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August 23, 2025
 

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MHLW

Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 9, 2017
Smoking ban in public facilities would infringe on constitutional rights, say LDP lawmakers
Members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party lash out at the health ministry's proposed smoking ban for public facilities, complicating the nationwide effort to stamp out secondhand smoke.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 27, 2016
Ministry to make it easier to shame companies with excessive overtime
The labor ministry will bolster regulations covering illegal overtime by making it easier to publicize the names of errant companies.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Oct 26, 2016
Ministry eyes Scandinavian plan to boost paternity leave and keep women working
A panel mulls including a quota system in a two-year parental leave plan that would require paternity leave to join.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 21, 2016
Lower House committee passes bill to shake up Japan's foreign trainee program
The bill is intended to shake up a state-sponsored foreign traineeship program slammed by critics as akin to modern slavery.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Oct 7, 2016
1 in 4 firms in Japan say workers log over 80 overtime hours a month
The nation's first white paper on “karoshi” finds nearly a quarter of companies have employees that are seriously overworked.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2015
Dye factory under scrutiny after five workers contract rare bladder cancer
Five men in their 40s and 50s who worked for a chemical company handling dyes and pigments have developed bladder cancer, the health ministry said Friday.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 4, 2015
Ibaraki clinic 'named and shamed' for maternity harassment
The labor ministry says the dermatology clinic in Ibaraki Prefecture defied numerous instructions not to dismiss an employee on the grounds of her pregnancy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 2, 2015
Some experts doubt shift to generic drugs is best prescription for health care system
In a desperate bid to stem the rise in health care costs, the government is reining in one of its biggest medical outlays: prescription drugs.
EDITORIALS
May 29, 2015
The risks of medical deregulation
A new system by which patients can request drugs and treatments not yet approved in Japan carries significant risks.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 16, 2015
Who benefits from the new overtime pay system?
On Feb. 13, a Labor Policy Council sub-committee submitted to the labor ministry a report with suggestions for a bill to revise the labor standards law. The revision, which the ministry plans to submit to the next regular Diet session, applies to the work of skilled white collar professionals and will allow them to 'work in a manner that demonstrates their achievements' more effectively, which is another way of saying that employers will no longer be required to pay these workers overtime for extra hours on the job, which in turn means that employers cannot be accused of pressuring them to work overtime for no pay, a system popularly known as saabisu zangyo, or 'free overtime.'
BUSINESS
Aug 6, 2014
Governance fix needed at GPIF before asset change, Shiozaki says
As the world's biggest pension manager moves closer to putting more money in risky assets, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's deputy policy chief says the fund needs to change its governance first.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 31, 2014
June wages in Japan rose less than forecast in risk to spending
Wage growth slowed in June, highlighting the risk to consumer spending as inflation squeezes household budgets.
JAPAN
May 1, 2014
Medical mishaps hit highest since 2005
Japanese hospitals recently reported the most medical near misses and blunders since 2005, but the tally didn't include private practices.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 20, 2014
Use it or lose it: Workers want companies to pay for paid vacations
Getting workers in Japan to take paid holidays is difficult, but that doesn't mean they don't want them.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 2, 2014
Part-timers skewing employment statistics
More restaurants and retailers are hiring short-hour employees to save money.
EDITORIALS
Dec 28, 2013
Year of ups and downs for Japan
Japan in 2013 was besieged by problems in politics, business and society even while several key events helped to rekindle a sense of confidence 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.
EDITORIALS
May 16, 2013
Protecting a public pension program
To protect the kosei nenkin pension program, the welfare ministry should withdraw a plan to allow troubled investment funds for the program to keep operating.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 9, 2013
Japan's foreign trainee system said still plagued by rights abuses
Last month, a Chinese trainee went on a stabbing rampage at a Hiroshima Prefecture seafood company where he worked, killing the president and an employee and wounding six others.
Japan to revise romanization rules for first time in 70 years
The Agency for Cultural Affairs is recommending replacing the government’s long-standing Kunrei system with more widely used Hepburn-style spellings.
JR East cancels luxury train run over crew's boozing
East Japan Railway said Thursday that it will cancel one trip of a luxury overnight sleeper service, which was originally scheduled to depart from Ueno Station in Tokyo on Aug. 30, after crew members were found to have been drinking alcohol on duty.
Women-only communities flourish in China
Chen Yani (right), nicknamed "Keke," eats lunch with friends and guests in a female co-living space she founded called "Keke's Imaginative Space" in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province, on July 14.
Demystifying the manufacturing success of China
China’s massive scale, strong education system and competitive local governance have enabled it to reach the technological frontier and dominate high-tech manufacturing despite its low per capita gross domestic product.
Infectious diseases to watch for in Japan this summer amid surge of cases
An illustration of a colony of the Bordetella pertussis bacterium that causes pertussis, or whooping cough. As of Aug. 10, there were 64,467 cases reported this year, according to the latest data from the Japan Institute for Health Security.
As farm minister, Koizumi is held ‘hostage’ by Ishiba
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi (center) attends a Lower House session on Aug. 1. Locking Koizumi into the Cabinet is Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s way of turning a potential rival into a team player, according to one expert.
Big burgers and bigger ambitions for Japan's Burger King
Kazuhiro Nomura, president of BK Japan Holdings, which operates Burger King in Japan
Tokyo crowned No.1 'workation' spot
Workations were a burgeoning trend in the corporate world for years before the COVID-19 pandemic turbocharged it.
Atsushi Kitagawara’s exhibition finds poetry in architecture
The inverted cone, one of Atsushi Kitagawara’s six signature elements in architecture, is a key feature of the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection museum building.
Candidates preparing to make final pitches for Sawamura Award
Hawks pitcher Livan Moinelo has a 1.13 ERA in 19 starts this season.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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
By Alex K.T. Martin

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