-
·
Kevin Salthouse’s Response to Rumors
To: All instructors From: Kevin Salthouse, General Manager, Human Resources and Class Management Division Subject: Response to rumors concerning the financial stability of Interac. Date: September 26, 2010 Earlier this month, I wrote a message in the ‘Interac-shin’ newsletter announcing that the Selnate Group was re-organizing into a new group under the Interac name.…
-
·
Tokyo gov’t employed worker over 20 years on temp contracts without benefits
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government employed a woman as a librarian for over 20 years through repeated renewals of short-term contracts, meaning the woman has not received commuter expenses or other allowances, or been entered into government employee medical insurance, it has been learned. “We cannot determine if there is a city-employed worker who worked for…
-
·
Tokyo Landlords Lose Century-Old ‘Gift Money’ as Rents Slump
After viewing almost 100 Tokyo apartments, banker Damien Cambon was happy to discover that a Japanese tradition dating back more than a century is dying: the payment of up to two months’ rent extra as a gift to the landlord. “Reikin,” or “gift money,” a non-refundable fee on top of a deposit and any broker…
-
·
Changes in October
For those of you that did not get the memo, Interac is about to go through some big changes. I have heard two very different announcements on the subject. From Kevin Salthouse, we all have this PDF file stating that Interac will be going through a “new phase of operations” and that this is just…
-
·
Caregivers sent to Japan under EPA get hand to overcome language hurdle
The Philippine government has begun language classes to help nurses wanting to go and work in Japan overcome the high language barrier, and even pays them to enroll. The project is aimed at boosting the rate of Philippine applicants who pass Japan’s national nursing examination and increasing the number of nurses seeking a career in…
-
·
Factory, employment agency in Japan must pay for exploiting interns
Officially, they came to Japan for training, but in reality, they were forced to work long hours for little pay. A Japanese court on Monday ordered a sewing company and an employment service to pay 4.4 million yen (52,250 dollars) in damages, ruling that the firms had exploited four Chinese interns. The High Court in…
-
·
Japan, give us a break!
Time after time I’ve been in offices here where people feel under pressure not to take time off, for lunches or anything else. According to a report by Harris Interactive this year, Japanese workers took off an average of 9.3 of their 16.6 legally mandated vacation days. As anyone who works here knows, even that…
-
·
小学校英語どうなる：打ち合わせは「偽装請負」？ 指導助手活用できず 業務委託、派遣で問題
目の前にＡＬＴ（外国語指導助手）がいても、教諭は授業の打ち合わせができない。授業中の指示も禁止。すべてＡＬＴを派遣している請負業者とファクスなどを使ったやりとりでしか伝えられない－－。
-
·
Average hourly minimum wage to rise 17 yen to 730 yen
The nation’s weighted-average hourly minimum wage will rise by 17 yen from the previous year to 730 yen in the current fiscal year that started in April, the largest increase since fiscal 2002 when such wages were first calculated by the hour, the labor ministry said Friday. The Central Minimum Wages Council, a Health, Labor…
-
·
Household income gap hit record in 2008
Japan’s household income gap reached its highest level on record in 2008, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has announced. The so-called Gini coefficient — an indicator used to measure the inequality of income distribution — hit a record 0.5318 in 2008, up 0.0055 points from the previous survey in 2005. The Gini coefficient…