Tokyo CNN —The family of a 26-year-old doctor in Japan who died by suicide last year after working more than 200 hours of overtime in a single month have pleaded for change in a nation long plagued by overwork culture. Takashima Shingo had been working as a resident doctor at a hospital in Kobe City when he took his own life last May, according to public broadcaster NHK. According to the family’s lawyers, Takashima had worked more than 207 hours overtime in the month before his death, and had not taken a day off for three months, NHK reported. She had worked 159 hours of overtime in the month before her death, according to NHK. One 2016 study found that more than a quarter of full-time hospital physicians work up to 60 hours a week, while 5% work up to 90 hours, and 2.3% work up to 100 hours.

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Persons: Takashima Shingo, Takashima, ” –, Takashima’s, Junko Takashima, “, ” Organizations: International Association for Suicide Prevention, Befrienders, Tokyo CNN, NHK, Konan Medical, Ministry of Health, Labor, Welfare, Konan Medical Center, CNN, Association of Japan Medical Colleges Locations: Tokyo, Japan, Kobe City, Konan