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Author dismisses government’s fear mongering myth of crime wave by foreigners
For years, people like Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara have been up in arms about rising crime rates among foreigners and juveniles in Japan, but one of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s public safety experts has come out to say the claims are groundless, according to Sunday Mainichi (12/31). Ishihara and his ilk have long laid the…
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Whistle-blowing systems feeble at the local level
Only 20 percent of the 47 prefectural governments and 15 major cities across Japan have third-party points to accept calls from whistle-blowers, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed. Many other local governments have contact points concurrently managed by local government officials in charge of general affairs. But these contact points are rarely used, meaning that the…
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A mobile, disposable work force
Indications of deteriorating working conditions are coming to light at workplaces across the nation as the result of a practice that has become a social issue: More and more manufacturing companies are bringing in contract workers (ukeoi) to have them work like temporary workers (haken) — as if dispatched from staffing agencies — but without…
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Japan ranks 79th in global report on gender gap
Japan ranked 79th in a global report measuring women’s achievements in key areas, the Swiss-based World Economic Forum said Tuesday. Nordic countries topped the list, with Sweden considered to be a country with the smallest gender gap. Sweden was followed by Norway, Finland and Iceland. The rest of the top 10 countries were Germany, the…
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Factory denies Muslim basic human rights
A sewing factory in eastern Japan required an Indonesian Muslim trainee to sign a note promising to forgo praying five times a day and Ramadan fasting as a condition of her employment, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Monday. The firm also prohibited her from owning a cell phone and exchanging letters. The Justice Ministry suspect the…
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Gov’t looks to open up pension plan to part-time workers
The ruling coalition and government are discussing the possibility of allowing part-timers who work for an employer for more than a certain period to join the pension system, sources said. Currently, companies are obliged to pay a half of pension premiums for their part-time employees who work more than 30 hours a week [sic]. Earlier,…
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Chinese trainees flee poor work conditions
Three Chinese women working in a training program fled their workplace in Aomori Prefecture early Monday and contacted labor authorities to complain of poor conditions, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned. The trainees came to Japan two years ago and have worked at a small sewing factory in Misawa in the prefecture. The three women complained of…
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Firms face foreign hire disclosure
The government plans to make it mandatory, and no longer voluntary, that all companies in Japan report details about noncitizens when employing or dismissing them, in order to prevent an increase in illegal employment, officials said Thursday. The details will include the names, nationalities and visa status and duration. Employers who fail to make such…
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Hello Work violated temp staff law
Sixteen Hello Work job-placement offices under the jurisdiction of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry’s Osaka Labor Bureau have allowed employees from two organizations to engage in work performed by Hello Work offices, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Tuesday. The employees of the Employment and Human Resources Development Organization of Japan (EHDO), an independent administrative institution…
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Japan must do more to accept, aid refugees: U.S. NGO reps
… Japan granted refugee status to 46 asylum- seekers in 2005, a record high since 1983. Although this pales in comparison with the approximately 70,000 admitted as refugees and granted asylum by the U.S. in 2005, [Jana] Mason [deputy director of government relations for International Rescue Committee, a major U.S. nongovernmental organization] called the number a…