Tokyo Syndrome describes the behavior of office workers who, over time, become sympathetic to their most horrible office environment. The name derives from a 1966 office incident in Tokyo, Japan. At the end of the regular eight hour workday, several workers actually resisted going home, and even refused to be paid overtime.
Symptoms: Captives begin to identify with their office environment, initially as a defensive mechanism, out of fear of going back home. Small acts of kindness by the managers or coworkers are magnified, since finding perspective in a workplace is by definition impossible. Telephone calls by family members are seen as a threat, since this is perceived as hindering their career within the company. Tokyo Syndrome is a survival mechanism. The men and women who get it are not lunatics. They are fighting for their lives. They deserve compassion, not ridicule.
Treatment: The treatment of Tokyo Syndrome, has two stages: first, the victims need to feel welcome return home. To do this they (a majority of the victims are male), need to cure their wives of the Cockroach Husband Syndrome, which in itself is a tremendous task. The second stage is the use of group therapy in which the victims should be helped to integrate both disassociated ‘sides’ of the work environment. The therapy should assist him in giving up his dream that the relationship will become what he had hoped it would be. Japanese companies, under pressure from governmental groups have introduced drastic and far reaching methods, the most radical being switching off the lights in their offices after midnight.