Thousands of Japanese workers are 'Evaporating'. Read why

By Chris Weller

In Japanese, the word is johatsu, or “evaporated people.“

Tormented by the shame of a lost job, failed marriage, or mounting debt, thousands of Japaneses have reportedly started leaving behind their formal identities and seeking refuge in the anonymous, off-the-grid world.


That's according to a recently published book called “The Vanished: The `Evaporated People' of Japan in Stories and Photographs,“ by French author-photographer pair Léna Mauger and Stéphane Remael. The book features a collection of vignettes from people who have fled modern society in search of a more secretive, less shame-filled life.

Mauger and Remael spent five years traveling around Japan beginning in 2008, earning the trust of locals to learn about the troubling trend. They also met the loved ones the loved ones of those who disappeared: abandoned fathers, housewives, and ex-lovers. No formal government data exists on the trend, but by the pair's research more than 100,000 people “disappear“ annually .

None of these people physically vanish, per se; the “evaporation“ is more of an administrative disappearance. Similar to those in the Witness Protection Program in the US, johatsu opt to change their names, addresses, and business ties. They can essentially wipe the slate clean.

In Japan this escape can be surprisingly easy, Public Radio International reports. Japanese privacy laws give citizens a great deal of freedom in keeping their whereabouts under wraps. Only in criminal cases can the police mine people's personal data, and relatives can't look up financial records.

“It's so taboo," Mauger said.“It's something you can't really talk about. But people can disappear because there's another society underneath. When people disappear, they know they can find a way to survive."

The Japanese pressure to save face manifests itself in other ways, too. For instance, Japanese has a word to describe suicides driven by overwork: karoshi. Last October, a report found that more than 20 per cent of people in a survey of 10,000 said they worked at least 80 hours of overtime a month. Half of all respondents said they give up taking paid vacations.

In recent months, the Japanese government has taken small steps to reduce cases of karoshi, such as encouraging companies to let their staff work shorter hours on Friday. According to experts, however, the culture of work is so strong that many feel the incentives still don't outweigh the downsides of dropping out.

That is, unless they go the way of johatsu and walk away for good.