The term "karoshi" was first used by Dr. Tetsunojyo Uehara and others in the latter half of the 1970s. Thanks to the activities of the Karoshi Hotline since 1988, "karoshi" has become part of the Japanese language.
Karoshi is defined as "death from overwork and stress". The phrase "suicide resulting from overwork, " as a form of karoshi, is now established in Japan as well. When reported overseas, the term "karoshi" is either left in the original Japanese as karoshi, or is translated into the phrase "death from overwork" and is regarded as a symbol of overworking Japanese society.
Karoshi has great significance for the following two reasons: firstly, the word explains the social factor of "overwork and stress" that leads to death; and secondly, the word has an easily understandable meaning for the Japanese people. For these two reasons, karoshi has become a locomotive for the movement of social reform in Japan.
