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Building a ‘Little Yangon’ in Tokyo
For Tokyo’s community of Burmese, however, Takadanobaba is something much more important: a home away from home. In fact, so many of them have gathered there that it has come to be known as Little Yangon. Although they number only a few thousand, the mutual support and sense of community have been vital for their…
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New Dissent in Japan Is Loudly Anti-Foreign
The demonstrators appeared one day in December, just as children at an elementary school for ethnic Koreans were cleaning up for lunch. The group of about a dozen Japanese men gathered in front of the school gate, using bullhorns to call the students cockroaches and Korean spies. Inside, the panicked students and teachers huddled in…
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Japanese women stand low on corporate ladder 25 yrs after law change
Twenty five years have passed since the Equal Employment Opportunity Law for Men and Women was enacted to fight gender inequality at the workplace. By this time, people might think that a horde of college-educated women are calling the shots as corporate managers. But the latest Kyodo News survey shows that is hardly the case.…
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Workplace bans on beards raise hairy questions
In May, the city of Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture, banned all male municipal employees from sporting beards in the office on the grounds that public servants should look decent. The city took the action after some residents complained about its bearded workers. In response to the news, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said it had…
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Inmates on hunger strike in Japan immigration centre
Scores of foreigners in a Japanese immigration detention centre have been on hunger strike for more than a week, demanding to be released and protesting the mysterious death of an African deportee. Some 70 detainees — many of them Sri Lankans and Pakistanis — have refused food since May 10, also seeking to highlight suicides…
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Is Japan becoming more insular?
With so much talk of globalization, it might seem counterintuitive to suggest that Japan is turning inward, but that’s what some have concluded. Take Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, where the local government last year made what seemed like a coldhearted offer to Latin American immigrants: It would pay them to go back home — as long…
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Bar association supports woman’s claim that prefecture denied her promotions due to gender
A bar association here has found the Gunma Prefectural Government’s reluctance to promote a female employee to a higher position to be discriminatory and made a request to the government office to improve its promotion practices. The request was made Thursday by the human-rights committee of the Gunma Bar Association. According to the committee, it…
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Beard ban sparks controversy
The Isesaki city government has stirred controversy with an edict to public servants not to grow beards. In a notice distributed to city workers Tuesday, Isesaki city said the ban was placed because some citizens find facial hair “unpleasant.” The notice, aimed to inform workers of the start Wednesday of the summer “Cool Biz” campaign…
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Workplace policy: What strange things have been banned?
The municipal government of Isesaki in central Japan has banned its male employees from growing beards. Yahoo News reports that there were two specific reasons for the ban. City officals cited a need for public servants to maintain decorum. Also, there were complaints from citizens who found beards and stubble unpleasant. The facial hair policy…
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Municipal government bans male employees from wearing beards
The municipal government of Isesaki in central Japan on Wednesday banned male employees from wearing beards, citing concerns that citizens find beards unpleasant and the need for public servants to maintain decorum. The government of the Gunma Prefecture city said it has received complaints from some citizens who were offended by city office employees who…