Temporary workers known as "freeters" and other dissatisfied laborers gathered Monday in Tokyo to demand a better work environment and higher wages, arguing government policies have caused many of them to settle for low-paying jobs and an unsteady life.
Motoaki Yamaguchi, a member of PAFF, or Part-Timer, Arbeiter, Freeter & Foreign Worker, a union for such part-timers, blamed the government's policies for creating a society characterized by a handful of rich and people who have jobs but cannot escape poverty.
"This is a day of uprising," he told the gathering in Shinjuku Ward of some 200 people, calling for all participants to unite and demand better treatment by the government.