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<p>My grandparents' vacation cabin in Lake Tahoe is the stuff of legend.</p><p>In the '90s, when my parents were just friends, my dad "accidentally" invited himself on a ski trip with my mom and her parents. It was an epic winter when the blizzards created berms as tall as the houses. By the time spring came, my parents were dating.</p><p>My grandparents' little house in South Lake Tahoe, which they bought for $113,000 in 1984, quickly became a haven for my family.</p><p>I dreamed of getting married there and taking my own kids to the cabin someday. But in May, my mom called to tell me this could be the last year we have the home.</p><p>A tax on vacation home-owners might make our place in Tahoe too costly to keep.</p><p>A measure on the ballot today proposes an annual tax on every property occupied less than 51% of the year. If it passes, second-home owners would owe $3,000 in 2026 and $6,000 every year after.</p><p>In ski towns and cities across the US, home prices have skyrocketed, and young people struggle to pay rent or buy a house. Meanwhile, the wealthy have flocked to mountain retreats where they can vacation and work from home. One of the measure's architects told BI that it will combat this trend by incentivizing second-home owners to rent to local residents, bringing down the cost of housing by increasing the available supply.</p><p>Supporters project city revenue gains of $4 million to $8 million in the first year and $10 to $20 million every year after that. The money would go toward rebuilding roads, creating more public transit, and paying the administrative costs of implementation.</p><p>Framers of the Tahoe tax measure took inspiration from Berkeley, California, which adopted a vacancy tax this year. The Hawaiian island of Oahu and the Colorado ski towns of Aspen, Vail, and Breckenridge are also considering vacancy taxes.</p><p>But some say it's unclear whether the tax will actually lower housing prices for locals.</p><div type="image" title="View of the mountains around South Lake Tahoe" height="3279" width="4896" msid="114990171" hostid="261" sizebytes="935262"></div><p>The opposition in South Lake Tahoe is made up of some of its institutionalized powers, including the local Chamber of Commerce, the South Tahoe Association of Realtors, and the restaurant and lodging associations. In interviews, they told BI that a tax would drive second-home owners away, depriving local businesses of their spending while having no impact on housing affordability for locals. The city's report on the economic outcomes of the tax said it may not actually incentivize homeowners to rent or sell to locals.</p><p>Some long-timers feel squeezed: How do they afford to live in these places, and what measures would actually fix the problem? Is it a tax — or is it, say, zoning changes that allow more homes to be built?</p><p>Similar battles over housing affordability are happening across the country. I just happen to have a front-row seat to this one.</p><p>Since the city of South Lake Tahoe was incorporated in 1965, it's been populated by a healthy mix of year-round and seasonal residents.</p><p>Middle- and upper-middle-class mountain enthusiasts from the Bay Area flocked to the city, which, with 21,000 residents per the most recent census data, is more densely populated than any other town around the lake.</p><p>This part of Tahoe has long been a relatively more affordable alternative to the ski havens of Colorado and Utah. As of October 2024, the median sales price for homes in South Lake Tahoe was $750,000, according to Realtor.com. By comparison, it was $958,000 in Park City, Utah, $1.4 million in Aspen, and $1.6 million in Vail.</p><p>"It's one of these places where you have folks from really different socioeconomic backgrounds," said Amelia Richmond, who favors the tax and leads a group of other supporters called Locals For Affordable Housing. "It's one of the reasons I think mountain towns are so cool."</p><p>But that environment doesn't exist without both year-round and seasonal residents in town. Fifty-six percent of Tahoe's 9,125 housing units are filled by renters, while 44% are owner-occupied, according to the US Census' American Community Survey.</p><p>Because Measure N will appear on the local ballot, most second-home owners directly affected by the tax can't vote. Nearly half of the property-owning population — my family included — is left watching debates over the tax play out among local residents, who are split on where they stand.</p><h2 id="90a60f06-f278-4362-9ebf-345a4dac61c6">Locals are divided on the tax</h2><p>Steve Teshara, who has held several roles, including CEO, at the Tahoe Chamber of Commerce, said the tax would hurt the local economy by driving out second-home owners.</p><p>He pointed to evidence from a previous measure, which banned Airbnbs and other short-term rentals in certain parts of town. That measure was also intended to stabilize area home prices and rents.</p><p>"It has an immediate effect when visitors are not able to spend as much money or when visitors just aren't here anymore," Teshara said.</p><p>The previous measure effectively reduced the supply of Airbnbs from 3,350 units in January 2018 to 2,635 units in July 2024, according to the short-term rental data company AirDNA. However, it didn't make the expected dent in housing costs, data from the Realtors' Association shows. Median sale prices continued to increase overall, from $440,000 in 2018 to $750,000 in 2024.</p><div type="image" title="View of Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe with a light dusting of snow" height="4153" width="5538" msid="114990167" hostid="261" sizebytes="1763634"></div><p>Teshara believes the housing crisis must be solved in the long term, pointing to the local government's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cityofslt.us/2332/Affordable-Housing-Properties-Other-Deve">affordable housing construction projects</a>. He is a fan of indirect measures currently in place, like vanpooling, which shuttles people who live further away — where prices are lower — through the mountains to work.</p><p>Richmond, the pro-tax organizer, said that business from year-round residents is more important to many shops and restaurants than purchases from occasional visitors.</p><p>"How many beers do you have to buy to make up that difference when you're up just once a quarter?" she said. "Local economies are actually robust when you have a healthy middle class that can spend small amounts of money on a regular basis."</p><h2 id="139d1f43-575b-4368-9419-52d99a68446e">Taxing second home-owners may not make them rent to locals</h2><p>The city of South Lake Tahoe conducted an independent study on the tax's economic outcomes if it were to go into effect.</p><p>The findings supported Richmond's assertion that the measure could modestly boost sales tax revenue if second homes vacated by owners were converted into permanent residences or long-term leases.</p><p>But the report also cautioned that the measure's impact on housing availability will depend largely on how second-home owners react if the tax is adopted — behavior that's nearly impossible to predict.</p><p>Second-home owners could sell their properties, like my family is considering. But because of current home prices, buyers would likely be people who don't see an additional $6,000-a-year expense as a deterrent. While the city could collect additional tax revenue from a wealthier population of second-home owners, that wouldn't make it any easier for locals to buy.</p><p>Homeowners could also decide to rent and become landlords instead of selling, as Richmond hopes. But that may be a longer shot, the city report found.</p><p>Based on the previous leasing programs in the area, "it appears that financial incentives are not particularly effective to motivate owners of vacant property in South Lake Tahoe to rent out their homes for longer terms," the report said.</p><div type="image" title="A view of South Lake Tahoe in 1974" height="3458" width="5142" msid="114990163" hostid="261" sizebytes="1062714"></div><p>Some second-home owners told Business Insider they would refuse to rent to tenants.</p><p>Sherri Maslyar, who has owned a home in South Lake Tahoe with her husband since 2013 and visits monthly, said she heard a horror story about a neighbor's long-term tenant who defied the landlord's no-pets rule and ruined parts of the house. She said she would rather pay the tax than risk renting her home to someone untrustworthy.</p><p>"That's not what we bought the house for," she said.</p><h2 id="534b0195-f639-4a7b-8fb1-9c677eca426d">Tahoe's character — and prices — have changed over the years</h2><p>The median income in South Lake Tahoe grew 65% from $40,972 to $67,686 between 2000 and 2022, according to census data. In the same period, median home prices in the area ballooned by 288%, from $189,000 to $732,500.</p><p>Zillow's rent data, which only goes back to 2020, shows that typical rents in South Lake Tahoe grew from $2,101.52 in October 2020 to $2,653.05 in October 2023. The typical rent as of September 30 was $2,682.50.</p><p>The neighborhood where our family's cabin sits was once populated by eclectic A-frames and modest one-story structures, whose kitschy exteriors tended to match the eccentricities of their owners. Now, vaguely chic rustic McMansions with smooth angles and wood finishing are common.</p><div type="image" title="Line of wooden bears carrying &quot;howdy&quot; and &quot;welcome&quot; signs" height="3435" width="5617" msid="114990174" hostid="261" sizebytes="1760630"></div><p>Part of why building more houses or apartments — which might stabilize prices — has been so difficult is due to strict development laws. In Lake Tahoe, all development projects must be approved by the Tahoe Regional Planning Association (TRPA), whose primary objective is conservation, not housing construction.</p><p>Jeff Cowen, TRPA's public information officer, told BI the agency's main goals were environmental, adding that "we have to consider community impacts of our regulations." It doesn't have a stance on the tax.</p><p>One thing opponents and proponents of Measure N agree on: TRPA's mandate has made it difficult to build new housing in Tahoe to address the housing shortage. But they disagree on whether radical and rapid changes should be made to make Tahoe affordable right now.</p><h2 id="7b8ad7f8-c9b9-4a00-b5a4-14745b01c7cc">It might be the end of Tahoe as we know it</h2><p>A place that was once accessible as a seasonal destination for a middle-class family risks becoming a playground for the very rich if changes in the Tahoe market continue to make buying a home there relatively unaffordable.</p><p>I am benefiting from generational wealth stemming from my grandparents' choices, and I will always be grateful for the investment they made.</p><p>My family isn't sure what we'd do if the tax passes. One option is to rent to a long-term tenant, but we'd likely lose the freedom to come and go seasonally. Another is to sell the house.</p><div type="image" title="A middle-aged Asian American couple and their 10-year-old daughter standing in front of an old car in a ski resort parking lot." height="537" width="800" msid="114990172" hostid="261" sizebytes="23164"></div><p>Either way, we'd be saying goodbye to the home as we've known it for the past four decades.</p><p>It's hard to imagine giving up my ties to a place that has such emotional value — that is very much the second home my grandparents intended it to be. And if the tax doesn't do what proponents hope it will, I'd be losing Lake Tahoe for nothing.</p><p>All I can do now is wait and see.</p>

