It is with regularity that news articles appear that discuss the issue of the overworked Japanese school teacher. An article in The Asahi Shimbun reveals that Japanese teachers have the worst ratio across the OECD of hours spent at work to hours spent actually teaching. A article in The Yomiuri Shimbun explains that a special committee of the Central Council for Education is urgently exploring ways to improve the lot of Japanese teachers through various measures such as unencumbering teachers of certain clerical and extracurricular duties. A Japan Today article worryingly claims that Teaching in Japan is becoming a 'Black Occupation', which is a term loosely applied to companies that overwork their employees to such an extent that the job, though not inherently dangerous, may result in severe health issues or even death. Clearly, the work load of teachers in Japan is unsustainable and pragmatic measures need to be taken to ensure that schools are able to provide their students a quality education.