A Japanese water company has apologised to customers and docked a worker's pay after he was caught leaving his desk for a lunch break.

A 64-year-old male staff member at the Kobe City Waterworks Bureau on the outskirts of Osaka, Japan, took approximately 78 minutes of lunch break over the course of seven months.

But his employers took a dim view of his antics, arguing that he had frittered away company time in the pursuit of food - according to Sora News 24.

The trips a nearby store, which took three minutes each time, took place a total of 26 times between September 2017 and March 2018.

Several of the water company's high ranking officials appeared in the public broadcast earlier this month

The man was only caught when a senior office worker looked out the window and saw him crossing the street to get himself a bento - a popular Japanese lunchtime box.

A televised apology was staged by the Waterworks Bureau after the 'scandal' with company executives appearing on screens to bow in apology to its customers.

The company also docked him a half-day's pay for good measure.

'It's immensely regrettable that such a scandal took place, and we wish to express our sincere apologies,' a company official said in the TV appearance.

According to the man's superiors, the reason he gave for leaving the office to buy his lunch was because he wanted 'a change of pace'.

After the public apology, social media users leapt to the man's defence - calling the punishment 'absurd'.

The high-ranking officials called the incident a 'scandal' and apologised to customers for the waste of company time

The incident throws the spotlight on Japan's torturous working conditions where many employees are expected to work overtime and not take holiday

'Are people not even allowed to go to the toilet now? This is like workplace slavery or something,' One Twitter user wrote.

While another said: 'The punishment is totally absurd – 26 times over a six-month period means he only left the office once a week.'

'Absolutely ridiculous – arranging this formal apology with the press would've wasted more time than the three minutes he spent buying his lunch every now and then.'

The case reignited a debate over the nature of Japanese work culture - where employees rarely take sick days and work incredibly long hours.

Nearly a quarter of Japanese companies have employees working more than 80 hours overtime a month, often unpaid, a recent survey found. And 12% have employees breaking the 100 hours a month mark.

Workers are entitled to 20 days leave a year but currently about 35% don't take any of it.