TOKYO —Japan is finally starting to seriously seek ways to curb excessive work hours with the overwork-related suicide of a young employee spotlighting a long-standing issue that has always been in question but never quite addressed.
东京——一起员工过度工作导致的自杀事件引发公众关注，这个遗留问题饱受质疑却从未解决。事发后，日本终于开始认真寻求控制超长工作时间的方法。
The traditional corporate culture in Japan of punishing hours has persisted since the postwar era of rapid economic expansion when hard work seemed to lead to growth.
自从战后日本实行快速经济扩张，人们认为努力工作似乎就通向成功，因此日本传统的企业一直延续着残酷的加班文化。
But that is no longer a driving force with working conditions dramatically changing after the burst of the economic bubble in the early 1990s and the financial crisis in 2008 both of which led Japanese companies to undertake drastic restructuring such as massive job cuts.
但随着20世纪90年代初期日本经济泡沫的形成导致的工作条件急剧变化，以及08年经济危机这二者的影响，日本企业面临大幅度重组，如大量裁员，这使得经济扩张不再是主要驱动力。
Japan worked the third longest hours in 2015 among the Group of Seven industrialized countries according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
根据世界经济合作发展组织的2015年数据显示，日本在七个工业国家里的工作时长排名第三。
But the world’s third largest economy’s work productivity was the worst last year among G-7 nations according to the Japan Productivity Center.
然而根据日本生产力中心的数据，作为世界第三大经济体的日本去年其工作效率在七国集团中垫底。
The aging population in Japan leaves the country at risk of labor shortages which could add more pressure on future workers.
日本的人口老龄化问题留给这个国家的是 劳动力短缺一系列问题，只会给未来的工人群体带来更大的压力。
“Japan is still a country where working long hours is considered a virtue” said Kazunari Tamaki a lawyer who specializes in “karoshi” cases or death from overwork.
”日本终究会是一个将长时间工作作为美德的国家。”Kazunari Tamaki，一个专注于超时间工作引发”过劳死”领域的专业律师如是说。
“But we need to focus on improving efficiency within fixed hours to boost productivity.”
“但是我们有必要提高固定工时内的效率从而提高生产率。”
The suicide of 24-year-old Matsuri Takahashi an employee of advertising giant Dentsu Inc due to overwork last year sparked criticism of illegally long working hours and a push for a fundamental reform of working conditions.
二十四岁日本Dentsu（电通广告）总部员工——高桥小姐 由于在去年长时间工作而自杀的案件，引发非法长时间加班的批评狂潮和推动关于工作状态的基础性改革。
She had logged 105 hours of monthly overtime work before jumping from a company dormitory. The labor ministry referred the company and an executive to prosecutors in late December over the suicide.
在从公司宿舍跳楼的前一个月中，她记录显示每月加班达到105个小时。 劳动部门指出这家公司和相关管理层将在去年十二月份成为自杀案将的被告。
Among the 34 OECD member countries Japan’s average annual hours actually worked per worker stood at 1719 hours in 2015 longer than 1371 hours in Germany 1482 hours in France and 1674 hours in Britain but shorter than 2113 hours in South Korea.
在三十四个国家组成的经济合作与发展组织里，日本2015年平均工作时间一般是每个工人在1719小时，远多于德国的1371小时，法国的1482小时，英国的1674小时，但却远少于南韩的2113小时。