The president suddenly announced, “I throw away work–life balance — I will work and work and work and work.”
One employee asked, “Do we have to throw it away too?”
“If the president throws it away, what company is there where rank-and-file employees don’t?” the president replied. “You will work for the company, work and work and work. If not — you’re fired!”
After he left, the employees gathered to consult. “Is it burnable trash? Or bulky waste?” “Maybe it’s recyclable.” An old hand scoffed, “Don’t be ridiculous. It isn’t household garbage — it’s industrial waste.”
They rang the city environmental office, but no one there knew how to dispose of a work–life balance.
“Don’t ask the city — you’ll have to ask the government directly,” they were told, and they were out of options.
At their wits’ end, they hit upon a simpler plan than trying to throw away the work–life balance. In the dead of night they all went to the president’s house. He was drinking alone, dead drunk. While he slept, they wrapped him in a mat and threw him into Tokyo Bay. It was so dark that nobody could tell who had done what.
Note: “I throw away work–life balance” and “work and work and work” alludes to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s inaugural remark (Oct 2025): “I will discard the term ‘work–life balance.’ I will work and work and work and work and work.”
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