This month’s column will offer my impressions about how much Japan has changed regarding the issues that have always been on my radar screen—society’s openness to newcomers. On that score, I have some positive developments to report.
The phenomenon of “working without a job” is gaining pace around the world, showing no signs of slowing down. But what does working without a job mean? Many readers may have no idea what I’m talking about. This phrase refers to working without employment; meaning that one has zero rights as workers under labor laws.
Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador vowed over the weekend to lead a worldwide movement to end the 61-year US embargo of Cuba.
The United Kingdom’s Conservative Party government has unveiled an anti-strike bill which has been branded a “full-frontal attack on working people” by the nation’s largest trade union. This legislation arrives amidst a continued campaign of industrial action by workers across the United Kingdom against “real-terms pay cuts.”
Greece’s far-right ruling party New Democracy recently introduced a new police force which will be deployed to all universities. Not only is Greece now ranking first in Europe in terms of the proportion of its budget spent on the police, but it also reverses steps the country had taken to liberalize the nation after the end of the military junta in 1974.
Saddled with student debt and, in many cases, spending the early years of their professional lives working during the Covid pandemic, members of Generation Z–often defined as those born between 1997 and 2012–are proving to be the most pro-worker generation in the contemporary United States.
The antiviral drug Avigan was developed by the firm Fujifilm Toyama Chemical in 2014, and it was later envisioned as Japan’s leading prospect to solve the global Covid pandemic. The drug was enthusiastically promoted by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but this October its development was quietly terminated.
Lam Wing-Kee, the only one of the Hong Kong Causeway Bay booksellers to remain free, applied for permanent residency in Taiwan last month on the basis of being a professional in arts and culture. While there is a good chance that his application will be accepted, some other Hongkongers are finding greater difficulty.
It’s difficult for me to root for Japan teams in general. It’s not an issue of nationality. It’s a matter of how Japan as a society approaches international sports; we take all the fun out of it.
Macau Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng is making it increasingly clear that the territory he administers no longer sees the gambling industry as the key to its future development.
