Tag - employment

 
 

EMPLOYMENT

Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 7, 2014
Job market set to overheat with labor shortage
Kazufumi Yamamoto is having such a hard time finding waiters and sushi chefs to fill jobs at Ganko Food Service Co. that he's going to boost wages for the first time in more than a decade.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Feb 22, 2014
Return of shunto is hollow triumph for unions
Shunto is in full swing. Or so it should be. Or so they say. Shunto is the Japanese word for the annual spring round of wage negotiations conducted between big business and trade unions. This "spring offensive" used to feature large in the annual economic calendar. As the deflationary 1990s and beyond set in, this offensive became an offensive no more. Faced with the prospect of corporate bankruptcies and accompanying job losses, labor unions rapidly lost their teeth.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2014
President Obama’s magic words and numbers
President Barack Obama's critics should reconsider their assumption that he is cynical. It is his belief in magic words and numbers that is scary.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2014
Japanese firms mostly unaware of benefits of hiring from JET ranks: poll
Japanese companies are less aware than their foreign counterparts of the government-sponsored Japan Exchange and Teaching Program and are thus missing out on an opportunity to hire foreigners who have the skills they need, a recent survey by a major business lobby showed.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 21, 2014
76% of students graduating in March have jobs
More than three-quarters of university students graduating this March have a job lined up for April, up for the third straight year, according to a government survey released Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 2, 2014
Japan Inc. takes tentative steps toward empowering women
Japan, notorious for its failure to overcome wide gender disparities, seems to have finally gotten serious about utilizing the "untapped resources" of women to enhance national competitiveness and boost economic growth amid the population decline.
WORLD
Dec 29, 2013
Secrets of the grotto: Study uncovers joys, trials behind being Saint Nick
It appears that today's Santas are under far more pressure to deliver than other performers, with many recounting experiences that a new study says were 'highly reminiscent of the worst excesses of the rationalized assembly line.'
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 10, 2013
Joe Biden asked the right question about women in Japan's workforce
The real disgrace isn't U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's 'gaffe,' but how little is changing for Japanese women even under a prime minister who has pledged to empower them as never before.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 29, 2013
September jobless rate improves a bit to 4%
The unemployment rate fell a point to 4.0 percent in September, the government said Tuesday, indicating companies have become willing to hire more workers with the economy recuperating.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2013
Firms giving refugees jobs instead of charity
With applications for refugee status reaching record levels, a number of Japanese businesses are providing employment and training to people forced to flee their home country due to war and persecution, with emphasis on genuine vocational opportunities rather than charity.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2013
Ex-meter reader forms company that offers jobs and purpose to retirees
Kenji Ueda founded a human resources company for retirees 13 years ago, hoping not just to help them work again but also find something to live for.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Oct 19, 2013
Feds return to work dreading unread email trove
There were a few times in recent weeks when Sophia Casey found herself mindlessly walking toward her laptop, ready to scan for new work messages as she's always done at nights and on weekends. Then she would see the computer — powered down, closed and unplugged — and remember: furlough.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 18, 2013
Economic disparities center stage in German poll
Germany has near record-low unemployment and a locomotive-strong economy, which leaves Frieder Beckmann with a question: Why can he only get a job that pays $2 an hour?
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2013
Love your job? Then thank the country where you live
It is assumed that people in economically 'advanced' countries do not differ significantly in job satisfaction scores. Yet, there are striking differences within the West.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Aug 19, 2013
Union, business concerns put limits on freedom of speech
Hot on the heels of their romp to victory in the race for control of the House of Councilors, the Liberal Democratic Party is chomping at the bit to overhaul the Constitution, which has not been amended since it was signed into law in 1946. The ruling party proposes gutting Article 9, which forever bans war, and laying the legal groundwork for an official national military.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Aug 5, 2013
Osaka: What was your dream job as a child, and would you still like to do it now if you could?
As a little girl I dreamed of being a flight attendant, because my aunt was one for Cathay Pacific airlines, and I always thought she looked so beautiful and sophisticated in her uniform. And of course the international travel sounded very appealing. I definitely would do it today if I could, but I think it's not possible now that I have tattoos.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jul 29, 2013
Prove you're Japanese: when being bicultural can be a burden
Japanese are Japanese and foreigners are foreigners, and never the twain shall meet? In many aspects of daily life in this country, there is one way for the Japanese and another for the rest of us. Like it or not, that's just how it is. At least foreigners know where we stand.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Jul 19, 2013
Robots likely to steal jobs from poor, middle class
Computers and cyborgs aren't about to render the American worker obsolete. But they are tilting the U.S. economy more and more in favor of the rich and away from the poor and the middle class, new economic research contends.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Jul 19, 2013
Does U.S. agency's new office represent the workplace of the future?
The U.S. agency that manages nearly 35 million sq. meters of federal office space is moving back to its newly renovated headquarters in central Washington, where its employees are finding that their personal real estate footprint has been radically altered.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Jul 15, 2013
Unwritten perks can trump work rules, contracts, even laws
At a certain company, workers take their lunch break every day from 12 to 1 p.m. But just 10 minutes before noon, a small contingent of workers get up and leave the room. A few minutes later the fragrance of miso soup wafts in from the kitchen. Employees take turns making the soup for the benefit of those employees who bring a bentō lunch box for their midday meal. When the clock strikes 12, those eating out get up and leave, while the lunch box bunch march off to the kitchen to enjoy their bentō and hot, freshly made soup.

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree