• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, December 29, 2016

Back in October, 24-year-old Dentsu Japan employee Matsuri Takahashi committed suicide after routinely working 100-plus hours of overtime each month. The death was attributed to Karoshi, a Japanese reference to a culture of overwork. The death sparked a study into the culture of overworking, and in addition, Dentsu altered its policy on allowable overtime hours.

As a result of this event, Dentsu Japan President Tadashi Ishii has announced that he will tender his resignation in January during a scheduled board meeting. At a news conference, Ishii said: "It is extremely regrettable that we could not prevent overwork by a new recruit. In order to take full responsibility, I would like to resign as president at a board meeting in January."

Following the suicide, Ishii had said: "Excessive amounts of work is something that should never be allowed to happen. We deeply regret failing to prevent the overwork of our new recruit. I offer my sincere apologies."

There are no plans for replacing Ishii at this point.

It was no secret that Takahashi was under a great deal of stress. Her social media posts were filled with such commentary as "I'm physically and mentally shattered. I want to die."