Ishiyama 1994 Overwork and Career-centered Self-Validation Among the Japanese - Psychosocial Issues and Counselling Implications

7/30/2019 Ishiyama 1994 Overwork and Career-centered Self-Validation Among the Japanese - Psychosocial Issues and Coun

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International Journal fo r the Advancem ent o f Counselling 17: 167-182, 1994. 1994 Klu we r Acad emic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

Overwork and career-centered self-validation among theJapanese: Psychosocial issues and counselling implications

F. I S H U I S H I Y A M A l & A K I O K I T A Y A M A 2i University of British Columbia; 2National Institute of Public Health, Tokyo

Ab s trac t . Overwork an d workaho l i sm among Japanese corpora te worker s and r e l a t ed psy-chosocial i s sues are explored. I shiyama's (1989) model of sel f -val idat ion is used as a concep-tual f ramework. The Japanese cul ture and the corporate s t ructure are t reated as the context inwhich social pressure for overwork and o bsess ive work-preoccupat ion are espoused. The authorsexamine the nature and consequences of overwork and career -centered sel f -val idat ion, in termsof family, mar i ta l , and exis tent ia l i s sues , as wel l as s t ress and karoshi (death by overwork) .Impl icat ions to counsel l ing and social and sys temic change are discussed.

Although Japan enjoys economic growth and an international reputation forstrong work ethics , various medical and psychosocial problems are surfacingin Japan, associated with overwork. Japanese corporate workers , both bluecollar and white collar , tend to spend a disproportionately large amount oft ime and ene rgy at work. According to the International Labour O rganization's1993 World Labour Report (quoted in Uehata, 1993), the average Japaneseperson works for 2055 hours per year . This f igure does not include extra ,unpaid over t ime. For example, an average bank employee works for 3000hours pe r year , whic h is 12 hours per d ay for 250 d ays a year . According tothe Japanese Ministry of Labor (1989), Japanese w orkers in the manufacturingindustry work overt ime 2.7 t imes as high as German counterparts , and take30 hol idays less per year than Germ ans do. I t i s widely known that chronic ,excessive work habits and work-related s tress can result in various mental ,physical , and interpersonal problems, including death b y overw orking (Uehata,1993). Helping professiona ls and social cr i t ics have recog nized the necessi tyfor improve ments and reevaluat ion of how individuals , em ployers , society ,and the go vernmen t deal wi th workaho l ism and job s tress.In the present paper, we will discuss the nature of overwork and relatedproblems encountered in the modern Japanese society . I shiyama's (1989)model of self-validation will be used as a conceptual framework, to explorethe following areas: (a) the Japanese corporate culture, (b) stress and deathfrom overw ork, and (c) psychosocial ( i .e. , psychological , exis tential , marital,and familial) problems. Counsell ing implications and social issues wil l bebr ief ly discussed. Because most of the overworkers are repor tedly maleworkers , the masculine pronoun will be used throug hout the paper. (A ccording


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168to the 1989 report by the Japan S tatist ics Bureau, the m ale-fe ma le rat io ofthose who wo rk over 60 hours per we ek was 7 to 1 .)Overwork and workaholismIn th is paper , we use 'overwork ' as a general term, and 'workahol ism' as aspecif ic type of overwork. W orkahol ism refers to the work er ' s excess ive pre-occupat ions wi th w ork, a form of psychological addict ion in wh ich his energyis so consumed wi th work-related act ivi t ies and concerns that h is mental ,physic al, and social well-bein g is in jeo par dy (Ch errington, 1980; O ates, 197 t;Schwa rtz, 1982). We hold that not al l Japanese overw orkers are workaholics ,and that there are di f ferences between obsess ive workahol ics and reluctantoverworkers . The reluctant overwo rker feels pressured or obliged to overwork,is aware of imbalance in his l ifestyle, and experiences inner confl icts aboutneglecting his health, family, and the pursuit of his own personal interestsoutside work.

