The evanescence of today’s global news cycle means that most of the world already has forgotten last week’s railway accident in Japan that killed 106 and wounded 460 others, 150 seriously, when the lead car of a train pancaked—literally—into a nine story condominium building.

The story will not disappear so quickly in Japan, however, if only because train travel is such an integral part of everyone’s existence, particularly at certain stages of their lives, and especially for city dwellers. Though car ownership continues to climb, many people still use trains to commute to work or school every day. Unlike the United States, Japan has no public school bus system, so trains are often the primary means of transportation for students going back and forth to school, starting in junior high.

Therefore, the thought, “There but for the grace of God go I”, will inevitably rise in the minds of most Japanese when they see the images on television or in the newspaper. And what they are beginning to find out about the accident is also bound to create involuntary shudders the next time they board a train.

The crash occurred around 9:20 a.m. on a Monday morning, just after the main commuting hours, when the 23-year-old driver put the pedal to the metal and hit a curve at more than 100 kilometers per hour—where the speed limit was 70 kilometers per hour.

What possessed the driver to go so fast? It turns out he had earlier overrun a stop by 40 meters, causing him to fall 90 seconds behind schedule. The driver also overran a station in June last year, one month after starting the job, and was given a warning. The railway union is suggesting that the fear of punishment for being late drove him to speed up the train.

For the train company JR West, the driver’s employer, punishment does not simply mean lost pay or a delayed promotion. As this article in the Asia Times reveals, JR’s treatment borders on the medieval. They call it the “day shift”, and drivers will do anything to avoid it. It can include writing self-critical reports, being made to weed the company’s gardens, or groveling in apology for weeks to managers.

In some cases, this results in depression. In other cases, it leads to worse. Here’s what happened to one driver:

Human-rights activists produced tape recordings of one train driver, Masaki Hattori, 44, that revealed he was sobbing while repeatedly saying “I am wrong and I am a fool” during three days of harsh questioning by JR West managers in his “re-education” program, for falling behind his schedule. The proud driver, with 20 years’ experience and no accidents in his record, felt humiliated and later committed suicide.

Hattori is one of seven JR West drivers who have taken their lives after “the day shift”. Masako Shimano, a lawyer in the field of workers’ rights, claims, “Globalization and rapid privatization, coupled with a system in Japan where human rights have long taken low priority, have led to a frightening situation for workers and the lowering of safety standards.”

Globalization and rapid privatization have nothing to do with this case, but that’s the boilerplate that comes from labor lawyers. JR was privatized in 1987, and they haven’t had accidents this bad before. Japan’s big cities also have several private railway systems, so competition in this sector is nothing new.

She’s got the second part right, though. For most of Japanese history, individuals have subordinated themselves to the needs of the group, whether it be the government, society, or their company. And the government, society, or the company too often viewed the individual as a disposable, easily replaceable part.

The country has rapidly humanized since its citizens have become more aware of life and labor practices in Europe and the United States, however. So many rocks have been lifted in so many areas of society over the past few decades, exposing so many slugs to the light, that I thought the cruel and unusual punishments once so commonplace for employees and students had become obsolete.

Looks like I was wrong.