-
·
Tokyo by-law threatens freedoms
Street performances are fun for many people and give character to streets and communities such as Tokyo’s Shibuya, Harajuku, Akihabara and Kichijoji areas. But now such activities may be restricted or banned due to a revision of the Tokyo metropolitan by-law for “the building of safe and secure communities,” which took effect April 1. The…
-
·
Japan’s Weird Unemployment Solution
When Japanese unemployment edged up to a three-year high of 4.4 percent in February, the government started looking for creative ways to lower it. One solution: get the unemployed out of the country by offering citizenship [sic] buyouts. The program applies only to unemployed people of Japanese descent who were born abroad but now live…
-
·
Japan to Immigrants: Thanks, But You Can Go Home Now
When union leader Francisco Freitas has something to say, Japan’s Brazilian community listens. The 49-year old director of the Japan Metal and Information Machinery Workers called up the Brazilian Embassy in Tokyo April 14, fuming over a form being passed out at employment offices in Hamamatsu City, southwest of Tokyo. Double-sided and printed on large…
-
·
Which Side Are You On?: Hakenmura and the Working Poor as a Tipping Point in Japanese Labor Politics
Toshikoshi Hakenmura: A Japanese “Hooverville” In Japan, the week or so from the end of December through the first days of the New Year constitute the longest and most solemn holiday of the year. Mainstream newspapers and TV news programs during this week are typically filled with mundane reports of the events of the season.…
-
·
DPJ slams strict bills on foreign residents
These cards, called “zairyu,” would replace alien registration cards if the bills now before the Diet are passed. Foreigners are currently required to carry their alien cards at all times, but unlike at present, a failure to carry the zairyu could draw a ¥200,000 fine. Also subject to the fine would be failure to promptly…
-
·
English lessons on the cheap
So imagine my surprise when I found out a week from the end of the school year that I would not be returning to my school. The local Board of Education had changed the company that supplied assistant language teachers. Supportive teachers advised me to talk to the BOE and ask for a direct hire…
-
·
Job firing launched labor activist on career
You may have seen him on TV, commenting on Nova teachers who lost their income and housing when the language school went bankrupt in November 2007. Or you may have seen him marching through Shibuya, leading a chant of “Tatakau zo! (We’ll fight!)” and calling for solidarity and action among workers. Or you may have…
-
·
Immigration reforms spell Big Brother, JFBA warns
The Japan Federation of Bar Associations and nonprofit organizations voiced concern Wednesday that bills to revise immigration laws will violate the human rights of foreign residents. The bills were submitted to the Diet earlier this month and will be deliberated on soon. Critics of the bills also said punishments for violators of the revised laws,…
-
·
Panel rules against decision not to indict Nova ex-president
An independent panel formed by court-entrusted citizens has ruled unjust last year’s decision by prosecutors not to slap criminal charges on the failed English conversation school operator Nova Corp. and its former president for failing to pay salaries to foreign instructors and employees, the panel said Tuesday. The decision was made by Osaka’s No. 2…
-
·
Punishing foreigners, exonerating Japanese
Debito Arudou sees growing evidence of judicial double standards If you’re a foreigner facing Japan’s criminal justice system, you can be questioned without probable cause on the street by police, apprehended for “voluntary questioning” in a foreign language, incarcerated perpetually while in litigation, and treated differently in jurisprudence than a Japanese. Statistics bear this out.…