Search - discrimination-in-japan

 
 
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 27, 2006

Righting a wrong

In July 2005, Doudou Diene, a special representative of the United Nations' Commission on Human Rights, came to Japan at the invitation of the Japanese government.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Apr 26, 2017

Time to act on insights from landmark survey of Japan's foreign residents

Government's attempt to understand the foreign experience of Japan produces valuable data despite some blind spots.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 4, 2015

Debate on anti-discrimination bill begins in Diet

The Diet starts deliberations on a bill that would ban racial discrimination, including harassment and hate speech, and oblige the government to draw up anti-discrimination programs that report every year to lawmakers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Oct 1, 2014

Readers' letters: Ian Thorpe, the Yushukan, racism, teaching English, tipping and sunlight

Some emails received in response to recent Community articles.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 23, 2013

Student seeking Kyoto flat told: No foreigners allowed

After spending 2u00bd years living the quiet life in Shiga Prefecture, Ryukoku University student Victor Rosenhoj was looking forward to moving to Kyoto, where things promised to be more lively and international.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2007

Foreign labor need exposes dearth of rights

OSAKA -- As the debate intensifies over allowing more foreign workers into Japan to make up for the coming labor shortage, human rights groups have recently stepped up efforts to push for a law against discrimination.
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2005

U.N. calls for antidiscrimination law

The government urgently needs to acknowledge that deep discrimination against minorities, Korean and Chinese residents and other foreigners exists in Japan, an independent investigator said Monday.
Nozomu Hagihara reaches the goal at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi on Thursday after dribbling a soccer ball for about 2,000 kilometers across India.
JAPAN
May 18, 2025

Japanese man dribbles soccer ball 2,000 km across India

Hagihara, who is working to contribute to Indian society through soccer, plans to apply for a Guinness World Record for the longest journey dribbling a soccer ball.
The civil case centers on whether a foreign national in a same-sex partnership with a Japanese citizen should be granted “long-term resident status,” which allows residency for up to five years in Japan.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 2, 2023

Tokyo High Court rejects same-sex couple's residence status lawsuit

The civil case centers on whether a foreign national in a same-sex partnership with a Japanese citizen should be granted “long-term resident status.”
People exit the platform at a train station along the Yamanote Line in Tokyo in 1986. A time-traveling TV comedy with a bawdy middle-aged hero from the era has become a big hit in Japan, juxtaposing brash 1980s attitudes with the more politically correct present day.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Mar 29, 2024

Satire TV show strikes a generation-spanning chord in Japan

"Extremely Inappropriate" uses a time-traveling protagonist to humorously highlight the gap between attitudes of the 1980s and the 2020s.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jun 5, 2025

Japan’s prison reform focuses on rehabilitation

Prison labor is no longer mandatory, which allows more time for educational and rehabilitative programs aimed at reducing recidivism.
The share of women in legislative, senior official and management roles increased by 1.7 percentage points from 2023 and 4.6 percentage points from 2006, according to a World Economic Forum gender equality report.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 12, 2024

Japan makes gains in political empowerment in gender equality report

Overall, Japan ranked 118th out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forum report, making it the lowest-ranked G7 nation.
The government made it mandatory for companies to disclose their gender pay gap in 2022, but disclosure alone isn’t enough to improve the situation, data suggests.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 29, 2024

Disclosure rules fail to narrow Japan’s yawning gender pay gap

There has been little progress toward equality, with the highest-paying firms showing some of the biggest disparities.
Masahiko Uotani (third from left), head of Keidanren's diversity promotion committee, hands its proposal on a separate surname system for married couples to members of a lawmaker group focused on realizing such a system, in June.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Sep 24, 2024

Japan's top business lobby group pushes for separate surnames option

In response to Keidanren's push, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party held internal discussions on the issue for the first time in about three years.
While baldness can often be the butt of jokes in Japan, it can also be a powerfully freeing act of self-acceptance for those struggling with hair loss.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 16, 2024

Thinning up top? Hair loss in Japan is not the end.

