NEWSWORTHY
Internship organizer faces charges for skimming Vietnamese students' wages
A group that organizes internships for foreign students will likely be investigated for allegedly skimming ¥3 million from the salaries of Vietnamese hospitality workers in Fukui and Ishikawa prefectures.
Ramen chain Ichiran faces charges for allegedly working foreign students longer than permitted
Police are set to refer ramen chain Ichiran and some of its managerial staff to prosecutors this week for allegedly breaking the immigration law by forcing foreign students to work illegally long hours at two stores in Osaka, investigative sources said Monday. Ichiran, founded in ...
Abe administration to remove contentious proposal from draft labor reform bill
The drastic policy compromise appears to be intended to minimize damage ahead of a critical leadership election in September.
Amazon's labor-tracking wristband has a history
In another revelation, labor minister Katsunobu Kato confirmed original response papers used in the survey — which he previously claimed had been discarded — were found in a basement at the ministry.
Seven & I to try flexible shifts to improve productivity, limit overtime
Retail giant Seven & I Holdings Co. plans to give employees the option of choosing to start work at 8 a.m., 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. instead of fixing the time for all employees at 9 a.m., company officials said. The company hopes the added ...
Over half of Japan firms have no plans to raise base pay this year
More than half of Japan's companies do not plan to raise base pay in annual wage talks in coming months, a setback for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Keidanren, who have called for wage rises of 3 percent to fuel an economic revival. In a ...
70% of firms pinched by labor shortages, Finance Ministry survey says
As Japan's economy picks up speed, 70 percent of its companies are facing labor shortages, a recent Finance Ministry survey suggests. According to the survey results released Wednesday, 71 percent of responding companies said they feel manpower shortages and 67 percent said they experienced shortages ...
An organization that supervises foreign trainees brought to Japan under the Technical Intern Training Program attempted to pressure a 25-year-old man from the Philippines to leave his labor union, the union said. The man arrived in Japan in April 2015 and began working at a ...
Japan has entered a new phase in its fight against deflation, but stronger wage growth and improved productivity are needed if the economy is to turn the corner, the Cabinet Office said in a report released Thursday. Describing wage growth as "modest" for most workers, ...
Foreign trainee fatality data highlight safety and exploitation issues in Japan
The first data released by Japan on work-related fatalities involving foreign workers shows their risk of dying on the job is more than double the national average.
IMF blog urges Japanese women to keep working full-time and have children
The International Monetary Fund wants to see a shift in Japan's labor policy that would encourage women to take on more full-time work and also have children, according to a blog on its website. The blog noted that while Japanese men have "traditionally enjoyed lifetime ...
