Tag - labor-laws

 
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April 04, 2025
 

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LABOR LAWS

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 23, 2015
I've been unfairly dismissed — what can I do?
A reader asks: 'I want to make the company withdraw my dismissal or get compensation from them. What options do I have?'
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 29, 2015
Subaru's secret: Low-paid foreign workers power an export boom
Yasuyuki Yoshinaga was in a good mood at the early May earnings briefing in Tokyo. The top executive at the maker of Subaru automobiles joked that he would have to wear a helmet on an upcoming trip to the United States. The reason: Dealers were going to hit him over the head for not supplying them with...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues
Jul 26, 2015
Three amigos on a mission to protect your rights
The only people who tend to know what I'm talking about when I say the words "labor relations commission" are unionists, labor or corporate lawyers and labor-law scholars. These panels are government enforcement bodies that lack the glamour and fame of the courts, the cops and even the Labor Standards...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 7, 2015
Paid leave: Use it or risk losing it
'When I asked HR if paid leave can be converted to cash, the answer was no. Is HR correct?'
EDITORIALS
Jun 6, 2015
Worrying lack of stable jobs
Only 25 percent of the world's workers have stable jobs, and the rate is growing increasingly worse.
EDITORIALS
May 10, 2015
Much-needed probe into overwork
Analyzing the causes and impact of overwork is a long-overdue step, but much more needs to be done.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Apr 26, 2015
'Zero Overtime Bill' is the thin end of the wedge for workers' rights
Although you may feel this amendment to the Labor Standards Law has nothing to do with you, the net will be cast wider and before you know it we will all be caught up in it.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Mar 25, 2015
Japan sees progress on sexual harassment, but some still don't get it
On the one hand we have the legal framework to tackle sexual harassment. On the other, awareness of the issue remains sorely lacking.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues
Mar 22, 2015
University teachers in Japan work under the shadow of a falling ax
For most teachers, their job is more than an economic exchange of time for money — it is a vocation. Concern for students' educational development is genuine, as is a deep belief in the value and importance of education, and a regard for the institution's reputation and welfare.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Feb 25, 2015
Under Japanese law, breaks are sacred and standby counts as work
If your employer is keeping you waiting long hours on standby without paying you and calling it 'break time,' they are breaking the law.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 16, 2015
Who benefits from the new overtime pay system?
On Feb. 13, a Labor Policy Council sub-committee submitted to the labor ministry a report with suggestions for a bill to revise the labor standards law. The revision, which the ministry plans to submit to the next regular Diet session, applies to the work of skilled white collar professionals and will allow them to 'work in a manner that demonstrates their achievements' more effectively, which is another way of saying that employers will no longer be required to pay these workers overtime for extra hours on the job, which in turn means that employers cannot be accused of pressuring them to work overtime for no pay, a system popularly known as saabisu zangyo, or 'free overtime.'
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Jan 21, 2015
Forty years after Zainichi labor case victory, is Japan turning back the clock?
Efforts against nationality-based discrimination in Japan have made zero progress in the four decades since a landmark court case against Hitachi.
EDITORIALS
Jan 11, 2015
Ending worker exploitation
As part of its effort to stamp out abusive practices against workers, Japan's labor ministry plans to set up a system under which public employment security offices may decline to accept notices of job availability from so-called black companies.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Jan 1, 2015
Readers' letters: Roppongi, Ferguson, 'Massan,' Julien Blanc and more
Some emails received in response to Community articles at the tail end of 2014.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2014
Exploited working students starting to fight 'burakku arubaito' system
The 22-year-old university student was in his fifth day working part time at a Sukiya beef bowl outlet in Tokyo when his boss suddenly told him to run the shop from midnight to 9 a.m. all by himself.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Dec 24, 2014
Standing up to the country's flagship carrier
An airplane crash in 1977 would inspire one JAL employee, Taeko Uchida, to get serious about union activism in a way that would decades later find her leading a legal and labor battle against Japan's flagship carrier.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Nov 26, 2014
Would-be NTV announcer's fate hangs on issues of morality and fraud
How will Japan's odd mutation of the traditional job of news announcer impact the Tokyo court's decision on the fate of Rina Sasazaki?
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Oct 29, 2014
'Maternity harassment' verdict benefits women, men — and our humanity
The landmark quality of the Supreme Court ruling cannot be overstated. If women can be demoted for getting pregnant, then women who care about their careers will hesitate to have children at all.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 18, 2014
A dark force targets youth at their jobs
In the ongoing discussion about workplace abuse, the media has advanced yet another new term. "Black baito" modifies the already popular phrase "black kigyō," which are companies that manipulate or ignore labor standards in order to get employees to work overtime without pay. "Baito" is an abbreviation...
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

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