Recent news
Latest items of recent news relevant to Japan as reported in our fortnightly newswire ‘Dernières nouvelles’.
Japan: Lower house passes TPP trade deal
Ratification of the new Trans-Pacific Partnership by the Diet (Parliament) has now taken place …
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Japan: Tokyo passes no-smoking law in preparation for 2020 Olympics
The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly recently adopted an anti-smoking ordinance – which is due to take full effect in April 2020 …
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Japan: Doors open for more foreign workers
On June 15th a new policy was adopted which would allow up to 500,000 low to medium skilled workers to enter the country over the next 7 years in order to bolster the country’s shrinking national workforce …
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Japan: New father sues Japan Inc. for allegedly harassing and demoting him for taking paternity leave
Although Japanese law allows both men and women take up to 12 months paid parental leave, in practice it remains quite rare for men to assert this right …
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Japan: Plea bargaining introduced
US-style plea bargaining has been introduced into the criminal justice system, allowing an accused person to have reduced, or even achieve the removal of all, penalties in return for information about more serious criminality …
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Japan: Revolution in the labour market
A quiet revolution is taking place in the Japanese labour market with an erosion of the traditional jobs for life system …
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Japan: #MeToo hits Japan as Junichi Fukuda quits over harassment claims
Public uproar has followed the recent resignation of Finance Minister Junichi Fukuda over sexual harassment accusations involving a female reporter – with consequent resurgence of Japan’s hitherto subdued #Meetoo movement …
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Japan: A revision is expected to be made to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act
A revision is expected to be made to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act this Autumn, which will give non-Japanese nationals the right to work in Japan for up to 5 years after they complete the foreign trainee programme …
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Japan: Personal data transfers
Negotiations are currently taking place with the European Union over the designation of Japan as meeting “mutual adequacy” provisions for the purposes of personal data transfers …
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Japan: Travelers required paying sayonara tax when leaving Japan from 2019
The first new tax since 1992 will be introduced next January …
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Japan: January real wages fall at fastest pace in six months
Over the year to January 2018, real (inflation adjusted) wages declined by an average of 0 …
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Japan: Law introducing an cap on overtime hours drafted
A new law introducing an, albeit high, cap on overtime hours has recently been drafted and will shortly be submitted to the Diet (national parliament) …
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Japan: Real wages declined by an average of 0.5%
Over the year to December 2017 real (inflation adjusted) wages declined by an average of 0 …
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Japan: Draft bill to against passive smoking
The Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry is preparing a parliamentary Bill against passive smoking …
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Japan: Conversion of fixed term employees to permanent employment
Back on April 1st 2013 the Japanese government introduced a new law allowing despatched (fixed-term) workers who have had two or more successive contracts with the same employer to apply to be converted to permanent status as soon as their total term of employment reached 5 years …
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