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Workers’ rights · 労働時間 · rōdō jikan

Working hours and overtime in Japan

Japan’s Labor Standards Act protects Japanese and foreign workers, full-time staff and part-timers alike. It limits the working day, requires breaks and days off, and every hour of overtime must be paid at a premium. The legal limits, how much overtime is allowed, how to check your overtime pay and what to do if it is not paid.

How much extra you get

Rights and free help

Checked against Japanese law and the website of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on October 7, 2026 · Employment contract · Reading a payslip

A day and a week — the legal limit8 h / 40 h

Of overtime a month — the standard cap45 h

For an overtime hour (over 60 hours a month: +50%)+25%

A week — the limit for students, with permission28 h

In short

Working hours in five lines

  • The limit: no more than 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week, not counting breaks.
  • Overtime (残業, zangyō) is legal only if the company has signed an Article 36 Agreement (36協定, saburoku kyōtei) and filed it with the Labor Standards Inspection Office. The standard cap is 45 hours a month and 360 hours a year.
  • Premiums: overtime at least 25%, over 60 hours a month at least 50%, late night from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. at least 25%, a statutory day off at least 35%.
  • For everyone: the same rules for regular, contract, dispatched and part-time staff, Japanese and foreign.
  • Unpaid overtime (サービス残業, sābisu zangyō) is illegal. You can claim unpaid wages for 3 years.

What the law says

The day, the week, breaks and days off

Working hours run from the start to the end of your shift minus breaks. The law sets the minimum: your contract and the company rules can be better, never worse.

What The legal rule
Working day and week 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week. 44 hours a week at businesses with fewer than 10 workers in retail, cinemas and theaters, health care and hospitality
Break (休憩, kyūkei) at least 45 minutes for a day over 6 hours, at least 60 minutes for a day over 8 hours. The break is inside the working day, and you spend it as you like
Statutory day off (法定休日, hōtei kyūjitsu) 1 day a week or 4 days in 4 weeks. A day off is a full calendar day, 0:00 to 24:00: if you worked even an hour that day, you did not have a day off
National holidays (祝日, shukujitsu) the law does not require them to be days off. Your contract and the company rules decide

Companies with 10 or more workers must write rules of employment (就業規則, shūgyō kisoku) and file them with the Labor Standards Inspection Office. Ask to see them: they set your hours, days off and how premiums are paid. What to check in your contract before you sign: your employment contract.

The Article 36 Agreement

How much overtime the law allows

Working beyond 8 and 40 hours or on a statutory day off is allowed only if the company has signed a written agreement with the labor union or an elected workers’ representative and filed it with the Labor Standards Inspection Office (Labor Standards Act, Article 36). Without it, any overtime breaks the law.

Limit How much
Standard 45 hours a month and 360 hours a year (42 and 320 under a variable schedule averaged over more than 3 months)
Special clause (特別条項) — only for a temporary need overtime up to 720 hours a year
In any single month overtime plus work on days off — under 100 hours
Average over any 2 to 6 months no more than 80 hours a month (days off included)
Months above 45 hours no more than 6 months a year

These limits do not apply to research and development of new products. Since April 2024, drivers and doctors have their own, higher limits (drivers: up to 960 hours of overtime a year), and in construction the 100-hour and 80-hour limits do not apply to disaster recovery work. The agreement must be made known to workers — you have the right to see it.

Premium wages

How much extra you get on top of your normal rate

Premium wages (割増賃金, warimashi chingin) are due to everyone: regular and contract staff, dispatched workers (the agency pays) and part-timers.

When Premium on the hourly rate
Beyond 8 hours a day or 40 a week at least 25%
Overtime beyond 60 hours a month at least 50% (at small and medium-sized companies since April 1, 2023)
Late night, 22:00 to 5:00 at least 25%; late-night overtime at least 50%, and beyond 60 hours a month at least 75%
Statutory day off at least 35%
  • Your hourly rate on a monthly salary: monthly pay including allowances, divided by the average number of scheduled working hours a month over the year.
  • Only 7 payments are left out of the calculation: family allowance, commuting allowance, allowance for living apart from your family, child education allowance, housing allowance, one-off payments and payments made less than once a month (a bonus, for example). What counts is the substance, not the name: a “housing allowance” paid equally to everyone is included.
  • Swapping a day off. If a day off was swapped for a working day in advance (振替休日, substitute day off), there is no day-off premium. If you worked on your day off and got a day off later (代休, compensatory day off), the 35% premium is still due.

Example

Checking a month of overtime pay

A salaried employee in Tokyo worked 30 hours of overtime in a month (4 of them after 22:00) and one statutory day off.

Step Amount
Base salary + position allowance ¥280,000 + ¥20,000 = ¥300,000 (commuting ¥15,000 and family ¥10,000 are left out)
Working hours in the year 245 days × 8 hours = 1,960 hours, an average of 163.3 hours a month
Hourly rate ¥300,000 ÷ 163.3 ≈ ¥1,837
26 hours of daytime overtime × ¥2,296 (+25%) ¥59,696
4 hours of overtime after 22:00 × ¥2,756 (+50%) ¥11,024
8 hours on a statutory day off × ¥2,480 (+35%) ¥19,840
Total overtime pay ¥90,560

With 70 hours of overtime, the first 60 are paid at +25% (¥137,760) and the last 10 at +50% (¥27,560): ¥165,320 in total, ¥4,600 more than at a single rate. But 70 hours is already above the standard cap of 45 hours: that is possible only under the special clause of the Article 36 Agreement.

Rounding. Daily time is counted to the minute: rounding down is not allowed. The only rounding allowed is of the monthly total (under 30 minutes dropped, 30 minutes or more rounded up to an hour) and of the rate to a whole yen. A rule like “we pay for each full 15 minutes” is illegal.

みなし残業 · 固定残業代

Fixed overtime pay

Many job ads include pay for a set number of overtime hours in the salary — “deemed overtime” (みなし残業, minashi zangyō) or fixed overtime pay (固定残業代, kotei zangyōdai). It is legal on three conditions.

  • The ad and the contract show separately the base pay without this amount, and the number of hours and the amount it covers.
  • They say that work beyond those hours, on days off and at night is paid extra.
  • If the fixed amount falls short of the legal premium, the difference is paid.

How to check

Base salary ¥260,000, fixed overtime pay ¥40,000 for 20 hours. The rate is ¥260,000 ÷ 163.3 ≈ ¥1,592, an overtime hour ¥1,990. 20 hours × ¥1,990 = ¥39,800 — the fixed amount covers it. If you worked 32 hours of overtime in a month, the contract pays the extra 12 hours: 12 × ¥1,990 = ¥23,880. The legal minimum is ¥23,680: for all 32 hours you are owed 32 × ¥1,990 = ¥63,680, of which ¥40,000 is already paid as the fixed amount.

Warning signs: a job ad saying “salary includes overtime” with no hours or amount; “we don’t pay beyond the fixed hours”; “we don’t record overtime here”. All of these break the rules.

Special cases

Managers, flexible hours, two jobs

管理監督者 · kanri kantokusha

A “manager” without overtime pay

The limits on hours, breaks and days off do not apply to a real managerial or supervisory employee. But that depends on real authority, freedom over working time and clearly higher pay — not on the job title. A “store manager” or “section chief” without that authority gets overtime pay. The late-night premium and annual paid leave apply even to a real manager.

フレックスタイム制 · 変形労働時間制

Flexible hours

Flextime (フレックスタイム制): you choose when the day starts and ends; the limit is averaged over a settlement period of up to 3 months — no more than 40 hours a week. Overtime is the hours above the total for the period. A variable working-hours system (変形労働時間制, henkei rōdō jikan sei) over a month or a year: some days can be longer than 8 hours if the average stays within 40 a week and the long days are set in advance.

Two jobs. Under the Labor Standards Act, hours at different employers are added together (Article 38). If you have already worked 8 hours at your main job, hours at a second job on the same day are overtime.

Keeping records

How to record your hours and check your payslip

The company must record when you start and finish every day — best with a time card, an IC card or the computer log. If hours are self-reported, the company may not cap how much overtime you can enter.