M od e l o f s e l f -va l id a t ion

The model of sel f -val idat ion was developed mainly for unders tanding theexper ience of cross-cul tural t rans i t ion and adjus tment ( Ishiyama, 1989;Ishiyama & Westwood, 1992) . We have found this model useful in exam-in ing and under s tand ing Japanese workahol i sm and re la ted psychosoc ia lissues.Self-validation needs and themesSelf-validation refers to a subjective exp erienc e of physical , social , personal ,and spir itual well-being by me ans o f aff irmation of on e's sense of self , purposein l ife, and meaningful personal existence in a given sociocultural context .The model pos tulates that one is mot ivated to seek val idat ion, and has theneed to be val idated ( Ishiyama, 1987). The val idat ion exper ience has thefollow ing five interrelated them atic comp one nts (Ishiyama, 1989): (a) security,com fort , and support , (b) self-worth and self-accep tance, (c) compe tence andautonomy, (d) identi ty and belonging, and (e) love, fulf i l lment, and meaningin l ife; see Fig. 1. While certain l ife events and circumstances contr ibuteposit ively to one's sense of validation, the invalidation and undervalidationof sel f may be exper ienced in other s i tuat ions , such as divorce, job loss ,cr i t icism and rejection by others , i l lness , disabil i ty, death of a loved one,relocation, and experience of fai lure.

Val idat ion comes f rom var ious in ternal and external sources (e .g . , se l f ,memories , family, fr iends, work, hobbies , sports , nature, places, symbolicobjects , and rel igion), which form one's validation network. These sourcesof validation hold personal s ignif icance, and the loss of a certain validationsource or mult iple losses could cause a profound emotional and existential


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170self is regarded as mult idimensional , having five experient ial levels of self:(a) physical, (b) familial, (c) social-cultural, (d) transcultural-existential, and(e) transpersonal; see Fig. 2. The m iddle layer, the social-cultural self, containsa number of social ly or cul tural ly sanct ioned roles and statuses, includingoccupational identi ty , group m emb erships , and ethnocultural identi ty . Holisticself-val idat ion means respect ing and val idat ing al l aspects of self andachieving a harmonious ba lance among them.

One may develop a neurot ic l i festyle and various problems when one triesto val idate only a certain aspect of self and neglect , deny, or underval idate theother aspects. In the case of workaholic persons, their career self , which ispart of the social-cul tural self , becomes the source of exclusive concern andvalidat ional addict ion. Their physical self is in effect inval idated when they

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Fig. 2. Aspects of the holistic self to be validated.


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171overwork at the expense of their health due to various reasons (e.g., perfec-tionism, ambition, obsession with work, financial needs, and corporate andpeer pressures). Alcohol, smoking, sauna and massage, and other stress-reducing attempts do not necessarily restore health and reverse the abuse oftheir own body. At work where role-con sciousness and a need for belongingand inclusion are reinforced, they may experience only limited, if any, vali-dation of the existenc e self (i.e., affirmation and free expression o f the genuine,unique and individuated self, not governed by one's ro les, status, or concernsabout social evaluation and disapproval). While a close, authentic friendshipwith a colleague may be developed and enjoyed, it still takes place in awork context and is subjected to the forces of the corporate culture andhierarchy.

As Shigehisa, Kitagawa, Inoue & Fukui (1987) aptly indicated, the cor-porate and the individual self tend to overlap significantly, and one's corpo-rate membership (i.e., the career self) occupies a major part of self-identityin Japan; see Fig. 3. Overidentification with the occupational rote and the

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F ig. 3. Sel f -va l idat ion sources and areas o f shared va lues and meanings .


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172company and a fa i lure to val idate aspects of sel f o ther than the career sel fthus leads to a sel f-defeating process of preoccupat ion w i th work wh ich ma ylater result in psychosomatic s tress reactions, family and marital al ienation,and existential and identity crisis.