My family bought a vacation home in Lake Tahoe for $113,000. A new tax could push us out. 

<br /> When was the last time you went on a vacation? Yes, a proper vacation spanning weeks and not the weekend add-ons we try to snatch up for visiting nearby getaways. Long, relaxing and <keyword id="291875" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Paid-Leave">paid leave</keyword> away from your office are not what they used to be, according to a yearly study by the travel portal <keyword id="354768" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Expedia">Expedia</keyword>. The number of paid leave seems to be going down worldwide and people are craving for more in a bid to strike a reasonable work-life balance.<br />
 <br /> In a recent study called <keyword id="1962702" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="2013-Vacation-Deprivation">2013 Vacation Deprivation</keyword>, Expedia has interviewed some 8,535 people across 24 countries. As per the findings, Europeans feel most vacation-deprived although they go for the longest vacations. In contrast, Americans grumble more but take fewer leaves than their entitlements (gasp… the majority of full-time workers in the <keyword id="6354458" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="US">US</keyword> get 14 days of paid leave and they only take an average of 10 days). According to the poll, 35% people from the US say they have either cancelled or postponed their vacations due to work.<br />
 <br /> As for <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> (or most of the <keyword id="63759" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Asian-countries">Asian countries</keyword> for that matter), we see a similar trend – people take less number of vacation days than what their workplaces are offering – an average of 3 weeks or so.<br />
 <br /> India is the world’s 10th most <keyword id="1962705" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Vacation-deprived-country">vacation-deprived country</keyword> and around 63% of Indians have admitted that they want more time off, as per the study. Within the country, 74% people working in Delhi feel extremely overworked and in need of vacation, followed 67% in Mumbai and 56% in Bangalore.<br />
 <br /> So what’s keeping you from your seasons in the sun? Apparently, the threat of <keyword id="190063" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="pink-slip">pink slip</keyword> and a deep-rooted fear of losing the job if you are away for too long. Around 18% of Indians don’t use all the leaves because they fear it will be perceived negatively by their employers while many avoid long vacations to remain in the good books of their bosses, the survey says. Overall, Indians have utilised only 20 of the 26 leaves granted to them this year. The country also leads when it comes to encashing unused holidays (37%), followed by <keyword id="6355226" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Brazil">Brazil</keyword> (30%).<br />
 <br /> Around 60% of <keyword id="77626" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="indian-workers">Indian workers</keyword> are not able to plan their vacation in advance because of their work – again the highest in the world – while 74% have either cancelled or postponed their vacation due to <keyword id="431460" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="workload">workload</keyword>. But the scenario is worse when it comes to <keyword id="1962710" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Weekly-work-hours">weekly work hours</keyword>.<br />
 <br /> Around 38% Indians work around 42 hours a week, which is much more than their counterparts from other countries, according to Vikram Malhi, general manager of Expedia (South and South-east Asia). This is, indeed, staggering when you consider the other side of the coin where people are already demanding a 4-day <keyword id="53739" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Work-Week">work week</keyword>.<br />
 <br />
According to a CNN report, when Facebook executive Nicola Mendelsohn was hired as a company vice-president earlier this year, she reportedly negotiated a 4-day workweek so she could spend more time with her family. Much was made of the rumor, which Facebook would neither confirm nor deny, despite the fact that many working mothers in the US routinely, and increasingly, negotiate 4-day workweeks.<br />
 <br />
<strong>Staying <keyword id="330374" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Wired">wired</keyword> is not the way to <keyword id="27344" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="unwind">unwind</keyword></strong><br /> “You not only require adequate number of off days, but quality time as well,” says Labonita Grover, an IT professional from Pune. “Most of us live a wired life now and being away physically doesn’t mean you are not working.” As per the survey, 94% of Indians continue to check their <keyword id="1962717" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Work-mail">work mail</keyword> while on leave, again the highest in the world, followed by <keyword id="6354785" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="France">France</keyword> (93%), Thailand (92%), Malaysia (91%) and <keyword id="3746" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Mexico">Mexico</keyword> (91%).<br />
 <br /> You stay wired because you have been aligned with a <keyword id="6458484" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Work-culture">work culture</keyword> that treats work not just as a job, but as a large part of people’s lives – if not the sum of their lives. Many of our societies also treat vacation as a luxury rather than a right. According to the <keyword id="1962700" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Expedia-study">Expedia study</keyword>, this applies to the US as well.<br />
 <br /> The <keyword id="14348" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="french">French</keyword> are also disgruntled, according to the survey. In spite of extensive vacation leaves, they feel deprived as they are still wired with work either “constantly, regularly or sometimes” – checking work e-mail and voice messages. Incidentally, they get the longest paid vacation – a total of 30 days. Yet, 90% say they feel vacation deprived, which is well above the 62% global average.<br />
 <br />
<strong>Working from home – is it any better?</strong><br /> When <keyword id="319703" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Marissa-Mayer">Marissa Mayer</keyword> of Yahoo started her crusade against home-based workers, a Bangalore-based IT professional just guffawed. “There could be a <keyword id="23080" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="productivity">productivity</keyword> issue out there for all we know, but now they can get away after 8 hours. In India, working from home means 24x7 firefighting and contingencies are lined up,” says Anirban Roy who works for a global technology firm.<br />
 <br /> He keeps his system next to the bed (sleeping on the laptop is what they call it) for every possible emergency and often attends conference calls at weird hours. Needless to say, no cats, dogs, babies, spouse or <keyword id="343" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="80" keywordseo="Friends">friends</keyword> are allowed in the sanctum sanctorum. Of course, one saves the time and money on daily commute and don’t dress (for office). But that’s about all. The kind of happy pictures you get to see on the Internet (person in pajamas cuddling dogs and babies) are farthest from the truth.<br />
 <br />
<strong>What will make you happy?</strong><br />
It should be a mix of professional and personal fulfillment, with enough time for family and friends. Interestingly, 85% of the Indian respondents have said they are satisfied with their jobs in spite of being vacation-deprived. “But then, many of us toil under a twisted sense of power and responsibility, which makes up for the vacation days we are missing every year,” reflects Labonita. “To live a balanced life, it should be the other way round – you should be able to enjoy your free time as much as you enjoy your job. A job that gets larger than life finally swallows all other priorities,” she adds.<br />
 <br /> It seems a sound approach. European countries like Norway, <keyword id="49968" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Denmark">Denmark</keyword> and <keyword id="23050" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Sweden">Sweden</keyword> are already offering generous vacation endowments and their employees remain quite satisfied. These nations are not losing out on productivity either and have some of the most <keyword id="1962721" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Stable-economies">stable economies</keyword>. For all we know, relax more to work harder could be the new-age doctrine very soon. After all, fearful and jaded minds could hardly usher in new waves at the workplace of the future.