  1. Keep your own recordNote your start, finish and break every day: notes on your phone, photos of the time card (タイムカード), emails and messages late in the evening.
  2. Compare with your payslipOnce a month, compare your hours with the lines of your payslip — the table below.
  3. Ask in writingIf hours or premiums are missing, ask HR to recalculate — by email, so there is a record.
  4. Get helpNo answer? Go to the Labor Standards Inspection Office (労働基準監督署, rōdō kijun kantokusho) or a General Labor Consultation Corner (総合労働相談コーナー) — free, no appointment. In English: the Labour Standards Advice Hotline 0120-531-401 (free, weekdays 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., weekends and holidays 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.) and the Telephone Consultation Service for Foreign Workers 0570-001-701 (weekdays 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., closed noon to 1 p.m., paid call). All contacts: rights and free help.

Payslip lines

Japanese What it is
基本給 (kihonkyū) Base salary
時間外手当 / 残業手当 (jikangai teate / zangyō teate) Overtime pay
深夜手当 (shin’ya teate) Late-night premium (22:00–5:00)
休日手当 (kyūjitsu teate) Pay for work on a day off
固定残業手当 (kotei zangyō teate) Fixed overtime pay
時間外労働時間 / 残業時間 Overtime hours in the month
深夜労働時間 Late-night hours
休日出勤日数 Days off worked

How to read the whole payslip: reading a Japanese payslip.

Deadlines

Deadlines, and what happens if you miss them

What When If you miss it
Article 36 Agreement before the first hour of overtime overtime without it breaks the law (on the company’s side)
Overtime pay on the next pay day you can claim it for 3 years; after that the right is lost
Above 45 hours a month no more than 6 months a year a breach of the limit — a reason to go to the inspection office
Students’ part-time work 28 hours in any 7 days in a row problems when you extend your period of stay

Linked to your visa.

  • Students (留学) and family members with Dependent status (家族滞在) may work only with part-time work permission (資格外活動許可) — up to 28 hours a week. Students may work up to 8 hours a day during their school’s long vacations.
  • Schools are required to monitor their students’ part-time work: the permission, the employer, the kind of work and the hours. The 28 hours must hold whichever day of the week you start counting from.
  • On a work visa you may not earn money from activities outside your status without permission — including a side job that does not fit your status.

Part-time work permission · Part-time work for students

FAQ

Questions about working hours

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Ask us a question

How many hours a week can you legally work in Japan?

The legal limit is 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week, not counting breaks (44 hours at some small businesses in retail, health care and hospitality). Anything beyond that is overtime, which is allowed only if the company has an Article 36 Agreement filed with the Labor Standards Inspection Office, and it must be paid at a premium.

Under a standard Article 36 Agreement, 45 hours a month and 360 hours a year. With a special clause for a temporary need: up to 720 hours a year, under 100 hours in any month including work on days off, an average of no more than 80 hours over any 2 to 6 months, and more than 45 hours in no more than 6 months a year. Drivers and doctors have their own limits.

At least 25% above your hourly rate, at least 50% for overtime beyond 60 hours a month, plus at least 25% for late-night work from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., and at least 35% for work on the statutory day off. The rules apply to every employee, including part-timers and dispatched workers.

Yes. Fixed overtime pay is legal only if the number of hours and the amount it covers are stated separately, and any work beyond those hours, on days off or at night is paid on top. If the fixed amount is less than the legal premium for the hours you actually worked, the employer must pay the difference.

Only real managerial or supervisory employees are exempt from the hours and overtime rules, and that depends on real authority, control over their own hours and clearly higher pay, not on the title. A store manager or section chief without that authority must get overtime pay. Even real managers get the late-night premium and annual paid leave.

Keep your own record of start and finish times, compare it with your payslip and ask HR in writing to recalculate. If that does not help, go to the Labor Standards Inspection Office or a General Labor Consultation Corner, or call the free Labour Standards Advice Hotline in English on 0120-531-401. Unpaid wages can be claimed for 3 years.

With part-time work permission, up to 28 hours a week in total across all jobs, and up to 8 hours a day during the school’s long vacations. The 28 hours must hold whichever day of the week you start counting from. Working more can cause problems when you extend your period of stay.

Sources

Where this information comes from

Rates, limits and deadlines on this page were checked against the official websites of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Immigration Services Agency, and against the texts of the laws on October 7, 2026. Amounts are in Japanese yen. When a rule changes we update the page and the date above.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Your contract and your company’s rules of employment (就業規則) set your actual conditions. For a dispute, talk to the free labor consultation services or a Labor and Social Security Attorney (社会保険労務士, sharōshi).

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