Labour Ministry: Wages fell 3.3% in FY2009

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According to a report released today by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, wages in Japan fell 3.3% to 315,311 yen per month in fiscal 2009. This is the strongest drop seen since the ministry began issuing data in 1991, while 2009 was the third consecutive year in which average wages fell in Japan according to the ministry’s data.

Basic compensation fell 1.1% to 245,278 yen while bonuses slumped 10.8% to 53,046 yen per month. Other payments such as overtime fell 7.9% to 16,987 yen.

According to the breakdown by industries, workers in the electricity and gas sectors received the highest average remuneration, at 585,439 yen per month (down 0.6% from the previous year). Coming in second were workers in the finance and insurance industry, at 467,081 yen per month (down 2.4% from the previous year). They were closely followed by workers in the telecommunications sector, who brought home an average of 460,793 yen per month (down 1.8% from the previous year).

The lowest average monthly wage was found amongst retail and wholesale workers, at 259,070 yen, down 3.8% from fiscal 2008. The largest drop, of 5.5%, was seen amongst workers in manufacturing, whose wages fell to 351,965 per month.

http://www.japaneconomynews.com/2010/05/17/labour-ministry-wages-fell-33-in-fy2009/

Inmates on hunger strike in Japan immigration centre

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Scores of foreigners in a Japanese immigration detention centre have been on hunger strike for more than a week, demanding to be released and protesting the mysterious death of an African deportee.

Some 70 detainees — many of them Sri Lankans and Pakistanis — have refused food since May 10, also seeking to highlight suicides there by a Brazilian and a South Korean inmate, say their outside supporters.

The protest comes after UN rights envoy Jorge Bustamante in March raised concerns about Japan’s often years-long detentions of illegal migrants, including parents with children as well as rejected asylum seekers.

“Those in the centre suffer such mental stress from being confined for so long,” said Kimiko Tanaka, a member of a local rights group, about the East Japan Immigration Centre in Ushiku, northeast of Tokyo.

Japan keeps tight control on immigration and last year, despite generous overseas aid for refugees, granted political asylum to just 30 people.

Human rights activists, lawyers and foreign communities have complained for years about conditions at Ushiku and Japan’s two other such facilities, in the western prefecture of Osaka and in southwestern Nagasaki prefecture.

At Ushiku, about 380 people are detained, with eight or nine inmates living in rooms that measure about 20 square metres (215 square feet), said Tanaka, a member of the Ushiku Detention Centre Problem Study Group.

“They are crammed into tiny segmented rooms that are not very clean, and many contract skin diseases,” she told AFP.

The hunger strike protesters said in a statement that “foreigners are the same human beings as Japanese” and claimed that conditions are severe and their freedom to practise their religions is being curtailed.

“The Immigration Bureau has forced asylum seekers to leave voluntarily by confining them for a long time, making them give up on their religion, weakening their will and torturing their body and soul,” they said.

“Japan, a democratic country, must not do such a thing, no matter what.”

The protest erupted weeks after a Ghanaian man, Abubakar Awudu Suraj, died in unexplained circumstances in March as Japanese immigration officials escorted the restrained man onto an aircraft bound for Cairo.

“Police conducted an autopsy but could not find out the cause of his death,” a Narita Airport police spokesman told AFP about the 45-year-old, whose Japanese widow has challenged authorities to explain.

Rights activists believe he was gagged with a towel, recalling a similar but non-fatal case in 2004 when a female Vietnamese deportee was handcuffed, had her mouth sealed with tape and was rolled up in blankets.

The protesters on hunger strike argue two recent suicides by hanging — a 25-year-old Brazilian, and a 47-year-old South Korean — also illustrate Japan’s harsh treatment of inmates.

“Those were very unfortunate incidents,” said an official at the Ushiku immigration centre who declined to be named.

“We recognise the largest problem is that an increasing number of foreigners here refuse to be deported, despite legal orders,” he said.

The official also said the number of asylum seekers had doubled since 2008 mostly because of turmoil in Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Last year 1,388 people, including 568 Myanmar and 234 Sri Lankan nationals, sought refuge in Japan.

