Tag - law

 
 

LAW

EDITORIALS
Mar 13, 2014
State secrets law fatally flawed
Japan should hold off on putting the state secrets law into effect until it addresses the need for an oversight mechanism for how secrets are designated as well as a means to protect whistleblowers.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 24, 2014
Should young criminals face harsher penalties?
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet approved a bill this month to bolster punishments issued under the juvenile law. This is partly in response to growing calls by people victimized by juvenile offenders to reduce their apparent impunity.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 21, 2014
Beefed-up law seen doing little to curb stalking menace
The shooting death of a 26-year-old woman in Tatebayashi, Gunma Prefecture, is a sour reminder that even though the anti-stalking law was bolstered last year, measures against the crime remain flawed.
EDITORIALS
Feb 20, 2014
Expanding the temp workforce
A labor law revision being prepared by the government would remove the three-year limit on dispatching temporary workers to the same job, and thus expand the ranks of a workforce that traditionally has had little job security and received less pay than regular employees.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Feb 12, 2014
ANA caricature speaks volumes about Japan's outdated mind-set
My personal opinion is that the ad is a disappointing anachronism, and a reminder of the parochial outlook of large Japanese corporations. The ad appeals to the facile formula that 'foreigner = white = blonde and big-nosed = English-speaking = globalization.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Feb 7, 2014
NHK governors' impartiality doubted
Shocking remarks like "there was no Nanjing Massacre" and "the gender equality law triggered Japan's low birthrate" by NHK governors appointed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have called into question the qualifications and neutrality of the public broadcaster's board and the biased way its members are...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 4, 2014
Abe's reactionary leadership
The Japanese government has so far failed to give meaningful reassurances about how the reactionary and potentially dangerous state secrets law, rammed through the Japanese Diet in December, will operate.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 1, 2014
Paternity testing opens up a world of hurt for families — and family courts
The paternity test procedure can now cost as little as ¥30,000, which means it's affordable to anyone. Recently, an increasing number of Japanese men have been carrying out DNA testing on their children, usually because they suspect their wives of cheating.
EDITORIALS
Jan 30, 2014
Calling Abe to account
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito should refrain from ramrodding their proposals through the Diet as they did with the state state secrets bill during the recent extradordinary Diet session.
EDITORIALS
Jan 29, 2014
Momii unfit to lead NHK
Recent remarks by new NHK Chairman Katsuto Momii on 'comfort women' and NHK's duty to toe the government line show that his appointment was a mistake. He should resign or the NHK Board of Governors should remove him.
EDITORIALS
Jan 24, 2014
Limits of secrecy oversight panel
An expert council for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may be able to serve as a minor check against the arbitrary application of the new state secrets law, but the the defects of the law will remain.
EDITORIALS
Jan 11, 2014
Perilous times for journalists
Given its recent enactment of the state secrets protection law, how soon will Japan start to appear on the annual lists of imprisoned journalists put out by the Committee to Protect Journalists?
EDITORIALS
Jan 7, 2014
LDP's secrecy law propaganda
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is rebutting newspaper articles that have criticized the recently enacted state secrets protection law. But its documented arguments are far from convincing.
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2014
Common-law pairs OK'd for in vitro births
The Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology will officially approve in vitro fertilization for people in common-law marriages, relaxing a voluntary curb.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’