Among Asian countries, Japan has the highest rate of alopecia at around 26%, as well as 7.8% of women experiencing some form of hair thinning.
A 37-year-old son of death-row inmate Masumi Hayashi, who goes by the pseudonym of Koji Hayashi, stands in front of the land of the family's previous house in January.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 2, 2025

Family fights for death-row retrial under Japan's 'snail-paced' system

Japan's current retrial system is often labeled the "unopenable door" because the chances of being granted a legal do-over are so slim.
In an annual gender gap report, Japan recorded its strongest gains in economic participation, where its score climbed to 61.3% from 56.8% in 2024.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 12, 2025

Japan ranks 118th out of 148 countries in gender gap report

Japan's gender parity ranking was unchanged from a year ago and is still the lowest among Group of Seven countries.
Signage for Japan's top banks, MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 12, 2023

Japan’s top banks pay women about half of what men earn

The country has a relatively high labor participation rate for women, but many of the positions they occupy have little prospect of better pay.
Single-use bathing wear that comes in the form of a blouse or a dress
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Nov 6, 2023

Breast cancer survivors face tough time at public baths

It is customary in Japan not to take clothing or towels into the water at public baths, and some facilities make it a rule for hygienic reasons.
Three plaintiffs are set to file a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday, seeking compensation over claims of racial profiling by police.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 24, 2024

Foreign residents to file landmark suit alleging racial profiling by police

Three men are to file a lawsuit over claims that they have been repeatedly questioned by police because of their ethnicity or appearance.
Just 1 in 10 researchers and 1 in 5 students at the prestigious University of Tokyo are women.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Oct 10, 2024

Women at Japan's top university call out gender imbalance with posters

Gender bias begins early in Japanese education.
Women workers demand equal pay during a protest in Melbourne.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2024

Asia is fighting off the diversity backlash

Gender equality is at a crossroads amid a corporate backlash that is threatening progress in in workplace diversity.
Plaintiffs of a series of lawsuits on forced sterilization and their lawyers hold banners saying "victory ruling" after the Supreme Court ruled in their favor in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 3, 2024

Japan's top court orders compensation for forced sterilization victims

The landmark ruling was made on the basis that the now-defunct eugenics law was unconstitutional.
U.S. Marines during training in Okinawa last month.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 22, 2025

U.S. Marines start to leave Japan, decades behind schedule

The U.S. base on Okinawa has relocated 105 Marines. But an agreement to move 9,000 in total is colliding with the perceived threat from a rising China.
Celebrations mark the Dalai Lama's 80th birthday in Dharamsala, India, in July 2015. The question of who will succeed the Tibetan leader, Tenzin Gyatso, now 88, looms large.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 29, 2024

Atheist China should have no say in Dalai Lama's reincarnation

Beijing views the Dalai Lama as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Why, then, is it obsessed with controlling the succession of someone it despises?
The victory of Ukraine-born Karolina Shiino (center) in the Miss Japan contest held last month has sparked a debate on what makes someone truly Japanese.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 1, 2024

A Ukraine-born beauty queen and what it means to be Japanese

Shiino's Miss Japan victory has ignited a debate on the definition of "Japaneseness," and raises questions on what it truly means to be Japanese.
Ngun Nei Par, the general manager at Ginshotei Awashima in Numata, Gunma Prefecture, graduated from a university in Myanmar with a degree in geography.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 6, 2024

Japan needs foreign workers, but it might not want them to stay long

Japanese politicians remain reluctant to create pathways for foreign workers, especially those in low-skill jobs, to stay indefinitely.
Sanae Takaichi (left) celebrates Shigeru Ishiba’s victory in becoming the head of the Liberal Democratic Party along with then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo in September. Takaichi appears to be the only woman in any party who is close to breaking the glass ceiling to become the nation’s first female leader. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 26, 2024

The derailing of potential female prime ministers

Sanae Takaichi stands as the closest woman to breaking the glass ceiling and becoming Japan's first female prime minister.
Tanaka takes part in a signing ceremony for the Japan-Uruguay Investment Agreement with Uruguay's Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Luis Porto in 2015.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Jan 23, 2024

Why positivity is an asset in a career of PR and diplomacy

Keiko Tanaka went from an office at Nissan to the ambassador's residence in Uruguay.
From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
PODCAST / deep dive
Apr 16, 2024

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

We discuss everything from accessibility in Tokyo to dealing with trains and the country’s shifting attitudes.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji