A series of photographs faithfully depicting Japan's harshest working culture

In Japan, people often come across the image of men dressed in business suits sleeping on dirty streets.

Jaszczuk, who often works in Warsaw, Poland and Japan, said that when he lived in Tokyo, he saw strange and unique phenomena. Jaszczuk frequently saw men dressed in work clothes fast asleep in the streets of Tokyo at midnight.

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In 2008, Jaszczuk started taking photos of the sleeping businessmen on the streets he encountered. These people sleep wherever they can from the benches on the street, the subway station platform, to the fence, and many even fall asleep while standing.

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In fact, in Japan, overtime work is considered to be obvious and gradually become the culture of the people here. Starting in the 1970s, workers were forced to work extra jobs to earn extra income for their families because their salaries were too low. This habit is gradually maintained until today, working 12 hours / day has become familiar in Japan.

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For those who visit the land of the rising sun, the culture of working overtime in Japan is a strange phenomenon.

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Jaszczuk said the image of men dressed in work clothes sleeping on the street is easy to find in Tokyo.

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The easiest places to see such scenes are Tokyo's Shinjuku and Shimbashi prefectures, areas with many business, commercial and entertainment centers.

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But sometimes Jaszczuk also saw this scene appear in some other places.

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A few images of people trying to close their eyes to rest are recorded by Jaszczuk on city benches, fences and subway stations .

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Jaszczuk said that nearly every night he went out by bicycle to take photos during the past 2 years. He had to use a flash because he took photos at night, but it didn't seem to affect the people sleeping in the streets because they were so tired.

Pawel Jaszczuk has synthesized the photos that he took during 2 years into a book called "High Fashion". The book was published in 2018.

Jaszczuk said he felt the phenomenon of Japanese working culture was so harsh, making these businessmen tired enough to sleep on the streets.

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Update 22 September 2019

A series of photographs faithfully depicting Japan's harshest working culture

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