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DPJ exec eyes suffrage bill this term
The Democratic Party of Japan may submit a bill during the current extraordinary Diet session that would grant permanent foreign residents the right to vote in local-level elections, DPJ Diet affairs chief Kenji Yamaoka told reporters Friday, noting the session may also have to be extended. His comments come a day after Prime Minister Yukio…
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An open letter to Interac concerning health insurance
An open letter to the management of Interac (as well as Maxceed and Selnate) November 5th, 2009 To whom it may concern (including Kevin Salthouse and Denis Cusack), I am an executive of the ALT branch of Tokyo Nambu’s Foreign Workers Caucus. I worked for Interac from September of 2005 until February 2008, under the…
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Immigration showing signs of ninjo
[The recently released Harrison Ford film] “Crossing Over” is made up of a series of small but interconnected human dramas. It focuses on what the Japanese call ninj?, meaning “heart” or “humanity.” This is clear from the accompanying Japanese pamphlet, which proclaims, “Even (immigration) inspectors have ninj?.” In recent years, this “foreign crime” (gaikokujin hanzai)…
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2010 bill eyed to give foreigners local-level vote
The government might draft legislation next year to give permanent foreign residents the right to vote in local-level elections, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Thursday. “We are not yet in a situation where a bill has been prepared, and therefore it would be fairly difficult in the next Diet session,” Hatoyama told reporters Thursday, referring…
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First ever poverty rate released by ministry stands at relatively high 15.7%
The national poverty rate stood at 15.7 percent in 2006, according to first-ever figures released Tuesday by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, a fairly high rate for a developed country. The poverty rate for children was 14.2 percent that year, the ministry said. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development defines households with less…
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Japan Govt’s Poverty Data Signals Policy Shift
It’s hard to imagine that there would be much hand-wringing in Japan over poverty figures. After all, this is the market where many of the world’s top luxury brands were making a killing before the Great Recession hit. Most Japanese consider themselves to be middle class—more than 80%, if you believe the Cabinet Office’s annual…
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One in six Japanese living in poverty: survey
Nearly one in every six Japanese lives in poverty, one of the highest rates among developed countries, according to the latest survey by Japan’s welfare ministry. In Japan’s first official calculation of its relative poverty rate, the ministry said 15.7 percent of Japanese people lived on less than half the median disposable income in 2006.…
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English instructors hired illegally: union
A labor union of foreign workers requested Monday that the Aichi prefectural board of education address the concerns of English-language instructors at public schools who they say are working under illegal contracts. The [NUGW Tokyo Nambu sister union] General Union, based in the city of Osaka, said an investigation it conducted last month and communications…
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‘Pension falsification rampant’ in Ibaraki Pref.
Some social insurance offices in Ibaraki Prefecture falsified company managers’ average monthly earnings that will be used as the basis for calculating their pensions, and deleted 10 percent of companies’ delinquent accounts from official records, according to sources close to the office. The sources said some of the offices falsified data to make their pension…
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Schools for foreigners, technical colleges included in DPJ’s free high school lesson plan
Technical colleges and schools attended by foreigners will be included in the Democratic Party of Japan’s pledge to make high school lessons free of charge, it has emerged. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has decided to make high school courses at technical colleges and vocational schools subject to the move, together…