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Kanpai! Summer Bonuses Up
The size of traditional summer bonuses rose for the first time in four years, according to preliminary data released by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry on Monday. Granted the average rise was 1.1% from the previous year to 367,178 yen, but heck, a bigger bonus is a bigger deal. Workers in the mining and…
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Bonuses post 1st rise in 4 years
The average bonus for salaried workers this summer rose 1.1 percent from a year ago to 367,178 yen ($4,570), the first increase in four years, a labor ministry report said Monday. Even though it may reflect improved performance among businesses, the slight upturn followed a sharp decline of 9.7 percent in summer 2009, meaning the…
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Woes of foreign nurses, caregivers in Japan
Jusuf Anwar, Indonesian ambassador to Japan, has bewailed the overly stringent Japanese national examinations for foreign caregivers and nurses. Out of the 500 Indonesians who took the examinations in 2008 and 2009, only two have passed and have become certified nurses. Anwar revealed this concern at the “First Public Forum on Indonesia” held on July…
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Japanese premier vows to help RP nurses, road users
Communications Strategy Secretary Ricky Carandang said that during the [17th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations] talks Friday night, [Japanese Prime Minister Naoto] Kan promised to help make it easier for Filipino nurses to pass Japanese exams so that they could work in Japan under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement. Carandang told reporters…
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Lawyer putting foreigners first
Goal to provide access to legal advice for all Masako Suzuki has dedicated her career to giving legal support to foreigners living in Japan. Starting Monday, she will become the first head of the new Section of Legal Assistance for Foreigners at the Tokyo Public Law Office. The section will specialize in giving legal advice…
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Foreigners victims, perpetrators of sekuhara
Japan sees progress on sexual harassment, but stories suggest it still has a long way to go While the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL) was passed in 1985, it was not until 1999 that revisions to the law included definitions of sexual harassment and legal penalties for employers. These penalties, however, only allow for making…
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Protesters in Japan decry Myanmar ‘sham election’ plan
Some 250 protesters [including members of Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union] rallied in Tokyo on Wednesday to call for a boycott of next month’s election in Myanmar, decrying it as a sham for excluding the biggest opposition party.
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Japan’s 1st legal assistance office for foreigners to launch in Nov.
A legal office in Tokyo will set up next week a new section specializing in providing legal assistance to foreign residents in Japan, focusing on individual needs of foreigners, the office said Monday. The Tokyo Public Law Office will launch the section on Nov. 1, in the first such attempt by a bar association in…
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Gaba teachers challenge ‘contractor’ status
Union fears employment model could mark first step on slippery slope for eikawa firms Long accustomed to being ignored, being forgotten proved too much to take for unionized teachers at Gaba language school. On Oct. 4, the General Union registered an official complaint and request for an investigation with the Ministry of Finance’s Securities and…
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50 Geos branches will be renamed
Nagoya-based investment fund Inayoshi Capital Partners said Thursday that about 50 of its 167 Geos foreign-language school branches will be renamed Nova X Geos after November. ICP also said it will close down about 20 Geos branches whose business areas are overlapping with those of Nova. The company said students of those schools will be…