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Yonezu, Takashi --- "Business, labor law and human rights in Japan" [2019] ELECD 1592; in Bellace, R. Janice; ter Haar, Beryl (eds), "Research Handbook on Labour, Business and Human Rights Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 69

Book Title: Research Handbook on Labour, Business and Human Rights Law

Editor(s): Bellace, R. Janice; ter Haar, Beryl

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section: Chapter 5

Section Title: Business, labor law and human rights in Japan

Author(s): Yonezu, Takashi

Number of pages: 15

Abstract/Description:

This chapter outlines the institutional contents of how the individual and collective labor rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Japan are embodied in Japanese labor laws. To understand the problems of human rights and labor in Japan, the chapter first considers the so-called Japanese-style employment system. A system with unique features that proved to be very strong and effective during the twentieth century, but seems to be failing in the twenty-first. Furthermore, the chapter further considers the issue of horizontal direct effect of fundamental rights guaranteed at constitutional level, illustrated by the examples of equality in employment, prohibition of discrimination, harassment, the right to privacy, working time, and the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. Each of these examples describe the Japanese interpretation of these rights, followed by reflections on various issues and problems regarding these rights faced in the Japanese labor market.