When it comes to the future of work, Japan is locked in a dispute.
Tokyo officials are advocating a four-day work week, hoping that shorter hours will alleviate the country’s famously grueling work culture and reduce “karoshi” — a term meaning death from overwork.
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With the birth rate falling and job burnout rising, many see this change not as a benefit but as a necessity for Japan’s economic survival.
But the country’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, signals a very different approach. The 64-year-old leader was criticized this month for calling her team to a 3 a.m. meeting — not because of a national security crisis, but simply to get ahead of her appearance in parliament.
Although she later admitted that starting so early “caused disruption” to her team, she defended the decision as necessary to answer lawmakers’ questions, according to The New York Times. But it wasn’t the first time Takaichi demonstrated comfort with an intense work pace.
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After being elected, Takaichi declared that she intended to work hard. “I want to ditch the term ‘work-life balance’ for myself. I’m going to work, work, work, work and work.”
In practice, that means she only sleeps about two hours a night — sometimes up to four — a habit she admitted to lawmakers was probably “bad” for her skin.
Still, as Japan tries to boost economic growth by easing pressure on the workplace, Takaichi insists he supports policy changes that protect workers’ health — even without setting an example.
“Indeed, if we can create a situation where people can properly balance childcare responsibilities and family care according to their wishes, and can also work, enjoy leisure and rest — that would be ideal,” Takaichi said, according to AFP.
Reduced work week may be near
Birth rates in Japan reached record lows earlier this year: between January and June, around 339,000 births were recorded — approximately 10,000 fewer than in the same period the previous year, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
The drop poses a major threat especially to consumer-facing sectors, which depend on growing demand.
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Advocates of the four-day week say it could reverse the downward trend in birth rates by giving parents more time to raise children and share household responsibilities.
According to the IMF, half of Japanese women who decided to have fewer children report that they did so, in part, because of the increased domestic burden that one more child would bring.
Changes in working hours can also expand the fair division of tasks: a four-day week test carried out in six countries by the organization 4 Day Week Global showed that men spent 22% more time caring for children and 23% more time on household chores.
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“The positive side of these experiments has been less stress, less burnout, better rest, better sleep, lower employee costs, higher levels of focus and concentration during work hours — and, in some cases, greater commitment to the company,” said Peter Miscovich, global future of work leader at real estate services firm JLL, in a previous interview with Fortune.
With artificial intelligence revolutionizing the professional environment in its own way, technology experts suggest that reduced working hours may arrive sooner than expected.
“What will the jobs be like?” Bill Gates asked host Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show in February. “Should we only work two or three days a week?”
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