Overview

• After being chosen LDP leader on Oct. 4, Sanae Takaichi told party members she would have everyone work like draft horses and that she would discard the term work-life balance.
• The National Liaison Council of Lawyers for Karoshi issued a statement on Oct. 6 strongly protesting the remarks and calling for a retraction.
• The lawyers warned the message could encourage excessive and prolonged working hours for civil servants and revive a dated ethos of endurance.
• A bereaved family of a senior bureaucrat who died by suicide due to overwork in 2014 released a comment via their representative expressing anger and urging an apology.
• At a news conference on Tuesday, Children’s Policy Minister Junko Mihara said work-life balance is extremely important and pledged continued efforts to promote it, as labor groups criticized the remarks and some social media users defended them as personal resolve.