Labour

May Day Eve Celebration Honors Women’s Unsung Labor

May Day Eve for Women was organized to recognize and re-evaluate unpaid and underappreciated domestic and care work in and outside of their homes.

Mind the Gap

Japan’s gender gap is still wide and post-covid austerity threatens to make it worse. The defense of our most vulnerable communities, including women, is the greatest defense we can provide for our economies and citizens.

Dirty Fight

Tokyo has created one of the world’s best sewage-management systems but unions warn of the impact of market-driven capitalism and climate change.

A Cut Above the Rest:Shibata Akari

Shibata Akari is one of a small number of female slaughterhouse workers in an industry steeped in discrimination and where workers were not even paid until the 1970s.

Struggle against Union Busting, Police Oppression over Fair Wage

Someone in the Japanese government appears to have ordered an Osaka-based union to be destroyed. The Kan’nama story has triggered alarming constitutional questions – but little media attention.

Public health workers and COVID-19: Overworked and struggling to meet the demands

Labour Union fights for change for Japanese Public Health Care Workers Sachie Akasugi (not her real name) is beyond exhausted. A worker at a public...

職場から築き上げる男女平等

This article has not yet been translated into English.

Living and dying on the streets in Japan

The murder of an elderly homeless woman in Tokyo in November was another reminder of the vulnerability of people living on the streets, even in one of the world’s safest cities. Misako Obayashi, 64, was hit on the head, apparently with a bag of rocks, while sitting at a bus stop near Sasazuka Station in the early hours of Nov 16. Her alleged killer, Kazuhito Yoshida, 46, reportedly offered her money to move elsewhere and became enraged when she refused.  

Refugees in Japan help give rural communities competitive edge

When C.I. Desert landed at the Narita International Airport in 2018, he stepped into a new life. Young, educated, and multilingual, he fled home, family and a teaching career in Cameroon, which was rife with civil unrest. The reason for choosing Japan, he says, was simple: “In 2018, if you typed ‘10 safest countries in the world,’ you saw Japan.”

​Fukushima the first time I felt life in danger

An interview with former firefighter: Yukio Takayama The high-pitched sound of the dosimeter echoed in the darkness, and hyper-rescue personnel who had been dispatched from...