Work Style Reform: the legal cap on overtime (2018 act)

Cabinet bill tabled in the Diet (196th session, bill no. 63)[3]

Explained in the House of Representatives plenary and referred to the health and labour committee[3][4]

House of Representatives adopts the bill with amendments[3]

Majority vote: the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito, Nippon Ishin no Kai and Kibō no Tō for; the Constitutional Democratic Party, the Democratic Party for the People, the Group of Independents, the Communist Party, the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party against.

Final adoption by the House of Councillors[5][3]

235 votes cast: 164 for, 71 against.

Promulgation as Act No. 71 of 2018[3][2]

The same act also requires employers to have workers take five days of annual paid leave, creates the « highly skilled professional » system exempt from working-time rules, encourages rest periods between shifts and bans unreasonable differences in treatment between regular and non-regular workers.

Overtime cap applies to large firms[1][2]

For overtime agreements covering periods from 1 April 2019; small and medium-sized firms, construction, drivers and doctors were deferred.

Cap extended to small and medium-sized firms[1][9]

Applies to small and medium-sized firms (e.g. capital up to ¥300m or up to 300 employees in most sectors); construction, drivers and doctors still deferred until 31 March 2024.

Ministerial ordinance setting doctors’ overtime ceilings (in force on 1 April 2024)[11]

Doctors at hospitals designated for regional care or for intensive training may work up to 1,860 hours of overtime and holiday work a year; the ordinance aims to bring the regional-care ceilings down to the general doctors’ level (960 hours) by 31 March 2036, with a review every three years.

50% overtime premium beyond 60 hours a month extended to small and medium-sized firms[1][2]

Ministerial meeting adopts a logistics policy package against the « 2024 problem »[12]

With the truck drivers’ cap applying from April 2024, the government warns that, without action, transport capacity could fall short by 14% in fiscal 2024 and 34% in fiscal 2030; the package targets waiting and loading times, load factors, modal shift and redelivery.

End of the deferral for construction, road drivers and doctors — the « 2024 problem »[9][10][11]

Fully in force: construction under the general rule (disaster recovery excepted from the monthly limits), drivers capped at 960 hours a year, doctors at 960 or 1,860 hours a year depending on their hospital.

Labour Policy Council reviews labour standards legislation, five years after the act[9][21][16][22]

The 2018 act requires the government to examine the overtime rules five years after entry into force and to keep studying the end of the special rules for construction and drivers. In September 2026 the subcommittee agreed to meet two to three times a month; in October 2026 it examined rest periods between shifts, a « right to disconnect », discretionary work, rest days — including a limit on working more than 13 days in a row — and second jobs.

The new Prime Minister orders a review of working-time regulation[13][14][21]

In force unchanged; the government is studying a relaxation of working-time rules « premised on health and the worker’s choice », discussed in the Labour Policy Council since summer 2026. No change to the cap adopted as of November 2026.

Labour Policy Council debates the overtime cap[17][18]

The ministry notes that weeks of 60 hours or more have declined and that women and older people work more, but that karoshi cases are rising. The expert study group had judged that there was not yet the social consensus needed to change the cap itself.

Policy speech: review of discretionary work, health protection for second jobs, telework[19]

The Prime Minister announces work on these three points « based on the voices of workers heard during the comprehensive review of the work style reform »; the speech does not mention the overtime cap.

Results of the five-year comprehensive review presented to the Labour Policy Council[20]

In an online survey of 3,000 workers (October 2025), about 10.5% want to work more, 59.5% are satisfied and 30.0% want to work less; « earning more » is the first reason of those wanting more hours (41.6%). Of 327 firms interviewed by labour bureaus, 201 want to keep current hours, 73 to reduce them and 53 to increase them — 17 of which beyond the legal cap.

Japan Growth Strategy: working-time rules to be discussed by the Labour Policy Council from summer 2026[21]

The Cabinet decision asks for a debate « premised on maintaining physical and mental health and on the worker’s choice » to achieve flexible and diverse ways of working, and lists discretionary work, variable working hours, a limit on consecutive working days, rest periods between shifts, a « right to disconnect », second jobs and telework.