By Michelle Lynn Dinh

It’s well known around the world that many people in Japan are overworked. Long hours, overtime, working on the weekends; all of these less than ideal conditions can build up and create unhappy employees. But did you know that not all prefectures are equally overworked?

Japanese online job search site, Rikunavi Next, have ranked the 47 prefecture of Japan based on how many hours of overtime and how much compensation workers receive on average. How does your prefecture stack up?

Rikunavi Next created the ”Happy Overtime Points” index, derived from the average overtime compensation and hours of overtime worked in each prefecture. The higher the points, the higher the overtime compensation and the lower the amount of overtime hours. So unless you’re a workaholic who lives to be at their desk, you’re going to hope for a high score for your prefecture.

Since we’re optimistic people, let’s look at these findings in a positive light. Here are the prefectures rankings, starting from the highest amount of Happy Overtime Points (areas with the least amount of overtime and the highest overtime compensation):

1：Nara 245.7 2：Wakayama 237.3 3：Tottori 227.7 4：Mie 220.2 5：Fukui 219.7 6：Miyazaki 210.0 7：Shimane 207.2 8：Tokushima 206.3 9：Nagano 204.6 10：Kyoto 201.0 11：Osaka 198.5 12：Okinawa 197.8 13：Ishikawa 197.0 14：Niigata 196.8 15：Yamaguchi 195.5 16：Miyagi 191.0 17：Gunma 190.6 18：Saga 187.4 19：Saitama 187.0 20：Fukushima 183.3 21：Chiba 183.2 22：Akita 181.1 23：Oita 179.3 24：Toyama 179.1 25：Gifu 178.9 26：Fukuoka 178.4 27：Kochi 177.7 28：Kanagawa 175.8 29：Tochigi 175.6 30：Yamanashi 174.4 31：Kagawa 173.1 32：Tokyo 172.3 33：Kumamoto 168.7 34：Shiga 166.1 35：Kagoshima 165.4 36：Aichi 165.3 37：Aomori 164.0 38：Ehime 163.8 39：Hiroshima 163.8 40：Hyogo 163.5 41：Hokkaido 161.6 42：Iwate 158.3 43：Okayama 151.9 44：Yamagata 149.6 45：Shizuoka 148.5 46：Ibaraki 139.5 47：Nagasaki 121.9

As you can see, Nara, neighboring Wakayama, and slightly farther away Tottori took the top three spots. Those who live in first place Nara Prefecture clocked in an average of 7.2 hours of overtime and received 1,769 yen per hour for that extra time spent at work. On the other end of the spectrum, Shizuoka, Ibaraki, and Nagasaki took up the rear in 45th, 46th, and 47th place respectively. Citizens of last place Nagasaki Prefecture worked an average of 4.6 more hours of overtime and got paid 331 yen per hour less for that extra work.

Although these rankings might inspire tired workers to pick up and move to one of the top three prefectures, a graduate from a Wakayama university warns you might want to hold off on your moving plans. Although Wakayama Prefecture had the second highest amount of Happy Overtime Points, the area is low on actual jobs, possibly boosting the prefecture’s rank. It goes to show that a high amount of Happy Overtime Points doesn’t necessarily reflect an easy place to work. Still, it might come in handy for some people who are unhappy with their working conditions and may even inspire some to seek “happier” overtime areas.

Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- Under 50% of Workers in Japan Received Full Payment for Overtime -- Five things that keep Japanese people chained to their jobs -- How mean are you? Compare your life with the average Japanese person

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