决这一问题，日本政府曾提倡员工远程办公，并鼓励他们在结婚或需要照顾年迈父母的时候多休假。 Critics point to the rising number of part-time jobs, saying new employees lack the security that would allow them to resist pressure to overwork. 批评人士认为这一问题的主要原因在于做兼职工作的人不断增多，新雇员由于缺乏安全感，怕失去工作而不得不去加班。 Another 819 workers contended they became mentally ill due to overwork, with 205 cases given compensation, according to the ministry data released on Wednesday. Mentally troubled workers killed themselves or attempted to do so in 176 cases, of which a record 66 cases were found eligible for benefits, the ministry report said. 厚生劳动省上周三公布的数据显示， 819名员工认为自己患心理疾病是由过度工作造成的，其中有205起案例得到了赔偿。患有心理疾病的员工自杀或有自杀倾向的案例达到176起，其中有66起获得了赔偿。 The number of Japanese who killed themselves because of work jumped 52 percent last year, while work-induced mental illness also hit a record high, according to Health Ministry official Junichiro Kurashige. 据卫生省官员小泉英树介绍，去年，日本因工作自杀的人数上涨了52%；由工作引起的心理疾病的患者人数也创下了新高。 Japan's suicide rate is among the highest in the industrialized world. More than 32,000 people took their own lives in 2004, most of them older people suffering financial woes as the country struggled through a decade of economic stagnation. 日本的自杀率位居工业化国家之首。2004年，日本的自杀人数超过了3万2千人，其中以年长者居多。他们大多数人都饱受了日本十年经济停滞所造成的经济灾难的影响。 The Japanese government has earmarked substantial budget for programs to help those with depression and other mental illnesses. 目前，日本政府已划拨巨资，专门用于帮助抑郁症及其它心理疾病患者。 |
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