(Selected information on social & labour developments in Japan)
Koizumi
Cabinet starts with record high number of women ministers
Promoting reforms as the main pillar of his policy platform, Prime Minister Junichiro KOIZUMI formed new Cabinet including five women and one eminent economist on Thursday 26 April. Among five women ministers, Mrs. Makiko TANAKA holds a post of Foreign Minister and Mrs. Mayumi MORIYAMA, Chairperson of the Japanese Parliamentarians' League on the ILO Activities, is appointed as Justice Minister. The number of women ministers is the largest in the history. Mr. Chikara SAKAGUCHI is reappointed as Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare. Mr. Koizumi was once Minister of Health and Welfare.
According to the opinion polls surveyed by major newspapers, new Koizumi
Cabinet receives record-high support.
Pausing Japanese
Economy
The Cabinet Office stated on 13 April that Japanese "economic recovery
appears to be pausing," in a downgraded tone of its assessment of
the Japanese economy. Then Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy, Taro
Aso, warned that Japan may enter recession in the future.
According to the Labour Force Survey by Ministry of Public Management,
Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, the number of the employed
for March stood at 63.79 million, an increase of 340 thousand from March
last year. The unemployment rate was 4.7% and the number of the unemployed
decreased by 1.7% from a year ago.
ODA
White Paper
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs released on 27 March a White Paper on ODA.
The report stresses the importance of ODA in response to the public criticism
for the large amount - the largest in the world - spent in assisting developing
countries. The ODA budget for 2001 is cut by 3 % to 1.015 trillion yen.
The report claims that ODA remains Japan's major diplomatic tool in contributing
global peace and security, especially in Asia, where it spends 60 percent
of its budget.
The Government decided to change its official loan policy toward China
in response to criticism against Japan's ODA to China, in the face of China's
sharp increases in military spending, maritime activities in Japanese waters
and the fact that China is providing aid to other developing countries.
From fiscal 2001, several changes were made including the modification
of the loan policy from multiyear disbursement programs to a single-year
program.
Japan
tops in ODA for 10th year running -
Amount dropped by 14.8%
Japan's official development assistance remained the world's largest for
the 10th consecutive year in 2000 with the amount of $13.062
billion (1.408 trillion Japanese yen), according to the major newspapers'
coverage on provisional statistics published by OECD Development Assistance
Committee on 23 April. The amount fell for the first time since 1998 by
14.8% in dollar and by 19.3% in yen. Most of the ODA cuts were made in
its contribution to international organizations and in loans to the governments
of developing countries. The decrease is seen as a reaction to the high
rise in ODA in 1999 by 44.0% in dollar (from the previous year) when $3.3
billion was contributed to Asian Financial Crisis Supporting Fund through
Asian Development Bank.
Public
poll survey on AIDS
The Cabinet Office conducted a public opinion survey on HIV-AIDS last December
to 5,000 people, of which 69.7% had responded. The survey was the fourth
of its kind since 1987, although it was the first time to include respondents
in the age group of 15 to 19.
81.5% of the respondents anticipate the increase of the epidemic in Japan
in the future. Asked about what they thought about sharing office with
an AIDS infected person, 45.3% responded as "unfavourable," in
comparison to 39.6% who thought as not. The reasons for disapproval were,
that it would give rise to "anxiety," as well as the presence
of such person "influencing the workplace environment." Those
who responded favourably thought discrimination is not acceptable, and
that the infected have the right to work.
On the question whether they agreed that social prejudice and discrimination
against AIDS patients and HIV positives should not be tolerated, 84.1%
responded that the infected should not be subject to such abuse.
Asked about what form of international role Japan should take, 52.6% cited
international cooperation in research and development of treatment and
medication, and 36.5% cited international networking to tackle AIDS, followed
by financial assistance to international organizations and dispatch of
medical experts.
Women's
employment marks the highest share in 2000
According to a so-called "white paper on women's employment for 2000" published
on 29 March, women's employment was increased for the first time in the
past three years and women employees accounted , for the first time, for
40% of the total, which was record high. The paper, however, called for
positive actions for narrowing gender gap in employment, which should promote
progressively taking into account situations of gender gap in industries,
regions, size of companies and diverse stage of development of companies'
policies and programmes for treatment of women workers.
Sexual
discrimination of damages should not be allowed, judges Tokyo District
Court
On 8 March 2000, Tokyo District Court handed down remarkable ruling, which
calculated the value of damages for 12-year-old girl killed by a car accident
based on the averaged wage level of both men and women workers. Customary, this
kind of damages, which are the amount equivalent to the total income that
the victim would have earned in his/her lifetime if there was no accident,
were calculated separately based on the sex of the victim. The adjudicated damages
are some 21 million Japanese yen, roughly 4 million yen more than the amounts
calculated by traditional method, i.e. calculation based on the average
wage level of Japanese women workers.
RENGO to support Burma and NGOs
The office, which will support the democratization and democratic labour movements in Burma (Myanmar), has been opened on 17 April in Tokyo by several organizations including the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (RENGO) and the Federation of Trade Unions - Burma (FTUB). The Burma Office (Japan) will conduct public information and awareness raising activities targetting Japanese people and the government.
RENGO also announced that they will provide financial support to NGOs.
Its budget amounts to 300,000 yen which is around US $230,000 with current
exchange rate.
Prime Minister attended RENGO May Day rally
PM Koizumi attended by his initiative the RENGO's May Day ceremony held on 28 April in Tokyo. This is the first time that RENGO holds May Day event on the day other than 1 May. The date was chosen to avoid organizing it in the middle of week long holidays. Mr. Koizumi stressed that his administration will listen to demands from labour groups and create a system to improve living conditions for the people and workers. This is the third time that the prime minister takes part in May Day event, last time being in 1996.
| ILO EVENTS IN JAPAN |
Lecture meetings on ILO personnel policy
Mr. Alan Wild, Director, Human Resources Development Department, gave a series of lecture meetings targetted for university/graduate students in Tokyo, Japan on 26-27 April 2001. In his presentation, Mr. Wild outlined "the ILO: What it is, What it does", and explained in detail about ILO Young Professionals Career Entrance Programme (YPCEP). There were about 100 young Japanese audience in total at United Nations University, International Christian University and Waseda University which kindly provided venue for the lectures. He raised hopes and expectations to work for the ILO among young people who wish to work for international organizations. Lecture series provided Mr. Wild with chances to meet competent young students in Japan, one of the underrepresented member countries of the ILO. They also turned out good contacts with eminent universities which have produced many international staff among their graduates.
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