Get Well, Tokuda-San

There's probably a good chance that you've read a story or two about Japanese people who have worked themselves to death. Perhaps you even noticed this article on that particular subject matter that popped up in the New York Times the other day.

Well, I'm sad to report that a colleague of mine is in the hospital right now, most likely because he is such a workaholic. Granted, I'm no doctor and I don't have much information as to Tokuda-san's exact condition, but I can only imagine the cause of his illness has something to do with the fact that he works so much.

Tokuda-san is my school's office manager, which means he's basically the fourth-highest ranking person here at school, after the principal and the two vice-principals.

Tokuda-san works really long hours and sort of prides himself on the fact that he only gets a few hours of sleep some nights. He is almost always in the office until 9 at night (or later!) and probably gets to work around 6 in the morning (if not earlier)! And Tokuda-san works on most weekends!

Whenever I ask him why he works so much, he almost always gives me the same humorous answer: Monday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Friday (in Japanese: Getsu, getsu, ka, sui, moku, kin, kin). I guess that's some sort of old Japanese Navy song that essentially means, "One's work is never done."

Until recently, when he started complaining about some stomach pain, I was under the impression that Tokuda-san was in pretty good physical shape, despite all the hours he puts in at the office. After all, months ago he was doing quite a bit of running, I've witnessed him doing push-ups (with his feet propped up on a table), and he's often told me about all the squats he does regularly.

But perhaps his addiction to work has finally caught up with him. Again, I'm assuming he's in the hospital because of overwork, but maybe there's something more serious wrong with him, or maybe he just got hit by a bad bug.

In any case, Tokuda-san is in the hospital and I simply want to wish him a speedy recovery. He's extremely kind and a very witty character and I miss him very much!

Get well, Tokuda-san!