DIJ Newsletter 56, January 2018

Contents:

International conference at the DIJ: Work-Related Diversity
On November 30th and December 1st 2017, the DIJ hosted the conference “From Flexible Rigidities to Embracing Diversity? – Work-Related Diversity and Its Implications for Japan and Beyond”, kindly supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. International experts convened to discuss work-related diversity in Japan in a comparative and multidisciplinary perspective.

Local Anti-Nuclear Movements in Japan
The construction of a nuclear power plant is always a fiercely contested issue, especially for the affected local communities. During a DIJ Study Group in July 2017, scholarship holder Tina Hügel presented her field research findings on the diverging cases of two small towns in Niigata and Aomori prefectures.

Japan’s rural areas – challenges and policies
Many municipalities outside of Japan’s larger agglomeration are exposed to severe demographic change. One out of eight communities experienced a more than 10 per cent decline in population over the last five years. In one out of seven communities, the share of the 65+ population is 40 per cent or higher.

Do labour market inequalities erode support for democracy?
In October 2017, a workshop co-organised by the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ), Tokyo, l’École des Hautes Études des Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris, and the Japan German Centre Berlin (JDZB) examined links between labour market inequalities and politics in France, Germany and Japan.

Non-Japanese employees in Japan (statistic)
Since the global financial crisis the number of Non-Japanese employees working in Japan is rising again. Especially the number of so called Technical Intern Trainees, who from November 2017 are permitted to work for up to five years in Japan, has risen significantly.