The president of top Japanese advertising company Dentsu will step down following the apparent suicide of a worker who had clocked massive overtime.
Tadashi Ishii said at a Tokyo news conference he will tender his resignation at a board meeting in January, although he will stay in the position until March as a courtesy to shareholders.
Government authorities have filed papers demanding charges against the unidentified Dentsu employee suspected of driving Matsuri Takahashi to suicide from overwork.
Takahashi jumped from her company dorm balcony in December 2015, after clocking 100 hours of overtime per month. She left a farewell email begging her mother to not blame herself.
In September, the government ruled that overwork caused her death.
Tokyo-based Dentsu has repeatedly promised to curtail overtime.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here