This Week in Japan

On Friday, Abe's Cabinet enacted reforms addressing labor issues and other demographic challenges. The reforms particularly focus on adults in their mid 30s to early 40s who have a hard time finding stable jobs. This generation of people who graduated from high school and university between 1993 and 2004 are known as the "employment ice age generation" because they entered the labor market after the end of Japan's economic bubble. The new reforms hope to help around 1 million people who fall into this category as well as to create 300,000 new jobs over the next 3 years. 

To read more, here are some useful links:

The Japan Times    Japan Today

The UN report, "World Population Prospects Highlights: 2019" states that Japan has the lowest ratio of working people to those over 65. The number is meant to demonstrate the burden placed on the working population. It is estimated that in Japan, for every person over the age of 65, there are only 1.8 people between the ages of 25 and 64. In comparison, the ration in Australia and New Zealand is 3.3, in Europe and North America its 3.0, and Sub-Saharan Africa has a ratio of 11.7. It is predicted though, that by 2050, Europe and North America will also reach the same ratios as Japan and be under 2 people of working age to each person over 65. 

To read more, here are some useful links:

The Japan Times    The Mainichi

The central government has finally addressed the issues of language support for foreign residents. Local and municipal governments have long been providing language support and assistance to local foreign residents without much support from the central government. The central government has finally taken on the responsibility to provide comprehensive language services for foreign residents according to their wishes and necessities. The new measures will also enhance the quality of Japanese language education across the board, as currently the quality of language instruction varies greatly. In addition they plan to raise the salaries of Japanese language teachers. The measures also include requesting employers of foreigners to provide language training services for the employee and their families. 

To read more, here are some useful links:

Kyodo News     NHK World 

A revised bill passed in the Diet last week banning parents and guardians of children from physically punishing them. This law comes as a reaction to several fatal incidents of physical violence against children in the name of discipline. In addition to this ban, the government also enacted measures strengthening the ability of social workers to remove children from abusive situations by having the staff members responsible for removing the child from the parents' or guardians' custody be separate from those actually dealing with the parent or guardian. However, the law doesn't address any penalties that the adult will face for physically harming a child, the law merely states that physical punishments are banned. 

To read more, here are some useful links: 

The Mainichi   Japan Today