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Tokyo Medical University scandal is a throwback to when discrimination against women was the norm
Flabbergasted. That was my feeling last week reading the news of an example of brazen institutional sexism and fraud 33 years after the enactment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law. Each year since 2010, Tokyo Medical University fraudulently lowered the scores of female applicants who took the annual entrance exam, keeping the percentage of young…
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Japan’s courts don’t share Mio Sugita’s views on supporting LGBT people, precedents show
Lawmaker Mio Sugita of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party found herself embroiled in controversy when the August edition of Shincho 45 was released on July 18. “Support for LGBTs has gone too far” screamed the headline of her article in the magazine. This hard-right politician is already infamous online for her claim that the wartime…
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Devilish Japanese TV drama makes a mockery of workplace rights
“You have the right to quit this company.” The heroine utters this line at the climax of every episode of a TV drama series currently airing on Saturday nights, “Miss Devil” (“Devil of Human Resources”). The setting is Kyoa Fire Insurance. Out of nowhere, a leggy beauty with sharp eyes and even sharper eyeliner arrives…
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Abe walks a tightrope on Japan’s foreign worker policy
The number of foreign nationals working in Japan reached its highest-ever level in October 2017 at 1,278,670, according to a study by the labor ministry (bit.ly/mhlwhoudou). The foreign proportion of the population remains tiny compared to that in European countries or North America, yet the impact of the growing ranks of foreign workers is considerable…
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中労委は、組合妨害阻止命令を支持
中央労働委員会は、2018年3月29日(木)に、東ゼン労組が文際学園を相手に不当労働行為の救済を申し立てた件について、東京都労働委員会の命令を支持するという判断を下した。 東ゼン労組は、２０１３年に同学園が組合活動である情宣活動を妨害したと、主張して東京都労働委員会に不当労働行為の救済を申し立てた。それに対して、都労委は２０１６年１月に、文際学園に妨害を阻止し、組合に謝罪するよう命令した。
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National Labor Board Upholds Ruling Against JCFL
Victory! The Central Labor Relations Commission ruled on Thursday March 29th that Japan College of Foreign Languages (JCFL, a division of Bunsai Gakuen) had illegally interfered with Tozen Union’s leafleting actions in front of the school.
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Lessons on life, love and compassionate leave from a silly old bunny
This month I will explore compassionate leave — called kibiki kyūka in Japanese — the days you take off after losing a close family member. I chose this topic because I recently suffered a string of painful losses. Please bear with me as I relate to you what has happened to my loved ones over…
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Court cases shine a light on Japan’s problem with paternity leave
The Japanese government wants to raise the number of fathers taking paternity leave from 2016’s 3 percent to 13 percent by 2020, but two recent court cases show how hard it can be for some fathers to take their legally mandated paternity leave — especially if difficult pregnancies complicate the situation before the child is…
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外国人にも無期転換逃れ？ 仏政府公式「日仏学院」やベネッセ子会社で労使紛争
今年4月から適用がスタートする「無期転換ルール」。契約が反復更新され、通算5年を超えた場合、労働者は希望すれば、有期雇用から期間の定めのない労働契約（無期雇用）に転換できるというものだ（労働契約法）。
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Why Japanese people keep working themselves to death
Years after losing his son, Itsuo Sekigawa is still in shock, grief-stricken and angry. Straight out of college in 2009, his son Satoshi proudly joined a prestigious manufacturer, but within a year he was dead. Investigators said working extreme hours drove him to take his own life. The young engineer fell victim to the Japanese…