Japan’s immigration authorities have faced protests before. Two months ago, 73 foreigners at the Osaka centre staged a two-week hunger strike.

“We would have seen suicides like in Tokyo if they had waited longer,” said Toru Sekimoto, who leads the local support group TRY, which successfully won the temporary release of most of the protesters.

Hiroka Shoji of Amnesty International Japan said: “The immigration facilities are supposed to be places where authorities keep foreigners for a short period before deportation.

“But some people have been confined for over two years as a result. The government must introduce a limit to detentions.”

A Justice Ministry official who asked not to be named said: “The government will interview protesters at the centre and take appropriate measures.”

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jf1HRDmVvn_yJNlK6g94oQVTwDCg

National health insurance a basic universal safety net

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HEALTH INSURANCE

All Japanese citizens are required by law to be covered by public health insurance.

Because of this universal system, most medical treatment is covered and the costs are reasonable.

The first health insurance law took effect in 1927 to protect laborers, and in 1938 the umbrella was extended to farmers, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.

After World War II, many organizations stopped providing health insurance. To make sure every citizen was covered, the government revised the national health insurance law in 1958.

Here is some basic information about how the system now works:

What types of public health insurance are available?

There are basically four types. Company employees are mostly under “kenko hoken” (health insurance), also known as Kenpo, managed by the national health insurance association or health insurance unions. Civil servants are covered by mutual aid insurance. Sailors and fishermen have seaman’s insurance, while farmers and other self-employed people must apply for the Kokuho national health insurance managed by local governments.

Can nonregular workers, including temporary employees and day laborers, also be insured by Kenpo?

Yes. If temporary workers have a contract exceeding two months and if they work at least 30 hours or four days a week, they can be covered by the insurance provided by temp staff dispatching agencies.

Day laborers with a contract of two months or less are covered by special insurance for day workers, according to the Social Insurance Agency.

Do people on welfare also have to pay into the health insurance program?

No. Their medical costs are fully covered by medical aid, which is a part of public assistance.

Are dependents of the insured also covered?

Yes. Relatives in the first, second and third degree benefit from the insurance if they are financially supported by the insured.

How about foreigners?

Foreigners whose length of stay is more than a year and who are not covered under Kenpo need to apply for the Kokuho coverage. Foreign students should be covered by Kokuho even if they stay in Japan for less than a year.

Foreign residents are required by law to join one of the health insurance schemes, but some opt out because they have their own insurance contracts with private firms or they do not want to pay the fees. [In many cases, employers refuse to enrol foreign employees in Kenpo.]

There is no penalty for not joining public insurance. But the Justice Ministry’s Immigration Bureau asks foreign residents to show their public health insurance cards when applying to renew their visas to urge them to join the health care system.

Are there people who are not under any public health insurance?

Yes. For example in Saitama Prefecture, 36.4 percent of 962 workers who answered a questionnaire from the prefecture in March were not covered by public health insurance because they didn’t apply for Kokuho for financial or other reasons.

In 2009, a survey by the city of Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, found 24 percent of 473 Brazilian residents in the city had not applied for health insurance because they couldn’t afford the fee. Yokkaichi is known for its high population of foreign factory workers.

How much are the individual monthly premiums?

They vary a great deal depending on the type of insurance. The monthly Kenpo fee is based on income. For example, in the case of Kenpo coverage managed by the national insurance association, the workers’ share of the burden — 50 percent of the total fee — in Tokyo ranges from about ¥2,700 to ¥56,000. The rest is paid by their employers.

How about for medical treatment?

Patients under 70 years old are required to pay 30 percent and those between 70 and 74 have to pay 10 percent of medical costs, including fees for checkups, treatment and medicine at a hospital or pharmacy.

People aged 75 and above also pay 10 percent of their medical costs, but the expenses are deducted from their pensions.

There are basically no medical charges for children whose parents pay into public health insurance, and each local government sets its own age limit. In Tokyo, children aged 15 or younger are eligible for free medical treatment in many municipalities, according to the metropolitan government.

What happens if people covered under Kokuho fall behind on their premiums?