<b>Indians Are Overworked… What’s Killing Your Vacation</b><b>?</b>

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="13278280" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="roman-abramovich" source="Orion">Roman Abramovich</keyword> is <keyword id="11894337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="russia" source="Orion">Russia</keyword>'s most recognizable oligarch.</li><li>He's come to the forefront in recent weeks for his role in peace talks between Russia and <keyword id="11985141" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ukraine" source="Orion">Ukraine</keyword>.</li></ul><p>Roman Abramovich's career in business had inauspicious beginnings. The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/11/world/europe/roman-abramovich-russian-oligarch-sanctions.html?utm_source=npr_newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=20220318&amp;utm_term=6453786&amp;utm_campaign=money&amp;utm_id=351951&amp;orgid=1485&amp;utm_att1=money">college dropout</a> and former Red Army conscript started out trading <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/11/world/europe/roman-abramovich-russian-oligarch-sanctions.html?utm_source=npr_newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=20220318&amp;utm_term=6453786&amp;utm_campaign=money&amp;utm_id=351951&amp;orgid=1485&amp;utm_att1=money">rubber ducks</a>, car tires, and dolls, having moved on from a short stint working as a <a href="https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/JCO/Documents/Judgments/berezovsky-judgment.pdf">mechanic</a>.</p><p>But Abramovich soon found himself in the right place at the right time. It was the late 1980s, and the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was seeking to transfer power from the dusty state-run corporations of old to the private sector, through the "perestroika" reforms that would transform the country's economy and political machinery.</p><p>Abramovich pounced on the opportunity and ultimately became one of Russia's richest oligarchs, worth an estimated <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/roman-abramovich/?sref=lAVQtUwz">$14 billion</a> today.</p><p>He once told The Guardian that money "cannot buy you happiness," though he noted that it can get you "some independence."</p><p>Abramovich is Russia's most recognizable oligarch, in large part because he's owned Chelsea Football Club, a top-flight London soccer team, for nearly two decades.</p><p>He's also recognised for his extravagance. He amassed a UK property portfolio, including vast mansions in the exclusive London neighborhood of Kensington, worth an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/21/roman-abramovich-uk-property-portfolio-chelsea-fc-owner-sanctioned">estimated</a> 250 million pounds, or about $325 million. He <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-oligarchs-yachts-roman-abramovich-sail-east-uk-sanctions-2022-3">owns</a> two of the world's most expensive superyachts: the $600 million Solaris and the $700 million Eclipse. He has several private jets, including a <a href="https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2022/03/commerce-department-identifies-commercial-and-private-aircraft-exported">Gulfstream</a>, as well as a helicopter and a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/roman-abramovich-net-worth-yacht-cars-houses-photos-2018-10?r=US&amp;IR=T">number of luxury cars</a>.</p><p>Abramovich has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/21/roman-abramovich-billionaire-oligarch-money-russia-chelsea">contended</a> that his story is "uniquely Russian."</p><p>Of late, Abramovich's public profile has been enhanced further by two occurrences. First, he was sanctioned by the <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L:2022:087I:FULL&amp;from=EN">European Union</a> and the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/roman-abramovich-sanctions-oleg-deripaska-russian-oligarch-billionaires-2022-3">UK</a> in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Second, he acted as something of an envoy in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine — which brought him some positive press while Western officials were seizing his trophy assets.</p><p>These occurrences encapsulated the confused thinking around Abramovich. Is he one of the good guys — a regular Russian who made it big? Or is he one of the bad guys — a run-of-the-mill businessman who got lucky with perestroika and was then only too happy to cozy up to <keyword id="11899444" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="vladimir-putin" source="Orion">Vladimir Putin</keyword>?</p><h2>Beginnings</h2><p>Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich was born in <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L:2022:087I:FULL&amp;from=EN">Saratov</a>, a port on the Volga River in southwest Russia, on October 24, 1966. He was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/dec/24/sport.football">orphaned</a> at the age of 2 when his mother died of blood poisoning and his father was killed in a construction-crane accident. Abramovich spent much of his childhood living with his uncle in Komi, in northern Russia.</p><p>"To tell the truth, I cannot call my childhood bad," Abramovich told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/dec/24/sport.football">The Guardian</a> in 2006. "In your childhood you can't compare things: One eats carrots, one eats candy, both taste good. As a child, you cannot tell the difference."</p><p>He is of Russian-Jewish origin, and the UK <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1066168/Russia.pdf">says</a> he's a citizen of Russia, Portugal, and Israel. He's <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/roman-abramovich/?sref=lAVQtUwz">thought</a> to have married and divorced three times and have fathered seven children. He doesn't give many interviews.</p><p>Outside of business, in the 2000s, he served as governor of Chukotka, a deprived area in eastern Russia. He <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/dec/24/sport.football">spent</a> eight years there bankrolling schools and hospitals with his own money and set up a charity that took Chukotka's children on annual vacations. He made a<a href="https://english.tau.ac.il/vision/tau_new_nano_building"> $30 million donation</a> to Tel Aviv University, which it used to build the Roman Abramovich Building for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. He's the<a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/billionaire-roman-abramovich-makes-8-digit-donation-to-yad-vashem/"> second-largest donor</a> to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem.</p><p>His big break in business came in 1995, when he bought Sibneft, a Russian state-owned energy company, for about $250 million. The auction for Sibneft was <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60736185">almost certainly</a> rigged in Abramovich's favor. Ten years later, he <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/abramovich-and-deripaska-among-seven-oligarchs-targeted-in-estimated-15bn-sanction-hit">sold</a> Sibneft to Gazprom, another Russian state-owned energy group, for nearly $13 billion — an investment gain of about 5,000%.</p><p>This triggered an acrimonious court battle with his former business partner, Boris Berezovsky, an exiled Russian oligarch. Berezovsky <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16636137">sued Abramovich</a> in the UK for intimidating him into selling his Sibneft stock in 2001 for a "fraction" of its true value. But the court <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-19433874">ruled in favor of Abramovich</a> in 2012, with the judge <a href="https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/JCO/Documents/Judgments/berezovsky-abramovich-summary.pdf">saying</a> she found Abramovich "a truthful, and on the whole reliable, witness."</p><p>Abramovich's lawyers have described claims that he amassed his wealth through crime as baseless. Yet in 2012, Abramovich <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60708450">admitted</a> to a UK court that he made some corrupt payments in the run-up to the Sibneft deal.</p><p>Berezovsky was found <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/23/boris-berezovsky-found-dead-berkshire-home">dead</a> at his home in Ascot, England, in March 2013. Amid claims of foul play, possibly by the Kremlin, a UK coroner ultimately <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/27/boris-berezovsky-inquest-open-verdict-death">concluded</a> he was unable to say whether the oligarch had killed himself.