Following these findings, in 2001, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor softened the rules governing compensation, and the number of applications rose immediately. In 2001 alone, there were 690 applications for compensation for circulatory system diseases, and 143 of these were identified as being related to overwork.
2001 年日本厚生勞動省將審查標準放寬，申請案件立即增加，該年共有 690 件循環系統疾病職災補償案件，最後有 143 件被認定是過勞。