AFP, Kawasaki :
Fujio Uemura has to rest after driving fish all night to Tokyo, under new rules that trucking firms and experts say are crippling Japan’s logistics sector and risk pushing up prices for consumers.
The regulations are aimed at easing the stress of the badly paid hard slog of trucking, and making it more attractive to young people in ageing Japan, where some 90 percent of goods are transported by road.
“Before, I’d drive as long as I could before taking a break,” said Uemura after his 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) journey from Oita in southern Japan with his load of fresh fillets.
“Long hours don’t bother me. It’s my job,” the slim 59-year-old told AFP after leaping athletically down from the cab of his refrigerated 10-tonne vehicle.
Since April, truck drivers’ annual overtime has been capped at 960 hours, or 80 hours per month on average, alongside new rules including on break stops.
Previously, there was no effective limit and many drivers worked around the clock to expand their meagre take-home pay.
But it can be a lonely and unhealthy life, with long, irregular hours on the road contributing to high rates of heart disease and strokes.
Despite its importance to the world’s fourth-biggest economy, the trucking industry occupies a weak position in Japan’s economic hierarchy.
Truck drivers generally work 20 percent longer than the average worker but earn around 10 percent less, or around 4.5 million yen ($30,000) per year. Almost one in five works 60 hours a week or more.