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December 23, 2024
 

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Masako Suzuki
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 2, 2014
Post-school life can bring visa complications
After The Japan Times published a Lifelines column on Dec. 15 that focused on visa issues, we received a lot of mail from readers asking about their particular individual situations. We would like to stress that it is always best to have a professional look at personal cases.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 28, 2013
When can you fight a job transfer?
A foreign reader writes: "My husband is working for a company that has branches in Shinagawa, Narita and Ibaraki. He used to work at the Shinagawa branch, and then he was forced to move to the Narita branch.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 11, 2012
Three steps to judging whether a disciplinary measure is legal
An English teacher writes: "Recently, my company placed me on a three-month suspension from work, until five days before my fixed-period employment contract expires. As I am still employed, I cannot claim unemployment benefits, and this lengthy period makes it almost financially prohibitive to remain...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 15, 2012
Name on deeds shouldn't affect divorce asset split
Mr. A writes: "I'm a foreigner who has been married to a Japanese for more than 20 years. We bought a house in her name a few years ago, with a loan that's due after 30 years. Every month I pay half of the monthly installment.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 14, 2012
Firms have few grounds to refuse staff paid leave
Reader KA writes: "In a recent Lifelines column ("All employees in Japan are entitled to paid leave, period," Dec. 13) it was stated that all employees have the legal right to take paid vacation providing they meet certain basic criteria. Whilst that is legally correct, employers can often prevent paid...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 13, 2011
All employees in Japan are entitled to paid leave, period
Reader A is employed by an agency and has been dispatched to a food processing company. The agency explained to A that she was not entitled to paid leave. However, other people directly employed by the food processing company enjoy 10 to 15 days paid holiday, and A has recently learned that those dispatched...
COMMUNITY / LIFELINES
Oct 4, 2011
Unfair dismissal: the legal options
Reader MB was recently fired from a private language school he'd been working at for five years.
Bankruptcies and suicides rise as Japanese struggle with mounting debt
Lawyers estimate that personal bankruptcies in Japan are on track to reach the highest since 2012 this year.
Honda and Nissan consider mutual production of vehicles, report says
Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe at the Japan Mobility Show 2023 at Tokyo Big Sight in October 2023.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Nippon Steel alleges undue White House influence on doomed deal review
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Dec. 10.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.

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