Japan's outdated corporate family model
Waka Ikeda is a Tokyo-based freelance journalist covering society, culture and the movie industry.
With Japan's fertility rate sitting at a paltry 1.2, the issue of work-life balance has gone from office chitchat to existential crisis. Some officials are advocating a four-day workweek for public servants, but are more fundamental changes needed?
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Japan Times
5 hours ago
- Japan Times
Ohkawara president asks Tokyo police not to appeal damages suit ruling
The president of Japanese spray-dryer maker Ohkawara Kakohki on Monday asked the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department not to appeal a recent ruling by the Tokyo High Court that found the police's investigations into the company illegal and ordered the payment of damages. The 76-year-old president, Masaaki Okawara, visited the police headquarters in central Tokyo, handing in documents requesting that the truth about the false accusations be revealed and that the police officers involved in the investigation be punished strictly. Okawara was arrested by the Tokyo police's Public Security Bureau in 2020, along with two others of the Yokohama-based company, for allegedly exporting without permission a spray dryer that could be repurposed for weapons production, in violation of the foreign exchange law. The three were indicted later that year, but the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office withdrew the indictments the following year, saying that doubts had arisen about whether the spray-dryer in question was among the products subject to export controls. Also on Monday, Okawara submitted to the Tokyo police some 41,400 online signatures collected since May 29, the day after the high court ruling was handed down, calling for the ruling not be appealed. According to informed sources, the central and Tokyo metropolitan governments are not planning to appeal the ruling. The deadline for filing an appeal is Wednesday. The 51-year-old eldest son of Shizuo Aishima, a former adviser to Ohkawara Kakohki who died at the age of 72 after being found to have stomach cancer while being detained, told reporters, "The number of online signatures reflects the public's sense of crisis regarding the criminal justice system as a whole." "I want the Tokyo police and the public prosecutor's office to take this seriously and formulate measures to prevent a recurrence that we can accept," he said.
Japan Times
5 hours ago
- Japan Times
No-confidence motion against Ishiba Cabinet could lead to double election
With the current parliamentary session set to end in about two weeks, political tugs-of-war within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan are intensifying over the question of a snap Lower House election on the same day as next month's scheduled Upper House poll. While CDP leader Yoshihiko Noda has not yet declared whether his party would back a no-confidence motion and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has not publicly stated he will dissolve the Lower House if one is submitted, a double election could result in more political stability if either party manages to capture both chambers, or continued instability if neither holds a majority, even in a coalition. If the opposition parties in the Lower House, which hold a majority, pass a no-confidence motion against the Cabinet, Ishiba and his Cabinet must resign en masse. A new prime minister can be chosen and form a new Cabinet, unless the Lower House is dissolved within 10 days, according to Article 69 of the Constitution. A Lower House election must then be held within 40 days. The current session of parliament is scheduled to finish on June 22. On the other hand, the prime minister could unilaterally dissolve the Lower House to call a snap election at the time of his choice, even before the motion is voted on. Reports last week indicated Ishiba had not ruled out dissolving the lower chamber if a no-confidence motion were to be submitted. On June 5, Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Seiji Maehara, who has a good personal relationship with Ishiba, said the prime minister told him privately parliament would be dissolved in that event. Other members of his party are not denying the possibility. LDP Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama told reporters on June 3 he had not discussed this with Ishiba, saying only that the prime minister will make an appropriate decision at the appropriate time. Speaking on Fuji TV on Sunday morning, former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who backed Ishiba in last September's LDP presidential election, said the decision to dissolve parliament was one of political life or death for any prime minister. 'So I believe that we have no choice but to respect Prime Minister Ishiba's decision,' Kishida said. Dissolution would be risky for the unpopular LDP. A June 7-8 Asahi News Network poll showed the Ishiba Cabinet support rate at 34.4%, a 6.8 point rise over last month, while 72% of respondents approved of agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi's efforts to bring down rice prices. The LDP might agree to a quick Lower House election in the hope of utilizing Koizumi's popularity to garner voter support. But the same poll showed that 46.4% of respondents did not support the Cabinet. There is no guarantee that voters, regardless of their views on Koizumi, would cast their ballots for other LDP candidates and once again give the party a majority in the Lower House. As the main opposition party, the CDP's backing of a no-confidence motion would be crucial for it to pass. Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the smaller Democratic Party for the People, said Sunday he wanted to speak with Noda about the issue before considering the DPP's position. Powerful CDP veteran Ichiro Ozawa strongly supports submitting a no-confidence motion. 'It's only natural that a motion of no confidence should be submitted at the end of the Diet session, and there should be no hesitation in doing so,' he said on his YouTube channel Saturday. The CDP went from 98 to 148 Lower House seats in the October 2024 election, but that's still well short of the 233 minimum needed for a majority. Given the party's struggles to gain traction with voters and a split opposition camp, it, too, faces a political risk by pushing a no-confidence vote, as it's not clear whether the CDP could win an outright majority in a Lower House election or what kind of ruling coalition it could forge if it fell short. Speaking to reporters at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan on Monday morning, Noda continued to give no indication as to when he'd make a final decision about a no-confidence motion. 'I get this question almost every day, and the answer is always the same: I'll make a decision at the appropriate time, in the appropriate way, and after looking at the overall political situation,' he said.
Japan Times
a day ago
- Japan Times
Akazawa vows to redouble efforts for tariff accord with U.S.
Japan's top tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, on Sunday pledged to step up his efforts to help Tokyo and Washington reach an agreement at an envisaged bilateral summit later this month. "I will do as many things as I can" in the run-up to the expected meeting between Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump, Akazawa told reporters. Akazawa, minister for economic revitalization, made the remarks after returning home the same day from Washington, where he held the fifth round of negotiations with the U.S. side on a possible review of the Trump administration's high tariff policy. Ishiba and Trump may hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the three-day Group of Seven summit in Canada from June 15. Regarding the view within the Japanese government that it is difficult to persuade the Trump administration to withdraw all of its tariff measures, Akazawa said: "The series of U.S. measures are regrettable. There is no change at all in our stance of urging the U.S. side to review its tariff measures." On the timing of the next round of Japan-U.S. tariff talks, Akazawa said, "I have nothing in particular to say at the moment."
