Karoshi Meaning: The Word Parts, Overwork Vocabulary and How to Set Limits

The word parts: ka, rō and shi

Karōshi is three kanji. Ka, 過, means to exceed or to go too far, and appears in words such as kado, excessive, and kashoku, overeating. Rō, 労, means labour, the same character as in rōdō, work, and rōdōsha, worker. Together they form karō, overwork, a word that stands on its own: karō de taoreru means to collapse from overwork. Shi, 死, is death. The whole compound therefore reads very plainly, death from excessive labour, and Japanese speakers hear it as literally as that.

The word spread when doctors and lawyers began to link sudden deaths of working-age employees to extreme hours, and it is now a recognised category in the compensation system, with a related term, karō jisatsu, for suicide linked to overwork. Because of this, karōshi is not used loosely or as a joke in the way English speakers say this job is killing me. For exaggeration, people use shinu hodo isogashii, busy enough to die, which is casual and safe.

Overtime words: zangyō, sābisu zangyō and teiji

Zangyō, 残業, is overtime, literally remaining work. It is the most common workplace word in this whole area: zangyō suru, to work overtime; zangyō ga ōi, there is a lot of overtime; zangyō-dai, overtime pay. Teiji, 定時, is the fixed finishing time, and teiji de kaeru, going home at the fixed time, is the phrase for leaving on time. Many companies also hold a weekly nō zangyō dē, a no-overtime day.

Sābisu zangyō, service overtime, is unpaid overtime: hours worked but not recorded or paid. The word sābisu here is bitter, as in a free extra thrown in. Whether it is legal depends on the contract and the situation, and it is one of the practices most associated with the word burakku. Related words are mochikaeri zangyō, taking work home, and zangyō jikan no jōgen, the cap on overtime hours, which appears constantly in company notices.

Burakku kigyō, hatarakikata kaikaku and the reform vocabulary

Burakku kigyō, black company, is the everyday label for employers that overwork and mistreat staff: unpaid overtime, harassment, unrealistic quotas, pressure not to use leave. The opposite, howaito kigyō, praises decent conditions. Both are informal judgements, so treat them as opinion rather than fact when you hear them about a specific employer.

Hatarakikata kaikaku, working style reform, is the name of a government policy programme and of the wider cultural shift around it: caps on overtime, encouragement to take paid leave, flexible hours and remote work. In offices the phrase now describes any change to hours or workflow, and hatarakikata kaikaku no ikkan de, as part of working style reform, is how a manager introduces a new rule. Related words are furekkusu, flexitime; zaitaku kinmu, working from home; and wāku raifu baransu. The table collects the vocabulary in one place.

Legal limits on overtime, the rules for paid leave and what counts as harassment are set by law and by each company's rules, and they change. If a question matters to you, check your employment contract, your company's shūgyō kisoku, work regulations, or the labour standards office, rōdō kijun kantokusho, rather than a colleague's memory.

Yūkyū: taking paid leave without guilt

Yūkyū kyūka, paid leave, is usually shortened to yūkyū, and yūkyū o toru is to take it. The culture of actually using it varies enormously from one workplace to another, and many people describe feeling awkward about asking. That is exactly why the phrasing is worth learning: a smooth, standard request is easy to say yes to.

The standard form gives the date, states that you would like to take leave, and shows that you have thought about coverage. Managers rarely refuse a request that arrives early and comes with a plan. Note the difference between yūkyū and kekkin, an absence without leave, and between yūkyū and daikyū, a substitute day off for working on a holiday. If you are ill, you say byōketsu, sick absence, though many companies simply use yūkyū for that too.

Telling a manager you are overloaded, politely

The hardest conversation is the one where you say you have too much work. Said badly, it sounds like a complaint; said well, it sounds like professionalism. The key move is to turn a feeling into a scheduling problem: instead of isogashisugimasu, I am too busy, present the tasks and deadlines and ask the manager to decide the priority. That way the manager is helping you solve a problem, not defending an assignment.

Openers matter. Sōdan ga aru n desu ga, I have something to consult you about, signals a serious but calm conversation. State the facts, use the softener chotto before the difficulty, and end with a question that hands the decision to the manager: dochira o yūsen subeki deshō ka. If everything is declared urgent, kono mama da to hinshitsu ga sagaru osore ga arimasu, as it stands, quality may suffer, gives a company-minded reason rather than a personal one.

Phrases for setting limits with colleagues

Limits with colleagues are set in smaller moments: leaving on time while others stay, declining a task that lands at six o'clock, or saying no to a third nomikai in a week. The tone is friendly and matter-of-fact, and a short forward-looking phrase softens each one.

• O-saki ni shitsurei shimasu: Excuse me for leaving before you (the standard exit)
• Kyō wa teiji de agarimasu: I'm finishing at the normal time today
• Sore wa ashita no asa ichi de taiō shimasu: I'll deal with that first thing tomorrow
• Ima wa te ga ippai na node, raishū de mo ii desu ka: I'm fully booked now; is next week all right?
• Kyō wa yōji ga aru node, nomikai wa enryo shimasu: I have something on today, so I'll pass on the drinks
• Shūmatsu wa mēru o mimasen node, getsuyōbi ni henji shimasu: I don't check email at the weekend, so I'll reply on Monday
• Muri no nai hani de yarasete kudasai: Please let me do it within reasonable limits

Consistency is what makes these phrases work. A colleague who leaves at teiji every day with a cheerful o-saki ni is quickly accepted; someone who leaves early once with a long apology invites questions.

When the situation is serious

Sometimes a workload conversation is not enough. If you are regularly working far beyond the fixed hours, being pressured to work unpaid, or being shouted at, that is the territory of pawahara, power harassment, and of the labour law rather than of politeness. Larger companies have a sōdan madoguchi, a consultation desk, and there are public consultation services for workers. Keep records: dates, hours, what was said.

It also helps to know the words for stepping back. Kyūshoku is taking leave of absence, often with a doctor's note, shindansho. Taishoku is resignation, and tenshoku is changing jobs, a normal step. None of these are failures. The word karōshi exists because people kept going when they should have stopped; use the vocabulary in this guide early, calmly and in your own interest.