A labor office in Ibaraki Prefecture has deemed that a Chinese trainee at a local firm died in 2008 due to overwork, marking the first recognized karōshi death of a foreign intern under a government-authorized training program.
But the lawyer representing his next of kin say his case is just the tip of the iceberg among trainees working in conditions akin to slavery.
Jiang Xiaodong died of cardiac arrest at age 31 in June 2008 after working more than 100 hours of overtime in his final month, prompting his family to file a workers' compensation claim in August 2009.