The term "sweatshop" is associated with manufacturing, and the garment trade in particular; however, in Japan black companies are most often associated with office work than the clothing industry.
Conditions are poor, and workers are subjected to verbal abuse and "power harassment" (bullying) by their superiors.
Mina Mori, a 26-year-old employee of the restaurant chain Watami, committed suicide two months after joining the company in 2008.
[2] Her family lodged a complaint with the Yokosuka Labor Standards Office to seek recognition of the suicide as work-related.
When their claim was denied, they appealed it to the Kanagawa Prefectural Labor Bureau, which recognized work-related stress as the cause of the decline of her mental health.