Search - discrimination-in-japan

 
 
EDITORIALS
Nov 30, 2013

Upgrading rules on harassment

The labor ministry is planning to tighten and enforce the country's guidelines for harassment in the workplace. Included is a reconsideration of office conversations between people of the same gender.
COMMENTARY
Sep 24, 2010

Pope in a secularized state

LONDON — On Sept. 19, Pope Benedict XVI completed a four-day state visit to Britain. This was the first state visit by a pope to a country that had abjured allegiance to the papacy nearly 500 years ago and had played an important role in the Protestant Reformation.
Reader Mail
Jan 25, 2009

Whitewash of xenophobia

I was with Gregory Clark through the first few paragraphs of his Jan. 15 article, "Antiforeigner discrimination is a right for Japanese people." Whingeing foreigners here often seem the norm and not the exception. Thus I understand his frustration with many of his fellow expatriates. I too have little...
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2008

Panel begins process to rectify Ainu woes

The government panel on Ainu policies held its first meeting Monday, aiming to look into the lives and discrimination the indigenous group faces and come up with remedial action.
Reader Mail
Jul 20, 2008

Worse offenses than brown hair

It has recently come to my attention that a form of discrimination goes unchecked in Japan, and may even be enforced by the schools: discrimination against people with brown hair. A Japanese friend who works at a cooking college in Tokyo has been required to dye her hair black countless times by her...
EDITORIALS
Apr 28, 2007

A welcome law for the workplace

A lmost a month has passed since the revised Equal Employment Opportunity Law for Men and Women went into effect at the beginning of fiscal 2007. The revised law includes provisions for prohibiting indirect discrimination against women -- practices that are neutral on the surface but discriminatory in...
EDITORIALS
Apr 27, 2005

Human rights transcend nationality

Japanese media have given prominent coverage to the nationality issue in the past two weeks. The Tokyo District Court ruled April 13 in favor of a lawsuit seeking confirmation of Japanese nationality for a boy born to a Filipino woman and a Japanese man who are not legally married. According to the ruling,...
COMMENTARY
Jan 4, 2005

Britain governed by nannies

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair is often accused of being a "control freak," meaning someone who places the emphasis on presentation rather than content, but the accusation that he and his colleagues have become obsessed with "political correctness" is closer to the mark.
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2000

Trouble in paradise

Fiji is tiny cluster of islands about 3,600 km east of Australia. With a population of fewer than a million people scattered across some 300 islands, it is sometimes considered the South Pacific ideal, offering secluded beaches, crystal-clear waters and a relaxed lifestyle that beckons to visitors from...
EDITORIALS
Aug 8, 2018

Fix the difficulties confronting female doctors

The probe into the entrance exam scandal at Tokyo Medical University should shed light on the problems confronting female doctors and promote efforts to resolve them.
EDITORIALS
Aug 2, 2018

Eliminate bias against sexual minorities

The controversy triggered by an LDP lawmaker's article on LGBT people should be turned into a broad public discussion on what policy steps to take to eliminate discrimination against sexual minorities.
EDITORIALS
May 24, 2016

Abe's promised new policy direction

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's new plan to 'promote the dynamic engagement of all citizens' falls short when it comes to specifics on how it will achieve its ambitious goals.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jul 16, 2014

Ian Thorpe's coming-out: Yes, it does matter

Ian Thorpe's willingness to be open and honest and true to himself is a brave step, and it will make a difference in many people's lives. So yes, it does matter.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 16, 2012

Opening old wounds unhealed after decades

NISEI SOLDIERS BREAK THEIR SILENCE: Coming Home To Hood River, by Linda Tamura. University of Washington Press, 2012, 346 pp., $24.95 (paperback) A minority group enters a community and through hard work and perseverance gains a measure of financial security and grudging toleration from their neighbors....
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2009

State of the world's children

With the media paying so much attention to the casualties of the economic slowdown, it would be easy to overlook a vital report on the grave situation faced by the world's two most vulnerable classes of citizens — women and children in impoverished countries.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 8, 2008

Ainu artist, activist has spent a lifetime fighting prejudice

Shizue Ukaji was born in March 1933 in a small southern coastal area of Hokkaido known as Urakawa.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2008

Bar to kids' citizenship ruled illegal

In a ruling sure to affect thousands of others born out of wedlock to non-Japanese mothers, the Supreme Court on Wednesday granted 10 children of Filipino women the right to Japanese nationality.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2006

Courts refuse to hire lawyers on nationality

Three courts have refused to allow three Korean residents working as lawyers to assume commissioned jobs despite being nominated by their bar associations, because they are not Japanese, attorneys said Thursday.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 16, 2006

'Conspiracies of silence' feign sympathies largely unfelt

Japanese people are known for their sense of propriety and decorum. Reserve and self-restraint are fine Japanese virtues, and they have afforded the society an enviable harmony and level of personal safety unparalleled in the developed world. Putting a damper on people's self-assertive instincts, and...
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2004

Discriminatory registry of child upheld

The Tokyo District Court said Tuesday that the way the daughter of an unmarried couple has been registered in their family registry infringed on their privacy because it clearly shows she was born out of wedlock.
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2003

Japanese play down foreigners' rights: survey

Japanese people are inclined to play down the rights that foreign residents of Japan are entitled to, according to a government survey released Saturday.
JAPAN
May 26, 2001

New panel proposal is criticized as soft on violations by state

Concern over freedom of the press has been the media's main focus in covering a government panel's proposal to launch an independent human rights watchdog, while other key aspects have been largely ignored.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 11, 2021

‘Lady Joker: Volume One’: A crime thriller opus’ weighty first half

Kaoru Takamura isn't playing around with “Lady Joker,” her two-part novel that reveals the social and economic inequities in Japan.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 11, 2021

Lawsuit seeks return of Ryukyu remains nearly a century after they were brought to Kyoto

The suit has also prompted discussion over the status of Ryukyuans, whom the government has not recognized as indigenous.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Oct 16, 2020

BLM Tokyo continues the conversation on race with webinar series

Speakers Jamie Smith and Eric L. Robinson will participate in BLM Tokyo's online series that provides information on racial inequality and systemic injustice.

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