The Right to Live in Japan

The Constitutions of Japan guaranteed the “right to live.” Article 25 of the Japanese Constitution explicitly describes the fundamental principle that “all citizens shall have the right to a minimum standard of wholesome and cultured living.” Article 27 expresses rights and obligations to work and standards for working conditions. In the same Article, the right to work imposes two obligations on the government: To promote opportunities for workers to exercise their skills and abilities, and to provide a livelihood for workers who have no chance to work.41 Article 28 provides three fundamental rights of the workers: the right of workers to organize, to bargain collectively and to strike. It further states for provisions of law to regulate standards for wages, working hours, breaks and other working conditions.

Japanese labor legislation includes a number of laws to regulate employment practices. In order to enforce labor law, the government has certain enforcement mechanisms, such as the court system, administrative agencies, the Labor Office, and the Labor Relations Commission.

Different labor-related laws safeguard labor rights in Japan. Labour legislation comprises General Labor

Laws and Special Labor Laws. There are many other Labor Laws under these categories. These Labor

Laws may be grouped as follows: those laws that cover the rights of workers’ rights in relation to labor unions; laws to protect workers, covering individual workers’ employment and the protection of workers before and after application of employment policy; and laws concerning employment, which regulate the external market.42 (also see Summary of Labor law presented in Figure 2.2 below).

In order to regulate employment security to protect labor rights, laws...

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... empowered to prevent and solve labor disputes by mediation, conciliation or arbitration. In addition, two laws regulate non-regular employment: the Worker

Dispatching Business Law and the Part-Time Worker Law. Since the number of non-regular employees has been increasing in recent years, these acts are the “guide maps” for protecting their rights at the company level. In order to guarantee work free from exploitation and hazards and to maintain standards, there are laws, such as the Minimum Wages Law, the Industrial Safety and Health Law, the Labor

Standards Law, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Law.

The above figure shows the inter-linkages and features of laws governing industrial relations practices in

Japanese companies. With ongoing changes in the socio-economic situation of the country, the government makes periodic amendments to the laws and regulations.