The Japanese corporate culture and psychosocial issuesThe Japanese corporate cultureI t has been pointed out that the Japanese t radi t ional ly place high value onwork, long-term self less loyalty to the employer, and devotion to perfectingtheir vocational skil ls . These at t i tudes are social ly and culturally reinforced,and traceable to the Buddhist and feudalis t ic tradit ions (Benedict , 1946).How ever , we also need to recognize the role played by the unique Japanesecorporate management s t ructure and corporate cul ture which ef fect ivelyespouse family- l ike group dynamics and workers ' in terdependence in orderto reinforce their corporate identi ty and devotion to work for greater corpo-rate productivity and eff icienc y (Brown , 1974).The corporate sel fWorkers are given an implici t promise for protection and em ploym ent securi ty,which is reciprocated by thei r loyal ty and personal sacr i f ice . Individualcorporate mem bers tend to wo rk toward col lect ive success , and value beinga usefu l and cont r ibu t ing member who works harmonious ly wi th o ther s(Cathcart & Cathcart , 1985). Career progress depends upon one's abil i ty tofunction collaboratively and self lessly. One's sense of loyalty and indebted-ness to the compa ny increases over t ime as on e's corpo rate role becomes mo reimpor tant and respons ible and as one ' s co mm itm en t and contr ibut ion areposit ively reinforced with various social and economic benefi ts .The corporate quasi- familyThe workplace in Japan is where one ' s needs for belonging and emot ionalsecuri ty are met readily. The Japanese corporate system has a highly task-oriented structure for productivity and eff iciency. I t also contains a family-like infrastructure (Ives, 1992), wh ich not only main tains a hierarchical socialorder but a lso meets i t s membe rs ' em ot ional needs (such as the need for amaeor regressive self- indulgenc e in a protective relat ionship; D oi, 1974). Such as t ructure cul t ivates interdependence, group cohes ion, and interpersonalenmeshment . For example, i t i s not uncommon that young workers developa father -son- l ike re la t ionship wi th an elder corporate member , whom theysee as some one with more expe rience in life and w isdom for living. Therefore,we argue that the corporate culture ( i .e. , work-ba sed relat ionships and socialorder) provides a quasi-family, which part ial ly replaces their actual family andextended family. The corporate quas i -family vicar ious ly meets the w orkers '


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173need to belong to a family (or extended family) , and thus val idates theirfamilial se lf to a certain extent.Other-orientedness, suppression o f individuality, and social evaluation anxietyIn Nor th America , the company is expected to honor the formal employmentcontract and respect individual r ights and f reedom. In contras t , Japanesecorporate workers are expected not to challenge the organizational hierarchyor d is turb the group harmony. One upmanship is of ten discouraged, as theJapanese saying goes: 'Th e state that st icks out will be hammered dow n. ' Suchcorporate norms are implicit ly understood in a 'high context culture ' such asJapan (Hal l , 1977) . Ins tead, they are rewarded to work in terdependent lytoward group goals . Strong group cohesion, mutual trust , and commitment tothe group are espoused by the cul tural ly re inforced vir tue of sel f -devot ionfor group harmony and the absen ce of individualis t ic competit iven ess. Thistype of group-orientedness results in a cooperative social and work environ-ment, which in turn makes individuals very susceptible to group influence.At the subconscious level , Japanese corporate workers are h ighly consciousof themselves as the object of o thers ' evaluation. The thought of being indi-vidual is t ic and self -asser t ive is thus counterbalanced by heightened publ icself-consciousness and social anxiety.Career-centered self-validationThe corporate culture is the central domain of the worker 's psychosocial exis-tence and the most powerful source of social validation. I t is a mini-culturewh ereb y a sense of em otion al se curity, familiari ty, social support , interde-pendence, and self- importance are cultivated through relationships with peersand junior and senior workers (Cathcart & Cathcart, 1985; Ives, 1992; Stewart,1985). In a family-like context, workers enjoy strong peer support , responsi-bi l i ty for guiding junior workers , and the avai labi l i ty of senior workers asmentors and advisors on general l ife issues. Hours of socializing after workgives an additional social dimension and maintains a social hierarchy anda sense of belonging. In th is process , corporate members feel impor tantand responsible to their colleagues. Thus, their social , emotional, and self-actual izat ion needs are met a t work to varying degrees . However , the lessval idat ion they exper ience outs ide the workplace, the more dependent theybecome upon the work-based va l ida t ion they have . Th is fo rms a s e l f -reinforcing cycle, and contributes to the fears of lett ing go of the career selfas their primary self- identity and o f facing a ma jor existential task o f definingwho they are.Stress and karoshiBefore we discuss the psychosocial aspects of overwork and workahol ism, i ti s necessary to recognize concrete m anifes ta t ions o f sel f- induced and corpo-rate- induced ov erwo rk and psycho somatic s t ress react ions . The m ost extreme


