＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
These days, one computer is provided to each person at every workplace for work. As a result, you probably work on a computer all day long, and your eyes often become tired and sore.
１．Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare Guidelines
In 2002, “Guidelines for Occupational Health Management in VDT Work” were established by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
VDT stands for “Visual Display Terminals” and refers to “screen display devices with displays,” which in essence are personal computers.
The guidelines recommend that workers take a 10-15 minute break or perform another task after working continuously for one hour.
<October 4, 2019 added> Key Points of the “New Guidelines for VDT Work” (Tokyo Labor Bureau, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)
Since the establishment of the “VDT Work Guidelines” in 2002, new guidelines were released on July 18 this year(2019) in response to the rapid development of information technology (IT) in the workplace.
The main points are as follows
２．Symptoms caused by VDT work
According to the “2008 Survey on Technological Innovation and Labor” released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in 2008, 68.6% of workers who use computer equipment at work (78.0% in 2003) reported feeling tired and subjective symptoms.
As for symptoms, about 90% complained of “eye fatigue/pain,” about 70% complained of “stiffness and pain in the neck/shoulders,” and 20 to 30% complained of “back fatigue/pain” and “back fatigue/pain,” as well as “headaches. On top of that, 34.6% (34.8% in 2003) of workers reported feeling mental stress.
３．Concentration and Rest” are Important in Work
Rakugo storyteller Katsura Shijaku has extolled the importance of “easing tension” as the key to laughter, and I have long believed that “concentration and rest” are important when it comes to work.
In my case, due to the effects of a “juvenile recurrent vitreoretinal hemorrhage” in my sophomore year of high school, reading a book for about an hour straight makes my eyes hurt and my back ache, so I have to take a break every hour, but instead I concentrate in the remaining time. I am more efficient that way.
With computers, the blue light that causes “VDT syndrome” makes my eyes even more tired than when reading a book.
If you are an office worker and find that your eyes are often tired these days, please do not hesitate to move your body or take a short break once an hour to avoid falling into a serious VDT syndrome.
It is the same as civil servants who are “never late, never rest, never work” when office workers are slumped in front of their desks for long periods of time.
This does not mean that all civil servants are like that, it is just a common saying among the public.