According to the metropolitan government, local governments first send a reminder. If they still do not pay the fee, they will receive an insurance card valid only for several weeks to months. They will also be charged in arrears.

Does public health insurance cover all types of checkups, treatment and medicine?

No. Periodic health checks, vaccines for influenza, mumps, chickenpox and some infectious diseases, and advanced medical treatment conducted at authorized university hospitals, are not covered.

Health insurance also doesn’t cover the cost of birth control pills.

What if a person has really high medical costs?

If the actual medical cost exceeds the fixed upper limit patients have to pay, an insurance organization refunds the difference. In average, the monthly limit is ¥80,100 for patients under 70. If their income is particularly high, the limit is ¥150,000. Patients who are 70 or above have to pay up to ¥44,400.

How about births?

Regular checkups and the costs for childbirth must come out of pocket. However, local governments provide various ways to offset these costs. Prefectures offer ¥420,000 in childbirth assistance, and local governments have their own financial aid for checkups and births on top of this amount. In the event of a Caesarean section, the cost is covered by insurance.

Is it true relatives of the insured or their dependents can receive burial fees?

Yes. In the case of Kenpo, ¥50,000 is provided. For those under Kokuho, the amount of payment varies depending on the local administration.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100525i1.html

Is Japan becoming more insular?

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With so much talk of globalization, it might seem counterintuitive to suggest that Japan is turning inward, but that’s what some have concluded.

Take Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, where the local government last year made what seemed like a coldhearted offer to Latin American immigrants: It would pay them to go back home — as long as they agreed not to look for work here again. Some had invested 20 years in this country and had children who knew nothing about Brazil or Peru.

I’ve written about immigration a lot because Japan is still an anomaly in the developed world. Despite a string of signals from the business and political worlds that a population crisis will force immigration policy past its tipping point, the government shows no sign of taking the padlocks off “fortress Japan.”

Roughly 2 percent of the population here is foreign, far below most OECD countries. And the Hamamatsu case, while isolated, seemed to show that the state might take away the welcome mat when the economy darkens.

It’s not that I don’t understand how Japan feels. In my native Ireland, the foreign population went from almost zero to about 10 percent in the 15 or so years since I left. That’s a major adjustment for native Irish people. And there have been tensions: When I was at home in April, racist thugs murdered a young black boy in the capital, Dublin.

But immigration is in my view changing Ireland immeasurably for the better, bringing in new influences, cultures and food, broadening our perspectives on the world and contributing to our economy. And immigration is payback: the Irish, after all, have gone all over the world. Why shouldn’t we give something back?

I wonder if Japan will ever feel the same?

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/news/20100521p2a00m0na003000c.html

Bar association supports woman’s claim that prefecture denied her promotions due to gender

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A bar association here has found the Gunma Prefectural Government’s reluctance to promote a female employee to a higher position to be discriminatory and made a request to the government office to improve its promotion practices.

The request was made Thursday by the human-rights committee of the Gunma Bar Association.

According to the committee, it received a complaint from a 58-year-old woman who works at the prefectural office claiming that she was being held at the position of section chief, a position below the level of assistant division manager, because of gender discrimination at work. The committee proceeded to investigate the job promotion situation among men and women aged between 50 and 60 at that prefectural office.

The results of the investigation found that as of April 1, 2008, 84.9 percent of male employees at the office were at the assistant division manager level or higher, in contrast to 44.1 percent of female employees.

The committee also quoted the woman as saying that her boss at the division she had belonged to for four years from fiscal 2004 told her he had suggested to the personnel division that they promote her for her good work performance.

The committee believes that the personnel division’s treatment of the woman should be considered as a human rights violation, but their request for improved practices is not legally binding.

“There is no gender discrimination in our promotion system. We evaluate employees’ abilities in a comprehensive manner,” a personnel division official at the prefectural office says. “The reality is that there is a limit to how many versatile, experienced female employees there are at that (woman’s) age.”

It is unusual for a municipal government to be accused of denying an employee’s promotion on the basis of sex.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20100521p2a00m0na019000c.html

Beard ban sparks controversy

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The Isesaki city government has stirred controversy with an edict to public servants not to grow beards.

