anon_ comments

@Tokyo-Engr

I'm sure it happens daily but there is no way it happened daily to the same woman for six years straight. If she said sometimes once a month her claim would be believable.

As I said before, the timing is just way too convenient. Looks like a money grab not an ass grab.

Sasaki currently lives in Paris and the book was published in France under the title "Tchikan."

This is where this story looses all creditability.

It just happened to appear one month after the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the "me too" "movement".

Sure, there are problems here in Japan. I'm sure many of us have seen guys trying to get the up skirt photo and maybe even trying to get a grab in. Daily? Sorry, but no.

One thing that is increasingly annoying me is how lower level journalists and writers have been reporting half truths about things happening in Japan. I am a huge critic of modern Japan but recently many writers have been going a bit too far in portraying a small quirk as mainstream Japanese culture.

They could start by banning doctors from prescribing medicine that people can buy over the counter. Then maybe limit non critical patent visits to twice a month instead of the standard every five days.

Oh and, screw the global drug companies and their overpriced drugs. More countries need to set the prices like Japan does.

@reckless

1000 yen/hr sounds OK but there are a few issues. The employer will almost always limit the employee to an average of 28 hours a week to avoid having to pay half of the employee's nenkin/hoken (insurance/pension). On this amount a person can't afford to live alone. Many single Japanese people that have these "part time" jobs and live alone work two jobs eight hours a day, six days a week just to survive. Their take home is usually about 2.4 million yen a year which in USD is $21k. They then are required to pay health insurance (8,000), pension (adjusted to income 2.4m is 130,000), 10.2% national tax and 5-15% local tax. That's a total of about $4-6k US that they loose off the top. Now they have about $17k a year to pay rent, bills, eat, buy clothes, etc... It's not a good life. Remember, they are working six days a week.

If they are a foreigner maybe they will be lucky enough to get their employer to sponsor a visa and give them a full time job. The problem is most of the time they only make 5% more and usually don't get paid for overtime. Now they work 10-14 hours a day, six days a week.

40 minutes is the average for people working in tokyo. Some people spend over an hour each way on the chuo-sen.

I always found this a bit strange. There are plenty of daycares running at 50% outside of Tokyo. If you moved to central Saitama you would pay less for your home, have lower taxes and your commute to Shinjuku/Tokyo would be about 40 minutes. For some strange reason salary man types feel this illogical need to live in Tokyo.

Wow, these comments really show how little people understand the Japanese social class system.

Todai is nothing more than a brand. People speak bout the "difficult" entrance exams but the truth is the interview is usually what determines who gets into the club. And that's what it is, a club. Internationally Todai, Japan's top university, ranks 39 which is pretty low considering what the locals think about it. It's not about education, it's about maintaining a social elite. The girls are accepted by family name, wealth and of course beauty. Many of the female graduates go on to jobs at the most prestigious companies as marriage material for the boys. They get married, have a kid and quit and is supported by the husbands salary which is higher than the national average. Nomura semiofficially admits to this practice.

He should repay all of the salary he earned as Governor.

I still don't understand using an app to perform a function built into every smartphone on the planet. This IPO can only go one direction, down. It's not Facebook and it's pretty much only popular in Japan.

Changing the law to allow the artists to practice their trade won't change the minds of the people. A lot of people here on JT blame the government for the culture problems of Japan but the truth is the general population has their view and that will be much harder to change.

Another good idea would be to listen to Akie Abe and legalize cannabis. Japan would see another five million tourists.

This idea of switching off the lights at 8pm has been happening at IBM Japan for years now.

It doesn't work, they just turn the lights back on.

National average is 4.2 million yen according to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

the governor of Tokyo makes almost as much money as the POTUS and I have to pay money to use public parks? The ruling class has totally fu*ked Japan.

rooster and Rob E,

It seems that you don't have nay experience working in an office at 28+C with 75%+ humidity. When you live and work here you may understand what really happens.

People that don't live and work here shouldn't try to insert their opinions.

The biggest joke is "cool biz" doesn't save money or electricity and it costs more money in lost production.

Setting a Japanese office to 28 where there are people and then switching other units off makes the ones on work harder thus costing more electricity. Even if the entire building is set to 28 the actual temperature is closer to 30 due to the heat released by people and equipment.

Hundreds of studies have been done on optimal human operating temperature. There are slight variations depending on home environment but the average is 25C. Studies have shown that every 1 degree above 25C costs 2% in productivity. The same also happens if the temperature is cooler. The International Space station is set to a constant 22.3C because NASA's many years of research into optimal human conditions have proven the science.

Studies have shown that "cool biz" and "warm biz" probably costs Japan 25% more in lost revenue.

The ambulances in most of a japan are just a taxi with lights. The medics are not well trained in emergency treatment, they usually need to have a doctor come out if the patient is in bad shape.

@koiwaicoffee

Japan already takes the rich. Anyone that makes over 9 million yen after deductions pays 40%.

Clio, there are two pensions. The one you described is national, much like social security in the US, and it is 15,000 yen flat rate for all. You have to pay in for 40 years to get full payment in the end otherwise you are just throwing your money away. Payment is 720,000 a year.

The second it the "company" pension. This is where things get murky. The companies were responsible for these pensions many years ago but at some point in the 90's it was linked to the national pension because the companies were loosing money. Today, the national pension covers the overdraft of the company pensions which are based on last year salary. Many smaller companies have done away with these pensions but the big "Japan Inc" companies still have them.

@cleo

That's not how nenkin works. The retiree collects based on their last year of pay. The amount a person get depends on their political position in the company. People are forced into soft retirement at 60 then are given another job doing nothing at usually half the wage they were receiving before so that their company pension will be lower and their national nenkin will be based of the wage they made at 59. The unfair part is powerful people get a much better paying job after 60 and end up collecting 500-800% more but they only paid in for a few years. The real reason the national pension is broken is the powerful rape the system and don't put their fair share in.