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174case is karoshi or death f rom overwork, an increas ingly accepted concept a tthe international level.Work stressAccording to Haraguchi , Tsuda & Ozeki (1991) , workah ol ism is c losely asso-cia ted with high wo rk s t ress. Psycholog ical s t ress react ions include emotionssuch as depression, anxiety, anger, and irr i tabil i ty, and behaviors such asabsenteeism, withdrawal , low product iv ity , and mis takes and ac cident prone-ness on the job. Somatic s tress reactions include fatigue, ennui, s leep distur-bance, and hormonal imbalance. These researchers found that persons withhigh stress reactions tend to have more working hours per week total (over70 hours) and more overtime (50 hours per month). Further, they tend to takeless holidays, and r ink and smoke more. Generally, heightened stress is expe-r ienced by those work ing under h igh job demand wi th l es s soc ia l suppor tand less f reedom to make decis ions and choices .Type A personalityThe Type A personal i ty is a c lus ter of s t ress -prone at t i tudinal and person-ali ty traits , such as devotion to work, control-orientedness, competit iveness,has t iness , proneness to f rus t ra t ion, and aggress iveness . Yoshi take (1991)repor ted that Japanese Type A workers tend to exhibi t more work devot ionand less aggressiveness than American counterparts . Such Japanese workersscore high on tenacity as a trait , feel tess t ired while on task, and ignoresympto ms of fa tigue to cont inue working. Therefore, they are more prone tooverwork and karoshi. What has dr iven them to successful career achieve-ment ironically be co me s a source of s tress-related i l lness and premature deathbefore they have a chance to learn to s low down and enjoy l i fe .KaroshiI t i s com mon ly obse rved in Japan that many workers fa ll as leep on comm utertrains and subways on their way to and from work, due to overwork, fatigue,and a lack of rest . Karoshi, is a term to refer to death from overwork, coinedin the early 1 980's b y Tetsunojo Ueh ata at the National Insti tute o f Publ icHealth in Toky o. I t is gaining an international recognition as a cause o f deathamong chronical ly overworking corporate workers , especial ly those in their40's and 50's . Originally, karoshi was conceptual ized as a death or perma-nent disabili ty caused by cardiovascular i l lness and attacks mediated by exces-sive work stress and fatigue (Uehata, Ka & Sekiya, 1991). More recently, fromthe perspective of social medicine, cases of suicide and death caused by asth-mat ic a t tacks are a lso cons idered to be l inked with heavy work demands .One newspaper ar t ic le (Terry , 1991, September 21) descr ibed the workplacein Japan as a 'kil l ing f ield. 'To sum, s tress-related physical and mental problems seem to result fromvarious factors , such as: (a) long w ork hours; (b) unhealthy l ifestyles and diet;(c) excess ive pressure and s t ress a t work; (d) h igh achievement motivat ion


