Bill to introduce shorter working hours for parents of young children clears Diet

Wednesday 24th June, 11:15 AM JST

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Wakarimasen at 04:49 PM JST - 24th June

That's what i said. Employees have all sorts of "rights" under the law, but do not enforce their rights due to fear or cultural reluctance to make waves.
jonnyboy at 04:54 PM JST - 24th June

JPN you need to get yr crap together so EVERYONE can basically call it a day by 1700-1800hrs on a year round basis or nothing will chg for the better. These stupid short term psuedo benefits wont help many much.

unlikely. the whole japanese attitude to work is fundamentally at odds with this. in japan, working hard means working for as much time as possible. the quality of the result is irrelevant. it is all a performance of self-flagellation in order to appease those around you
Shaolin7 at 06:24 PM JST - 24th June

I agree with sydenham, this is better than nothing. At least this shows that there is an awareness regarding this labour issue. I don't understand why most posters her are putting the onus on the government and the employers. For any true social change to come about in Japan, it must be done by the people. It's the people that allow these conditions to exist by accepting the terms placed upon them. Even though people know these are unfair terms and want them to change, they do nothing about it. Change takes sacrifice, a period of turmoil and unrest, and Japanese society as a whole just won't go down that road. Until they are willing to fight for their rights, the system will remain the same.

That's a thoughtful and intelligent post jonnydesu. I hope this law will help galvanize and marshal the will of the individual workers; at the very least, it will hopefully push a few brave souls to take those first tentative steps towards a healthier work / life balance.

This law may not be properly heeded initially but it IS good to have it in place at least. Once the curent crop of 50-60 yr old bosses from the bubble generation go into retirement, taking there hang-ups with them, I suspect there'll be quite the change in corporate culture over here and laws such as this will help the transition to be a positive one.

I found myself nodding in agreement with yokomoc's above post as well. One ancillary benefit of shorter working days will be that people will have to adjust their working "style" to be more efficient i.e. work smarter, which seems to be a common complaint from the foreign (read: western ex-pat) workers who post here. But, that is quite a ways down the road. This bill is at least some form of official acknowledgement and recognition of the larger issues, and a positive small step in the right direction.

Concerns about reinforcement and cultural factors mitigating the workers themselves aside, I certainly hope for the sake of Japanese friends and the entire work population (foreigners and native Japanese) it's not just an exercise in lip service.

P.S. I'm curious how those of you working in Japan currently put up or deal with the long working hours? Do you just go along yourselves? For all of the railing against it, I've always been curious how you guys tolerate or circumvent it, as the case may be (particularly parents just starting to raise little ones).
bcbrownboy at 07:50 PM JST - 24th June

"A bill to oblige companies to enable employees with children under 3 years old to work shorter hours"

"Enable" is the hitch. If the companies don't "force" them, they can never take it. Peer pressure, and hierarchical pressure, will keep them on the job.

Anyone who's lived here more than a year or two can easily see that. Therefore the politicians can easily see that. They are not concerned with the situation in the country, only with maintaining their sinecure.

And anyone who's lived more than 20 years knows that all politicians are in it for themselves, except for Mr. Smith.
Taka313 at 08:39 PM JST - 24th June

This could help with the population problem in Japan too. I can easily see people deciding to have a child in order to have shorter working hours.

Taka
Sarge at 09:57 PM JST - 24th June

"companies would be required to introduce a system in which employees raising young children could work about six hours a day"

I agree with maruyasana and Jizzeez. This would never happen in my company.
bobbafett at 10:08 PM JST - 24th June

I just go home at a reasonable time. Once my boss asked me why I don't do overtime and I explained that I love time with my child more than working.

Then I asked him "don't you love your kids more than work"?

There was some teeth sucking and nods of agreement and then some inaudible muttering etc but at the end of the day I did introduce him to my very close friend and now my companies client who is a very famous labor attorney.

My boss does not have the courage to take on my friend so I go when my contracted hours are up.

The other plus side is that because of my "go home status" no one else in the company talks with me or includes me in anything. Its heaven. I would hate it if I was popular in a Japanese company.
nigelboy at 11:22 PM JST - 24th June

Employers that violate the revised law would receive instructions or warnings from prefectural labor bureaus and their names would be made public if they ignore the instructions.

Considering that the president of a food company that unknowingly bought some "tainted rice" from Mikasa committed suicide as a result of government publishing the name of the companies, I believe this law does have "teeth".
LHommeQuiMent at 11:40 PM JST - 24th June

Japan is not Sweden and this will not work, unless Japanese society goes through a series of radical changes.

Also the majority of Japanese men cannot provide any nursing care. They cannot cook, change diapers or bathe their child. For them it is much more easier to do unproductive overwork, as usual.
sydenham at 11:26 AM JST - 25th June

herefornow, so, in your world, nothing at all is better than something?

You expect spontaneous change to occur, while offering no process for such change. Brilliant. Listen, every change needs a starting point and in Japan, those are set by simple, small precedents.

BTW, name and shame laws DO work. Look at your prime example. The Ministry of Agriculture held back the names of companies because they knew exactly what the end result would be. No doubt because of amakudari relations too, but in any case they knew these companies would probably end up like Snow Brand.

Perception is everything. Mitsubishi motors had a quality control problem in the 90's, and are still getting the cold shoulder from the consumer because of it.
jackfish at 03:58 PM JST - 25th June

Nodding in agreement with many of the posts...new law has no teeth...workers don't presently demand the rights they already have...lots of railing on this board, but do people walk the talk? In our company it used to be a walk of shame if you left before 7. At 9 there would still be several at work. With the current downturn, somehow people have figured out how to leave by 6 and not feel guilty it seems. The upside of the downturn I suppose.
GW at 04:26 PM JST - 25th June

sydenham

yr right perception is everthing, I often say perception is more important than reality in Jpn, problem with these new "laws" is its just that perception, in reality 99% wont benefit any from this but the govt can trumpet this great improvement in things but the reality is next to nothing has changed.

These "precedents" have almost no affect. The bottom line unfortunately is the Japanese are getting exactly what they derserve, imo it will take a major major meltdown of the economy & pensions etc etc & all that so the Japanese can collective all sigh SHOGANAI & then maybe just maybe try for some thing better, but even then I wudnt bet on much improvement
mayurasana at 05:28 PM JST - 25th June

Lets see what Nippon Keidanren has to say about this law. They would laugh their butts off.
sydenham at 08:26 PM JST - 26th June

GW, yes, exactly. They often have very little effect themselves, but they open the door for the next move. Everybody is reading this wrong. I don't think anybody on this thred is saying this law will have any magic effect itself. It may have some, but it's the door-opening effect that is the all-important thing. After a law like this is passed, then other people start to say, "hey, I'm not going out on a limb here, so it's safe to push this a little further."

If you know anything about Japanese policy making, you know that this is how it's done.
GW at 01:14 AM JST - 28th June

sydenham

ok yr way of thinking wud be nice if we all lived to a 1000yrs old but.........we dont, so in reality thats how its NOT done if you know anything about Japanese policy making