Japan's workforce is really stressed about an upcoming extended holiday

An extended holiday is causing extended stress in Japan.

Every year, Japan celebrates something known as Golden Week, a string of successive public holidays beginning with the birthday of Emperor Showa. But this year, Golden Week has been extended to 10 days of vacation to celebrate the abdication and retirement of Emperor Akihito and the ascension of his son Naruhito to the throne. The extra vacation days, it turns out, are making Japan's workforce anything but relaxed, The Washington Post reports.

One of the major reasons many people are unhappy is because those who work in the service industry won't have the time off, which is exacerbated by staff shortages. That means extra shifts during what is expected to be "a hellish 10 days" for those in the industry. As one woman wrote, the Post reports, "I wish the government would at least raise wages during the holidays."

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But even those who will have time off are ruing it. A survey of 600 working women found that nearly two-thirds of those polled felt "preholiday" stress and were "despondent" as the break approached, the Post reports.

There is no rest for the weary, after all. Read more at The Washington Post.