Japanese died of overwork

Tokyo (AFP) - A Japanese businessman, who spent 103 days travelling abroad for the Mitsui company in 10 months and died of heart failure was yesterday officially declared a victim of overwork.

The Employment Ministry's labour standards council said the heart failure that killed Jun Ishii in July 1990 at the age of 47 had resulted from 'excessive work in the week before his death' and that his widow was elegible for compensation under Japan's insurance scheme against work-related accidents.

Social welfare groups say as many as 10,000 Japanese die each year from karoshi (overwork) but the ministry has recognised only 30 such deaths.