</p><p>With the Sibneft meg-deal done, Abramovich went on to found <a href="https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/JCO/Documents/Judgments/berezovsky-judgment.pdf">multiple petroleum-trading companies</a> and acquired holdings in <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-nornickel-idUSKBN1QU22G">Norilsk Nickel</a> and <a href="https://www.evraz.com/en/news-and-media/press-releases-and-news/ownership-and-control-of-the-company-supply-of-steel-by-the-group-/">Evraz</a>, an industrial conglomerate. Trading in both companies was suspended by the <a href="https://www.londonstockexchange.com/stock/MNOD/pjsc-mmc-norilsk-nickel/company-page">London Stock Exchange</a> after Russia invaded Ukraine.</p><p>In 2003, Abramovich <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/21/roman-abramovich-billionaire-oligarch-money-russia-chelsea">sold</a> a 25% stake in the aluminum company Rusal to the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska for $1.9 billion. That year Abramovich also bought Chelsea FC, for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-oligarch-roman-abramovich-will-sell-english-club-chelsea-fc-2022-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">about $190 million</a>.</p><p>"I don't look at this as a financial investment," he told the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9b59def0-4a4b-4040-a57e-a29dceb8e9c5">Financial Times</a> at the time. "I look at it as a hobby."</p><p>In a later interview with <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/leeigel/2021/03/19/chelsea-owner-and-billionaire-roman-abramovich-on-the-past-present-and-future-of-the-club/?sh=10a7a4810070">Forbes</a>, he said: "In hindsight, especially with the public profile it would bring me, maybe I would have thought differently about owning a club."</p><h2>War</h2><p>In early March, shortly after the start of the Ukraine war, Abramovich announced plans to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-oligarch-roman-abramovich-will-sell-english-club-chelsea-fc-2022-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">sell</a> Chelsea FC for a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/sports/soccer/chelsea-roman-abramovich.html">rumored</a> $2.5 billion.</p><p>Western officials <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L:2022:087I:FULL&amp;from=EN">say</a> Abramovich has long enjoyed close ties to <keyword id="11909347" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="putin" source="Orion">Putin</keyword>, who in 2000 succeeded Boris Yeltsin as Russia's president.</p><p>Indeed, EU officials say Abramovich has "privileged access to the president, and has maintained very good relations with him." British officials <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1066486/Russia.pdf">describe</a> Abramovich as a "pro-Kremlin oligarch" who's had "a close relationship for decades" with Putin. They say Abramovich and his businesses have received "preferential treatment and concessions" from Putin, including tax breaks, favorable rates when buying and selling shares in state-owned companies, and grants linked to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which was held in Russia.</p><p>Abramovich has <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/roman-abramovich-putin-ukraine-war-envoy-11648823720">repeatedly denied</a> being financially linked with Putin or having close personal ties with the Russian president.</p><p>In recent weeks, Abramovich was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-show-abramovich-at-istanbul-peace-talks-after-poisoning-reports-2022-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">photographed</a> at peace talks between Russia and Ukraine and has <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/roman-abramovich-putin-ukraine-war-envoy-11648823720">reportedly</a> traveled across Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Israel, and Turkey to meet with officials, sometimes in hotel rooms. Abramovich reportedly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/roman-abramovich-gave-putin-peace-note-zelenskyy-rejected-report-2022-3">met with Putin</a> in late March, where he is said to have delivered a note from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seeking peace.</p><p>Yet Abramovich's remit as peace envoy — if that indeed is what he is — hasn't been precisely determined. Both Russia and Ukraine have said Abramovich isn't an official member of their negotiation teams, and he's appeared to have sat with observers at talks.</p><p>But his role as middleman appears to have bought him time with the US. Washington officials told The Wall Street Journal that the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-oligarch-sanction-zelenskyy-biden-roman-abramovich-russia-ukraine-talks-2022-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">US dropped plans to sanction Abramovich</a> after Zelenskyy told Joe Biden that Abramovich could be useful in Russia-Ukraine peace talks.</p><p>"Roman Abramovich is involved in enabling certain contacts between the Russian and Ukrainian sides," the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/kremlin-says-abramovich-acting-go-between-ukraine-talks-2022-03-29/">said</a> in late March. Zelenskyy has said that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zelenskyy-roman-abramovich-trying-help-ukraine-russia-invasion-2022-3">Abramovich</a> has tried to assist Ukraine with peace talks.</p><p>Whatever his role, the former rubber-duck trader has enjoyed quite the rise. What remains to be seen is whether the West will strip him of his great wealth, however earned, and bring about his downfall.</p>

Inside Roman Abramovich's rise from college dropout and Red Army conscript to rubber-duck trader, billionaire oligarch, and wartime peace envoy

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Reuters</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Japan's work culture is so intense, people in the 1970s invented a word that translates to "death by overwork."</strong></li><li><strong><em>Karoshi</em>, as it's known, involves employees committing suicide or suffering from heart failure and stroke due to long hours.</strong></li><li><strong>The Japanese federal government has taken steps to reduce karoshi cases, but experts fear the measures don't go far enough.</strong></li></ul><p>Ever since the late 1970s, Japan has had a word to refer to people dying from spending too much time in the office: <em>karoshi.</em> The literal translation is "death by overwork."</p><p>The latest employee death determined to be karoshi was <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-womans-death-from-overwork-government-rethinks-work-2017-10">31-year-old journalist Miwa Sado</a>. She reportedly logged 159 hours of overtime in one month at the news network NHK, before dying of heart failure in July 2013.</p><p>Her death was just recently announced as karoshi in early October 2017.</p><p>Before that, 24-year-old Matsuri Takahashi worked <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-rethinks-work-life-balance-after-suicide-2016-12">105 hours of overtime</a> in a month at the Japanese ad agency Dentsu. Takahashi leapt from her employer's roof on Christmas Day 2015. Tadashi Ishii, Dentsu's president and CEO, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dentsu-ceo-tadashi-ishii-resigns-after-karoshi-employee-suicide-2016-12">resigned</a> a month later.</p><h2>Working yourself to death</h2><p>Japan's karoshi concept can be traced back to the aftermath of World War II.</p><p><span>During the early 1950s, Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida made <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-fertility-crisis-2017-4">rebuilding Japan's economy</a> his top priority. He enlisted major corporations to offer their employees lifelong job security, asking only that workers repay them with loyalty. The pact worked. Japan's economy is now the third largest in the world, and it's largely because of Yoshida's efforts 65 years ago.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Wikimedia Commons</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>But within a decade of Yoshida's initial call, Japanese workers began committing suicide and suffering strokes or heart failure from the enormous burdens of stress and sleep deprivation. </span></p><p>Initially, the ailment was known as "occupational sudden death," as the fatalities were primarily job-related, according to researchers studying <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090214232217/http://workhealth.org/whatsnew/lpkarosh.html">the history of karoshi</a>. In their quest to make good impressions on their bosses, workers began putting their undying loyalty to the ultimate test.