Fired engine plant worker Kouichirou Fukudome shouts slogans with dozens of protesters outside truck maker Isuzu's towering headquarters, all demanding they get their jobs back.

Once unheard-of in Japan, such protests are becoming more common as thousands of "temporary" workers — who often had steady jobs for years under various contracts — get fired by major companies like Sony and Toyota just as the global economic slump makes it unlikely they'll find substitute work anytime soon.

The layoffs are a new phenomenon in a nation long known for its tacit guarantee of lifetime employment.