Japan’s so-called black companies are not a curiosity of workplace culture. They show how sales targets, insecure jobs, doctored time records, harassment, and weak worker voice can turn ordinary management systems into engines of unpaid labour and harm.
Drawing on current law, official inspection and compensation data, peer-reviewed research, and carefully delimited corporate cases, Black Companies in Japan explains how exploitation operates, why enforcement so often arrives late, and what a credible labour-justice agenda requires. It distinguishes the social label from the legal record, reads Japan’s enforcement statistics with their denominators attached, and follows the harm from unpaid hours to karōshi.
The final part turns to the person inside the system. A practical guide for workers shows how to read a job advertisement, keep the working-time log that wins wage claims, calculate what is owed, write the demand letter, use the Labour Standards Inspection Office and the labour tribunal, document harassment, and resign from a company that will not let you go. Every step comes with a fully worked model rather than a blank form, and the book closes with a verified directory of free, multilingual help.
Nine original figures and eleven analytical tables. Sixty-three references in APA style. For students of Japanese labour, managers and HR professionals, policy-makers, and anyone who suspects that their employer is taking more than it pays for.