</p><p><span>Fast-forward to today and the picture of work-life balance in Japan is hardly any better.</span></p><p><span>A <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b972d8ccc27a4060a8a3385f7b11ed41/japan-overwork-deaths-among-young-show-lessons-unlearned">2016 report</a> examining karoshi cases and their cause of death found that more than 20% of people in a survey of 10,000 Japanese workers said they worked at least 80 hours of overtime a month.</span></p><p><span> In the US, 16.4% of people work an average of 49 hours or longer each week. In Japan, more than 20% do, according to the report. Half of all respondents said they don't take paid vacations. </span></p><p><span>Instead of karoshi cases affecting a majority-male workforce, as they used to, now women like Takahashi and Sado also suffer the consequences of staying committed to a job. "It's 4 a.m. My body's trembling," <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/business/dentsu-japan-resignation-employee-suicide.html?_r=0">Takahashi reportedly said</a> in one Twitter post. "I'm going to die. I'm so tired."</span></p><p><span>It's not uncommon for young employees in Japan to work long hours. Bosses expect young employees still working their way up the corporate ladder to arrive early and leave late, often well into the night. Takehiro Onuki, a 31-year-old salesman, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-fertility-crisis-2017-4">often arrives at 8 a.m.</a> and leaves at midnight. He sees his wife only on the weekends.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Issei Kato/Reuters</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>So it goes for countless other Japanese employees, many of whom work in white-collar jobs that come with rigid hierarchies. Advancement is earned through back-breaking effort. And people seldom leave their jobs because finding a new one means starting from scratch, not at the level they just left.</span></p><p><span>The result is an entire generation of workers desperate to seem devoted to their work.</span></p><h2><span>How to end karoshi for good</span></h2><p><span>Japan is trying to curb cases of karoshi through policies that give people more time off at work. Soon after Takahashi's suicide in December 2016, the federal government announced its Premium Friday plan. Effective immediately, workers would get the chance to leave at 3 p.m. on the last Friday of each month.</span></p><p><span>Now eight months into the program, the government <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/09/26/business/adjusted-premium-friday-government-eyes-moving-campaign-aimed-boosting-fun-spending/#.WeZXIRNSzJw">hasn't </a>seen much success. Many Japanese companies are organizing their monthly finances and looking to hit sales targets at the end of the month; a shorter day has only made people busier.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pedrosz/32461052246/in/photolist-RstnUA-Lxtn6j-Q1JD8o-R2mVZ7-R7RLDt-bWG4MM-Ru6tG9-RgJfch-Rq8pEb-bYjayu-RakRZX-Rb4Cop-R6jLE8-QZ5Z4m-6JYCUR-tAgedd-oTz27N-Rmi6FV-EaXWPS-oVAWo2-cZrFAs-dtNeVb-muRspn-4Nc1Zc-9qWp9P-a95Lza-muRwpg-5dTMM5-72pYTo-QdfmsF-QkdfNm-QdfkXc-P79hSJ-Qow8c4-ecpxw5-BtMV25-7mNb7t-qAoJrQ-cxbfhL-a8trGq-PBnF9U-5QAKHH-GBDZAF-7mDi3s-5e6416-mxVTBa-5TRp5g-5ivGpQ-KG2ZWh-c2Tub1">Pedro Szekely/Flickr</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div>"We will listen to various views both from the viewpoint of boosting consumer spending and achieving work-style reform, and review the campaign if necessary," Hiroshige Seko, a Japanese politician leading the program, recently <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/09/26/business/adjusted-premium-friday-government-eyes-moving-campaign-aimed-boosting-fun-spending/#.WeZXIRNSzJw">told</a> Japan Times.</span></p><p><span>Other companies have tried to minimize karoshi cases by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-rethinks-work-life-balance-after-suicide-2016-12">offering breakfast</a> to those arriving early, dissuading them from staying too late. Others have let workers take more time off as needed.</span></p><p><span>Experts on Japanese culture are skeptical these measures will make a long-term impact, however. They believe Japan's true problem lies in its view of gender roles. </span></p><p><span>Frances Rosenbluth, a political scientist at Yale University, has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-fertility-crisis-2017-4">said</a> the best strategy for cutting working hours is to give firms tax breaks if they hire more women, thereby increasing the labor pool. But she acknowledged it won't be easy.</span></p><p><span>"What do you do about the fact that firms' incentives don't align with the social desirability of changing this problem?" Rosenbluth <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-fertility-crisis-2017-4">told</a> Business Insider. "That's a hard one."</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/everything-know-google-upcoming-smartphone-pixel-2-phone-2017-9">Everything we know about Google's upcoming smartphone, the Pixel 2</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

People are working such long hours in Japan that the country now faces a 'death by overwork' problem

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&amp;v=K1R_W6JXKMI">ANN News/YouTube</a></span></p><p class="caption">Miwa Sado died of overwork in 2013.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>The Japanese government recently gave citizens a <a href="https://www.insider.com/japan-gets-10-days-off-for-new-emperor-some-people-really-unhappy-2019-4">ten-day public holiday</a> to celebrate its <a href="https://www.insider.com/japan-emperor-naruhito-everything-to-know-about-him-2019-4">new emperor</a>, but not everyone was happy about it.</strong></li><li>The country is notorious for its non-stop work culture and rigid labor market, and has seen hundreds of people die from overwork - also known as "karoshi."</li><li>This is the story of Miwa Sado, a 31-year-old reporter in Tokyo, who died from karoshi after working more than 150 hours in overtime in one month.</li><li>The government has tried to halt the trend over overwork, but has yet to get very far.</li><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.</a></strong></li></ul><p>Japan recently gave its citizens a <a href="https://www.insider.com/japan-gets-10-days-off-for-new-emperor-some-people-really-unhappy-2019-4">one-off, ten-day-long public holiday</a> to celebrate the enthronement of its new emperor, Naruhito, who <a href="https://www.insider.com/japan-new-emperor-naruhito-ascends-throne-women-excluded-ceremony-2019-5">officially took over from his father</a> last Wednesday.</p><p>The holiday started on started on April 27 and ended on May 6. Many citizens took advantage of the break by going on vacation abroad or crowding Tokyo's streets to celebrate with Naruhito.</p><p>But many others complained about extra childcare costs, lost wages, and the risk of stock market turmoil that the extended break brought.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.insider.com/japan-new-emperor-naruhito-ascends-throne-women-excluded-ceremony-2019-5">Japan's Emperor Naruhito ascended the throne in an elaborate ceremony that his wife and mother weren't allowed to attend</a></em></p><p>Some Japanese people told news outlets ahead of the holiday that they wouldn't know how to spend the time without working.</p><p>Japan is notorious for its non-stop work culture and rigid labor market, which has seen<span> </span>hundreds of people die from - also known as "karoshi" - every year over the past decade.</p><p>This is the story of Miwa Sado, one of Japan's many victims of karoshi. She died in 2013 after working more than 150 hours in overtime in a single month.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Toru Hanai/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">A photo of Japanese businessmen. The country is notorious for its non-stop work culture.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Sado was found dead in her Tokyo apartment on July 25, 2013, clutching her mobile phone.