Taxi driver Yoko Yamaoka finished working at 5 this morning. Tomorrow she will get up at 5 in the morning and start the day's shift at 8. She usually works on a rotation of three days on and two days off.
Yamaoka is one of 18 female drivers at Teito Motor Transportation Co., who together represent a tiny fraction of the 1,243 drivers with the Tokyo-based taxi company.
While she looks rested (she had taken a midday nap), Yamaoka, a 47-year-old mother of one, says she feels a bit tired. It isn't because of her job's irregular schedule, though. She blames the bad economy and the fact that she only got a few fares the night before.