In a notice distributed to city workers Tuesday, Isesaki city said the ban was placed because some citizens find facial hair “unpleasant.”

The notice, aimed to inform workers of the start Wednesday of the summer “Cool Biz” campaign to reduce air-conditioning by dressing down, also cautioned against wearing whatever they like.

At present, no male city worker sports a beard or moustache, but some staffers appearing with stubble after a holiday period have drawn complaints from citizens, city officials said.

But Fumio Haruyama, a lawyer who chairs the Gunma Bar Association’s human rights panel, says a total ban “could infringe on personal rights.” He said that a well-groomed beard or moustache is now socially acceptable.

An official in the internal affairs ministry’s Local Public Service Personnel Division said rules restricting hairstyles or beards, and controversy over them, are unheard of.

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201005200448.html

Economy picks up despite deflation

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The economy grew at its fastest pace in three quarters as an export surge prompted companies to increase capital spending even as the nation endures persistent deflation at home.

Gross domestic product rose 4.9 percent pace in the first three months of 2010 at an annual rate, less than forecast, a Cabinet Office report showed Thursday. So-called nominal GDP, which is unadjusted for price changes, increased 1.2 percent on a quarterly basis, the most in a decade.

The export-fueled rebound also started feeding into wages and the labor market. Earnings rose for the first time in 22 months in March and the ratio of job openings to applicants advanced for a third month.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100521n1.html

Nihongo teaching guidelines drafted

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A Cultural Affairs Agency council has accepted a draft of the first-ever language guidelines on how to teach foreigners living in Japan the minimum Japanese language skills required to function in society.

The subcommittee of the Council for Cultural Affairs drew up a curriculum for national language education, which was accepted Wednesday by the council’s Subdivision on National Language. The guideline will be applied at Japanese language schools run by local governments.

According to the agency, it is estimated that about 1 million foreigners living in the country need to study Japanese, such as Brazilians of Japanese descent who came to the country to work, as well as their children.

However, there is no widely agreed upon specific method of teaching the language for daily conversation. As a result, many Japanese language schools are playing it by ear.

The draft shows model conversations at a medical facility, with lessons based on scenes at a reception desk, a medical examination room and a pharmacy counter. It also shows key grammar and vocabulary to encourage learners not to simply memorize conversations but to apply them to their own situations and build conversations.

The subcommittee will soon compile textbooks based on the guidelines, and discuss standards to objectively measure foreigners’ Japanese language abilities.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20100520TDY02T08.htm

Workplace policy: What strange things have been banned?

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The municipal government of Isesaki in central Japan has banned its male employees from growing beards.

Yahoo News reports that there were two specific reasons for the ban. City officals cited a need for public servants to maintain decorum. Also, there were complaints from citizens who found beards and stubble unpleasant.

The facial hair policy is believed to be the first of its kind in Japan.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/pointofview/2010/05/workplace-policy-what-strange-things-have-been-banned.html

Gov’t eyes more Japanese language teachers to improve education for foreign children

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The government finalized a plan Tuesday to make it easier for children of foreign residents to get a public school education in Japan, including a possible expansion in Japanese language teacher numbers to improve foreign children’s communication skills.

According to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, there were 18,585 foreign children registered at public primary, junior high and high schools for the 1999 school year. By the 2008 school year, the number stood at 28,575 children.

In response to this rise schools have been increasing teaching staff over the standard complement to provide improved instruction to the children. Fifty such teachers were brought on for the 2009 school year and 250 more for 2010, bringing the national total to 1,285. However, local bodies with many foreign residents continue to request central government support for more teaching staff every year.

The Education Ministry is looking to revise the basic guideline for student numbers per class, now at 40, for the first time in about 30 years by this August. At the same time, the ministry also plans to improve the distribution of teaching staff at each school, including the possible increase in Japanese language instructors. In addition, in order to make it easier for foreign children to enter public schools, those past primary school age will be allowed to register at primary schools if necessary, among other measures.

The ministry held a policy conference on education for children of foreign residents in December last year to sound out experts on the issue.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20100519p2a00m0na008000c.html