</p><p>The reporter for Japan's national broadcaster NHK, had died from <a href="https://medlineplus.gov/heartfailure.html">congestive heart failure</a> - meaning her heart had grown so weak it couldn't pump enough blood round her body. She was 31.</p><p><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/japan-nhk-journalist-miwa-sado-died-after-working-159-hours-overtime-2017-10">NHK revealed Sado's death for the first time</a> more than four years after it happened, noting that the journalist's parents initially wanted to keep the death private.</p><p>The Sado parents changed their mind in 2017, and opened up about their daughter's death to warn others about the dangers of overwork, a phenomenon behind hundreds of deaths a year in Japan alone.</p><p>According to labor officials in Tokyo, Sado had clocked up 159 hours and 37 minutes of overtime at work in the month until her death, and 146 hours and 57 minutes in the month before that, <a href="http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201710050045.html">Japan's Asahi newspaper reported</a>.</p><p>But Sado's father, who trawled through the journalist's mobile phone and work computer, <a href="http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASKBF77GQKBFUBQU015.html">told a 2017 press conference</a> that her overwork hours actually came up to 209 hours in the month up to her death. That's almost seven hours of overtime a day, including weekends.</p><p>The labor office told Asahi: "[Sado] was under circumstances that she could not secure enough days off due to responsibilities that required her to stay up very late. It can be inferred that she was in a state of accumulated fatigue and chronic sleep deprivation."</p><h2>"Death from overwork"</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Sean Pavone / Shutterstock.com</span></p><p class="caption">An aerial view of Shibuya, Tokyo, where Sado worked and died.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Sado's death was officially designated as "karoshi," a Japanese term that literally means "death from overwork."</p><p>It's by no means a new phenomenon - the first karoshi case was recorded in 1969, and the number of such victims has increased since. In 2015, 189 deaths were listed as karoshi, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/do-japanese-really-work-themselves-to-death-in-some-cases-yes/2016/07/31/77b48754-4f48-11e6-bf27-405106836f96_story.html">The Washington Post reported</a>, though analysts think the real toll is higher.</p><p>While Japanese politicians have passed legislation meant to prevent further deaths, experts told Business Insider that the country's toxic work culture is making the problem impossible to combat.</p><p><a href="http://www.hataraku.metro.tokyo.jp/soudan-c/center/all-e2008.pdf">Japanese law says</a> that employees are only supposed to work 40 hours a week. Government guidelines say that workers should only put in 45 hours of overtime per month on top of that, but the recommendation is non-binding.</p><p>But these directives seem to go ignored, with many workers feeling obliged to work overtime to prove their worth.</p><p>"Many companies [and] bosses evaluate performance by face-time," Yoko Ishikura, professor emeritus at Tokyo's Hitotsubashi University, told Business Insider. "They do not know how to evaluate performance other than the time.</p><p>"We even have survey results [showing] that those who are productive (i.e. finish work efficiently) are not evaluated. Some even perceive those who are around long hours to be good or competent."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Toru Hanai</span></p><p class="caption">Working long hours is a way of life in Japan, but some companies are seeking to change that.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Jeff Kingston, an Asian studies professor at Temple University's Tokyo campus, also told Business Insider: "There is a samurai work culture in which employees are expected to be totally dedicated and willing to sacrifice their time and health for their employers."</p><p>"There was [previously] a sense that firms were paternalistic and would take care of their employees, but this perception had changed dramatically over the past 25 years, and values that once supported this sanctioned exploitation have shifted in favor of families and private time."</p><p>Some workers don't even log overtime hours for fear of getting bad evaluations - meaning they work for free, The Washington Post said.</p><h2>"Physically and mentally shattered"</h2><h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Kyodo via Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Yukimi Takahashi with photos of her daughter, Matsuri, another karoshi victim.</p></div><p></p></div></div></h2><p>Sado's death is by no means an isolated one.</p><p>The first karoshi case was recorded in 1969, when an unnamed 29-year-old employee at a Japanese newspaper company died of a stroke, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090214232217/http://workhealth.org/whatsnew/lpkarosh.html">according to a 1997 International Journal of Health Services paper</a>. The victim reportedly experienced ill health and an increased workload before his death.</p><p>In the 1980s, most karoshi victims were middle-aged men in white-collar jobs, Hiroshi Kawahito, a lawyer and secretary-general of the <span style="font-weight: 400;">National Defense Counsel for Victims of Karoshi, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-economy-overwork/death-by-overwork-on-rise-among-japans-vulnerable-workers-idUSKCN0X000F"><span style="font-weight: 400;">told Reuters</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Now, almost one in five karoshi victims is female, he said.</span></span></p><p>Work-related suicides among females and employees under 29 have also risen over the past few years, Reuters reported.</p><p>On Christmas Day 2015, <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/japan-womans-death-from-overwork-government-rethinks-work-2017-10">24-year-old ad agency employee Matsuri </a><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/japan-womans-death-from-overwork-government-rethinks-work-2017-10">Takahashi jumped to her death</a> from her dormitory after working around 100 hours of overtime the month before. Weeks before her death, she posted on social media, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/06/japanese-firm-fined-token-sum-after-woman-died-from-overwork">according to The Guardian</a>, to say: "I'm physically and mentally shattered" and "I want to die."</p><p>In October 2017, Tokyo labor officials also determined that a 23-year-old construction worker's suicide was karoshi, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/oct/11/tokyo-olympics-2020-stadium-worker-death-190-hours-overtime-one-month">the Associated Press reported</a>. The unnamed man's body was found in the central Japan mountains in April, alongside a note that said he was "physically and mentally pushed to the limit."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Toru Hanai/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">A man uses his laptop on the deck of an office building in Tokyo.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Professor Kingston said: "Excessive working hours are nothing new in Japan, and it's only because survivor families have lobbied the government to grant recognition of such deaths that we are now seeing so many cases reported in the media and firms getting sued for compensation.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Number of death by overwork cases in Japan by year from 1999 to 2015.</p></div><p></p></div></div>"In the past such problems were swept under the national tatami mat but as norms have become globalized, and Japan's excessive work culture has come under intensified scrutiny, such practices are no longer acceptable."</p><p>Not all workers who die after exhibiting signs of faltering health and overwork are classified as karoshi victims.</p><p>Government officials investigate the particulars of a case, and then decide whether or not it counts.</p><p>Once a death has been classed as karoshi, the worker's family can claim government compensation.</p><p><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/07/new-study-reveals-extent-of-japans-worked-to-death-crisis/">According to a Japanese government survey published in 2016</a>, more than one in five of the companies that responded had employees work more than 80 hours of overtime a month.