#karoshi

#karoshi

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has long cited Margaret Thatcher as one of her political role models. The former, long-serving British PM was a dyed-in-the-wool conservative with strongly held opinions on economic policy, national security, immigration and countless other right-of-center positions that Takaichi shares. Famously, the late British prime minister's reputation was in part built in her remarkable capacity for work and her insistence that she only needed four hours of sleep a night.

When it comes to the future of work, Japan is caught in a tug-of-war. Tokyo officials are pushing for a four-day workweek, hoping a shorter schedule will ease the nation's notoriously punishing work culture and curb "karoshi" -which translates to death from overwork. With birthrates falling and burnout rising, many see the shift not as a perk, but a necessity for Japan's economic survival. But the country's new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, is signaling a very different approach.