Abstract: The long-term fatigue caused by high labor intensity, long working hours, and excessive psychological pressure leads to the persistent overwork phenomenon which poses a serious threat to peoples lives. As a country with a high incidence rate of karoshi in western countries, the phenomenon of overwork and karoshi has lasted for a long time in Japan. Especially in the 1970s and 1980s, the frequent occurrence of karoshi in Japan attracted much attention of the wide public. The system of lifetime employment, the seniority system, the gender division of labor, the survival difficulties of informally employed workers, and the deep-rooted overtime culture of Japanese companies are the main reasons for the phenomenon of overwork. In order to solve this serious social problem, the Japanese government and the private sector have adopted a variety of countermeasures:enriching and improving relevant laws to prevent karoshi, formulating and refining the identification standard of regarding karoshi as a kind of work-related injury that should be compensated, popularizing correct concept of labor, promoting the reform of working methods and so on. A series of such countermeasureshave alleviated Japans overwork problem to a certain extent. Japans countermeasures against overwork and karoshi have some implications for China.

Key words: Japan, overwork, karoshi, workers compensation, overtime culture