Tag - laws

 
 

LAWS

WORLD / Politics
Jun 19, 2015
Charleston church aftermath: Republicans avoid talk of race, guns
Republican presidential candidates steered clear on Thursday of addressing the role gun rights and racial tensions may have played in a deadly mass shooting in South Carolina as Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton called for the United States to face what she called the "hard truths" underpinning...
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
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 15, 2015
Vagina artist pleads not guilty to obscenity charge
Taking the stand on the first day of her trial, Megumi Igarashi said she is fighting the charge to challenge the widely held belief in Japanese society that female genitals are “shameful.”
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2015
Indiana, Arkansas approve religious-freedom laws that some call discriminatory
Indiana and Arkansas revised on Thursday new religious freedom acts that had drawn criticism from rights groups and U.S. companies that assailed them as discriminatory against gays.
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.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 4, 2015
China says NGOs need regulating for 'national security reasons'
China needs to better regulate foreign non-governmental organizations (NGO) operating in the country for national security reasons, an official said on Wednesday, as the government drafts a law that has unnerved many aid groups.
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.
WORLD
Jan 19, 2015
Ex-spy chief says outdated U.K. anti-terrorism laws are not fit for purpose
Britain's ability to prevent terrorist attacks is hampered by outdated laws that are "no longer fit for purpose," a former MI5 chief said in an interview published on Sunday, as the government considers new powers to monitor the Internet.
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.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Dec 6, 2014
Obscenity arrest may be hiding dirty politics
What constitutes obscenity in Japan? The term, both legally and morally, has different meanings in Japanese, just as it does in English. In a strictly legal sense, the Japanese word for obscenity, waisetsu, refers to something that maliciously stimulates sexual desire in an inappropriate and immoral...

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