Japan punches time clock early

PM meditates as workers take a break on ‘Premium Friday’

TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister spent Friday afternoon meditating while staff at some of the country’s biggest firms are also quitting work early – in time for a bit of shopping or maybe a boozy train ride.

Welcome to Premium Friday, Japan’s latest bid to tackle two perennial problems – sluggish consumer spending and notoriously long working hours blamed for a national health crisis known as karoshi, or death from overwork.

The work-life balance campaign, which launches this week, calls on employers to let staff off around 3pm on the last Friday of every month.

Major firms such as automakers Nissan and Toyota, beverage giant Suntory and brokerage Nomura are taking part in the government-backed scheme.

Thousands of other firms are offering promotions to workers who will have a bit of extra time on Fridays.

Mobile carrier SoftBank is letting staff quit early and, later this year,

¥ will be putting an extra 10,000 (RM395) in their pockets.

One railway operator is offering a special train ride with beer and bento boxes, while off-early workers can also get discounts on everything from matchmaking ser- vices to cancer checks.

Prime minister Shinzo Abe will be taking it down a notch by spending the afternoon at a Zen meditation temple, followed by a music concert.

So says top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga who is also kicking off early – as soon Friday’s press briefing was done.

“Unfortunately I have to hold this press conference at your request,” he told reporters in Tokyo.

“But as soon as I’m done with this, I’m going to do something” for Premium Friday.

Every year, Japan’s notoriously long working hours are blamed for hundreds of deaths due to strokes, heart attacks and suicides, along with a host of serious health problems.

The issue was highlighted again in late December when the head of Japan’s biggest advertising agency Dentsu resigned in response to the suicide of a young employee who regularly logged more than 100 hours of overtime a month.

More than one in five Japanese companies have employees who work such long hours they’re at serious risk of death, according to a government survey released in October.