LDP’s Watanabe, founder of pub chain, apologizes to overwork victim family

March 17, 2018

Tokyo- Miki Watanabe, a lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the founder of an "izakaya" pub chain, has apologized to the family of a person who committed suicide for overwork.

At a House of Councillors Budget Committee hearing on overwork issues on Tuesday, Watanabe said after a testimony by Noriko Nakahara, head of a group of families of those who died from excessive work, "You were saying as if taking seven days off per week were a happiness for mankind."

Nakahara's husband took his own life due to overwork.

Meeting with the Nakahara family on Friday, Watanabe, the founder of Watami Co., admitted he made an inappropriate comment and offered an apology.

Watami pubs have come under fire for forcing employees to work excessively since a worker killed herself in 2008. Jiji Press