It has often been been said that Japanese people have an attitude to work that resembles a worker bee. This working style may, however, be a cause of mental and physical health problems, such as depression, burn out syndrome, and chronic fatigue. Among these, karoshi, which is sudden death from overwork, has been reported as the most serious consequence.1-3 Overwork can kill employees especially if combined with high demand, low control, and poor social support.4 At the present time, we should consider another serious consequence, which is “karo jisatsu (suicide from overwork)”. Currently in Japan, which is undergoing a long recession and restructuring of work practices,5 the incidence …