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175and obsess ion; (e) work re la t ionships and job performance used as pr imaryor only sources of sel f -val idat ion; and ( f ) the absence of heal thy means ofreducing stress and restoring balance in life (Haraguchi, Tsuda & Ozeki, 1991;Uehata, Ka & Sekiya, 1991; Yamazaki, 1991). Uehata (1993) recently reportedthat the pr imary contr ibut ing factor to deaths f rom overwork is excess ivelylong work hours, and that two thirds of the 203 karoshi cases he had studiedhad w orked ei ther 60 hours or m ore per w eek, 50 hours o f over time per m onth,and/or more than half of the weekends and holidays. He argued that exces-sive psychological s tress and fatigue are induced by frequent out-of-town w orkass ignments , h igh performance expectat ions placed by the company, promo-tion to a more responsible post, job transfer , and career change.Psychosocial issuesAs discussed earlier , work provides much social and intr insic validation ofself . However , workers ' over-adjus tment to the corporate cul ture can causevarious psychosocial and stress-related problems. Also, various psychosocialproblem s, including fam ily and marital diff iculties and existential cris is , seemto result from chronic obsession with work. In this section, we will discussselected common themes which confront workahol ics and overworkers whoare trapped in the world of work.Personal dilemmaSeeking validation for the unique and au tonom ous se lf is normal and healthy.However , the Japanese other-or ientedness creates a s t ress ful inner conf l ic tbetween individual ism and col lect iv ism, between pursuing personal des iresand autonomy and maintaining corporate membership and group acceptance.For example, i t i s common that workers do not fu l ly use their legi t imatevacation days for the fear of others ' cr i t icism at being irresponsible towardthe company. When a super ior in the middle management g ives up his /herholiday to work on an unfinished project, co-workers and subordinates feelobliged not to request a full vacation for themselves.All eggs in one basketOne tends to get enmeshed with work in Japan, as character ized by longworking hours and emotional comm itment to work. Work and the work-basedsocial network provide ample opportunities for validation, which strengthensone 's career-centered self - ident i ty . That is , work is where they exper ienceemotional secur ity , aspira t ions, a sense of control and com petency , socialrecognition and rewards fo r their talents and success, and a sense of challengeand fulf i l lment in l ife. The Japanese corporate s tructure is designed so thatsocial relationships, hobbies (e.g. , golfing), and a sense of family-like affi l i-a t ion with co-workers are eas i ly developed . Work becom es a dominant arenaof l i fe , whi le family and non-work re la t ionships and act iv i t ies recede in tothe background. The danger that overworking and workaholic individuals face


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176is becoming over -dependen t upon the work con tex t as the on ly source o fvalidation and the basis for their personal identity. Metaphorically, when thebasket that holds a l l the eggs gets crushed, the worker loses h is val idat ionnetwork and goes into an existential vacuum.UndervaIidation o f other aspects o f se lfWo rkahol ic s ' val idat ion needs are so contextua l ized in the wor ld of wo rkthat the impor tance of the other aspects of li fe tends to becom e minimized orpushed to the backg round of their awareness. We consider this to be an impor-tant par t of the dynamics of workahol ism. Being w ith the family and f r iendsoutside work and engaging in meaningful dialogues and avocational activi-t ies can also provide feel ings of wel lness and val idat ion which cannot berep laced by work- re la ted exper ience . However , a company-devo ted per sonhas l i t t le t ime for activit ies other than work.Avo idance of existential issuesFor workahol ic individuals , work and work-rela ted re la t ionships become theexclus ive source o f val idat ion. How ever , ins tead of being content with theirhigh output and achievement , they feel that they are not good enough. Theywou ld have to face the unknow n i f they s topped working and s tarted lookingat themselves . Coupled with their unreasonably high performance expecta-tions and the corporate pressure for conformity and time-unlimited commit-ment to work, individuals gradually lose s ight of , and lose access to, othersources of val idat ion and other aspects o f sel f to be validated. T hey thusdevelop an obsess ion with work which they regard as u l t imately impor tant .Work-preoccupat ion thus serves as a defense agains t an exis tent ia l cr is is .Worka hol ism is per-petuated by an i l lus ion that the val idat ion of theirmeaningful exis tence is only through wo rk comm itment and successful jobperformance.Lack o fulfillment and meaning in lifeWh at is fu lf i ll ing to a person needs to be unders tood in terms of which aspectof self is fulf i lled. Work and career suc cess m ay va lidate the career self , whilethe other aspects of sel f may remain underval idated. Some workahol ics arepractically married to work, and divorc ed from the other doma ins o f l ife. Theymay have not cons idered other sources of fu lf i l lment and meaning in l i fe .They fail to realize that they are pursuing career success at the expense oftheir own health ( i .e. , validation of their physical self) and their family andfriendships.In a survey (Cole , 1979) , Japanese and American workers equal ly choseenjoym ent of le isure and hobb ies as the main purpose of working. Howe ver ,when they were asked about their career fulf i l lment, the Japanese found lessmeaning in work than did the Americans. This implies that the Japanese arenot necessar i ly choos ing to work long hours in sel f -devot ion, but to somedegree feel pressured to work due to an external force or incent ive. A l thoughcareer change is a well accepted practice in the West, people in Japan tend