</p><p>That's about four hours of overtime a day, excluding weekends. The paper also claimed that 2,159 people committed suicide in 2015 due to work issues.</p><h2>Japan's labor market problems</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Issei Kato/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Commuters check their phones inside a train in Tokyo.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Japan's rigid labor market likely plays a role in its overwork culture. Despite being the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/03/worlds-biggest-economies-in-2017/">world's third-largest economy</a>, the country has a low productivity rate, a growing labor market shortage, and a shrinking population.</p><p>Job vacancies per applicant in Japan soared to a <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Japan-s-jobs-to-applicants-ratio-soars-to-43-year-high">43-year-high</a> in 2017, and has shown no signs of stopping. There are 1.63 job vacancies per applicant in the country as of March 2019, <a href="https://www.japanmacroadvisors.com/page/category/economic-indicators/labor-markets/job-offers-to-applicant-ratio/">according to government statistics</a>.</p><p>People aged 65 or above make up 28.6% of Japan's total population, the country's statistics bureau <a href="http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/nenkan/68nenkan/1431-02.html">calculated in its 2019 report</a>, with that figure forecast to hit 48% by the middle of the century.</p><p>Despite this, the working world in Japan remains inflexible.</p><p>"Companies still follow a one-shot recruiting process and promotion is quite fixed and rigid," Ishikura said. "Once you leave a company, it becomes difficult to find another job."</p><h2>"Fundamental change is needed"</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Toru Hanai/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">People walk past a sign advertising the Premium Friday campaign.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>After Sado's death, NHK introduced various workplace reforms that included requiring employees to get managers' permission to work after 10 p.m. or over holidays, <a href="http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201710060046.html">Asahi reported</a>.</p><p>Other offices have devised creative ways to prevent employees from overworking, albeit with limited success.</p><p>Construction company Mitsui Home's headquarters blasts the "Rocky" theme tune at 6 p.m. every day to encourage employees to leave, <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-japan-overwork-reforms/in-japan-rocky-and-premium-friday-join-fight-against-overtime-idUKKBN1630OC">Reuters reported</a>.</p><p>In February 2017, the Japanese government also introduced "Premium Friday," a campaign encouraging firms to let workers leave a few hours early on the last Friday of each month so they can go shopping or eat out - activities that would also boost the economy.</p><p>But less than a year after its launch, "Premium Friday" already proved unpopular, with only a small number of companies putting the plan into action, <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/07/29/business/premium-friday-campaign-danger-running-steam/#.WeczVhNSyi4">the Japan Times reported</a>.</p><p>Ishikura said of the office incentives: "These things may help a bit in that it makes people aware or notice that it is 5 o'clock etc, but these measures seem to be so out of touch with the reality of work, like Premium Friday which really did not make any impact, and [was] short-lived.</p><p>"Fundamental change is needed."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Chris McGrath/Getty</span></p><p class="caption">Commuters line up for one of the last trains of the day at Tokyo's Shinjuku station.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>In April 2017, the government also proposed <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/death-overwork-japans-100-hour-overtime-cap-sparks-033634548--finance.html">capping the number of overtime hours to 100 a month</a> in an apparent attempt to curb the country's toxic overwork culture.</p><p>Critics dismissed the plan as futile. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-economy-overwork/death-by-overwork-on-rise-among-japans-vulnerable-workers-idUSKCN0X000F">According to Reuters</a>, a cardiovascular death is typically classified as karoshi if an employee has worked 100 hours of overtime in the month up to their death, or 80 hours of overtime in two or more consecutive months over the previous six.</p><p>Ichiro Natsume, head of the labor Lawyers' Association of Japan, <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2088831/death-overwork-japans-100-hour-overtime-cap-sparks-anger">told Agence France-Presse</a> the government's proposal was "tantamount to endorsing a limit that could cause overwork deaths."</p><p>Professor Kingston also said of the proposals: "This is a cosmetic change that is unlikely to dramatically change firms' management practices and excessive demands on workers."</p><p>"Karoshi is a manifestation of weak management skills and low productivity, so firms have a great opportunity to improve their performance and take better care of employees," he added. "Alas, there is a lingering faith in perspiration over inspiration, and a belief that total dedication and personal sacrifice are essential."</p><p>Ishikura added that the proposed cap is "one attempt" to protect workers from karoshi, but not an end solution. "The fundamental issue is more of rigid and outdated labor practice[s], and people feel that they are not able to design their own career or lifestyle," she said.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Toru Hanai</span></p><p class="caption">Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2><strong>"My treasure, living hope, and biggest support"</strong></h2><p>NHK was Sado's first job after university. After graduating as a law major from Tokyo's Hitotsubashi University in 2005, she started work at the network's office in Kagoshima, southern Japan, before moving to the Tokyo branch in 2010.</p><p>Sado was the youngest out of her team of five, which was plagued by bad teamwork, according to her mother. She rarely took weekends off and worked until midnight almost every night, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/world/asia/japan-death-overwork.html?_r=0">the New York Times reported</a>.</p><p>Miwa, Sado's first name, means "peace to the future," and was the eldest of three siblings. She was even supposed to get married, according to Asahi: Before her cremation, her fiancé put a wedding ring on her.</p><p>Her mother said: "She was my treasure, living hope, and biggest support. After her passing, my life turned on its head and I am unable to smile and be happy from the bottom of my heart."</p><p>The fear held in Japan by those who have examined the issues closely is that, unless far more drastic reform takes place, there will be more mothers making identical laments for years to come.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/avengers-endgame-end-credits-hidden-meaning-behind-mobius-strip-2019-4">The hidden meaning behind the 'Avengers: Endgame' end credits</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Japan's toxic culture of overwork drove this 31-year-old woman to death - and it looks like there's no end in sight

<p><div class="image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><div class="image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source">AP Photo/Patrick Semansk</p></div></div></div><p class="source">AP Photo/Patrick Semansk</p></div></div></div><div class="image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source">AP Photo/Patrick Semansk</p></div></div></div>Rachel Knight, 31, has countless stories about <keyword id="6354840" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="money">money</keyword> being tight when she was growing up. There was the time when she was six years old and her parents couldn’t afford to take her younger sister to the doctor.</p>
<p>There were the mornings in the middle of January when there was neither hot water nor bath soap, so she had to take a cold shower with grainy laundry detergent. There was the teasing from kids at school who mocked the clothes she wore—the oversize, stained T-shirts that her family got for free from the church mission.</p>
<p>“People talk about being <keyword id="6370434" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="poor">poor</keyword>,” says Knight. “but unless you know what it’s like to go hungry so your kid sister can have the other half of the only bologna sandwich you’ll get for the day,” she says, “you don’t know a thing.”</p>
