Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
Colin P. A. Jones
Colin Jones is a law professor living in Kyoto. He has written four books in Japanese and tries (tries!) to make the subject of Japanese law interesting to non-specialist readers. He is from a bunch of places, but mostly Canada.
For Colin P. A. Jones's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Issues | THE FOREIGN ELEMENT Jul 2, 2013
The LDP constitution, article by article: a preview of things to come?
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing for constitutional change. Yet he is playing the political huckster by proposing to first only fiddle with the amendment procedure in Article 96, lowering the threshold for the process to move forward from the approval of two-thirds of ...
Issues | THE FOREIGN ELEMENT Jun 11, 2013
Hague Convention on child abduction may shape Japan's family law — or vice versa
Giant Hello Kitty-emblazoned kudos to Japan for finally signing the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction. Now comes the hard part: actually making it work. Mistakenly identified by some press accounts as an accomplishment of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan’s accession is probably more ...
Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Oct 9, 2012
A guide to navigating Japan's exotic legal-eagle menagerie
A common mistake made by foreigners trying to accomplish things in Japan is to go to a lawyer (bengoshi) with their problems. It is not a mistake because of a bunch of hooey about Japanese people not looking to the law for solutions, but ...
Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Sep 18, 2012
It's past midnight but child-abduction treaty promise is not yet a pumpkin
Despite much promise and a flurry of activity, it didn’t happen: Japan failed to ratify the Hague Convention on international child abduction and pass the extensive piece of accompanying domestic legislation the government felt was necessary in order for it to do so. Both ...
Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Sep 4, 2012
Our mixed-race children deserve better than this, so why bother with Japan?
When it comes to parceling out rights, Japanese law makes a very clear distinction: What you get depends upon whether you are a Japanese citizen or not. Sort of. As discussed in a previous column, non-Japanese residents do not have the right to vote, ...
Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Apr 3, 2012
These are a few of my favorite things — about the Japanese
Debito Arudou’s Feb. 7 Just Be Cause column describing the 10 things he likes about Japan both inspired and depressed me. As a frequent critic of the country’s legal system (among other things), his piece made me stop and think of some of the ...
Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Dec 13, 2011
Corporate governance in the shadow of Olympus
According to the “third-party committee” of outside experts appointed by Olympus to investigate the accounting scandal recently exposed by its sacked CEO, Michael Woodford, at least some of the company’s directors, auditors and employees failed to stop or were even complicit in an ongoing ...
Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Nov 15, 2011
Tokyo ordinance a potential contract-killer
A prediction: if Japan ever becomes a police state, it will come about not by national law but municipal ordinances. And the war on organized crime could be the engine that drives the process. With the coming into force of its Organized Crime Exclusion ...
Community | THE ZEIT GIST Nov 1, 2011
Schizophrenic Constitution leaves foreigners' rights mired in confusion
Pop quiz: Who live in palatial homes in fashionable Tokyo neighborhoods but are subject to various forms of discrimination, have no family registry, can’t vote and have limited constitutional rights? Answer: the Imperial Family. For those of you who responded “expat bankers,” I will ...
Community | LIGHT GIST Aug 30, 2011
Mascots on a mission to explain the mundane
It is often said that the Japanese have a unique attitude towards law. Many explanations have been offered for why this is so, and in what circumstances: •Japan is a civilization that respects human life more than Europe (former Minister of Justice Kunio Hatoyama ...
Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Aug 9, 2011
Upcoming legal reforms: a plus for children or plus ca change?
Those focused on the government’s stumbling efforts to protect the children of Fukushima from radioactive contamination may find this hard to believe, but Japanese family law just got more child-friendly — maybe. If Japan finally signs the Hague Convention on child abduction, as it ...
Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Mar 8, 2011
Byzantine temp rules need permanent fix
Back in the days when I was a corporate drone in Tokyo, I had a wonderful secretary who had the good fortune to get pregnant. Bad news for me, though, since I had to endure a series of temps, some good, some bad, and ...