The law for the protection of whistleblowers was introduced in 2006 as a means of shielding people who report wrongdoing by the companies and organizations they belong to from possible reprisals by their employers such as dismissals and demotions. Since its introduction more than a decade ago, however, critics have charged that the legislation lacks the teeth to shield whistleblowers from unfair treatment since it fails to provide legal punishment to the employers that take reprisals against them.

A report released last month by an experts' panel at the Consumer Affairs Agency weighing an amendment to the law, however, does not appear to do much to improve the system while shelving most of the contested proposals, such as imposing criminal penalties on employers that treat whistleblowers unfairly. The issue needs to be further scrutinized to see whether the current system or its planned amendment effectively serve the legislation's purpose.

The law was introduced in the wake of a string of scandals at major firms — such as beef mislabeling by the now-defunct Snow Brand Foods Co., as well coverups by Tokyo Electric Power Co. of troubles at its nuclear power plants and by Mitsubishi Motors of its vehicle defects — that came to light thanks to whistleblowers. The case of an employee at Tonami Transportation Co., who was demoted to doing insignificant tasks for some 30 years after alerting the media to the trucking industry's bid-rigging practice in the mid-1970s — until he won a damages suit against the firm in 2005, is said to have triggered the calls for legislation to protect whistleblowers.