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April 04, 2025
 

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LABOR LAWS

Under the revised labor standards law, annual overtime will be capped at 960 hours for truck drivers and 720 hours for construction workers.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2024
New work-style reform measures kick off in Japan
It is feared the new caps will cause shortages of workers, making it difficult to maintain services.
Those who are planning to move to new homes are finding themselves either struggling to make a reservation or facing increasingly higher costs.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2024
Japan's moving companies struggle to meet demand amid driver shortage
Charges have increased, even doubled, during the March-April peak moving season as a regulation capping overtime hours for drivers kicks in.
Beyond factors such as the "motherhood penalty," Japanese women struggle to advance in their careers due to the structure of the workforce, including the two-tiered clerical versus managerial track.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 6, 2024
Why is it taking so long to break the glass ceiling?
Japan isn't unique in having a thick glass ceiling, but some factors don't apply to other countries, like the U.S., where many more managers are women.
A Japan Post delivery truck. Certain parcels will take longer to arrive under changes set to begin in April.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 31, 2024
Japan Post announces delayed timeframes for express deliveries
The changes come as part of an effort to cope with stricter regulations on truck drivers’ working hours.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Dec 15, 2023
Hokkaido to face issues around Rapidus, seafood and '2024 problem'
An influx of foreign residents is expected in Chitose, while China's ban on marine products continues to hurt the region.
Some of the most popular influencers can amass small fortunes before they're 18, but there are few legal protections to ensure their earnings remain their own.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 12, 2023
Child influencers make big money. Who gets it?
"I’m terrified to share my name because a digital footprint I had no control over exists."
SUMO
Oct 1, 2023
Sumo association officials punished over harassment claims
The association will suspend Tetsuji Miyata, its administrative affairs chief, for one month, and demote the head of the office in charge of accounting.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Sep 28, 2023
What is Japan's so-called 2024 problem?
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is turning his attention to a looming challenge: a shortage of truck drivers.
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2023
Education ministry alarmed by teachers' long working hours
In the education, science and technology white paper for fiscal 2022, which ended in March this year, the ministry stressed that reducing hours is an urgent task.
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2023
Government draws up measures to tackle expected 2024 logistics crunch
Large consignors and logistics companies have been asked to submit improvement plans that will ease burdens on truck drivers ahead of a new legal limit on their overtime from April 2024.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2023
Yoshinoya may tap retirees as drivers when overtime cap hits transport industry
The plan comes amid the Japanese logistics industry's so-called 2024 problem, an expected truck driver shortage due to revised overtime rules.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2023
Japan's logisticians brace for expected driver shortages
The logistics world is worried about holdups in operations, while new restrictions on overtime may deliver a further blow to an industry already short on truck drivers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 3, 2023
Google Japan workers form labor union amid fears of job cuts
Members of the union told a reporters on Thursday that they are demanding that Google Japan enter negotiations with the union this month.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 27, 2023
Are ‘white’ companies proving to be too much of a good thing for Japan's Gen Z?
'Black' companies are places of excess: excess overtime, excess chores — not excess pay! And the best way to express the idea of 'too much' in Japanese is with the verb-suffix 'sugiru.'
Japan Times
SOCCER
Jan 18, 2023
Iceland's Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir wins maternity pay claim against Lyon
FIFPRO described the ruling in a statement as the first of its kind since FIFA's maternity regulations came into force in January 2021.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2023
Jobs vs. membership: Making sense of Japan's system of employment
A family-based 'membership-type' system of work underpins Japanese society, but the conditions and traditions attached to it aren't always favorable — or easy to understand.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 23, 2022
Over half of Japan's junior high school teachers work beyond overtime guidelines
'While there is an improving trend overall, we need to continue to promote efforts to reform working styles,' an education ministry official said.
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2022
Japan looks to boost protections for freelancers with new law
With business usually agreed on verbally, many freelancers experience issues with payment and disagreements over the expected work.
As ‘Buy Canadian’ grows, more U.S. firms say retailers turning away products
Empty shelves with "Buy Canadian Instead" signs are seen in the American Whiskey section of the BC Liquor in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 10.
U.S. tourist arrested after bringing a handgun into Japan
Hyogo police believe the handgun a U.S. tourist inadvertently brought into Japan slipped through security procedures at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture.
Trump unveils 10% global tariff, with Japan levy set at 24%
Trump tosses a MAGA hat to the crowd during an event in which he unveiled new tariffs in the White House on Wednesday.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
Japan promises 'bold and speedy' response to Trump’s surprise 24% tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump unveils new U.S. tariffs at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
On defense, Japan may avoid Trump's worst impulses — for now
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth chat after reviewing an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Sunday.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
By Johan Brooks

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)
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