Tag - jobs

 
 

JOBS

A member of staff at Momuri responds to a request for assistance in submitting a resignation in Tokyo on April 18.
JAPAN / Society
May 8, 2024
Japan's workers turning to agencies that help them quit jobs
One firm that provides such a service saw the highest-ever number of requests following the long Golden Week holiday.
Sony employees simulate the physical sensations of pregnancy at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo in February. The simple power of numbers can begin to remake workplace cultures, but many Japanese women still struggle to balance their careers with domestic obligations.
JAPAN / Society
May 8, 2024
It took decades, but Japan’s working women are making progress
Employers have taken steps to change a male-dominated workplace culture. But women still struggle to balance their careers with domestic obligations.
Cleaning worker Hu Dexi, 67, at a shopping mall in Beijing on April 10
BUSINESS / Economy
May 8, 2024
In rapidly aging China, millions can't afford to retire
With a low retirement age, meager pension benefits and no family to support them, many in China feel they simply can't ever stop working.
A Towa Bank employee's suicide in 2017 has been recognized as a work-related accident.
JAPAN / Society
May 8, 2024
Towa Bank employee suicide linked to overwork and harassment
Findings from the Labor Standards Inspection Office showed the man was under extreme stress due to unmanageable work pressures.
Russian officers march during the main military parade rehearsals in Moscow's Red Square on May 5.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 8, 2024
Russia’s war economy starves crucial oil industry of manpower
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, its oil and gas sector has faced increasingly strict international sanctions aimed at limiting petrodollar revenue.
Over 300 companies went out of business in fiscal 2023 due to labor shortages, according to Teikoku Databank.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 6, 2024
Japan's labor crunch persists despite slight improvement
Companies involved in IT engineering fared the worst, with more than 7 in 10 saying they didn't have enough workers and had to resort to forgoing projects.
A staff member works at the animation studio Shake Hands in Kyoto on Jan. 24. The studio aims to provide job training and confidence to people with autism.
JAPAN / Society
May 5, 2024
Anime studio draws on talent of autistic artists
The groundbreaking initiative aims to provide job training and confidence to people with autism.
Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, which allowed customers to grab grocery items from a shelf and walk out of the store, is reportedly being phased out of its grocery stores.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2024
Amazon's AI stores seemed too magical. And they were.
There are plenty more examples of companies that have failed to mention humans pulling the levers behind supposedly cutting-edge AI technology.
“Customer harassment” — in which customers harass front-line workers with aggressive behavior or unreasonable requests — has become a growing problem in the service industry.
JAPAN / Society
May 2, 2024
Japan steps up measures against 'customer harassment'
A 2022 survey found that 67.5% of respondents had experienced some kind of harassment from customers in the past three years.
The decision to cut the nearly 500-person group, including its senior director, Rebecca Tinucci, was made by CEO Elon Musk in the last week, according to a person familiar with the matter.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 1, 2024
Tesla axes most of supercharger team in blow to other automakers
The decision to cut the nearly 500-person group, including its senior director, Rebecca Tinucci, was made by CEO Elon Musk in the last week.
Japan's industrial production rose 3.8% in March from February, as demand picked up after two straight months of declines.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 30, 2024
Japan’s factory output records weakest quarter since pandemic
The yen’s plunge to a fresh 34-year low versus the dollar could spur a resurgence of cost-push inflation via higher costs for imports of food and energy.
The Ibaraki Prefectural Government has introduced an optional four-day workweek to serve as a model for work style reform.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 30, 2024
Are local governments in Japan ready to embrace a four-day workweek?
Several municipalities are testing the waters by allowing employees to opt for longer workdays in exchange for an extra weekday off.
Staff from ANA group pose during a Tokyo event in February to commemorate the launch of a comic featuring women in airport ground handling roles.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Apr 30, 2024
Japan steps up drive to secure airport ground handling workers
The initiative seeks to ramp up interest in the workforce responsible for ensuring on-time airplane departures behind the scenes.
Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Apr 28, 2024
Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.
As with for any single parent, life can present challenges. For those times, you'll need to learn resilience, perseverance and attention to detail.
The plaintiff in the case against Mizuho Bank had sought about ¥33 million in damages, including wages he should have received.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 24, 2024
Mizuho ordered to pay ¥3.3 million to ex-employee over labor dispute
The bank had — citing problematic behavior — told him to stay home at reduced pay without any work for five years.
Shohei Ohtani has been overwhelmingly voted as the “dream boss” for people who started working in April, according to a survey.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 24, 2024
New workers name Shohei Ohtani as 'dream boss' for two years running
Announcer Asami Miura and 16th-century warlord Oda Nobunaga also featured in a survey on ideal bosses in the entertainment, sports and historical spheres.
Yum China, which operates KFC and Pizza Hut, plans to add more than 5,000 outlets by 2026 with more than 50% of them outside megacities.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Apr 23, 2024
China’s small towns thrive as more opt out of demanding megacity life
As an economic downturn in China’s biggest cities prompts layoffs and competition for remaining posts, many are finding a better quality of life elsewhere.
About 60% of small and mid-sized companies plan to raise wages in fiscal 2024, a government survey shows.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 23, 2024
70% of Japan companies to raise pay-scales in FY 2024
Survey results showed that about 40% of firms were struggling with labor shortages even after raising wages.
A dealer works in the trading room at a foreign exchange brokerage in Tokyo on March 28. An overwhelming majority of respondents who currently work remotely in some capacity say they wish to continue to do so.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 22, 2024
Hybrid work takes root in Japan, survey finds
While remote working has declined with the end of the pandemic, many of those who adopted a hybrid work model are sticking to it.
Japanese businesses traditionally all hire graduates at the same time each year, but about one in 10 recruits fresh from college quit their jobs within a year, government data shows.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 20, 2024
Japanese AI tool predicts when recruits will quit
The tool crunches data on employees at a company, from their attendance record to personal information such as age and gender.

Longform

The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo is a popular place to foster curiosity in the natural sciences.
Can Japan's scientific community rebound from a Nobel nosedive?