-
·
Group: Hunger strike worked
Supporters of inmates held at the Nishi-Nihon Japan Immigration Center said a hunger strike in March has led to more provisional releases for those with health problems. But immigration center officials denied any connection between the hunger strike and the provisional releases. About 70 male inmates began a hunger strike March 8, demanding that those…
-
·
Japanese firms adopt a global appearance
With overseas markets increasingly seen as the key to their survival, Japanese companies are adopting a more “international” look at home involving changes that would have been unheard of years ago. [A few] long-held practices in hiring have been scrapped, as have [some] limits on positions available to non-Japanese at the companies’ head offices in…
-
·
Indonesians seek flexibility in exam for foreign nurses
Indonesia’s nursing association has called on the Japanese government to be more flexible in the national nursing exam so more foreign nurses can pass it and work in the nation. Achir Yani, president of the Indonesian National Nurses’ Association, made the call following a recent announcement by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry that only…
-
·
Korean worker who sued Tokyo govt retires
Public health nurse Chong Hyang Gyun was all smiles when she retired from the Tokyo metropolitan government recently, even though it had refused to let her seek promotion because of her South Korean nationality. A second-generation Korean resident of this country, Chong sued the metropolitan government in 1994, demanding she be allowed to take a…
-
·
Migrants in Japan facing discrimination
Migrants in Japan face discrimination, exploitation and other forms of mistreatment, an independent United Nations human rights expert said, urging the Japanese Government to strengthen their protection. “They [migrants] still face a range of challenges, including racism and discrimination, exploitation, a tendency by the judiciary and police to ignore their rights, and the overall lack…
-
·
Protests hit immigration detainee treatment
Some 30 Japanese, Chinese, Ghanaian and ethnic Kurds from Turkey staged protests Wednesday in front of the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau in Shinagawa Ward and the Justice Ministry in Chiyoda Ward, demanding better treatment for detainees. Masanori Kashiwazaki, a member of SYI, a group supporting foreigners detained in immigration detention centers, gave identical protest letters…
-
·
U.N. rights rapporteur says end foreign trainee program ‘slavery’
A visiting U.N. expert on the rights of migrants urged the government Wednesday to terminate its industrial trainee and technical intern program for workers from overseas, saying it may amount to “slavery” in some cases, fueling demand for exploitative cheap labor in possible violation of human rights. “This program should be discontinued and replaced by…
-
·
Deportation rule troubles U.N. official
A recent government decision to deport only the parents of families without residency status, thus separating children from their mothers and fathers, flies in the face of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Jorge Bustamante, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, said Saturday in Tokyo. Bustamante, who is on his…
-
·
1st foreign nurses pass national exam
Two Indonesians and one Filipina have become the first foreign nurses to pass Japan’s national nursing qualification test after work experience at Japanese hospitals under economic partnership agreements, the health ministry said Friday. The three are among the 370 foreign nurses who have visited this country under an EPA-related project launched in fiscal 2008, hoping…
-
·
Foreign trio clear nursing exam hurdle
Two nurses from Indonesia and one from the Philippines cleared Japanese-language requirements and passed the national nursing exam in February, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Friday. The three, who are among 257 people in Japan under free-trade agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines, will be allowed to stay in Japan indefinitely. The three…