A 2018 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development survey found that Japanese middle-school teachers work 56 hours a week, versus an average 38 hours in most developed countries. Japanese middle-school physical education teacher Masako Shimonomura, center right, interacts with a student during class in Tokyo on Nov. 22. One investigation by a union-affiliated think tank found that school teachers work an average 123 hours of overtime each month, pushing their weekly workload well beyond the so-called “karoshi line” of 80 hours. Photo: AFPThat came too late for Kudo, a middle-school teacher, who in 2007 died of a brain haemorrhage at the age of 40. However, it took Kudo’s widow five years to get her husband’s death recognized as karoshi, a task complicated by the lack of records for his work hours.