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177to regard switching companies as a failure in s taying in one job and makinga l i fe long commitment . As a resul t of social and corporate pressures andobligations and due to the absence of a promising alternative, one may endup staying with one company rather reluctantly.The seven-eleven husbandThere is a recent Japanese express ion, ' seven-eleven husband, ' to refer tothose who get up early in the morning to go to work and re turn h ome la te a tn ight whi le o ther family members are as leep. For overworked and exhaus tedhusbands , the home beco mes jus t a p lace w here famil iar s leeping faci li t iesare provided without much emotional nour ishment . Such husbands tend tofeel l ike fr inge dwellers whose main responsibil i ty is to bring money home,but not to be directly and significantly invo lved in fam ily activit ies and raisingtheir chi ldren. The seven-eleven husband is of ten so t i red even on theweekend s that family outings and chores around the house som etimes becom eadditional sources of s tress and fatigue. He tends to have a rather marginalfamily membership, and receives only l imited substantive validation for hisfamil ia l se l f f rom the family . When the family form s an in ternal a l l ianceexcluding the marginal fa ther , he is l ikely to feel d isplaced and unwantedat home, which in turn reinforces his wish to be back in a familiar workingenvironment .The invisible fatherThe father used to be a more vis ib le and inf luent ia l family member in thetraditional Japanese culture. The demise of the father 's s tatus seems to be arela t ively new phenom enon, due to the widesp read and extremely high fa therabsenteeism from home and the loss of h is subs tant ive and symbolic ro le asthe familial head. In a patr iarchal, extended family system, the contributionby the fa ther as breadwinner was f requent ly acknowledged and respected bythe family and society. The father was often back home to init iate a familydinner, and his presence was felt . His familial iden tity as father and his s tatuswere maintained and reinforced through the family 's interaction patterns anddaily r i tuals , such as the order of meals being served. As a complementaryinfrastructure, a matriarchal system to ok care of domestic and child-rearingfunctions, while disciplining and role mo deling for boys used to be the father 'sresponsibil i ty. The mother was the gatekeeper of such a double s tructure, andthe reinforcer of the father as the head of the family.

However , especial ly among urban nuclear famil ies in modern days , thepatr iarchal sys tem seems to have been taken over by the former ly matr iar -chal infrastructure. This is due to the father 's frequent absence from homeand the weak enin g of his traditional role in the family. Children grow upwithout seeing and being directly influenced by their father or father substi-tute (e.g. , grandfather) . They begin to think that the family can functionwithou t the father 's input as long as he provides f inancial security. The mothe rhas to be a role model for both boys and gir ls in the family in his absence.


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178Without an extended family ' s inf luence, the mother becomes the creator andgatekeeper of the family interaction pattern and role s tructure. Thus, a father-less family system is formed.In the case of workahol ic fa thers who are obsessed with work and showlitt le concern for their families , the invisible father phen ome non bec om es evenstronger. As their career self may be s trengthened, their familial self is givenonly marginal exis tence and recogni t ion. I t i s not d i f f icul t to imagine howfamily mem bers beco me resentful when their non-participating father suddenlydemands respect f rom everyone in the family or t r ies to get involved inchildren's personal matters . Father absenteeism thus can leave a deep scar inthe family , not eas i ly healed by his wee kend parent ing.R e t i r em en t a s a va l i d a t i o n c r i s i sFor workahol ic persons , the career sel f becomes the predominant par t of se l f-ident i ty and the pr imary object of sel f -val idat ion at tempts . Their sense ofself tends to be narrowly em bed ded in the wo rk context as the pr imary sourceof val idat ion. However , what would happen when they re t i re or unexpect-edly become unemployed? Fig . 3 shows how they become social ly and emo-t ionally d is located in l ife when they are remov ed f rom w ork and cannot fu l lyreenter their own family sys tem. They have been over-adjus ted to the corpo-rate culture, and the family reen try for them feels l ike movin g to a new cultureto which they do not really belong. This creates adjustment s tress and cultureshock. Without work, they feel homeless. W ithout the career self-identity, theyfeel l ike nobody. Thus, an existential vacuum is created in which they sufferthe loss of an identity and m eaning in l ife and results in an anxie ty-prov okingdisorientation in l ife.N u r e - o c h i b aAnother contemporary expression, n u re - o ch i b a (a wet fallen leaf), is a deroga-tory metaphor used by wives , to refer to re t i red husbands who do not knowwhat to do other than work and who hang around at home and expect theirwives to provide a s t ructure in l i fe . They fol low their wives around, l ikeunwanted, wet fa l len leaves which are s tuck to the bot tom of one 's shoes .Thus , competencies developed at work are not necessar i ly t ransferrable to apost-retirement l ifestyle. The wife has l ived all these years without her work-immersed husband 's suppor t , and has achieved emotional independence andego- ident i ty , She possesses appropr ia te ski l ls for social survival and net-working. On the other hand, the husband may lack such ski l ls . He is l ikea f ish out of water , and becomes dependent upon his wife , whi le the la t terfeels annoyed with him w ho cons tant ly d is rupts her routine and demand s herattention.T h e d i s l o c a t e d s e l fAn existential cris is may abruptly surface when the worker retires and loseshis primary source o f validation. In addition, a lack o f abili t ies to establish


