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WORK

Newly employed workers of government ministries and agencies listen to a video message by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a training session in Tokyo on April 3.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 17, 2024
Japanese students losing interest in civil service
Public-private job search timing affects student behavior, especially in new graduate hiring.
New regulations took effect this month to cap the working hours of hospital doctors, with the health ministry also specifying that hours spent on duties and self-development directly associated with education and research should be considered work hours.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 1, 2024
Japan starts work style reform to cap doctors' overtime
Medical services in Japan have historically relied to some extent on the self-sacrifice of doctors.
Under the revised labor standards law, annual overtime will be capped at 960 hours for truck drivers and 720 hours for construction workers.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2024
New work-style reform measures kick off in Japan
It is feared the new caps will cause shortages of workers, making it difficult to maintain services.
Trucks at a logistics center in the city of Fukuoka in December. Nomura Research Institute estimates that a shortage of truck drivers will lead to 35% of goods not being transported around the country in 2030, with the ratio seen to be higher in more remote regions.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 29, 2024
'2024 problem' seen hitting regional logistics sectors hard
Overtime caps for truck drivers coupled with soaring fuel prices could put transport companies out of business, unless consignors agree to higher fees.
Those who are planning to move to new homes are finding themselves either struggling to make a reservation or facing increasingly higher costs.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2024
Japan's moving companies struggle to meet demand amid driver shortage
Charges have increased, even doubled, during the March-April peak moving season as a regulation capping overtime hours for drivers kicks in.
Japan's Evelyn Mawuli (left) goes on the attack as Canada's Laeticia Amihere plays defense in the first quarter of an Olympic women's basketball qualifier on Feb. 11 in Sopron, Hungary.
BASKETBALL
Mar 25, 2024
Basketball star thrives on court again after putting herself first
Evelyn Mawuli is helping to normalize career breaks for reasons other than physical health.
Wakana Nukui has been described as having a knack for storytelling and vividly sharing her vision with those around her.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Mar 24, 2024
A social entrepreneur who is determined to lift Cambodian women's status
Wakana Nukui has fostered new talent in design while opening shops dedicated to local products.
An employee at the Apita Kisarazu shopping mall in Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture. Pan Pacific International Holdings, the parent company of the firm that operates Apita, abolished its rules on hair color in 2022 following requests by its employees.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 28, 2024
Japan's retailers and restaurants ease dress codes amid labor shortage
More and more companies have abolished in-house rules prohibiting colored hair and piercings to help with hiring and retain staff.
South Korean doctors and other demonstrators march during a protest in Seoul on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 27, 2024
South Korea probing if woman’s death linked to doctor walkout
More than 9,000 of the country’s roughly 13,000 trainee doctors, who play a key role in emergency care, have walked off their jobs in labor action.
CocoDesk private work booths set up by Fujifilm Business Innovation and Tokyo Metro at a subway station in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 20, 2024
Demand for private work booths grows in Japan
The increase in the use of private work booths reflects how working styles have become more diverse since the pandemic.
Keidanren chairman Masakazu Tokura
JAPAN / Society
Feb 14, 2024
Business lobby chief shows support for separate surnames for spouses
Masakazu Tokura of Keidanren expressed bewilderment at why the issue "has been left hanging for so long."
Commuters head to work in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district where government ministries are located. The government plans to issue a guideline to encourage diverse ways of working, including working remotely, among its employees.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2024
Japan to allow bureaucrats to work remotely in principle
The government will release guidelines on remote work as part of an effort to encourage more diverse ways of working among its employees.
There are currently over 35 million digital nomads around the world, with a collective economic value of $787 billion.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 2, 2024
Japan's digital nomad visas to require ¥10 million in income
People from 49 countries and territories will be able to stay in Japan under the “specified activities” visa category.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son is a longtime investor in WeWork, sticking with the company throughout its many ups and downs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 2, 2024
SoftBank swoops in to rescue WeWork Japan
The development comes just four months after the troubled coworking business — once valued at $47 billion — filed for bankruptcy in the U.S.
Aeon is aiming to encourage male workers to take child care leave. While almost all of its female employees currently take child care leave when they have a child, the rate for male employees is only 15%.
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2024
Aeon employees to receive 100% of income during child care leave
The retailer aims to gradually roll out the program from March to some 150 group companies.
Mitsuko Tottori (right), incoming president of Japan Airlines, and Yuji Akasaka, outgoing president, during a news conference in Tokyo on Jan. 17
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 31, 2024
Japan opens door to more women directors, but managers still rare
Women account for only 13.4% of directors and executive officers at the 1,836 firms listed on the TSE's Prime market, and of these 13% are internal hires.
IBM offices in Foster City, California
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 30, 2024
IBM managers: Move near an office or leave company
Return-to-office mandates are often seen as fueling attrition
Tanaka takes part in a signing ceremony for the Japan-Uruguay Investment Agreement with Uruguay's Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Luis Porto in 2015.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Jan 23, 2024
Why positivity is an asset in a career of PR and diplomacy
Keiko Tanaka went from an office at Nissan to the ambassador's residence in Uruguay.
Office workers in the Central district in Hong Kong on Nov. 20
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 8, 2024
Hong Kong workers demand 6% raise to return to office fully
In a survey, 27% of people asked for a raise if their employers required them to work in the office five days a week.
The Alumy website, which offers a service for companies that want to connect with individuals who have quit their jobs
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 31, 2023
More Japanese companies move to rehire former employees
Previously, it had been widely believed that quitting a job means completely severing the relationship with the employer.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on