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July 05, 2025
 

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LABOR

BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 3, 2015
Subaru urges suppliers to treat workers fairly, after investigation found harsh conditions for foreign laborers
Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of automaker Subaru, has told its network of suppliers that it expects them to treat workers fairly and to uphold "human rights and international standards of behavior."
JAPAN / Society
Jul 31, 2015
Changing the culture of long working hours key to increasing Japan's female workforce
The plight of Japan's working women has improved dramatically over the past two decades. Maternity leave has become the norm, slots at nurseries have increased by more than 340,000 and the percentage of female executives or women serving as department chiefs at companies has tripled.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2015
Consultation center offers insights for firms looking at business in Japan
Different customs and cultures are part of the experience when visiting another country.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jul 5, 2015
Japan using robots as fix for labor, growth woes
Factory worker Satomi Iwata has new coworkers, a troupe of humanoid automata that are helping to address two of Japan's most pressing concerns — a shortage of labor and a need for growth.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Jun 28, 2015
Has striking in Japan become extinct?
"Strike." Dear reader, what do you think when you hear this word? What impression do you get? Do you see the blood, sweat and tears? Do you see an angry, vicious mob disturbing our civil society? I bet a majority of Japanese people under the age of 40 have neither a positive nor negative impression of...
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
May 16, 2015
Weighing the human cost of industrialization
In the year the West knows as 604 A.D., one of Japan's most revered statesmen, Shotoku Taishi, issued a "constitution," the first of whose 17 articles states, "Harmony is to be valued."
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 13, 2015
Abe camp's push for white-collar merit pay seen as no-overtime wages ploy
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration submitted a revised Labor Standards Law to the Diet earlier this month that would allow firms to exempt well-paid skilled workers from work-hour regulations — the so-called white-collar exemption system, which would effectively do away with overtime pay.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2015
U.S. West Coast ports reopen as labor secretary arrives for talks
U.S. West Coast ports that were closed to incoming cargo vessels during the holiday weekend reopened in full on Tuesday as Labor Secretary Tom Perez arrived in San Francisco seeking to broker a settlement ending months of shipping disruptions.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2015
Asian supply lines hit by U.S. West Coast ports dispute
A labor dispute at ports on the U.S. West Coast is disrupting supply chains across the Pacific, forcing some Asian exporters to resort to costly air freight and pushing up shipping rates as more freighters are caught up in long lines to dock.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 27, 2015
Toyota to change age-based pay scale
Toyota Motor Corp. plans to change its seniority-based pay structure for workers in Japan that will erase salary gaps between age groups, the company's human resources chief said on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 11, 2014
Japanese firms near crisis point as labor shortage deepens
Japan's labour shortage is nearing crisis in some key industries as it spreads from construction to services, curbing companies' operations, pushing up wages and potentially crimping a tentative recovery in the world's third-largest economy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 14, 2014
The thrill of the job won't pay the rent
"If your work isn't what you love, then something isn't right." — Talking Heads
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jun 12, 2014
Interns abused as labor crisis grows
Wednesday was a regular work day at rusting Burberry factory Kameda Co. in Ishikawa Prefecture, but for three Chinese women, it was a day of escape.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2014
Top retailers reach crossroads in labor shortage shakeout
Don Quijote and Uniqlo, two of the nation's best-known mass-market retailers, aren't waiting for the government's new growth policies due later this month before implementing their own labor reforms.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Apr 9, 2014
Foreign workers fear exploitation as Olympic projects gather steam
My first Labor Pains column of the new fiscal year will look at the government's recent proposal for bringing in foreign workers.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 4, 2014
Abe's immigrant dream is a wage nightmare
Prime Miniser Shinzo Abe wants to import 200,000 foreign workers a year into Japan to counter the decline in the population. But the gambit might work at cross-purposes with his push to get companies to increase wages.
BUSINESS / Economy / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Mar 15, 2014
Economy can do without structural reform
While critics of "Abenomics" begrudgingly agree Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policy package has been a success so far, they are equally quick to highlight its looming headwinds.
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...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 7, 2013
Inequality threatens Mandela legacy
Nelson Mandela emerged from 27 years in apartheid jails in 1990 pledging to seize South Africa's mines and banks. Four years later, his government slashed spending and courted foreign investors, paving the way for the longest period of growth in the country's history.
EDITORIALS
Jan 22, 2013
The problem of power harassment
One in four workers in Japan experienced power harassment over the past three years, according to a recent survey by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. The poll of 4,580 companies with 30 or more employees, conducted between July and September of 2012, also found that 45.2 percent of the surveyed...
A prophesied disaster (likely) won’t strike Japan this weekend
A viral manga prediction of a July 5 disaster has gripped Japan with anxiety and triggered an economic impact, but experts warn that while such dates are unreliable, the threat of a massive earthquake remains real. 
Magnitude 5.5 earthquake jars Tokara Islands amid flurry of seismic activity
A strong quake struck off the Tokara Islands on Thursday afternoon, with the island chain having recorded around 1,000 earthquakes since a burst of seismic activity first began on June 21.
Japan to require flight passengers to keep power banks within sight
The transport ministry has announced new regulations requiring flight passengers to keep power banks within sight to mitigate fire risks while on board planes.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Residents of Tokara Islands begin evacuation as seismic swarm continues
Details about evacuations from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecture, is seen written on a whiteboard in the city of Kagoshima on Thursday.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Flag football facing challenges and opportunities ahead
Japan’s women’s flag football team at the 2025 International Bowl in Los Angeles in June. The sport is enjoying continued growth in the country.
From Hokusai’s Great Wave, shinkansen to One Piece: a cultural treasure box for Lego Japan
Michael Ebbesen, general manager of Lego Japan, says Lego bricks based on Japanese culture have a rich global appeal and are sellable around the world.
With farmed fish, RelationFish swims against the tide in fine dining
Chef Hideaki Matsuo (middle) and the staff of Oseto Suisan Fisheries prepare to check on their sustainably farmed fish.
As Southeast Asia heats up, a Japanese cooling giant sees a major opportunity
An employee of Daikin Cambodia explains the use of different tools during an air conditioner installation training session in Phnom Penh. Daikin is one of Japan’s oldest air conditioning companies, but as Japan’s population falls, the firm is keying in on overseas growth.

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