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179an open and hones t communicat ion and cul t ivate a f r iendship with his wifecan heighten a sense of alienation. In a posit ive sense, this cris is could be analarm deman ding reevaluation of his values and lifestyle and signalling thenecess i ty to f ind al ternat ives which are more sel f -val idat ing and mutual lyvalidating in the marital partnership. However, the nure-ochiba phenomenoncan also be a sad prelude to long, f rus t ra t ing, and depress ive years of l i fewithout much meaning and direct ion, and of lonel iness and lovelessness inmarriage.

Metaphor ical ly , the re t i red or unemployed worker feels d is located out ofboth the family and work contexts . He falls through his validation network,and lands on an unknown terri tory where he faces the existential vacuum ofbecoming 'nobody ' f rom being ' somebody. ' Such a loss of sel f - ident i ty cancause grief , depression, low self-esteem, accelerated ageing, and social with-drawal . Excess ive dr inking may become a coping method to mask the painof undervalida tion and to avoid existential issues.

Counselling implicationsWe have d i scussed workaho l i sm and overwork- re la ted psychosoc ia l andfamilial problems. These are not only personal and psychological in nature,but also sociocultural . Societal and systemic change needs to parallel coun-sell ing, psych oeduc ational and m edical interventions, and preventative efforts.For example, corporate employees are of ten caught in a d i lemma betweenpersonal needs and corporate needs . Reluctant overwork ers wish for more res tand t ime for themselves and their famil ies and less pressure for workingovertime and cutting their holidays short . At the same time, they are facedwith implicit threats of social rejection, delayed promotion, and job loss , ifthey fa i led to conform to the corporate cul tural norms (e .g . , se l f -sacr i f ice ,group-m indedne ss, and after-work socializing). In this section, we will brieflypoint out the needs for sel f -val idat ion counsel l ing and social and sys temicchange.Self-validation counselling and competency buildingUnlike Nor th America , counsel l ing is not widely avai lable or eas i ly acces-sible in the current Japanese social and corporate systems. Even where coun-sell ing is made available, i t tends to be underutil ized by potential users forvarious reasons, including fears of stigmatization, self-disclosure to a stranger,and breach of confidentiali ty. Therefore, public and within-company educa-t ion is much needed on the value of counsel l ing as an ef fect ive means ofself -explorat ion and problem-solving. One most l ikely avenue for recrui t ingcl ients for counsel l ing is medical consul ta t ions . Because workers feel lessdefens ive abo ut heal th-rela ted consulations , phys icians can in turn encouragetheir patients to seek counselling to deal with their personal issues.


