Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, is known as an inveterate workhorse. She often skips social gatherings and has openly rejected the idea of work-life balance. But even by Takaichi’s standards, it was surprising when she emerged from her Tokyo residence shortly after 3 am on a recent day to convene a meeting with aides ahead of an appearance before parliament.Takaichi has drawn criticism for holding the meeting, which took place on Friday and has become known in the Japanese news media as the “3 am study session.” The issue is sensitive in Japan, where there have been high-profile cases in recent years of karoshi, or “death from overwork.”Some argue that the meeting, which involved several aides and lasted about three hours, would feed into unhealthy extremes. Others said that Takaichi was placing unnecessary burdens on her staff.Yoshihiko Noda, a former prime minister who leads the main opposition party, called Takaichi’s decision to hold the meeting “crazy.” When he was Japan’s leader from 2011 to 2012, he would start work around 6 am or 7 am. “It’s fine for her to work, but she should not be getting other people involved,” he said in an interview.Takaichi, who took office last month as Japan’s prime minister — the first woman to serve in that role — has sought to clarify the circumstances of the meeting. She has said that her fax machine at home was jammed (faxes are still a mainstay of communication in Japan). She decided to go to the prime minister’s residence — she has not yet moved in — so that she could review briefing materials there ahead of a 9am budget meeting at the Diet, Japan’s Parliament.Takaichi, speaking to Parliament on Friday, acknowledged that her early-morning preparation had “caused inconvenience” to her staff. But she said it was necessary to meet so early to rewrite drafts of answers for lawmakers. Takaichi’s supporters have defended her. Some in her party, the Liberal Democratic Party, have blamed opposition lawmakers for submitting questions too late. “Even a workaholic like PM Takaichi wouldn’t want to be at work at 3 am,” Midori Matsushima, an LDP lawmaker, said.Limits on overtime, an idea that Takaichi recently endorsed. The current limit of 45 hours of overtime per month was put in place in 2019 after the death of Matsuri Takahashi, a Dentsu employee, the advertising giant, who died by suicide in 2016 after clocking over 100 hours of overtime per month.Takaichi has supported allowing people to work more overtime, saying it is an important source of income. But she has also said that it should not come at the expense of the well-being of workers.“I do not approve of overtime that leads to death from overwork,” Takaichi said at another appearance in Parliament this month. “I am concerned that a reduction in overtime pay will lead to people damaging their health by taking on unfamiliar side jobs in order to earn a living.”She promised during her campaign to scrap her work-life balance upon taking office, saying she would “work and work and work and work.”
