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Brazilians protest in Tokyo over lack of job security
Brazilian residents from the Kanto area, Aichi and other prefectures held a demonstration in Tokyo on Sunday, campaigning for greater job security for foreign workers. Around 350 people [including Nambu FWC members following out Winter Meeting], waving Brazilian flags and carrying banners reading “A chance for employment and education,” walked the 2.5 kilometers from Shimbashi…
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Foreign worker tally tops 486,000
The number of foreign workers employed in Japan stood at 486,398 at the end of October, including 118,488 in Tokyo, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Friday. The total is more than double a previous estimate of 223,000 based on voluntary reports by employers in June 2006, before the revised employment promotion law took…
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Official withdraws jobless remark
Tetsushi Sakamoto, parliamentary secretary for internal affairs and communications, on Tuesday apologized for and retracted a remark he made the previous day in which he cast doubt on whether unemployed people at a temporary tent village in Tokyo’s Hibiya Park had the desire to work hard. “The idea that crossed my mind was that even…
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LDP figure hits Hibiya jobless as slackers, retracts gaffe
Referring to the hundreds of laid-off temp workers and others who sought shelter over the weekend at a tent village in Tokyo, the Liberal Democratic Party member said at a New Year’s address Monday, “I wonder if people who are really serious about working gathered there.” After opposition lawmakers and others objected to his remarks,…
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Japan makes progress in 2009
As we start 2009, let’s recharge the batteries by reviewing last year’s good news. Here is [an abbreviated version of Arudou Debito‘s] list of top human rights advancements for Japan in 2009, in ascending order: 5. Strawberry fields forever (Feb. 11): Fifteen Chinese trainees sued strawberry farms in Tochigi Prefecture for unpaid wages, unfair dismissal…
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LDP lawmaker apologizes for hinting ‘tent village’ residents don’t want to work
Parliamentary Secretary for Internal Affairs and Communications Tetsushi Sakamoto on Tuesday retracted his controversial comments questioning whether unemployed people who took shelter in Tokyo’s Hibiya Park over the New Year period seriously possess the will to work. “I have caused trouble to many people,” Sakamoto, a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker from the Kumamoto third district,…
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Nambu New Year Flag Raising Party
Tokyo Nambu’s New Year Flag Raising Party will be held on Wednesday, January 14 at 7:00pm in Kyurian, across the street from Oimachi Station (JR Keihin Tohoku Line/ Tokyu Toyoko Line). 3,000 yen charge gets you plenty of food, drink and inspiring speeches. All members and supporters are welcome. Kyurian Oimachi 5-18-1, Shinagawa-ku Google Maps…
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Park homeless promised shelter
The organizing group for a tent village in Hibiya Park in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, said Sunday the welfare ministry has promised to prepare new shelters for the 500 people there. The homeless people, many of them believed to be temporary workers recently thrown out of their jobs, have been staying in the park and a…
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Jobless flood ‘tent village’
A New Year shelter for Japan’s growing number of jobless had to move from a park into a government building yesterday, after more people than expected flocked to the makeshift ‘tent village’. The shelter – which was made up of 50 tents – was set up by volunteers and labour unions on New Year’s Eve…
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Multinationalism remains far from acceptance in Japan
In a country notorious for its exclusive immigration policy, the question of whether to allow Japanese to hold dual citizenship became a surprisingly hot policy topic last year after members of the ruling party breached the issue. In many other parts of the world, it’s a matter that has already been discussed in great depth,…