<p>Now Knight, a wife and mother, has a good job, and, in theory, is living the American dream. Still, though her household income is about $140K per year, neither she nor her husband has any savings.</p>
<p>And every month, the minimum payments on their credit cards grow closer to exceeding the cost of their mortgage. She knows she’s headed for financial disaster, yet she continues to hit the spa and download shopping apps from her favorite stores.</p>
<p>Knight acknowledges that her extravagant spending is likely a knee-jerk reaction to the lean years of her childhood.</p>
<h2>Why the Poor Spend More</h2>
<p>And she’s not alone: In fact, her spending behavior is echoed by scientific research. A recent study published in the <a href="http://pss.sagepub.com/content/24/2/197" target="_blank">February 2013 edition of Psychological Science </a>suggests that, surprisingly, adults who grow up with fewer financial resources are more likely to be heavy spenders during times of economic crisis, whereas those who grew up wealthier will respond to tough times by cutting back.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“‘Every time I see something I want, I buy it. If I don’t, my mind goes back to being that poor kid, living in the projects.’”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>One would think that someone who knows what it’s like to be less fortunate would be afraid of doing anything that might put them back in that position again, but that’s not so according to Professor Joshua Ackerman, a co-author of the study: “As adults in times of stress, particularly economic stress,” he says, “people who grew up relatively wealthy tend to be more interested in saving whereas people who grew up relatively poor tend to be more interested in spending. Although neither strategy is irrational, the spend-now strategy could create longer-term problems over people’s lives. So, if you grew up relatively poor, you may have to battle your instincts or immediate preferences in times of stress in order to ensure your long-term financial health.”</p>
<p><strong>RELATED:</strong> <a href="http://www.learnvest.com/2013/07/4-ways-to-trick-your-brain-into-banishing-bad-money-habits/" target="_blank">4 Ways to Trick Your Brain Into Being Better With Money</a></p>
<p>And, for Rachel Knight and others like her, often that first instinct is to whip out your wallet. “Every time I see something I want, I buy it,” Knight says. “Because if I don’t, my mind goes back to being that poor kid, living in the projects, and all I can think is, ‘I know I deserve better…’”</p>
<h2>How to Beat “I Deserve It” Syndrome</h2>
<p>“I deserve it” is one line with which Katie Brewer, a certified financial planner™ with <keyword id="1737923" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="LearnVest">LearnVest</keyword> Planning Services, is very familiar.</p>
<p>“I hear it from people all the time,” Brewer says of her financial planning clients. “They spoil themselves as adults because they’re making up for all the ways they felt deprived as kids.”</p>
<p><strong>RELATED:</strong> <a href="http://www.learnvest.com/2013/01/the-shopping-embargo-my-annual-8-week-buying-fast/" target="_blank">The Shopping Embargo: My Annual, 8-Week Buying Fast</a></p>
<p>In other words, although Knight is no longer poor, her spending habits are in danger of putting her back in the poor house.</p>
<p>“When I think about how my kids are growing up, I wonder if they are going to struggle with the same problems I’ve had because my parents never really saved much, and now I have nothing in my savings account,” she says.</p>
<p>But Brewer says Knight—and others like her—can change. “You are not your parents, and you are not your past,” she says. “Just because they went down a rocky path doesn’t mean that you have to.”</p>
<p>Here, the three things that Brewer says will keep you from reacting like a poor person—so you can finally live richly.</p>
<p><strong>RELATED:</strong> <a href="http://www.learnvest.com/2012/10/the-4-biggest-financial-fears-and-how-to-conquer-them/" target="_blank">The 4 Biggest Financial Fears—And How to Conquer Them</a></p>
<h2>1. Avoid Deprivation Spending</h2>
<p>Saying “I deserve it” is one of the biggest culprits behind failed diets—and failed budgets. You see something that you want to buy (or eat) but you don’t really need, so you tell yourself no. Then that “no” starts gnawing at you and you feel deprived.</p>
<p>You may begin telling yourself that you’re a grown-up who can spend her money however she chooses. So you decide to treat yourself just this once. The problem, Brewer says, is that it’s never a good idea to make financial decisions based on a feeling of deprivation. Instead, she suggests turning the “I deserve” on its head.</p>
<p>“Establish larger, long-term savings goals,” she says, like a year-end vacation or a living-room makeover, something that will truly make you feel <keyword id="50835" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rich">rich</keyword>, not satiate a whim. Then, instead of telling yourself you deserve that pretty new dress, remind yourself of the bigger picture—and what you’ve chosen to save for over time.</p>
<p><strong>RELATED:</strong> <a href="http://www.learnvest.com/2013/06/how-long-should-you-track-expenses-123/" target="_blank">Do You Really Need to Count Every Penny?</a></p>
<h2>2. Create a Three-Question Checklist</h2>
<p>Once your budget is set, it’s set … right? Wrong, says Brewer.</p>
<p>“When someone decides one afternoon, ‘I need a new pair of shoes’ or ‘My computer is running slow, I’m just going to replace it,’” she says, “these are the kinds of decisions that can throw you way off.”</p>
<p>We all have the best of intentions, but it’s those last-minute, emotional purchases that often get the best of us. The next time you’re in danger of thwarting your bottom line, do a quick mental check—whether you’re about to spend $5 or $500—by asking yourself these three questions:</p>
<p>- Have I saved up for this?<br /> - Do I really need this?<br /> - Will this delay me from meeting my goals?</p>
<p>Still not sure how much you should be spending and saving? The <a href="http://www.learnvest.com/knowledge-center/your-ultimate-budget-guideline-the-502030-rule/" target="_blank">50/20/30 Rule </a>makes budgeting easy.</p>
<p><strong>RELATED:</strong> <a href="http://www.learnvest.com/2013/04/6-times-we-tend-to-overspend-and-how-to-stop/" target="_blank">6 Times We Tend to Overspend (and How to Stop)</a></p>
<h2>3. Know Your Shopping Triggers</h2>
<p>Maybe for you it’s shoes, or maybe it’s kitchen gadgets. Brewer says her clients who weren’t used to having money as kids often get that feeling of cash burning a hole in their pocket when they spot something they like. And there’s nothing that’ll make them go overboard faster than a 20% off coupon.</p>
<p>Of course, saving $15 at the grocery store when the items on your list happen to be on sale is a good deal. Taking home a $350 sea foam green KitchenAid you had no intention of buying just because it’s on special? Well, that’s a budget bomb.</p>
<p>Next time you’re tempted, Brewer suggests this tip: Don’t set yourself up to spend money you wouldn’t otherwise spend. In other words, unsubscribe from retailers’ mailing lists and flash sale sites, and steer clear of places (or specific store aisles) where you might be tempted to take advantage of a deal on something you don’t need.</p>
<p>Of course, when you are making a planned purchase, you should always look for a bargain, just don’t let the bargain come looking for you.</p>
<p><strong>RELATED:</strong> <a href="http://www.learnvest.com/knowledge-center/14-steps-to-saving-big-at-the-grocery-store/" target="_blank">14 Steps to Saving Big at the Grocery Store</a></p>
<p><em>LearnVest Planning Services is a registered investment adviser and subsidiary of LearnVest, Inc. that provides financial plans for its clients. Information shown is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Please consult a financial adviser for advice specific to your financial situation. The people quoted in this piece are not clients of LearnVest Planning Services.</em></p>
<p><strong><br /> </strong></p><p class="tagline">This story was originally published by <a href="http://www.learnvest.com/" target="_blank">LearnVest</a>.</p>

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