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The purpose of this paper is to examine the possible causes and social background of the rising suicide rate among middle-age or older Japanese male workers, particularly a certain type of suicide called karo-jisatsu (suicide by overwork). The image of Japan as a culture that considers suicide a method of personal distress resolution is widespread overseas. Although such a cultural explanation holds somewhat true, other social structural factors should be taken into consideration before resorting to the historical and cultural explanations. This paper presents, based on the existing data and facts, a balanced view of both cultural and social structural explanatory models, analyzes the changing situation at Japanese workplaces, and strives to deepen the understanding of the reality of suicide in today's Japan. Pressures resulting from a long economic recession, a new evaluation system in the workplace, and the widening gap between the traditional concept of work and a new reality are some of the reasons behind karo-jisatsu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine whether noise conditions at the workplace are associated with hypertension in Japanese male blue-collar workers, the authors analyzed data obtained in an annual workplace health examination. Two hundred forty-two workers who used ear protectors at their jobs in a paper manufacturing plant served as a noisy workplace group, and 173 individuals who worked in a chemical plant comprised a nonnoisy workplace group. The prevalence of hypertension was 16.9% in the noisy workplace group and 34.7% in the nonnoisy workplace group (p <.01). A Mantel-Haenzel analysis showed the difference between the 2 groups to be significant. A logistic regression analysis with adjustment for confounding factors also showed a significant inverse association between hypertension and noise conditions at the workplace (odds ratio = 0.48; 95% confidence interval = 0.28-0.81). The implementation of guidelines for occupational noise management might have contributed to the workers' concern over the prevention of adverse health effects caused by workplace noise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]