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Tomoyuki Mukaide had struggled to cope with the demands of assisting people affected1 by the earthquake that struck Ishikawa prefecture in March.
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A Japanese policeman, distraught by working long hours and weekends for two months, stabbed himself in the stomach with a knife to get some time off, police said Monday.
The 44-year-old officer knifed himself at his home in northwestern Japan on May 23, but told police he had been attacked, prompting an attempted murder investigation2, Ishikawa prefecture police said in a statement.
Investigators3 began to suspect his story after they could not find evidence of anyone who matched the description the officer had given, a police spokesman said.
Suspicions were also raised because the officer - identified as Tomoyuki Mukaide in the Asahi newspaper - had waited about an hour before reporting the alleged4 attack, the spokesman said. His wounds were not life-threatening.
The officer, whose name was not released by police, had been in charge of a disaster relief detail following a March 25 earthquake in the area that killed one person injured more than 300, and damaged or destroyed more than 14,800 homes.
Police thought he had become distraught over his health after putting in long hours without a break in the quake's aftermath, and wanted to get away from work.
"He became very busy, he felt like he couldn't handle the work he had to do, and he felt the work was weighing him down," said the spokesman.
The officer admitted he had stabbed himself in questioning following his May 31 release from the hospital, the spokesman said. The case is now being investigated as filing a false report, a misdemeanor.
Japanese workers often face long overtime5 hours and weekends with little or no compensation.
Death from overwork, known as "karoshi," has steadily6 increased since the Health Ministry7 first recognized the phenomenon in 1987.
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本周一警方消息，日本一名警察因苦于连续两个月超时工作及周末加班，用刀刺伤了自己的肚子，以获得休假的机会。
日本西北部石川县的警方在一份声明中称，这位44岁警察五月二十三日在家中用刀自残，但他谎称自己遭到了袭击，警方由此展开了一桩故意谋杀案的调查。
警方一位发言人说，调查此案的警察始终无法找到与该警察描述的特征相符的嫌疑人，于是警方开始怀疑他谎报了案情。
此外，这名在《朝日新闻》中被称为Tomoyuki Mukaide的警察在“案发”后一小时才报案，这又增加了案件的疑点。而且他所受的伤并不致命。
这位未被警方透露姓名的警察在3月25日当地发生地震后一直忙于救灾工作。这次地震造成300多人受伤，1万4千8百多个家被毁坏或摧毁。
据警方分析，由于这位警察在救灾过程中长期超时工作，得不到休息，所以他担心自己的身体撑不下去，想休息一段时间。
这位发言人说：“他太忙了，他觉得自己撑不下去了，快被压垮了。”
这位警察5月31日出院后在接受警方的询问时承认了自残行为。警方现已将此案定性为谎报案情的轻罪行为。
日本人经常超时工作及周末加班，但加班费很少甚至没有。
由于过度工作造成的死亡，即“过劳死”，从1987年日本厚生省首次认定这一现象开始，一直在稳步增长。
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