Search - discrimination-in-japan

 
 
EDITORIALS
Aug 28, 1999

The slow road to gender equality

Barely two months have passed since the govern ment enacted the Gender Equality Law. While defenders of the new law insist that is hardly enough time for its effectiveness to be tested, many women's groups, and their male supporters, disagree. The reason, they say, should be obvious: Like the Equal Employment...
JAPAN
Apr 1, 1999

Women at JAL petition for fair pay

A group of 25 female employees of Japan Airlines Co. applied Thursday for Labor Ministry arbitration alleging sexual discrimination over pay and promotions.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 2, 2021

Here’s what’s needed to boost China’s falling birthrate

China's decision to relax birth rules by allowing all families to have three children was met with skepticism from economists who doubt it'll make much of a difference.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2020

Viewing history through the lens of gender

More women need to be visible in historical narratives, but equally more girls and women need to be empowered with the technical skills to write their own narratives in the digital age.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G20 Osaka Summit Special
Jun 27, 2019

Walking the talk on gender equality issues

On Friday in Osaka, Group of 20 leaders will convene to discuss the most pressing global challenges of our time, and that will include women's empowerment. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's womenomics push has certainly impressed many, including myself, since it was announced six years ago.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 4, 2019

Tough at the top: Girls believe female leaders suffer widespread harassment, survey shows

Girls worldwide hope to become leaders, but they expect to face sexism and harassment when they get there, a global child rights organization said in a report released Tuesday.
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Nov 18, 2017

'The Broken Commandment': Toson Shimazaki's humanist bildungsroman of a 'burakumin'

A classic from 1906, Toson Shimazaki's "The Broken Commandment" follows the ideological struggles of a young teacher, Ushimatsu Segawa.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 13, 2017

Renho to disclose family registry in bid to quell furor over dual nationality

Born to a Taiwanese father, the Democratic Party leader says she will show documents to dispel questions of foreign citizenship in a move seen by critics as caving to xenophobia.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jun 16, 2017

Sexual orientation remains a taboo subject in schools, leaving students in the dark

Whenever Shigeyoshi Suzuki, 39, a public elementary school teacher in Tokyo, sees children voicing anti-gay slurs or taunts, he will always put a stop to it and make them aware of the harms of such discrimination.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 16, 2016

Accommodating disabilities, but only within reason

Due to his recent sex scandal, best-selling author Hirotada Ototake has decided not to run for the Upper House under the banner of the Liberal Democratic Party this year, but he hasn't officially said he won't run at all. Earlier this month, while the scandal was still hot, he went ahead with a birthday...
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Feb 7, 2016

What's in a surname? A court divorced from reality

Here at Law of the Land, I try to share "the Japanese law experience" with general readers. Today's experience is called "The Frustration of Reading Supreme Court Decisions" and takes as examples two of the most significant decisions of 2015: one on a law requiring spouses to have the same surname, the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Dec 22, 2015

Manga artist Hasumi stirs outrage again with new book slammed as racist

After gaining the spotlight at home and abroad a few months ago over a controversial manga illustration denigrating a Syrian refugee girl, artist Toshiko Hasumi seemingly remains unrepentant.
JAPAN / Society
May 25, 2015

With hate speech bill, Osaka grapples with freedom of expression

The Osaka Municipal Government has proposed an ordinance aimed at curbing hate speech against racial and ethnic minorities in the city, where verbal and other attacks against Korean residents have intensified in recent years.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Mar 9, 2015

Sexist acts upset 54% of female lawmakers

A nationwide survey of assemblywomen says that more than 54 percent of female lawmakers feel uncomfortable when exposed to sexist acts, remarks or verbal abuse from assemblymen.
EDITORIALS
Dec 23, 2014

Protecting sexual minorities' rights

A Japanese civic group survey has the ruling Liberal Democratic Party standing out from other parties in its failure to view issues involving lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual people as human rights problems.
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2014

Human rights and religion

The kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls by the extremist Islamic sect Boko Haram, which condemns Western education for women, spotlights the question of whether religious beliefs can ever be allowed to override 'accepted norms' and human rights.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Sep 23, 2013

Matahara: turning the clock back on women's rights

Both statutory and case law are crystal clear on the illegality of firings due to pregnancy. But the law is one thing; practice is quite another.
EDITORIALS
May 5, 2013

Tokyo Rainbow Week

Tokyo Rainbow Week, inaugurated April 27 and financially backed by several corporations, saw events aimed at supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2012

Kids' safety key worry in Fukushima

A year and half after the start of the nuclear crisis, many who attended the government's latest public hearing on energy policy in Fukushima on Wednesday still expressed concern about the impact of radiation on their children.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2012

Children taught radiation studies

A group of elementary school students in Koriyama, about 60 km from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant, may only be 10 years old, but they possibly know more about radiation than fourth-graders anywhere in the world.
Reader Mail
Dec 27, 2009

Opinion could use greater diversity

I was shocked by the opinions expressed in the Dec. 22 article "Level playing field for immigrants: responses" — except by the opinion from the person whose name was withheld, who possibly suffered real discrimination.
Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Nov 19, 2009

Demons still haunt Christian soldier

26th in a series
Reader Mail
Jun 21, 2009

Position that should be refuted

Regarding Paul de Vries' May 26 article, "Expat life in Japan: the good, the bad and the meaningful": I have a number of concerns with this article's position that racial discrimination can be acceptable. First, "misbehaving Russian sailors" were not the ones barred from Otaru bathhouses, though that...
Reader Mail
Apr 2, 2009

Ingrained cultural divide at work

Regarding Debito Arudou's March 24 article: We live in a world of instant media distribution. The Japanese culture to a large extent is fueled by the exportation of film and print that stereotypes some cultures as bad while portraying others as superior. Back in 2007 when the English-language teaching...
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2009

Trading house Mitsui sued over alleged racial bias at U.S. branch

Mitsui & Co., the second-largest trading company in the nation, and its U.S. unit have been accused in a lawsuit of discriminating against non-Asian employees by denying them equal pay and promotional opportunities.
Reader Mail
Feb 1, 2009

Overcoming a discouraging word

According to the Jan. 25 Associated Press article "Discrimination claims die hard in Japan," politician Hiromu Nonaka pulled out of the 2001 prime minister race after Taro Aso, now the prime minister, allegedly referred to Nonaka's roots as a "burakumin," a descendant of former outcasts.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past