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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 health center in Osaka, Akasugi and her colleagues are part of Japan’s first line of...
Due to the spread of coronavirus, people who are in vulnerable positions such as the impoverished and those living on the street, are finding themselves in a pinch situation. In Tokyo, which is one of the target municipalities of Japan's state of emergency declaration, there are critical problems with finding housing for such people, many of whom are directly affected by the closures of Internet cafes and and shared rooms for welfare guardians due to the spread of Covid-19.
Three long-term nursing care helpers have taken the state to court, citing workplace violations of the Labor Standards Act and wage theft.
The workers, who are women in their 60s from Tokyo and Fukushima, filed the lawsuit with the Tokyo...
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.
As radiation levels fell, public sector workers evacuated during the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster were ordered to return and push on with decontamination work. But was it as “safe” as they were led to believe?
As decontamination work proceeded in...
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 Tokyo confirmed their radiation doses. On that day, March 18, 2011, the world watched on...
Japan's retirees offer solution to labor shortage conundrum
For Eiji and Kumiko Ishikawa, the working day starts as early as 5 a.m. Having loaded the requisite equipment into their van, they set off for their first job of the day,...
Vulnerable young gay men lured into "legal" Tokyo sex industry
At a glance, First Dash is just a regular Tokyo bar. Customers laugh and drink, their animated chatter competing with the monotonous beat of techno thumping through speakers hovering somewhere...
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.