Japan suicide letters spell out risk of overwork

By Naoto Okamura

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - "Don't go to work" reads a poem written by a Japanese boy for his father who killed himself after suffering from depression caused by working too much.

"Dad, I am no good," wrote a young Japanese engineer who committed suicide because he could no longer cope with work.

The letters are part of an exhibition in Tokyo organised by a mental health organisation to highlight the risk of "karoshi", or death from overwork, in a society that treasures hard work.

Titled "Inside me, you are alive now", the exhibition collects suicide notes, poems and testimonies from "karoshi" victims and their families.

Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world: more than 30,000 suicides every year since 1998. Last year, five times more people killed themselves than died in traffic accidents.

But less is known about the role of work in those suicides. A Health Ministry report last year notes a strong link between depression and habitual overwork of 80 hours or more over a few months. According to the ministry, 81 suicides were approved for work-related compensation last year, up 50 percent from 2003.

The author of the "Don't go to work" exhibit was seven years old when his father died. In his poem, he dreamed of creating a time machine to rescue his father.