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180Medical personnel and counsellors c an effectively collaborate in facili tating

a psychoeducat ional process of recognizing what under l ies thei r s t resssymptom s and reassessing and explor ing themselves . In counsel l ing, workersmay explore a wide range of i ssues such as : (a) work condi t ions and rela-t ionships, (b) personal and career goals , (c) s tress reactions and healthconcerns , (d) family and mar i ta l problems, (e) recreat ional act ivi t ies , ( f )concerns about ret irement and post-ret irement l ifestyle, (g) f inancial issues,and (h) personal v alues and e xistential issues in l ife.These issues are al l interrelated, and w e believe that an exploration o f oneissue inevitably leads to another . Attempts to validate the physical self andthe familial self, for example, ul t im ately will result in change s in work ha bitsand priorities in life. Learn ing skills and sensitivities for open and hone st com -municat ion wi th thei r wives and chi ldren may be able to improve thei rmarr iage and home environm ent , and help workers recognize the impor tanceof the family's well-being and mutual validation.

Further , exploring and learning to validate the existential , authentic selfbecom es a cr i tical developm ental task. Individuals , long before re t i rement ,need to be confronted by questions as to how they honestly feel about them-selves and l ife, what they value, what are the sources of validation, and w homand what act ivit ies they have been neglect ing at the exp ense of thei r pursui tof career success . Thus , counsel l ing can provide overwo rking and overwo rkedindividuals with opportunit ies to ackn ow ledg e and explore various issues andego-th reaten ing feelings and thou ghts su ch as loneliness, insecurity, self-doubt,emptiness, and hopelessness. Through counsell ing, cl ients can acquire cog-nit ive, behavioral and interpersonal skil ls and stress-coping tactics , in orderto restore health and inner balance and to promote constructive choices andcom mitm ents for personal and interpersonal wel lness .Societal and systemic change as a co-requisiteWithout going into the detai ls , we cons ider that the fol lowing im provem entsin society and work condit ions are required: (a) emphasis on restoring thefamily unity and marital partnership and father 's active involvement in par-ent ing and chi ld development ; (b) improving the s ta tus of women and pro-mot ing gender equi ty a t work and changing the male-dominated corporateculture; (c) education on the im portan ce o f holis t ic self-validation; (d) rais ingworkers ' awareness of human r ights and improving the appeal sys tem, (e)requir ing the em ploye r to pay for thei r over t ime, ins tead of exploi t ing thei r'voluntary ' over t ime; ( f ) legi timizing mandatory m inimum hol idays ; (g) con-fidential counsell ing services made available at work in the areas of career ,marr iage/ fam ily, heal th , recreat ion, and personal and exis tent ia l concerns ;(h) supporting medical leaves and helpseeking at tempts to cope with s tress;and ( i ) c lose governmental moni tor ing of heal th-hazardous working condi-tions. As to karoshi, i t has been pointed out that the labor law and insurancepolicies nee d to be im proved (Yam azaki, 1991). F or example, only about 10%


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181of the f inancial co mpensat ion reques ts by the famil ies of karoshi victims areawarded af ter many years of legal d isputes ; the company and workers ' com-pensation organ ization tend to eva de their legal, ethical, and f inancial respon-sibilities (Uehata et al. , 1991).

Conclusion

Wh at we are suggesting here will proba bly meet resistance from the supportersof the corporate cul ture and those who place pr ior i ty on corporate produc-t iv i ty and workers ' social conformity . Japan seems to have maximized thewo rkers ' outpu t at the expense of individuals ' personal and familial wellnessand their sense of inner balance and f reedo m w hich the Japanese cul ture hasvalue d traditionally. Ed ucation of the worker, the emp loyer , and society ingeneral is urgently needed. Humanistic and existential self-validation coun-sell ing is presented here as a defense against dehumanization and as a pre-vent ion of sel f -abuse mediated by overwork and the neglect of the needs formore holis t ic self-validation. The results of effective counselling may not beful ly compat ible with the exis t ing corporate cul ture; workers may becomemore individualis t ic and less conforming. However, we believe that this is ahealthy direction to take, and that the corporate culture will also graduallyshift in such a direction w hen m ore work ers and policy ma kers b egin to appre-ciate the importance of holis t ic self-validation.

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Ishiyama 1994 Overwork and Career-centered Self-Validation Among the Japanese - Psychosocial Issues and Counselling Implications